[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E21-E22]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TERRORIST REWARDS ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARK STEVEN KIRK

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 6, 2009

  Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Terrorist Rewards 
Enhancement

[[Page E22]]

Act. This bill will assist in our fight against terrorism around the 
globe. Currently, the terrorist rewards program run by the State 
Department assists in our hunt for terrorists by promising a cash 
reward or other type of reward for information leading to the arrest of 
some of the world's most deadly terrorists. This program has been very 
successful in the past in apprehending key people including Mir Amal 
Kansi, a terrorist who had murdered two CIA employees and injured three 
others in a 1993 shooting outside CIA headquarters in Virginia.
  Under current law, the U.S. may not pay a reward to an officer or 
employee of another government. I have traveled to Pakistan each of the 
last 4 years, where I met with a number of government officials. At the 
strong suggestion of Pakistan's ISI and IB intelligence and police 
bureaus, I believe the President should be able to pay such a reward to 
anyone having information leading us to the greatest terrorists. If 
there is anyone, anywhere, even if they work for a Pakistani government 
agency, who has information about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, 
we should be doing all we can to elicit that information.
  With the increasing number of cross-border incursions into 
Afghanistan coming from the Waziristan region of Pakistan, it is more 
important than ever to develop a complete picture of where al Qaeda and 
Taliban terrorists are hiding. We need to provide our State Department 
and intelligence officials with all the possible tools to aid in the 
capture of the world's number one terrorist. The Terrorist Rewards 
Enhancement Act will provide one more of these tools.

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