Report
2 March 2010
Tomorrow, the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a closed door hearing on progress toward the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, with Special Envoy for Guantanamo Bay Ambassador Daniel Fried and senior officials from the Departments of Defense, Justice, and the intelligence community. Closing the prison, which has become a recruiting tool for terrorists worldwide, is part of the Administration's broader counterterrorism strategy.
Report
22 February 2010
This weekend saw a continuation of two parallel trends. First, Generals Colin Powell and David Petraeus continued the trend of America's top national security experts supporting the Obama administration's national security policies. Powell and Petraeus expressed support for a range of policies including prosecuting terrorists through civilian trials, closing Guantanamo Bay, and ending the use of torture or "enhanced interrogation techniques." The annual meeting of the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee) conference demonstrated the second trend: conservatives politicizing national security.
Report
22 January 2010
A year from the day the President pledged to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, a task force led by the Justice Department issued its recommendations on how to get the job done safely. Overheated conservative rhetoric and the legacy of the Bush administration's "sloppy" and incompetent handling of detainees have contributed to delays and obstacles. But the facts laid out by military and intelligence leaders remain the same - closing the facility will make America safer.
Report
7 January 2010
News that some detainees released by President Bush have returned to militant activity is a strong reminder of the persistent challenges America faces in dealing with terrorism. But while this reminder should make us all vigilant, it does not change the national security imperatives for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Report
13 November 2009
Today, the Obama administration announced that five terrorists tied to the 9/11 attacks will be brought to justice in civilian courts. Our nation has a strong tradition of convicting some of the world’s worst terrorists in civilian courts. From the mastermind of the first World Trade Center attack to Zacarias Moussaoui—the "20th Hijacker"—to the shoe-bomber Richard Reid, our prison and court systems have a long track record of keeping our communities safe while bringing dangerous terrorists to justice. The Obama administration is applying the same record of success to the Mastermind of 9/11. In fact, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where these men will be tried, has a long track record of prosecuting terrorists, including Ramzi Yousef.
Report
28 September 2009
After a week of intense international engagement, the administration’s top foreign policy officials hit the Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the difficult foreign policy decisions that lie ahead. Fareed Zakaria laid out the stakes for the Administration, taken together: “He wants to demonstrate at home that engagement does not make America weak.” This weekend, the President’s top advisors took on a number of serious issues: Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, the detention center at Guantanamo Bay – and confirmed that the Administration is moving forward with its core strategy of strength through engagement while carefully considering the implications of its policy decisions. On ABC’s ‘This Week’ Bob Woodward drew a contrast with the past: “As we all know from covering George W. Bush, all you had to do was find out what his gut was and then they would have meetings about how to implement what his gut was. In this case, I don’t think Obama has a gut, and he has opened the door very aggressively to other options, and they’re not going to be rushed.”
Report
11 September 2009
Eight years ago today America was attacked. Today we pause to look back and honor those who died as well as those who struggled and sacrificed to defend us on that day and ever since. As we look back, it is worth remembering how eight years ago the world rose united in grief and support, and how Americans rose to support each other and to turn new attention to foreign affairs. But this year, significant steps from the Obama administration have changed the way we fight terrorism – changes that are making us safer today and in the future, and once again inviting the world to stand beside us united.
Press Release
27 August 2009
As military and national security officials who have spent our entire careers fighting to protect the American people and the defend country from attack, we all agree that the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay needs to be closed.That is why we were disappointed last week—during a town hall meeting in Standish, MI, whose prison is a possible site to detain terror suspects —to hear you politicize such a critical national security issue and disseminate misrepresentations and exaggerations about closing Guantanamo and the possibility of housing terrorist suspects on American soil. In doing so, you spread fear in order to score political points, and perpetuate the Bush/Cheney era strategy of seeking political victories instead of doing what’s right to protect the country.
Report
25 August 2009
Yesterday brought more clarity on the failed interrogation and detention policies of the Bush administration—including new insight into the torture and abuse that permeated their prosecution of the “War on Terror.” But it also brought forward important reforms from the Obama administration: looking at best practices from professional interrogators in the FBI, CIA and elsewhere to create policies that will make America more secure and prevent abuses.
Report
27 July 2009
On Friday, one of the GOP’s top national security voices in the House of Representatives, Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), contradicted the leadership of his own party by acknowledging the reality that U.S. prisons are capable of holding Guantanamo detainees. Leading conservatives have launched numerous political attacks over the last few months arguing that closing Guantanamo would bring terrorists into our backyards. These arguments, as President Obama said in May, are not “rational.”
