Instead of sending suspected terrorists to Guantanamo Bay or secret CIA "black" sites for interrogation, the Obama administration is questioning terrorists for as long as it takes aboard U.S. naval vessels. 
 
 FILE - This file image from the FBI website shows Anas al-Libi, an al-Qaeda leader connected to the 1998 embassy bombings in eastern Africa and wanted by the United States for more than a decade. Gunmen... (Associated Press) 
 
 And it's doing it in a way that preserves the government's ability to ultimately prosecute the suspects in civilian courts. 
 
 That's the pattern emerging with the recent capture of Abu Anas al-Libi, one of the FBI's most wanted terrorist suspects, long-sought for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. He was captured in a raid Saturday and is being held aboard the USS San Antonio, an amphibious warship mainly used to transport troops. 
 
 Questioning suspected terrorists aboard U.S. warships in international waters is President Barack Obama's answer to the Bush administration detention policies that candidate Obama promised to end. The strategy also makes good on Obama's pledge to prosecute terrorists in U.S. civilian courts, which many Republicans have argued against. But it also raises questions about using "law of war" powers to circumvent the safeguards of the U.S. criminal justice system. 
 
 By holding people in secret prisons, known as black sites, the CIA was able to question them over long periods, using the harshest interrogation tactics, without giving them access to lawyers. Obama came to office without a ready replacement for those secret prisons. The concern was that if a terrorist was sent directly to court, the government might never know what intelligence he had. With the black sites closed and Obama refusing to send more people to the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it wasn't obvious where the U.S. would hold people for interrogation. 
 
 And that's where the warships came in. 
 
 On Saturday, the Army's Delta Force and Libyan operatives captured al-Libi in a raid. A team of U.S. investigators from the military, intelligence agencies and the Justice Department has been sent to question him on board the San Antonio, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The San Antonio was in the Mediterranean as part of the fleet preparing for now-canceled strikes on Syria last month. 
 
 Al-Libi, who was indicted in 2000 for his involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, was being held on the warship in military custody under the laws of war, which means a person can be captured and held indefinitely as an enemy combatant, one of the officials said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. 
 
 As of Monday, al-Libi had not been read his rights under U.S. law, which include the rights to remain silent and speak with an attorney. And it was unclear when al-Libi would be brought to the U.S. to face charges. 
 
 "It appears to be an attempt to use assertion of law of war powers to avoid constraint and safeguards in the criminal justice system," said Hina Shamsi, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union and the director of the civil rights organization's national security project. "I am very troubled if this is the pattern that the administration is setting for itself." 
 
 The Obama administration publicly debuted the naval ship interrogation tactic in 2011 when it captured Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali citizen who the U.S. government said helped support and train al-Qaida-linked militants. Warsame was questioned aboard a U.S. warship for two months before he went to New York to face terrorism charges. He pleaded guilty earlier this year and agreed to tell the FBI what he knew about terror threats and, if necessary, testify for the government. 
 
 The White House would not discuss its plans for prosecuting al-Libi. 
 
 "As a general rule, the government will always seek to elicit all the actionable intelligence and information we can from terrorist suspects taken into our custody," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Monday. 
 
 The interrogators sent to question al-Libi are part the same group that questioned Warsame _ the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group. The Obama administration created the group in 2009 to juggle the need to extract intelligence from captured suspected terrorists and preserve evidence for a criminal trial. 
 
 Under interrogation, Warsame gave up what officials called important intelligence about al-Qaida in Yemen and its relationship with al-Shabab militants in Somalia. Because those sessions were conducted before Warsame was read his rights, the intelligence could be used to underpin military strikes or CIA actions but were not admissible in court. After that interrogation was complete, the FBI stepped in and started the questioning over in a way that could be used in court. 
 
 After the FBI read Warsame his rights, he opted to keep talking for days, helping the government build its case. 
 
 Al-Libi's case is different from Warsame's in that he already has been indicted for allegedly conducting "visual and photographic surveillance" of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi that was attacked in 1998. Warsame was indicted after he was questioned aboard the naval ship. 
 
 The ACLU's Shamsi said it's a good thing that al-Libi was not being held secretly, as was the policy during the Bush administration. But, she said, al-Libi should be entitled to counsel and a speedy trial. 
 
 The Obama administration has said it can hold high-value detainees on a ship for as long as it needs to. 
 
 "This situation, like the one with Ahmed Warsame two years earlier, is a hybrid model in which military detention under the laws of war is used to facilitate short-term interrogation, and then combined with civilian criminal prosecution in order to take the person off the streets for the long term," said Robert Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who tracks terrorism issues. 
 
 "The hybrid approach is not always available," he said. "But it can be the perfect approach in the right circumstances." 
 
 ____ 
 
 Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo, Nedra Pickler, Pete Yost and Adam Goldman contributed to this report. 
 
 ____ 
 
 Follow Eileen Sullivan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/esullivanap 

 Story highlights Abu Anas al Libi lacks the "name-brand recognition" of top al Qaeda plotter, expert says 
 
 "(President Barack) Obama's trying to close Guantanamo, not add prisoners," CNN analyst says 
 
 American forces captured al Libi over weekend in Tripoli, transferred him out of Libya 
 
 Al Libi indicted in Embassy bombings, conspiracies to attack U.S. forces in Mideast, Africa 
 
 [Breaking news alert, 7:03 a.m. ET] 
 
 Two hundred heavily armed Marines have been moved to the U.S. naval base at Sigonella, Italy, from their base in Spain to respond to any potential security crisis for the U.S. Embassy diplomatic mission in Libya, a U.S. military official told CNN. The move happened on Monday the official said. The move, made in coordination with the State Department, was made "as a prudent measure" in the wake of the US military raid to capture Abu Anas al Libi, the 49-year-old alleged al Qaeda operative. 
 
