Ayotte Inspects Guantanamo Bay Terrorist Detention Facility

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) announced today that she has completed a congressional delegation mission to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where she observed detention operations as part of a one-day official visit that concluded on Friday (3/11) evening. The visit included an intelligence overview, as well as a tour of specific areas of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.

"Guantanamo Bay is a top-notch detention and court facility and I was deeply impressed by the high quality of the military personnel we have in charge there. The visit confirmed my view that the Administration's detention policies are flawed. We should keep Guantanamo open. It is the most appropriate facility to detain newly captured terrorists," said Ayotte.

She continued: "As a former prosecutor, I was impressed by the courtroom at Guantanamo, which should be used to try terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9/11. The Administration should try KSM and the other 9/11 co-conspirators in the military courtroom at Guantanamo, not in a civilian court in the United States. The victims of 9/11 have waited too long for justice because of the Attorney General's misguided decision to try these terrorists in New York City. The opportunity to speak with officials at Guantanamo and observe the state of the art courtroom there and to personally observe how well the detainees are treated will help me continue the effort to develop common sense interrogation and detention policies that hold terrorists accountable and keep Americans safe."

Earlier this week, Ayotte helped introduce the Military Detainee Procedures Improvement Act of 2011, which consists of nine major provisions designed to be consistent with, and reaffirm, the Authorization for Use of Military Force enacted overwhelmingly by Congress after the horrific terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. The legislative package she introduced with Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Scott Brown (R-MA) are intended to provide a solid, statutory foundation for detainee policy, which has been a vexing issue for almost 10 years.

During a meeting last month of the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Ayotte is a member, Defense Secretary Robert Gates testified that "we don't know" what would be done with a high-value terrorist target captured outside an area in which our country is engaged in direct contact. Gates, along with other military leaders, has also confirmed for Ayotte that approximately 25 percent of detainees who have been released from Guantanamo have returned to the terrorist fight.

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