Newsletter: Honoring the Memory of William "Blake" Marston

Statement

Dear Friends,

After a busy week in Washington, it's great to be home in New Hampshire where I hit the road today for town hall meetings in Goffstown, Loudon, and Barnstead. These public forums are part of my ongoing effort to hear directly from Granite Staters, and I appreciated the time area residents took to ask questions on a range of issues, including the budget, the economy, and foreign policy.

New Hampshire residents have a lot on their minds - including concerns about our country's national security and the threats we face from Islamist terrorism. As you know, one of the important issues I've worked on since arriving in the Senate has been to make sure our country has a common sense detention and interrogation policy to gather the intelligence we need to prevent future attacks and protect American lives. I continue to be troubled by the administration's renewed effort to release terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay in order to fulfill the president's campaign promise of closing the detention facility. Late Wednesday evening, the administration announced it had transferred yet another 5 Guantanamo detainees while providing virtually no details to the American people regarding the risk the detainees present to our country, the detainee's affiliations with terrorist groups, or the conditions of their release. I am particularly troubled that of the five Yemenis who were transferred this week, four were sent to Oman, which shares a border with Yemen.

On Tuesday, I introduced legislation to restrict the transfers of terrorist detainees from Guantanamo in order to best protect Americans and our national security. This bill would prevent the administration from transferring the most dangerous detainees to other countries and would prevent detainee transfers to Yemen - the headquarters of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and one of the most dangerous countries on earth. It would also require greater transparency from the administration regarding what terrorist activities detainees have previously been engaged in and what terrorist groups they are affiliated with. It's a simple matter of honesty with the American people, and the lack of details provided to the public by the administration about these terrorists demonstrates the need for the transparency that my legislation would require.

Like all Granite Staters, I was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of William "Blake" Marston of Concord, a Navy SEAL who died training to conduct missions that keep us safe. Blake was a patriot who served our nation with honor and courage, and I join all New Hampshire citizens in mourning his loss and honoring his distinguished service. We owe our freedom and security to men like Blake, and my heart goes out to his loved ones at this very difficult time.

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