 [Breaking news alert, 7:02 a.m. ET] 
 
 Libya's government said it summoned U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones for questioning over what it calls the "abduction" of Abu Anas al Libi, the country's official news agency LANA reported. Al Libi is an alleged al Qaeda operative accused of playing a role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. 
 
 [Previously published story] 
 
 After interrogation on warship, al Libi's next stop could be U.S. court 
 
 Abu Anas al Libi isn't on alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's level, so don't expect the same hullabaloo over U.S. plans to try the Libyan terror suspect on American soil, legal experts said Monday. 
 
 "He will be brought back to the United States and tried in a federal criminal courtroom," CNN senior analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "(President Barack) Obama's trying to close Guantanamo, not add prisoners." 
 
 American Delta Force soldiers captured al Libi this weekend in Tripoli. The 49-year-old alleged al Qaeda operative is accused of playing a role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people and wounded about 4,000 more. 
 
 He was indicted in the Southern District of New York in the embassy bombings and in connection with his alleged roles in al Qaeda conspiracies to attack U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia. 
 
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 On Monday, al Libi was on a U.S. Navy warship where he was being questioned by a high-value detainee interrogation group, an FBI-led team with intelligence experts from the CIA and other agencies, which is determining whether he has information on al Qaeda operations, future attacks or the whereabouts of known associates, U.S. officials have said. 
 
 Defense Department statement says he is being held "lawfully under the law of war in a secure location outside of Libya." 
 
 It is unclear how long he will be interrogated, but U.S. officials have said he will be transferred to New York for trial. Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have previously said they prefer to try individuals such as al Libi in American courts. 
 
 And unlike previous cases, such as Mohammed's, "I really don't think there's going to be too much protest or concern or worry if they proceed that way," said James Forest, a professor and the director of security studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. 
 
 "I honestly don't think he has the name-brand recognition, shall we say, of a Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Forest said. 
 
 In the past, terrorism suspects captured on American soil generally have been tried in federal courts -- such as Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the would-be "undiebomber" who tried unsuccessfully to set off a bomb on a U.S.-bound jetliner in 2009; attempted Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad; or 9/11 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. 
 
 It's "murky territory" when a fugitive is nabbed overseas by American forces, said Forest, a former director of terrorism studies at West Point. But "my hunch is they'll probably go the criminal route." 
 
 When the White House in 2009 proposed trying Mohammed and four other 9/11 suspects in Manhattan, the plan was met with staunch criticism from Republican leaders who said such a trial would be costly and asserted that the five terror suspects -- none of whom was an American citizen -- didn't deserve the rights and protections civilian courts afford defendants. 
 
 In 2011, Holder begrudgingly announced that the five suspected conspirators' fates would be decided via military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, prompting backlash from Democrats and human rights groups who painted the tribunals as untested, flawed and the likely subject of numerous legal challenges. 
 
 "Had this case proceeded in Manhattan or in an alternative venue in the United States, as I seriously explored in the past year, I am confident that our justice system would have performed with the same distinction that has been its hallmark for over 200 years," Holder said at the time. 
 
 Al Libi's case should not raise the same issues, Toobin said, because, as the suspected 9/11 mastermind, Mohammed was "in a separate category from everyone else in the world." 
 
 While the United States considers al Libi a dangerous terrorist, neither he nor his crimes are as well-known as Mohammed's, Toobin said. 
 
 As for al Libi's interrogation, Toobin noted there is no indication he is being tortured and that if al Libi were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques, the U.S. government has been clear that "they will not use the results of torture like waterboarding in any criminal case." 
 
 "The government obviously believes he's a very dangerous person, captured in a dangerous part of the world, and he needs to be isolated and brought back to the United States," Toobin said. 
 
 But Forest questioned how much valuable intelligence al Libi would be able to provide his captors. A former jihadist associate told CNN it was unlikely al Libi was still playing an active role with the terrorist network, and his wife said he had been living a normal life and was seeking a job with the Libyan oil ministry. 
 
 "Who knows if he's really up to speed on anything useful these days?" Forest asked.
– The US' capture of Abu Anas al-Libi is turning into a full-blown diplomatic incident. Libya's government has summoned the US ambassador for questioning over what it terms the "kidnapping" of the alleged al-Qaeda operative, CNN reports. The US, meanwhile, sees the situation as perilous enough that it has moved 200 marines from Spain to Italy, so they'll be ready to respond should the US diplomatic mission in Libya come under fire. Al-Libi is currently being questioned aboard the USS San Antonio. While the Obama administration has said he'll eventually be tried in New York, it's unclear when. Essentially, the White House is using warships as a replacement for the CIA's secret "black site" prisons, the AP observes. While in international waters, the US believes it can interrogate terror suspects indefinitely without reading them their Miranda rights—yet still preserving the ability to try them in civilian courts. Somali militant Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame got the same treatment in 2011.