A bombshell memo declassified by the State Department shows Hillary Clinton urged President Barack Obama to begin transferring accused terrorist jihadis from the Guantanamo Bay military prison to the U.S. mainland for criminal trials.

Clinton, now the Democratic Party's presidential front-runner, wrote down her recommendations to the White House for closing 'Gitmo,' a few weeks before stepping down from her position as secretary of state.

She suggested that shuttering the facility, a 2008 Obama campaign pledge that never came to fruition, would be easier if the White House emptied it out by ordering 'transfers to the United States for pre-trial detention, trial, and sentences.'

SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE SECRET MEMO

BRING 'EM HERE: Hillary Clinton ended her time as secretary of state by recommending a series of steps to the White House for closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison – including bringing jihadis to the U.S. 'for pre-trial detention, trial, and sentences'

ON ICE, BUT MELTING: Only 114 prisoners remain at 'Gitmo,'of the 779 who have called it home

The memo, first obtained by the Huffington Post website, sketches the outlines of a strategy designed to soften Americans' opposition to closing Guantanamo, a detention camp on the island of Cuba.

'We will face resistance but need to lay the groundwork now,' she wrote, describing four talking points.

'This Administration's transfer efforts are responsible and advance our national interests,' the first read.

Clinton also suggested emphasizing that 'the federal courts provide a more stable venue for conspiracy and material support for terrorism charges.'

The third point called for underscoring the 'cost efficiency' from moving terror suspects to U.S. prisons.

The fourth promoted bringing Islamist fanatics into the federal court system because it is 'time tested and credible to our allies.'

Pleasing foreign nations was a repeated theme in Clinton's memo.

'We must signal to our old and emerging allies alike that we remain serious about turning the page of GTMO and the practices of the prior decade,' she wrote, using the U.S. Navy's abbreviation for the Guantanamo Bay facility.

Closing the base has long been fraught with obstacles, particularly the question of what to do with the detainees it houses.

The governors of Kansas and South Carolina have said they would take action to make sure none of them end up in federal facilities in their states.

Kansas is home to Fort Leavenworth, a military prison often cited as a possible transfer site.

Another, which the Department of Defense has quietly investigated, is the Naval Brig near Charleston, South Carolina.

The Obama administration has already sent more than 130 Guantanamo prisoners to countries in the Middle East, including five sent to the United Arab Emirates two weeks ago – just 48 hours after the ISIS terror army slaughtered 130 people in Paris.

Despite a veto threat, Obama signed a bill into law last week that restricts his future ability to move Guantanamo prisoners off the island.

Congress sent him a National Defense Authorization Act that prohibited the government from spending any money to send detainees to a foreign nation 'if there is a confirmed case of any individual transferred from Guantanamo to the same country or entity engaging in terrorist activity after the transfer.'

The Director of National Intelligence reported last year that about 30 per cent of the detainees who have been released are confirmed or suspected of re-engaging in terrorist activities.

About one-quarter of those have been killed or re-captured.

Currently, 114 people are held at Guantanamo; the Obama administration has approved 54 of them for transfer.

The new defense budget also includes a section declaring that there is no legal framework for the continued 'law of war' detention of Guantanamo terror suspects in the United States.

A Clinton spokesman, Brian Fallon, told the Huffington Post that the newly released memo was in line with her agreement that the offshore military prison should be closed down.

'Hillary Clinton supports the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and as the memo makes clear, she has consistently sought to work with Congress towards that goal,' Fallon said.