Providing for Consideration of H.R. 5136, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, we have been lucky, lucky over the skies of Detroit, lucky in Times Square, but we will not be lucky forever. We need to be proactive in our ability to gather intelligence and prevent terrorist attacks before they even get started. Catching somebody on the plane going back to Pakistan after they have delivered an explosive device is not success; it's failure. Catching them when they are on the plane in Pakistan coming to the United States would be an intelligence success.

Prevention means speed and agility. Prosecution means slow and methodical. Both have their place. But when we are trying to protect the United States of America, Mr. Speaker, we need to be quick and agile and move quickly and use every bit of intelligence we can get from a detainee before we move into the prosecution phase.

Unfortunately, the majority did not allow that to happen. We said, Listen, when somebody comes into detention, every bit of actionable intelligence should be exhausted before they are turned over to the Department of Justice to have their Miranda rights read. It's a simple amendment. It's an honest amendment. It's an amendment that will keep us safe. They tell you, Well, we already have that prohibition against soldiers reading Miranda rights on the battlefield. So what? They don't read Miranda rights on the battlefield, but Federal law enforcement agents do. And that's what's happening.

We are losing valuable information. And, predictably, these detainees are starting to say, Well, listen, if you are saying I don't have to talk until you provide me a lawyer, guess what, I won't. And equally predictably, guess what, we have had more almost successful attacks. And if we are counting on a t-shirt guy in Times Square to solve our terrorist problem, or the guy that's checking your luggage at the airport to catch that terrorist before they get on the plane, or the gate guard at a military base, we are going to lose.

This is about common sense. We should reject this rule. It has denied our ability for our intelligence agencies to get the information from detainees that will save lives. Again, I urge the rejection of this rule.

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