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Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor to talk about an issue I have worked on for a number of years and something I feel very strongly about; that is, our detention and interrogation policy. Since this administration has gotten into office, based on a campaign promise, the President has sought to close Guantanamo Bay.
This administration has continued to release individuals held at Guantanamo--dangerous terrorists, with backgrounds, whether it is involvement with Al Qaeda or involvement with the Taliban or other groups. Just recently, they have released another 11 individuals from Guantanamo Bay. One of the issues that has troubled me most about this is that I think it is very important the American people know what is going on, but so much of this is happening in the cloak of darkness. So much of it is an unwillingness of this administration to level with the American people about the terrorist affiliations and activities of current and former Guantanamo Bay detainees.
We have seen the most recent example of that which is troubling. On March 23 of 2016, Paul Lewis, the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Detention Closure, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that there have been Americans who have died because of Guantanamo Bay detainees. He was asked about this in this House hearing. My assumption is one of the reasons he was asked about it is because 30 percent of those who were held at Guantanamo--terrorists who have been released from Guantanamo--are suspected or confirmed of reengaging in terrorism. Apparently, Mr. Lewis was asked, and he said there have been Americans who have died because of Guantanamo detainees who have been released.
So a fair question--a very important question--is to understand what these former detainees have done in terms of attacking Americans or our NATO allies who have worked with us to fight terrorists in places around the world. That was a question I posed to this administration. Based on what Mr. Lewis, who is the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Detention Closure said, I asked the administration for information about those who have been killed by Guantanamo detainees. On May 23 the administration responded to me, but their answers to my questions were classified in such a way that even my staff with a top secret security clearance could not review the response. I was able to review the response.
What I want to be able to do is to give information to the American people so they can understand the response, because this administration continues to push to close Guantanamo. They continue to release terrorists from Guantanamo to countries around the world, and they continue to refuse to tell the American people--hiding behind classification--who the people are who are being released in terms of their backgrounds and in terms terrorist affiliations. They have been releasing a name and the country they are transferred to--but no information to the American people about the terrorist background of these individuals, no information to the American people about how these individuals have been released, what they have been engaged in, and whether they have been engaged in prior attacks on Americans or our allies. I believe the American people have a right to know.
On Tuesday I also wrote a followup letter to the President urging him to provide without delay an unclassified response to understand how many Americans and our NATO partners have been killed by former Guantanamo detainees and which former detainees committed these terrorist attacks, so we can understand what we are facing.
Unfortunately, we don't know. But in the Washington Post today there was an article that reported that 12 former Guantanamo detainees were involved in attacks on Americans after their release. The estimate in the Washington Post report says that these detainees have killed about a half dozen Americans.
Why should the American people have to rely on the ability of the Washington Post to talk to people off the record to try to find out exactly what the activities are of these terrorists whom the administration continues to release without full information to the American people? I appreciate the reporting of the Washington Post, but I believe the American people deserve an answer directly from this administration. Since Mr. Lewis testified that Guantanamo detainees have been involved in killing Americans, the administration has released 11 more detainees from Guantanamo, with more than two dozen likely to be released in the coming months. Again, 30 percent are suspected or confirmed of reengaging in terrorism--people such as Ibrahim al-Qosi, affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who was released by this administration in 2012 to Sudan. He has joined back up with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is headquartered in Yemen.
Previously, what has been revealed about him publicly is that he trained at a notorious Al Qaeda camp as a member of Osama bin Laden's elite security detail.
What is more troubling is that he is now back with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He is a leader and a spokesman for this group, and he is urging attacks on American and our allies. That is what is at stake when we think about the security of the American people. Yet the policy that this administration and this President keep pushing is to close Guantanamo. They are trying to take de facto steps to close Guantanamo by releasing people without information to the American people.
In this Defense authorization bill that is pending on the floor, in the Armed Services Committee I have included a provision that would prohibit international release or transfer of any detainee from Guantanamo until the Department of Defense submits to Congress an unclassified report on the individual's previous terrorist activities and affiliations, as well as their support or participation in attacks against the United States or our allies.
The administration keeps claiming that it is in the best interests of the United States--in our national security interests--to close Guantanamo.
I fully disagree with that argument. But if that is what they really believe, why have they not told the American people, when they release the terrorists who are held at Guantanamo, whom these people have been involved with and whether they have been involved with attacks on Americans or our allies. Instead, they give the name and the country they are going to. That is all they are telling the American people. If it is in our national security interests, they will fully tell the American people why they believe in transferring or releasing these terrorists to third-party countries, and they will tell the American people the truth about who is being released and what they have been involved in. I think the American people, if they know that information, will side with my view of this, which is that to close Guantanamo--especially by releasing dangerous individuals who are there, with 30 percent of them suspected or confirmed of getting back into battle--is against our national security interests and makes us less safe.
I ask, no matter where you stand in this body on the closure of Guantanamo, don't we owe it to the American people to tell them? When they are releasing individuals from Guantanamo, doesn't the administration owe to the American people what terrorist group this person is affiliated with? Has this person ever been involved with the attack of Americans or our allies? Don't the American people deserve this basic information?
The American people need to know who is being released, why they are dangerous, and what is happening in terms of our national security interests, because I believe they are being undermined greatly by continuing to release terrorists who get back in the fight. The last thing our men and women in uniform or any of our allies should see is a terrorist whom we had previously captured and was at Guantanamo.
I hope the administration will live up to its transparency policy, because when it comes to releasing dangerous detainees from Guantanamo--some of whom have gotten back in the fight, and 30 percent are suspected or confirmed of getting back in the fight of terrorism against us--the American people deserve information about what is happening and what danger these individuals pose to us and our allies.
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