[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 149 (Tuesday, November 27, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S6975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 3007. Mr. SESSIONS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 3254, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2013 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle H of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1084. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON NEGOTIATING CONCESSIONS 
                   WITH TERRORISTS.

       (a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:
       (1) The United States has a longstanding policy of opposing 
     negotiations with terrorists and terrorist organizations on 
     concessions of any kind, including ransom demands, prisoner 
     releases, and hostage exchanges. This longstanding policy has 
     been repeated by numerous administrations over the past four 
     decades.
       (2) For example, at an August 4, 1975, meeting between 
     President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger 
     and President of Yugoslavia Josip Tito, Secretary Kissinger 
     explained that the United States' ``position is, as it has 
     always been, that we refuse to negotiate and to pay ransom in 
     these cases. We do this in order not to encourage the capture 
     of other Americans for the same purpose.''
       (3) In his comments to President Tito, Secretary Kissinger 
     explained the basis for the United States' policy, as well as 
     his expectation that the United States would never change 
     this no-negotiation policy: ``The American Government will 
     always refuse to negotiate because that is the only way we 
     can keep demands from being made upon us.''
       (4) In the same conversation, President Ford said, ``It's 
     our strong feeling that if we were to breach this hard line 
     that we take there would be no end to the demands being made 
     upon us. We have to be tough and that is right in the long 
     run.''
       (5) On January 20, 1986, President Ronald Reagan issued 
     National Security Decision Directive Number 207, which 
     prohibits negotiations with terrorist organizations regarding 
     the release of hostages.
       (6) National Security Decision Directive 207 sets forth in 
     unequivocal terms the United States' ``firm opposition to 
     terrorism in all its forms'' and makes clear the government's 
     ``conviction that to accede to terrorist demands places more 
     American citizens at risk. This no-concessions policy is the 
     best way of protecting the greatest number of people and 
     ensuring their safety.''
       (7) National Security Decision Directive 207 continues to 
     say: ``The [United States Government] will pay no ransoms, 
     nor permit releases of prisoners or agree to other conditions 
     that could serve to encourage additional terrorism. We will 
     make no changes in our policy because of terrorist threats or 
     acts.''
       (8) Department of State Publication 10217, which was 
     released in similar formats by the administrations of George 
     H.W. Bush in 1991 and Bill Clinton in 1994, espouses the same 
     no-concessions policy and makes clear the United States 
     ``will not support the freeing of prisoners from 
     incarceration in response to terrorist demands''.
       (9) On April 4, 2002, President George W. Bush said, 
     ``Terror must be stopped. No nation can negotiate with 
     terrorists, for there is no way to make peace with those 
     whose only goal is death.''
       (10) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while serving in 
     the United States Senate, wrote in 2007 that the United 
     States ``cannot negotiate with individual terrorists; they 
     must be hunted down and captured or killed''.
       (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that--
       (1) the United States Government should firmly maintain its 
     longstanding policy against negotiating with terrorists and 
     terrorist organizations on any concession or demand; and
       (2) any abandonment or weakening of this policy would 
     endanger the safety of United States citizens, including 
     members of the Armed Forces, and increase terrorist 
     kidnappings, hostage demands, and murders.
                                 ______