"The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing to terrorists, radicalizing others with regard to violent extremism, the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States," he said.

"All of those are concerns relevant to an individual who comes into the United States, from whatever source, who may present a challenge," Mueller told a hearing of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

Guantanamo detainees would still pose a threat even if they were held in maximum-security prisons on the US mainland, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicated.

Detainees were unlikely to escape from the fearsome "supermax" jails which hold the nation's most dangerous prisoners, Mueller conceded.

"However, I will caveat by saying that in gang activity around the country, using it as an analogy, there are individuals in our prisons today ... who operate their gangs from inside the walls of prison," the FBI director said.

"So while there may not be the opportunity to escape, there may still be the risk, as we've seen, (of them) operating."

Obama wants to shutter the prison camp located at a US naval base on Cuba by early 2010. But his Democratic Senate allies Tuesday moved to deny the president 80 million dollars in funding for the proposal.

Obama is due to defend his approach in what the White House is billing as a "major national security speech" Thursday.

But the Democrats joined Republicans who have warned for weeks that Obama lacks a plan for dealing with the facility's 240 detainees from 30 countries, and argued against imprisoning, trying or freeing any of them on US soil.

Meanwhile the Pentagon's number three official held the door open to indefinite detention for some Guantanamo inmates, a stance likely to raise the hackles of civil-liberties campaigners.

"I think the desire is to provide due process to as many of these detainees as possible," said Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, when asked if the administration would rule out holding inmates indefinitely.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already suggested that some 50-100 detainees would have to be held indefinitely even after the Guantanamo prison were closed, prompting sharp criticism from human rights groups.

Flournoy said shuttering Guantanamo was a daunting task.

"It's easier said than done. It's a very challenging set of issues that we are working our way through but the commitment is there," she told reporters.

Asked if European governments would be willing to take in more of the detainees, she said closing the prison would involve "hard choices" for all concerned.

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