[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10456-10457]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING LISA RADOGNO

  Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I rise to memorialize the life of my 
Washington, DC, scheduler who passed away yesterday, Lisa Radogno.
  This is a picture of her. I am going to give these remarks as if I am 
talking to Lisa because this blow was such a severe one that we 
suffered yesterday.
  Lisa Radogno was one of the brightest lights of my Washington, DC, 
office. She was such a strong supporter of mine, even stronger than I.
  Lisa was a diehard White Sox fan. She even had a White Sox logo 
tattoo on her ankle. We will miss her so very dearly.
  Lisa, I will tell you that this loss is--sorry, Mr. President. I get 
very emotional about this death that just happened yesterday. I want to 
memorialize Lisa, who was so much like her mother, State senator 
Christine Radogno of Lemont, dedicated to the service of the people of 
Illinois. She was a fierce, fierce worker on campaigns and here in the 
Senate. She is somebody I will miss with every fiber of my being. She 
was with me in the House of Representatives and here in the Senate and 
was so proud to represent the people of Illinois here in the Senate.
  To have her die yesterday was a big blow, especially for a young 
woman in her thirties. It is a real shock to my staff to have Lisa gone 
from us.
  Lisa, these days are going to be really hard. I will just say you ran 
the schedule so perfectly. It was a work of art, in your case, to do 
the complicated workings of a House office, of a Senate office, to be 
so perfect and so young in what you did. The staff is all now in shock. 
You were certainly the social light of our operation here in 
Washington, DC.
  I spent a good part of last night on your Facebook page looking at 
pictures of you, and it really caused me to cry a bunch. I will miss 
you, especially in our office, and watching you online quite a bit, 
hoping that Facebook leaves up those pictures forever so I can always 
take a quick look at your smile and remember your humor, which was 
always right at the ready.
  Lisa was such a strong supporter of my office. To have her lost like 
this so suddenly was a big shock to us. This is pretty hard for all of 
us in the Kirk operation to handle.
  Thank you Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I know we have pending now the 
appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice, and Science, which contains 
an important issue I have offered an amendment on, along with Senator 
Chambliss, who is the ranking Republican on the intelligence committee, 
as well as Senators Wicker, Inhofe, Cruz, Graham, and Blunt, all of 
whom serve on the Armed Services Committee, and Senator Vitter and 
Senator Kirk. Our amendment would prohibit the administration from 
transferring to or releasing to the custody or control of any foreign 
country Guantanamo detainees whom our own Guantanamo Review Task Force 
has recommended for continued law-of-war detention.
  This is a task force that looks at all the circumstances surrounding 
those

[[Page 10457]]

who are being held at Guantanamo, including whether they continue to 
represent a danger to our country and to our allies if they were to be 
released.
  Our amendment does three things. It prohibits the transfer to foreign 
countries of these detainees, that this group the administration put 
together to review each of the detainees and their status at Guantanamo 
has recommended them for continued law-of-war detention.
  These are the worst of the worst. These individuals have been 
determined to be the most dangerous to continue to present a risk to 
the United States of America and to our allies if they were to be 
released.
  So our amendment is pretty straightforward. It simply says they 
cannot be transferred to third-party countries--or transferred to the 
United States of America, for that matter--and that they shall remain 
at the secure detention facility, Guantanamo Bay, based on the 
recommendation of the Guantanamo Review Task Force.
  Our amendment would also prevent the transfer of Guantanamo detainees 
to countries that have had prior instances of Guantanamo detainees 
being transferred to that country and then those detainees getting back 
in the fight against us.
  It is pretty common sense. If we have a history with a country where 
we previously, under either the Bush administration or the Obama 
administration, transferred the detainees there and then they have been 
released and have gotten back in the fight against us or our allies, 
why would we want to transfer them to this type of country again? 
Because, obviously, these countries cannot guarantee the security of 
these detainees, and it puts us and our allies at risk.
  Finally, our amendment would prohibit the transfer of Guantanamo 
detainees to countries that have failed to honor their previous 
commitments to the United States of America to monitor, detain, or 
control the travel of former Guantanamo detainees. Again, if we have 
had a prior agreement with a country and we have transferred a detainee 
or detainees there, and they have failed to honor those agreements, why 
would we want to transfer detainees there now?
  The most recent instance of this was the five Taliban dream team who 
were transferred to Qatar, because the country of Qatar actually had a 
prior instance where they failed to honor their commitments to us with 
regard to how they would treat the detention and travel restrictions on 
a Guantanamo detainee.
  I am deeply concerned about the national security implications of the 
five detainees who were transferred in the prisoner swap. In fact, 
having asked our intelligence officials about what will happen to these 
five detainees, what I have heard from them is on a scale of 1 to 10, 4 
out of 5 of those detainees are a 10 for 10 on the likelihood to get 
back in the battle against us or our allies. The fifth is about an 80-
10 scale. We have a 29-percent reengagement rate or recidivism rate 
from those we have held at Guantanamo, meaning 29 percent of them get 
back in the fight against our country, against us, against our 
interests after they have been captured and put in Guantanamo.
  So we have a history here, and it is important if the administration 
is going to transfer anyone out of Guantanamo they not transfer 
individuals who have been found too dangerous to be let loose because 
they have been designated for continued law-of-war detention and they 
present too much of a risk to our country and the world. Second, to not 
transfer these individuals to countries where we have already 
transferred people in the past--and guess what, they couldn't keep them 
secure and they got back in the fight against us and our allies. Third, 
to prohibit transfer to countries that have not honored prior 
commitments when we have transferred a Gitmo detainee there, and that 
would apply to the country the President most recently released the 
five Taliban dream team to who, unfortunately, are going to get back in 
the fight, and that 29 percent are those who have reengaged in the 
fight or are suspected of reengaging in the fight against us.
  Our amendment is straightforward. It is focused on making sure the 
terrorists held at Guantanamo--the most dangerous of those individuals 
who present a threat to our country--are not put in a position where 
they can get back in the fight against us or against our allies.
  We have to think about the men and women in uniform who have put 
their lives on the line to capture these individuals, in some 
instances, and honor our commitment to them to make sure we can hold 
the country safe and secure, to not allow those who have been deemed 
the most dangerous at Guantanamo for continued law of war detention to 
be transferred to a third-party country or not allow us to transfer 
them to countries where we already have a history of either detainees 
getting back in the fight from that country or the country not honoring 
its commitment to the United States of America.
  My prior job was as a prosecutor. I will tell you, it is just a 
matter of common sense. This is a matter of protecting the American 
people from dangerous captured terrorists who we already have in our 
custody, to make sure we are not putting them back in a position where 
they can harm us again.
  I think that is something that America would expect of us. That is 
what I believe our amendment would do. I hope, as we take up this 
appropriations bill, this amendment will be considered so we can pass 
it to ensure that dangerous Guantanamo detainees are not put in a 
position again where they can harm us, our people or our allies because 
too many of them, unfortunately, have already committed acts against 
our country, our people, and our allies, and shame on us if we do not 
do everything we can to prevent that from happening again.
  I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor.

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