The Obama administration had strongly objected to the provision, but it was included in a major defense bill anyway. When Mr. Obama signed that measure on Dec. 31, he issued a signing statement blasting the detainee rule as “ill conceived.” He also vowed to interpret his waiver power to preserve a “maximum measure of flexibility,” foreshadowing the procedures issued on Tuesday.

The sweeping scope of the waivers outlined by the administration could reopen the debate over whether to handle noncitizen terrorism suspects as wartime prisoners rather than as criminal defendants.

The Bush administration designated two prisoners arrested inside the United States as “enemy combatants” and transferred them to a military brig. Both men — one of whom, Jose Padilla, is an American citizen — eventually were prosecuted in civilian courts. But the Obama administration has vowed to use traditional law enforcement agencies for all terrorism cases arising inside the United States.

The debate flared in particular around the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25, 2009. After initially cooperating with interrogators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Abdulmutallab did not speak to them for several weeks in January 2010 after he was given a Miranda warning. He eventually resumed talking and provided extensive information. He was later prosecuted in a civilian court, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison several weeks ago.

Under Mr. Obama’s guidelines, if F.B.I. agents take someone like Mr. Abdulmutallab into custody and think there is probable cause to believe that the prisoner fits the definition of a terrorism suspect covered by the law, they are to notify the attorney general.

The attorney general, in consultation with other top members of the executive branch legal team — the secretaries of state, defense and homeland security, the chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence — will discuss whether there is “clear and convincing” proof the prisoner is covered by the law.

If so, the officials are to consider whether the prisoner is covered by the waivers Mr. Obama is issuing. Even if not, the administration guidelines allow the attorney general to make other exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

All six members of an interagency national security team must agree before a prisoner is transferred to military custody, effectively giving any of them veto power over complying with the mandate. In addition, even if all six agree that a prisoner should be transferred to the military, the director of the F.B.I. must agree that the timing is right.