Ayotte, Chambliss Statement on NDAA Provision Preventing Transfer of Guantanamo Detainees to Yemen

Press Release

U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, successfully included a provision in the Senate Armed Service Committee's version of the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the Department of Defense from transferring, releasing, or assisting in the transfer or release of any Guantanamo detainee to Yemen for one year.

"Yemen is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate. Yemen also has a long history of jail breaks and terrorist attacks." said Ayotte and Chambliss. "With 29% of former Guantanamo detainees returning, or being suspected of returning, to terrorism, the administration was wrong to end its moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen. The security of the American people, not a misguided desire to close Guantanamo Bay, should guide decisions regarding detainees. We are pleased a bipartisan majority of the Senate Armed Services Committee approved this common sense prohibition."

Yemen is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which U.S. national security officials have declared as the most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate. The Obama administration imposed a moratorium on transfers to Yemen after it was learned that the 2009 Christmas Day bomber received training from AQAP. The administration has since lifted that moratorium and expressed an interest in potentially transferring detainees at Guantanamo to Yemen.

There have been several high profile attacks and prison breaks in Yemen in recent years that have resulted in members of AQAP going free.

The Ayotte amendment was cosponsored by Senators Chambliss, Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

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