WASHINGTON -- Breaking with the George W. Bush White House, the Barack Obama administration on Friday dropped the term ''enemy combatant'' for suspected terrorists and said international law governed the detention of terrorism suspects at the Guantánamo Bay prison, which Obama intends to close.

In a court filing in Washington, the Justice Department also said that only suspects who provided ''substantial'' support to al Qaeda or the Taliban would be considered detainable.

The moves represent a departure from Bush's handling of suspects as Obama prepares to close the detention facility.

''As we work toward developing a new policy to govern detainees, it is essential that we operate in a manner that strengthens our national security, is consistent with our values and is governed by law,'' Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

The Justice Department filing doesn't give the war prisoners a specific designation. They aren't described as POWs or enemy combatants or unprivileged belligerents, all categories of war prisoners under international law.

A Justice Department official said Friday that, for now, they are just considered ''detainees.'' Still, Friday's actions provided a little more flesh on the bones of Obama's approach to terrorism suspects, according to some legal experts.

''What's important about it is it's a plan on how they will evaluate Guantánamo detainees and future detainees,'' said Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale University. ``It sets the bar higher than it had been set in the Bush administration.''

Not everyone agreed. In a statement, the Center for Constitutional Rights, whose lawyers represent several Guantánamo detainees in court, said dropping the term ''enemy combatant'' was hardly a change.

'They have adopted almost the same standard the Bush administration used to detain people without charge -- with one change, the addition of the word `substantially' before the word 'supported.' This is really a case of old wine in new bottles,'' the center said.

One question unanswered is whether abandoning the term ''enemy combatant'' is the death knell for the military commissions that Congress established to try Guantánamo detainees for alleged war crimes and that Obama suspended shortly after taking office.

The military commission law says that only ''alien unlawful enemy combatants'' can be tried at the Guantánamo war court.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, who defended Osama bin Laden's driver at trial, said Friday's move effectively gave the war court ``jurisdiction over a category of persons that doesn't exist. There is no such thing as an unlawful enemy combatant. International law has never recognized such a category of persons, and the filing is a welcome sign of America's return to the rule of law and community of nations.''

A spokesman for the military commissions, Joe Dellavedova, declined to offer an opinion.

''As you know, there are a series of comprehensive interagency reviews of all policies and procedures related to detainees,'' he said. ``Until those reviews are complete, it would be inappropriate to comment.''

The Obama administration position, he said, 'very much contemplates the existence of `enemy combatants' and justifies detention at Guantánamo on that basis under the laws of war.''

Friday's filing seeks more time to unravel the enemy combatant policy that evolved in the Bush administration, and in the courts, across the years. Holder noted in a separate affidavit that he is chairing a process of closing the prison camps in Obama's first year in office.

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