[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 14 (Monday, February 1, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S396]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 403--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT UMAR 
FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB SHOULD BE TRIED BY A MILITARY TRIBUNAL RATHER THAN 
                          BY A CIVILIAN COURT

  Mr. VITTER (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Bennett, Mr. 
Chambliss, Mr. Ensign, and Mr. Wicker) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 403

       Whereas Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen, 
     attempted to blow up a transcontinental airliner, Northwest 
     Airlines Flight 253, over Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day 
     2009;
       Whereas Abdulmutallab boarded Flight 253 in Amsterdam using 
     an unrevoked United States visa after having traveled from 
     Yemen, purchasing his ticket with cash, and checking no 
     luggage;
       Whereas prior to the attack on Flight 253, Abdulmutallab's 
     father, a prominent Nigerian banker, warned officials at the 
     United States Embassy in Nigeria that his son was being 
     influenced by Islamic extremists in Yemen;
       Whereas United States intelligence officials learned, based 
     on intercepted al Qaeda communications from Yemen in November 
     2009, that a man named ``Umar Farouk'' had volunteered for an 
     upcoming terrorist attack and had been in contact with Anwar 
     al-Awlaki, the same Yemen-based radical cleric who sent more 
     than a dozen e-mail messages to the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal 
     Malik Hasan;
       Whereas in November 2009, the National Security Agency also 
     intercepted a phone conversation involving al Qaeda 
     operatives in Yemen discussing an unnamed Nigerian man;
       Whereas in December 2009, intelligence officials learned 
     that al Qaeda operatives in Yemen were looking for ``ways to 
     move people to the West'' and specifically mentioning the 
     Christmas Day date;
       Whereas the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had issued 
     finished intelligence regarding Abdulmutallab by Christmas 
     Day 2009, which both the CIA and the National 
     Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) had access to, but did not 
     disseminate more broadly within the intelligence community 
     due to the absence of a photograph of Abdulmutallab, despite 
     the fact that other counterterrorism groups already possessed 
     such a photograph;
       Whereas the intelligence agencies for the United Kingdom 
     revoked Abdulmutallab's British visa because of a fraudulent 
     visa application;
       Whereas after Abdulmutallab was apprehended by United 
     States Customs agents and local police following his failed 
     attack on Flight 253, he spoke freely about receiving 
     training from members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula 
     and stated that other jihadists would follow him;
       Whereas local agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
     (FBI) interrogated Abdulmutallab for 50 minutes, during which 
     time Abdulmutallab disclosed information concerning his 
     training in Yemen and the operation of al Qaeda in the 
     Arabian Peninsula;
       Whereas after 50 minutes, the FBI stopped its interrogation 
     of Abdulmutallab, agreeing to continue the interrogation 
     after he received medical attention for the burns on his legs 
     and groin caused by the failed bomb he had sewn in his 
     underwear;
       Whereas before the FBI agents resumed the interrogation, 
     Attorney General Eric Holder made the decision to extend the 
     rights required under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) 
     to Abdulmutallab and to treat him as a common criminal rather 
     than an unprivileged enemy belligerent who would be subject 
     to military law;
       Whereas the FBI agents, following the decision of Attorney 
     General Holder, read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, 
     including his right to a lawyer and his right to remain 
     silent, at which point Abdulmutallab stopped divulging 
     information and remained silent;
       Whereas information concerning Yemeni terror networks, 
     terrorist training operations, and al Qaeda in the Arabian 
     Peninsula are of the utmost value to the United States in its 
     ongoing war against international terrorism;
       Whereas Attorney General Holder made the decision to extend 
     Miranda rights to Abdulmutallab without consulting the 
     Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, the 
     Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, the NCTC 
     Director, Michael Leiter, the Secretary of Defense, Robert 
     Gates, or the FBI Director, Robert Mueller;
       Whereas Attorney General Holder did not consult the High-
     Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG), which, according to 
     Director Blair, ``was created exactly for th[e] purpose'' of 
     making ``a decision on whether . . . a certain person who's 
     detained should be treated as . . . a case for federal 
     prosecution'';
       Whereas despite the fact that President Barack Obama 
     created the HIG for the specific purpose of interrogating 
     high-value detainees in order to obtain intelligence, the HIG 
     was not yet operational by Christmas Day 2009;
       Whereas given the evidence against Abdulmutallab and the 
     numerous witnesses onboard Flight 253 who saw him attempt to 
     detonate an explosive device, it was not necessary to secure 
     testimony admissible in civilian court by providing Miranda 
     rights to Abdulmutallab;
       Whereas even if testimony that would be admissible in a 
     civilian court was believed to be necessary, Abdulmutallab 
     qualified for an exception to the requirements under Miranda 
     that permits law enforcement officers to interrogate 
     individuals with possible knowledge of an impending terrorist 
     attack;
       Whereas despite the fact that the United States is at war 
     with al Qaeda and deeply concerned about the operation of 
     Islamic terrorist networks in the Arabian Peninsula and in 
     Yemen, a country that continues to harbor the terrorists who 
     attacked the U.S.S. Cole, Attorney General Holder, under the 
     guidance of President Obama, subsequently ordered that 
     Abdulmutallab be prosecuted on criminal charges in a United 
     States civilian court rather than in a military tribunal;
       Whereas under the international law of armed conflict, the 
     United States has the authority to detain enemies who have 
     engaged in combatant actions until the end of hostilities;
       Whereas on September 18, 2001, the Congress passed a Joint 
     Resolution authorizing the use of military force (Public Law 
     107-40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note), stating that ``the President is 
     authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against 
     those nations, organizations, or persons he determines 
     planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist 
     attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such 
     organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts 
     of international terrorism against the United States by such 
     nations, organizations or persons'';
       Whereas following extensive debate and numerous hearings on 
     the topic, both the Senate and the House of Representatives 
     passed the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which became law 
     on October 28, 2009 (title XVIII of Public Law 111-84); and
       Whereas pursuant to the President's authority under the 
     United States Constitution as the Nation's Commander-in-
     Chief, as well as the Congressional authorization for the use 
     of military force under Public Law 107-40, the President has 
     both the authority and the responsibility to detain 
     Abdulmutallab and other foreign terrorists and prosecute them 
     through a military tribunal for their terrorist actions on 
     behalf of al Qaeda: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) foreign terrorists who are enemies of the United States 
     should not be afforded the same rights under the Constitution 
     as United States citizens;
       (2) the most important duty of the Attorney General is to 
     protect the United States from its terrorist enemies;
       (3) the decision by Attorney General Holder to truncate 
     Abdulmutallab's interrogation after only 50 minutes cost the 
     United States Government untold intelligence and has made 
     America less safe;
       (4) Attorney General Holder should not provide 
     Abdulmutallab with a civilian trial, nor should he have 
     ordered that Abdulmutallab be advised of his right to remain 
     silent;
       (5) to the extent possible, foreign terrorist enemy 
     combatants should be tried in military tribunals rather than 
     in civilian courts;
       (6) to the extent that foreign terrorists are prosecuted in 
     civilian courts, they should be thoroughly interrogated for 
     information necessary to protect the United States before 
     they are provided with a lawyer and informed of their right 
     to remain silent; and
       (7) at a minimum, the Attorney General should consult with 
     the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 
     Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the 
     Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of Homeland 
     Security, the Director of the National Counterterrorism 
     Center, the Secretary of Defense, congressional leaders, or 
     the President before unilaterally deciding to terminate the 
     interrogation of a key intelligence source and provide a 
     terrorist enemy with the same rights as those that are 
     guaranteed under the Constitution for United States citizens.

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