Nomination of Gerald J. Pappert to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Floor Speech

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Ms. AYOTTE. I thank my colleague from Georgia, Senator Chambliss, for his incredible leadership on the Intelligence Committee, on the Armed Services Committee, and his deep commitment to ensuring that our country remains safe, that our freedoms are protected. I daresay from the time I have been in the Senate, Senator Chambliss is one of the most knowledgeable people in this body about the threats we face, how we address those threats, and how we ensure that America remains safe. I thank Senator Chambliss for his incredible leadership in this body, not only on the issue of how do we address ensuring that the detainees who are held--who are very dangerous--at Guantanamo Bay do not present additional threats to our country and to our allies, but on so many issues, ensuring that our intelligence officials have strong information and oversight to ensure that America remains protected.

I rise in support of what my colleague from Georgia has just talked about. If we look at what is happening around the world, the recent developments with ISIS, combined with the continuing threats we face here at home from Al Qaeda and its affiliates, it underscores the continuing need we have for a military detention facility that is outside the United States of America, that prevents enemy combatants who are at war with us from returning to the battle, and allows us a secure location to gather intelligence, to ensure that when we capture a member of Al Qaeda, or when we capture one of its affiliates that is in a position where the organization is threatening the United States of America that we take the opportunity to ensure there is a full and complete interrogation of those terrorists to make sure we know everything they know, to ensure we can prevent future attacks, and that the United States of America is protected.

So I would argue, as we look at what is happening around the world, the need for this detention facility actually has become more apparent. Yet what we have seen with the administration, as Senator Chambliss has so eloquently outlined, is there has been a push--there was a political promise made in the President's campaign to close Guantanamo Bay. Despite having a policy as to how we are going to handle the capture of these enemy combatants, one that he worked with Congress on, and how we will ensure the full interrogation of those combatants to ensure information we need to protect our country, we have seen a rush to release people from Guantanamo Bay that has been accelerated recently, as my colleague from Georgia talked about, where the Department of Defense has announced the transfer of seven detainees fairly recently.

Some of those detainees were reportedly assessed to be high risk. There are also questions about what are the conditions the countries that are taking these detainees are going to ensure so they do not return to the fight, where we have direct evidence of a 29-percent reentry rate with those who have been released from Guantanamo Bay, not just under this administration but under prior administrations, who are confirmed or suspected of having reengaged in terrorism.

There is nothing that must appall our troops more than to be on the battlefield, or our intelligence officials or our allies, to reencounter a terrorist we had safely detained at a detention facility, at Guantanamo Bay, and to see that person again and to know they continue to be a threat to the United States of America and to our interests.

I would urge, I hope, my colleagues, now more than ever, that it is important we have that detention facility there that is safe, secure, and we can ensure that those who are captured, who want to do us harm, members of Al Qaeda terrorist groups--that we can ensure they cannot get back in this battle against us.

I specifically want to talk about the country of Yemen, because as a member of the Armed Services Committee--and Senator Chambliss supported this effort--we passed an amendment in the Senate Armed Services Committee that would have prohibited the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the country of Yemen until December 31 of 2015. That provision was removed during the conference committee. I am being told we will not have a chance to debate that issue on the Senate floor or to amend the Defense authorization as it comes to the floor because--this is something that I cannot understand, why this provision was removed and why the administration would want the ability to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen.

Let's talk about what is happening in Yemen. Last May, President Obama, in my view unwisely, lifted the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen. Since that decision was made, between the date of the President's and the administration's order that we could potentially release detainees to Yemen--let me outline what has happened in Yemen since then.

That country has continued to be a place where there is instability, lack of government control, and, in fact, between November 24 and December 2 of 2014, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula reportedly claimed responsibility for 17 attacks in 8 Yemeni provinces.

I have a laundry list of very dangerous attacks that have occurred in Yemen. One of the most troubling things that has occurred--as we think about those who are present at Guantanamo who are very dangerous individuals, a number of them are Yemeni.

If they were to be transferred back to the country of Yemen--for example, in February of 2014, militants attacked Yemen's main prison, killing 7 and enabling 29 inmates to escape, including 19 members who were convicted members of Al Qaeda.

So I don't know why the administration would seek to transfer Guantanamo detainees to this country, where there have been prison breaks and where there have been multiple incidences of violent attacks by Al Qaeda. Yet this provision got dropped from the Defense authorization even though it had the support of the Senate committee. I am very troubled by that.

I am very troubled we will not have an opportunity to debate that on the floor. I would hope the administration would look very closely at the record of what has occurred in Yemen since the President has made the decision to end the moratorium on transfers to Yemen because it is an incredible list of dangerous activities and prison breaks by members of Al Qaeda.

So there is no way if we transfer someone from Gitmo to Yemen there, we can guarantee that those individuals will not get back in the fight, that they will not escape from any prison we put them in because that country cannot secure their security.

I want to talk about a very important issue as we look at this issue of the administration's rush to close Guantanamo; that is, the issue of ISIS.

There have been reports that a certain number of former Guantanamo detainees may be fighting with ISIS. We all saw--with horror--the acts of ISIS, how brutal they are, and the brutality that they have taken out on Americans, including one of my constituents. We all know ISIS is a group the President himself has said we need to defeat.

I have written the President and asked him about these reports. In fact, I wrote a letter to President Obama and requested that all international transfers be suspended until we could know more about potential Guantanamo detainees whom we released who may be getting in the fight in support of ISIS. It was recently reported that one former Guantanamo detainee has pledged his allegiance to the leader of ISIS and is recruiting fighters for ISIS in northern Pakistan.

If that is true we need to revisit not only ensuring that we aren't transferring dangerous detainees from Guantanamo to countries such as Yemen--and allowing them to be in a position to get back in the fight--but that we are also ensuring that we have a moratorium on transfers until we understand how many of these detainees may actually be joining ISIS and present a threat to us.

This issue--as we look at the national security challenges we face now--we have to reevaluate. I would hope the President would reevaluate the campaign promise he made in light of the national security threats we face. Now is not the time to be closing the facility of Guantanamo when we are presented with so many threats around the world--not only from Al Qaeda but from ISIS--and we need a secure facility to ensure that those who are there now, who are tremendously dangerous individuals, don't get back in the fight to continue to harm us and our allies. Also, we need to ensure that if future enemy combatants are captured who are members of Al Qaeda or its affiliates, that they have a secure place where they can be held and fully interrogated.

I again thank my colleague from Georgia for his leadership on this issue and on so many national security issues.

I yield the floor.

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