By Keith Perine, CQ Staff

Sen. Sam Brownback , R-Kan., said Tuesday that he is moving on several fronts to try to prevent the incoming Obama administration from moving detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to Fort Leavenworth in his home state.

Brownback’s effort is just one example of the pitfalls awaiting President-elect Barack Obama as he tries to handle perhaps the most complex legacy of the Bush presidency. The senator said he is scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates , who will retain his job in the Obama administration, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff this week to press his argument that Fort Leavenworth “is not able to handle this.”

Although the incoming administration has not unveiled its detainee policy, it is likely to involve moving at least some of the approximately 250 people housed at the Guantánamo prison to the territorial United States. Attorney General-designate Eric H. Holder Jr. has advocated that step.

Brownback said Fort Leavenworth is among the possible sites, along with facilities in California and South Carolina.

Among Brownback’s concerns is the potential effect that housing detainees at Fort Leavenworth would have on the base’s “educational mission,” particularly on foreign students studying at the Command and General Staff College there. Brownback said he is worried that students from the “Islamic world” would halt their studies. He has also invited Obama’s advisers to tour the facility.

Late Tuesday, freshman Rep. Duncan Hunter , R-Calif., expressed similar concern about sending detainees to Camp Pendleton in San Diego.

Brownback, who is retiring to run for governor in 2010, said he also intends to reintroduce legislation that would bar the use of federal funds to transfer detainees to Leavenworth.

Separately, incoming Senate Select Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein , D-Calif., said she wants to work “in concert” with the new administration on detainee policy. Feinstein has already introduced a bill (S 147) that would require closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison within a year, among other provisions. But Feinstein noted Tuesday that Obama could implement aspects of his detainee policy through executive order, as well.