[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 113 (Wednesday, July 13, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5066-S5068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF FBI-FACILITATED RANSOM PAYMENTS

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about allegations 
that the FBI has facilitated ransom payments to terrorist groups. 
Unfortunately, the administration has been stonewalling the Senate 
Judiciary Committee's investigation into the matter.
  We have seen many terrible terrorist attacks recently. The 
government's highest duty is to provide for national security. That 
means fighting the radical Islamic terrorist groups that mean us harm.
  An important part of fighting radical Islamic terrorist groups is 
going after their funding. The U.S. Government should do everything it 
can to stop money from flowing to groups like al Qaeda and ISIS.
  The government has had significant successes in fighting terrorist 
funding. Ransom payments for hostages are one of the key sources of 
funds for terrorist groups to raise money.
  The government should not be participating in helping to make such 
payments. Yet, in April of last year, the Wall Street Journal reported 
that the FBI had helped facilitate a $250,000 ransom payment to al 
Qaeda.
  It was from the family of kidnapped aid worker Warren Weinstein back 
in 2012. That report was later confirmed by 60 Minutes in an interview 
with Dr. Weinstein's widow.
  Around the same time as that Wall Street Journal article, Army LTC 
Jason Amerine contacted Judiciary Committee staff. He is a decorated 
war hero who reached out to Congressman Hunter, Senator Johnson, and to 
my office, to raise concerns about ineffective hostage-recovery 
efforts. He alleged that the FBI was involved in a ransom payment made 
in an effort to recover SGT Bowe Bergdahl.
  To be clear, the U.S. Government should take all appropriate measures 
to recover American hostages.
  But those measures cannot include ransom payments that end up funding 
more terrorist operations.
  Ransom payments are big business for terrorist groups. According to a 
2014 investigation by the New York Times, Al Qaeda and its affiliates 
have taken in at least $125 million from kidnapping for ransom since 
2008.
  ISIS also takes in huge amounts from ransom payments. The United 
Nations estimated that ISIS collected between $35 and $45 million in 
ransom payments in 2014 alone.
  This is a serious threat to our national security.

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  In 2012, David S. Cohen, who was the Treasury Department's Under 
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the time, 
explained why in a presentation on the issue.
  He said:

       Ransom payments lead to future kidnappings, and future 
     kidnappings lead to additional ransom payments.
       And it all builds the capacity of terrorist organizations 
     to conduct attacks.
       Al Qaeda affiliates use ransom money to help fund the full 
     range of their activities, including recruiting and 
     indoctrinating new members, paying salaries, establishing 
     training camps, acquiring weapons and communications gear and 
     helping to support the next generation of violent extremist 
     groups.

  Paying ransoms incentivizes terrorists to kidnap more people, and it 
funds their terrorist attacks.
  The administration says it is still U.S. policy for the government to 
deny hostage-takers the benefits of ransom. But its policy on helping 
others make ransom payments is murky.
  If the FBI pays lip-service to the no-ransom policy by not making 
payments itself, but facilitates payments by others, then the financial 
incentive for terrorists to kidnap people remains the same.
  The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the Department of 
Justice, including the FBI.
  The FBI's hostage-recovery efforts, including any facilitated ransom 
payments, must be subject to constitutional oversight by the committee.
  The Justice Department has failed to fully cooperate with the 
committee's inquiries.
  In May of last year I wrote to the Attorney General.
  I asked several questions about the FBI's alleged involvement in 
facilitating payments to terrorist groups.
  Among other things, I asked: ``Has the FBI been involved in any 
transfer of money in connection with attempts to secure the release of 
hostages held by al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network, ISIS, or 
associated forces?''
  The Justice Department failed to respond for 5 months.
  In the meantime, the President issued Executive Order 13698 and 
Presidential Policy Directive 30. Those established a new hostage-
recovery policy as the result of an interagency review.
  Then, 5 months after I sent my questions to the Attorney General, the 
Justice Department finally sent me a response. That response failed to 
answer my questions. Instead, the response just summarized the public 
documents released by the administration when it announced its new 
hostage-recovery policy.
  Merely pointing to publicly available documents is not good faith 
cooperation with independent fact finding. So I wrote to the White 
House last fall.
  I asked that the administration provide the committee the classified 
parts of the new hostage-recovery policy, PPD-30, as well as the 
classified part of the policy it replaced, NSPD-12. But the 
administration failed to share those classified parts of the policies 
with the Committee.
  Think about that. The FBI plays a key role in hostage-recovery 
efforts. The Judiciary Committee is responsible for overseeing the FBI. 
Yet, the administration refuses to even tell the Committee in full what 
its written policies say. That kind of stonewalling is unacceptable.
  I referred the matter to the Inspector General for the Department of 
Justice last October. In February, he informed me that his office had 
opened an initial inquiry. That inquiry is ongoing. My investigation 
continues as well.
  Yesterday I sent another letter to Attorney General Lynch and 
Director Comey seeking complete answers to my questions and complete 
copies of the policy documents.
  If the public reports are accurate, then there is a very real 
possibility that the FBI has helped send millions of dollars to al 
Qaeda and ISIS. That money inevitably was used to help terrorists kill 
more innocent people.
  The Judiciary committee needs all the facts to get to the bottom of 
this. The FBI should cooperate. The Department of Justice should 
cooperate. The White House should cooperate.
  FBI Director Comey and Attorney General Lynch should fully respond to 
all the questions in my May 2015 letter.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of that letter be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                   Committee on the Judiciary,

