[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17103-17104]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             GUANTANAMO BAY

  Mr. LEAHY. More than 12 years after the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, as we see our military presence in Afghanistan wind down, 
it is time to take a hard look at our counterterrorism policy. We need 
to consider which of our policies are working and which, while perhaps 
well-intentioned when they were adopted in the highly charged weeks and 
months after 9/11, are not making us safer. There is ample evidence 
that the status quo is unsustainable.
  As recent revelations have made clear, we need a careful review of 
our surveillance activities. For example, this summer many Americans 
learned for the first time that Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act has 
for years been secretly interpreted to authorize the collection of 
Americans' phone records on an unprecedented scale.
  Despite the massive privacy intrusion of this program, the executive 
branch has not made the case that this program is uniquely valuable to 
protecting our national security, and that is why I introduced the 
bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act with Congressman Sensenbrenner. We want to 
end this dragnet collection and place appropriate safeguards on a wide 
range of government surveillance authorities.
  We also must close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. In the 
coming days the Senate will take up and debate the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. That act contains many 
provisions that are central to our national security, and many of those 
provisions will help our allies around the world.
  Among the most important are provisions that would help make it 
possible to close the facility at Guantanamo. As long as Guantanamo 
remains open, it

[[Page 17104]]

doesn't protect our national security. It serves as a recruiting tool 
for terrorists, it needlessly siphons away critical national security 
dollars, and discredits America's historic role as a global leader that 
defends human rights and the rule of law. As a United States Senator, I 
feel that this is not the face of America I want the world to see.
  Currently, 164 individuals remain detained at Guantanamo. Most of 
them have been there for more than a decade. More than half--84--have 
been cleared for transfer to another country, but efforts to do so have 
stalled largely due to irrationally onerous restrictions imposed by 
Congress. These unnecessary and counterproductive hurdles have made it 
all but impossible to close Guantanamo, and they have also severely 
damaged our credibility when we criticize other governments for their 
use of indefinite detention. We used to be able to do that. Now they 
look at us and say: How can you speak?
  Provisions in the 2014 NDAA would ease these restrictions. While they 
are incremental, they would streamline procedures for transferring 
detainees to other countries, and, where appropriate, allow them to be 
transferred to the United States for trial or detention. These are 
common sense changes and they are necessary if we are serious about 
putting an end to what I believe is an ugly chapter in our history.
  There are some who will come to the floor of this Chamber over the 
next several days to tell us how dangerous and irresponsible it would 
be to close Guantanamo. I would answer that the facts are simply not 
with them. The bottom line is that Guantanamo hurts us; it does not 
help us.
  Guantanamo does not make us safer. We are all committed--all of us in 
this body--to protecting the national security of the United States and 
the American people, but Guantanamo undermines those efforts. Our 
national security and military leaders have concluded that keeping 
Guantanamo open is itself a risk to our national security. The facility 
continues to serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists. It weakens our 
alliances with key international partners.
  Guantanamo does not hold terrorists accountable. The military 
commission system for trying these detainees does not work. Federal 
courts have recently overturned two Guantanamo convictions in opinions 
that will actually prevent the military commission prosecutors from 
bringing conspiracy and material charges against detainees--a fact 
acknowledged by the lead military prosecutor at Guantanamo.
  These charges, however, can be pursued in Federal courts where our 
prosecutors have a strong track record of obtaining long prison 
sentences against those who seek to do us harm. Since 
9/11, Federal courts have convicted more than 500 terrorism-related 
suspects, and they remain securely behind bars.
  Guantanamo is also diverting scarce resources from critical national 
security efforts at a time when the Department of Defense faces deep 
and ongoing cuts. Most Americans would be surprised to know how much it 
costs to maintain Guantanamo. It costs about $450 million a year to 
house 164 individuals. That means we are spending about $2.7 million 
per detainee every year--every year--year in, year out, and some have 
been there for more than a decade.
  In Federal prisons, it costs less than $80,000 a year to hold an 
individual, compared to $2.7 million at Guantanamo. So $80,000 at our 
most secure Federal prisons, which have housed hundreds of convicted 
terrorists for decades. There has never been an escape. And, despite 
the fact the Pentagon rejected a request earlier this year to spend 
hundreds of millions of dollars to overhaul the aging compound, House 
Republicans included this spending in their version of the National 
Defense Authorization Act.
  We can't get money for school lunches for our children, we can't get 
money for the Women, Infants, and Children Program, but we can continue 
to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more for Guantanamo. Our 
priorities as Americans are upside down.
  The money squandered on this long-failed experiment would be better 
served helping disabled veterans returning home from war and soldiers 
preparing to defend our Nation in the future. We don't have enough 
money to do that, but we have enough money to keep Guantanamo open. 
Come on. This waste must end.
  Guantanamo has undermined our reputation as a champion of human 
rights. Countries that respect the rule of law and human rights do not 
lock away prisoners indefinitely without charge or trial. We condemn 
authoritarian states that carry out such practices and we should not 
tolerate them ourselves, even for our worst enemies. We are a better 
people than that.
  The status quo at Guantanamo is untenable and I appreciate President 
Obama's renewed vow to shutter this unnecessary, expensive, and 
counterproductive prison. But in order for the President's plan to be 
successful, Congress has to do its part.
  We have to pass common sense provisions in the National Defense 
Authorization Act. I thank Senator Levin for his leadership on this 
issue as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I stand 
solidly with Senators Feinstein, Durbin, and others who have long 
recognized that it is in our national security interest to close 
Guantanamo. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do, it is the 
morally responsible thing to do, and, above all, it will actually make 
our country safer.
  For over a decade, the indefinite detention of prisoners at 
Guantanamo has contradicted our most basic principles of justice, 
degraded our international standing, and harmed our national security. 
It is shameful we are still debating this issue. The status quo is 
unacceptable. Close Guantanamo.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. 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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