BLITZER: Let's get to the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs.

He's joining us now from the North Lawn of the White House.

Robert, thanks very much for coming in.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Wolf, how are you?

BLITZER: Good. Thank you.

Let's -- let's get right to the issue of the former vice president, Dick Cheney. Has the president actually read the vice president's speech, or did he hear the vice president's speech?

GIBBS: Well, as you know, Wolf, he spoke right after the president spoke. The president made his way back to the White House, had his daily intelligence briefing, and met with his economic advisers.

He asked somebody to print the speech off for him. But I don't know if he's had a chance to read it yet or not.

BLITZER: Is it in the cards that these two men might someday just sit down and talk about this? Because they do basically have the same goal, to defeat al Qaeda. But they have a very different strategy in mind. GIBBS: Well, look, obviously, the goal of the president of the United States, his first job is to keep our nation safe and secure. That's what he does every day. And that's what he thinks about when he goes to bed at night and when he comes to work.

So, obviously, that's our goal. And I assume -- and, obviously, that was the goal of the last administration. Whether or not these two men meet, I -- I don't know, Wolf. I was asked that today earlier in the briefing. Obviously, there are some philosophical disagreements about how we keep our country safe.

But I know the president is working every day to make sure that that is the case.

BLITZER: Yes, because he did recently sit down with Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House. He invited him into the White House. So, I -- I could see the day he might invite the former vice president into the White House, couldn't you?

GIBBS: Well, I can imagine you guys would want to be there to see that, right?

BLITZER: I'm sure we would.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Is that -- so, are you saying it's -- that's unrealistic?

GIBBS: Well, I -- look, I don't know what their plans are. Obviously, the vice president -- former vice president is a busy individual, as is the president of the United States.

But, look, the -- the president of the United States has talked about how he will -- he will meet with anybody and talk with people even that he disagrees with.

BLITZER: All right. You got slapped this week by fellow Democrats -- a lot of Republicans, too, all the Republicans -- when they voted against the funding for shutting down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

The Democrats and the Republicans say they want to see a plan, a specific plan. Now, that specific plan, a timeline, where the 240 detainees are going, that wasn't included in the president's speech.

When is that plan going to be ready?

GIBBS: Well, Wolf, that plan is being created right now by several task forces that were created by the president when he signed the executive order close -- to close Guantanamo Bay within a year.

Wolf, we didn't get here overnight. This is a seven-year plan. Guantanamo has been in existence for seven years. And we're working right now to make the decisions necessary to close it. The president last week made a decision to reform military commissions that have a long history in the United States, with how to deal with some people involved that are detained at Guantanamo.

The Justice Department today notified the American people that they're going to transfer an individual detained at Guantanamo that was involved in blowing up our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

So, we're going through each of these cases case by case, because Wolf, I think your previous story about recidivism is tremendously important. This president wants to keep this country safe.

We're going to go case by case to do the best we can to ensure that swift and certain justice is brought to these people that have committed terrorist acts. And we're going to make sure that we do all that we can to ensure that nobody else gets out.

BLITZER: Were you -- were you caught by surprise by what the -- how the Democrats reacted in the House and Senate?

GIBBS: No, I don't think so. The president agrees that we have to give them a more detailed plan. That's what these task forces are working on. That's what the decisions the president has made in the past few days, that's what they illuminate, that we're making decisions about how to -- how to evaluate each of the cases at Guantanamo, how to seek justice for their families, and how to ensure the safety and security of the United States.

BLITZER: Listen to this clip from the former vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD B. CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the president will find, upon reflection, that to bring the worst-of-the-worst terrorists inside the United States would be cause for great danger and regret in the years to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: His point is that they might be able to get legal rights in the United States that they might not necessarily be able to get if they remained on Cuban soil, if you will, in Guantanamo.

How do you respond to that?

GIBBS: Well, I would certainly disagree with that.

Obviously, if you look at -- we have some very bad terrorists already in our prisons. We have the 20th hijacker. Zacarias Moussaoui is in a federal prison because he was convicted on terrorism charges -- the individuals that tried to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993.

Wolf, I'm sure your network has done stories today on the four individuals that the FBI picked up last night, because they thought they were buying bombs to blow up synagogues in New York and purchase Stinger missiles to shoot down military aircraft. I don't think those people are any less dangerous than the people that are being held at Guantanamo Bay. They are going to be held -- those individuals, those four individuals, are likely to be held in the same pretrial facility in the Southern District of New York...

BLITZER: But what...

GIBBS: ... as the individual that will be transferred from Guantanamo to face charges of blowing up our embassies...

BLITZER: But would they have...

GIBBS: ... in Kenya and Tanzania.

BLITZER: But...

GIBBS: Nobody is suggesting we send those four back to Guantanamo that were picked up in New York.

We have some very, very bad people in our prisons right now. And we can bring very bad people that seek to do people in this country harm to justice.

BLITZER: But would they have greater legal rights in the United States, as opposed to Guantanamo?

GIBBS: Well, understand that the Supreme Court -- Court already held in 2006 -- in invalidating the way that the Bush administration sought to deal with detainees, they already guaranteed them the right to challenge their detention.

But I think that's part of the problem, Wolf. We have an ad hoc patchwork of legal theories that were constructed in a prison camp that was centered in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that in some ways are coming home to roost for the United States of America.

Whether or not the president had ever decided to close Guantanamo Bay, courts are deciding each and every day whether or not our government has the evidence to hold these people at Guantanamo.

BLITZER: All right.

GIBBS: And let me give you one instance.

A George W. Bush-appointed federal judge ruled that a detainee that was transferred to France last Friday, that the United States didn't possess the evidence that it needed to hold him at Guantanamo Bay.

BLITZER: All right.

All right, one quick question, because the...

GIBBS: Sure.

BLITZER: ... the vice president made a serious statement today. And I want to see if you believe it's factually accurate. Listen to this.

GIBBS: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: This might explain why President Obama has reserved unto himself the right to order the use of enhanced interrogation, should he deem it appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Is that correct, that the president has reserved the right...

GIBBS: No.

BLITZER: ... to still use enhanced interrogation, if he deems it appropriate?

GIBBS: No, absolutely not.

The president of the United States signed an executive order doing away with enhanced interrogation techniques. The policy of this government, of the United States of America, is to no longer use those techniques. And they won't be used.

BLITZER: Robert Gibbs is the White House press secretary.

Thanks for coming in.

GIBBS: Thanks, Wolf.