                                      Washington, DC, May 1, 2015.
     Hon. Loretta Lynch,
     Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
       Dear Attorney General Lynch: I am writing in regard to the 
     Federal Bureau of Investigation's policies and practices 
     regarding ransom payments in hostage recovery efforts. On 
     April 29, 2015, the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed 
     senior U.S. officials, reported that ``the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation helped facilitate a 2012 ransom payment to al 
     Qaeda from the family of kidnapped aid worker Warren 
     Weinstein[.]'' The article alleges that, although the FBI 
     claims it did not directly approve or authorize a ransom 
     payment, it nonetheless ``vetted a Pakistani middleman used 
     by the family to transport the money and provided other 
     intelligence to enable the exchange.'' The article also 
     quoted U.S. officials as saying that, ``the family was 
     particularly encouraged by the ransom option when the FBI 
     said it was probably the best chance to win Mr. Weinstein's 
     release.'' Another recent news article reported that the 
     government ``is reviewing its policy preventing families of 
     hostages to pay ransom to kidnappers[.]''
       In order to evaluate the FBI's policies and procedures 
     related to ransom payments to terrorist organizations as part 
     of hostage recovery efforts, please provide the Committee 
     with answers to the following questions by May 15, 2015:
       1. Was the FBI involved in a payment of a ransom in an 
     attempt to recover Dr. Weinstein?
       2. Did the FBI vet a Pakistani middleman for the Weinstein 
     family to use in making a ransom payment to al Qaeda in an 
     attempt to recover Dr. Weinstein?
       3. Did the FBI provide other intelligence to enable the 
     ransom payment? If so, what intelligence was provided? To 
     whom was it provided?
       4. What other steps, if any, did the FBI take to facilitate 
     the ransom payment?
       5. What steps, if any, did the FBI take in preparation for 
     a potential release of Dr. Weinstein following the ransom 
     payment to secure his safe return to the United States?
       6. What happened to the ransom money after Dr. Weinstein 
     was not released?
       7. What steps, if any, did the FBI take to secure a return 
     of funds to the Weinstein family?
       8. Has the FBI been involved in any transfer of money in 
     connection with attempts to secure the release of hostages 
     held by al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network, ISIS, or 
     associated forces?
       9. What are the FBI's policies and procedures relating to 
     ransom payments, whether by the U.S. Government or third 
     parties, in hostage recovery efforts?
       10. What audit procedures, if any, are in place to ensure 
     FBI compliance with these policies, procedures, and all 
     applicable law?
       11. Have those audit procedures, if they exist, revealed 
     any violation of FBI policies, procedures, or applicable law? 
     Has the FBI otherwise learned of such violations?
       12. If any violations were found, what remedial or punitive 
     actions were taken?
       13. What is the status of the FBI's current hostage 
     recovery efforts for those hostages believed to be held by 
     terrorist groups?
       14. Is FBI facilitation of ransom payments by the families 
     of hostages being considered as an option in those recovery 
     efforts?
       Please number your responses to match their corresponding 
     questions. Please also provide FBI personnel to brief the 
     Judiciary Committee on these issues after you have provided 
     your responses, but in any event no later than May 22, 2015. 
     If you have any questions about this request, please feel 
     free to contact Patrick Davis of my Committee staff. Thank 
     you for your attention to this important matter.
           Sincerely,
                                              Charles E. Grassley,
                                                         Chairman.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. There is no excuse for stonewalling oversight, but it 
is especially inexcusable in a matter as important as this. It is 
shocking that the only answer the FBI can come up with to these 
allegations is silence. Burying our heads in the sand does not make the 
issue go away.
  If our government is assisting in paying ransom money to terrorists, 
Congress needs to know, the public needs to know.
  The government officials involved need to be accountable. The facts 
cannot be hidden from the FBI's oversight committee. The policies 
implementing our laws on this topic cannot be kept secret from the 
FBI's oversight committee.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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