Hastings Introduces Legislation To Reform Procedures For Detaining Suspected Terrorists

Press Release

Hastings Introduces Legislation To Reform Procedures For Detaining Suspected Terrorists

Today, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-Miramar) introduced legislation that presents a dramatic shift in United States detention policy. The Detainment Reform Act of 2009 provides policies and guidelines for detaining dangerous suspected terrorists while maintaining a system of judicial rights.

"For too long, our country has held these non-traditional enemy belligerents without any transparency or accountability in the process -- a system that has led to torture and abuse. With this bill, we ensure that our nation continues to be a nation of laws. The United States will be able to protect its national security without compromising its credibility as a model for the free world," explained Hastings.

Under the detention regime in place since 2002, several detainees in the United States' control have died under mysterious circumstances. Many have been tortured. Still others have been held for years without access to a lawyer, no right to hear the charges against them, and no way of appealing rudimentary reviews of their status. Hastings continued, "They are outside our laws but inside our prisons, at the mercy of a process that is bad for our national security, bad for human rights, and downright horrible for America's image around the world."

The bill presents a solution to the judicial vacuum and lack of coherence among the courts as to how to combat terrorism while adhering to the Constitution, federal law, international human rights law, and the laws of armed conflict. It provides standards for judicial review of the detention of individuals who are imperative threats to national security yet cannot be tried under the existing criminal or military justice system.

"Terrorism presents a unique kind of threat to national security that our current systems are not equipped to adequately address. A new threat necessitates a new method that will keep our country safe without departing from its ideals," said Hastings. "This bill establishes that new way."

By implementing legal protections and standards of detainment for those in the custody of the United States, the bill also eliminates an effective recruitment tool for terrorist organizations.

"When we detain individuals for years without ensuring that they have access to a fair and accountable system of justice, we undermine hundreds of years of democracy. We risk replicating the very authoritarianism we fight against," Hastings said. "It is far past time to change."

Hastings concluded, "I ask my colleagues to help keep our country safe without abandoning its ideals. By implementing a fair and transparent detention and interrogation process, we can responsibly accomplish both."

Specifically, the Detainment Reform Act of 2009 provides:

Detention Criteria and Procedures:

* Requires the President to show a court that a detainee is an imperative threat to security; provides basic criteria as to who constitutes an imperative threat
* Creates policies for judicial review upon the initial detention of covered individuals and sets forth judicial proceedings for the DC District Court should the government petition for continued detention
* Ensures International Committee of the Red Cross access to all detainees within 24 hours of their receipt at an American detention facility

Four Ways to Process Detainees:

* The detainee can be charged with an offense and then transferred to a military or federal civilian detention facility for trial
* The detainee can be transferred to an international tribunal that has jurisdiction
* The detainee can be transferred to his country of origin or to another country -- following the provisions set forth in the Convention Against Torture and other national and international laws
* The detainee can continue to be held for as long as the United States government can demonstrate that the individual presents an imperative threat to security

Three Reporting Requirements to Ensure Accountability and Transparency:

* Annual Department of Defense report on the conditions of the facilities and the detainees
* Report by the President to Congress describing the President's plan to implement relevant sections of the bill
* Report by the Director of National Intelligence to Congress identifying the organizations which the administration considers to be forces covered by the Authorized Use of Military Forces

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