[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       LEGISLATION TO UPDATE THE STATE DEPARTMENT REWARDS PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, a few hours ago I received a phone call from 
Captain Clay Fearnow, my former commanding officer in the Navy during 
the Kosovo conflict. Clay told me of a terrible loss we had suffered in 
the Navy family as part of the Pentagon disaster. Most of the Navy 
Command Center was hit, including the Chief of Naval Operations 
Intelligence plot offices. It is a point of intense personal loss for 
me and my family because of that information. My wife and I worked in 
that office. We know many people there. We want to offer our sympathy 
and support to the families of the victims in the Naval Intelligence 
Community that suffered this loss on Tuesday.
  Mr. Speaker, we can do something about this, and I want to offer one 
suggestion in the form of legislation that we will be offering later on 
today.
  In a previous life as a congressional staffer, I worked on 
legislation concerning the State Department Rewards Program offered for 
information leading to the arrest of individuals who lead terrorist 
attacks against Americans and American targets. This has been a very 
successful program, one until recently, where up to $1 million was 
offered for the apprehension of these international criminals. Mr. 
Kansi that led the attack against people outside the CIA was one of the 
criminals caught by this program.
  We had to update this program 2 years ago because the awards offered 
had become outdated and, in legislation lead by the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Gilman) of the Committee on International Relations, we 
raised that amount to $5 million. The program has grown and it has led 
to things like this.
  After the Africa embassy bombings, the State Department was able to 
produce posters like this, and I want to publicize today that under 
current U.S. law and authorities available, there is a $5 million 
reward offered for the arrest of Osama bin Laden for a previous 
terrorist attack against U.S. embassies in Africa. These rewards are 
offered up to $5 million for attackers against American embassies, 
bases, and American individuals, and for the arrest of United Nations 
war criminals. I will say in the former Yugoslav Republic of Bosnia, 
over two dozen war criminals have been apprehended, including now the 
most famous, the former Serbian President, Slobodan Milosevic.
  At the end of this day today, we will be offering legislation to 
increase the reward amount for terrorists that lead attacks against 
Americans to $25 million, and we will authorize up to $50 million in 
the rewards account. We need to offer additional funds because of the 
changing enemy we face. Probably for the first time in our history, we 
now know that many of the enemies we face are very wealthy individuals. 
It is also likely that they have the backing of governments, and higher 
awards are needed to spark the imagination of the public and press in 
other countries.
  I want to commend the leaders of this effort that have already agreed 
to join us, such as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), a real leader in catching war 
criminals and for the arrest of people who lead terrorist attacks 
against individuals. I also want to thank Chairman Smith who oversees 
the State Department accounts and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Blunt) and many others who have agreed to sign on to this legislation. 
For other Members interested in signing on, we will be leaving the 
books open for original cosponsors until the close of business today.
  I think this is one of the many aspects of the battle that we are yet 
to face, but with an increased awards account, I think we can show 
everyone the seriousness of our effort and help energize the 
investigation which is now ongoing.

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