[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.
[[Page S5067]]
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.
[[Page S5068]]
____________________