Conference Report on H.R. 1540, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I have a unique position in Congress in that I serve both on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. The House Armed Services Committee is charged with the responsibility of protecting the security of America from external threats. The Judiciary Committee is charged with the awesome responsibility of protecting the rights of Americans to live freely and protecting that from internal threats.

I know that my service on the Armed Services Committee has been good, and I appreciate the bipartisanship with which our chairman and the ranking member addressed the issues for keeping America safe from external threat. I must commend you for, at very difficult times, in reaching this particular product.

However, I rise in opposition to this defense authorization bill reached in conference committee because it does disturb the rights that Americans have come to enjoy under our Constitution.

We have sworn to uphold our Constitution of the United States of America regardless of which committee you serve on. Yet we're about to give our seal of approval to a bill that gives the military the authority to hold American citizens captured abroad on suspicion of terrorism, and to hold them indefinitely without trial.

This is a codification of an unfortunate Supreme Court ruling that is wrong, and it gives that ruling statutory legitimacy.

Mr. Speaker, we must reject indefinite detention of Americans and defend the Constitution. An American arrested abroad could be subject to indefinite detention abroad, and that's wrong. No matter how you spin it, it's wrong. It's unjust, it's Orwellian, and it's not who we are.

As Americans, we don't put Americans in jail indefinitely without trial no matter how heinous the accusations against them. This is not what we are about. This is not who we are. It's against our values as Americans, and for this reason, I cannot support the bill.

The bill also makes the military, not civilian law enforcement authorities, responsible for custody and prosecution in the military courts of foreign terrorist suspects apprehended within the United States. This provision disrespects and demoralizes our law enforcement officers and prosecutors who are responsible for protecting our national security using the United States criminal justice system and process, which has been effectively used repeatedly to investigate, arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate for long stints individuals who are convicted of terrorism.

Imagine you're an FBI agent or a Federal prosecutor with a tremendous record finding, arresting, convicting, locking up terrorists. Now you're told to step aside so that the military can do your job for you. The military is a machine of war, not a law enforcement agency.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source