Mckeon, Armed Services Committee Republicans Introduce Legislation To Block Administration From Using Military Installations To Try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-Calif.), the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and fifteen of his Republican colleagues on the committee today introduced legislation that would block the Administration from using U.S. military installations as venues to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or his 9/11 co-conspirators in civilian courts.

"Military installations are inappropriate locations to try terrorists in civilian trials," said McKeon. "If the Administration heads down this path, it will present unnecessary security risks to our men and women in uniform serving on those installations and their families."

"It is improper to treat Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his henchmen as run-of-the-mill criminals in a civilian court on a military installation. Military bases exist to house and train the men and women of America's Armed Forces to fight al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and around the world--not as a venue that would afford terrorists the rights and privileges of a civilian criminal trial," concluded McKeon.

The legislation, H.R. 4738, states: "None of the installations owned, operated, or under the effective control of the Department of Defense that are located in the United States, its territories or possessions, may be used to commence or continue the prosecution in an Article III court of the United States of an individual [suspected of planning, authorizing, organizing, committing, or aiding the attacks on the United States and its citizens that occurred on September 11, 2001] for any offense that may be prosecuted by military commission."

Joining McKeon as original co-sponsors are: Rep. Todd Akin (R-Missouri), Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Tex.), Rep. John Fleming (R-Louisiana), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-New Jersey), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Flor.), Rep. Todd Platts (R-Penn.), Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Flor.), Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Penn.), Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio),Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Car.), and Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Virginia).