WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today spoke on the Senate floor emphasizing that in the wake of the recent terror attacks, now is the “absolute” wrong time for the administration to be putting forth a plan to relocate Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States mainland, particularly when there has been no intelligence assessment on the danger of such a move. 

“The question is, how can the Administration ask Kansans, or any Americans, to paint a bullseye on their community without providing assurances that moving detainees to the U.S. will not pose a threat to them or our national security?" Roberts said. “It seems unfathomable, and yet, this president is proposing to do just that.” 

“As our nation memorializes those who perished in France, it is the absolute wrong time for President Obama and this Administration to be putting forth a plan to relocate Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States mainland.” 

He continued, “We must put national security back as our top priority. It must be our first duty in the Congress, and by the Commander-in-Chief. America’s national security is my top priority and bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States is not putting our nation’s security above politics, campaign promises, or anything else.”   

Roberts yesterday wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter demanding answers about the intelligence on the consequences to national security of this move, saying “How can the Administration decide that moving these terrorists is in our best interests if we do not have an analysis of the threats? With both the American people and the Congress opposed to this executive action, how is the President reaching this decision?” 

Roberts also noted that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch agrees that “if the president acts by Executive Order, he is acting unconstitutionally.” 

To download or view Senator Roberts’ remarks on the Senate floor, click the image below. 

The following is text of Senator Roberts’ remarks as prepared for delivery:

Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate the French government for taking aggressive and appropriate action to arrest and kill the terrorists responsible for last Fridays vicious attack in Paris that resulted in 129 killed and over 300 wounded. 

We pray for the full recovery of those wounded and note that everywhere within our country we see the American flag at half-staff along with many displaying the flag of our ally France.

So, the good news today is that the mastermind of several terrorist plots and the plot killing so many last Friday is dead.  The wishes of his family – an incredible situation, reality check, message and challenge – have been achieved and – Abdelhamid Abaaoud – died in the same fashion as his victims. So be it. 

Vive la France! Continuer le combat! Keep up the fight. 

This tragic event has been a terrible reminder that true evil persists in this world as individuals continue to plot, plan, and execute terrorist attacks on the West. 

Mr. President, as our nation memorializes those who perished in France, it is the absolute wrong time for President Obama and this Administration to be putting forth a plan to relocate Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States mainland. 

The absolute wrong time. 

Now, we learn that the Administration has delayed the much publicized but secret plan to close Guantanamo and bring terrorists to the United States. 

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, “I don’t have any additional guidance for you but the plan will come relatively soon.” Others state the plan could even be released while the president is gone for the G-20 meeting in Turkey. As an aside I suggest he might try to move the terrorists there.

Mr. President, the reason President Obama delayed the plan is that we have had a terrorist attack in France, France has gone to war and the United States is on high alert. Apparently he has tossed this decision and public announcement regarding “the plan” to the Department of Defense who has stated there is nothing imminent. Thank goodness for that.  

Now, beyond the security threat this poses to our communities in Kansas, South Carolina, or Colorado – the sites which this Administration has surveyed for potential relocation – there has been no intelligence assessment regarding the danger of moving enemy combatants from Guantanamo to the U.S. 

The question is, how can the Administration ask Kansans, or any Americans, to paint a bullseye on their community without providing assurances that moving detainees to the U.S. will not pose a threat to them or our national security? 

It seems unfathomable, and yet, this president is proposing to do just that. 

This president’s unending affinity for executive orders risks overriding his Attorney General’s view of the law, the advice of those at the Department – especially those close to Ft. Leavenworth and military law enforcement, against the will of Congress which voted 91-3 to  maintain a prohibition on moving detainees to the mainland, and absolutely no intelligence to support the move. None. 

In short, the Senate, Congress, the Department of Defense, the Attorney General, and the American people have spoken.   

Yesterday, I wrote Department of Defense Secretary Carter to ask whether an intelligence report has been done to support the Administration’s claims that Guantanamo Bay is a recruiting tool for ISIS and other terrorist organizations. 

As a matter of fact, common sense tells you moving detainees to the mainland would be a GREATER recruiting tool for ISIS and other terrorist organizations. 

I asked if an assessment showed detainment in the U.S. would decrease recruitment. Or, did an intelligence product show national security threats would decrease if enemy combatants are held in the U.S. 

From my discussions with members of this body on the Intelligence Committee, the answer is they have no comprehensive intelligence assessment. 

Simply put, an assessment regarding the transfer of detainees to the mainland has not been done. 

So, I have asked Secretary Carter and the Department of Defense to ensure an assessment is completed. To do otherwise, would be irresponsible and reckless.

 How can the President of the United States allow ISIS to paint a target on those who would live near what would become “GITMO North.” And no community in the United States wants that label. 

Ft. Leavenworth, in particular, is not a suitable replacement for GITMO. It is the intellectual center of the Army. It hosts our nation’s best and brightest warfighters at the Command and General Staff College – which also hosts a hundred international officers every year. 

I want to remind my colleagues, just how important Ft. Leavenworth’s mission is to the Army and to our national security, and the risk that this entire mission would be endangered by making it a terrorist prison. Ft. Leavenworth is home to the United States Army’s Training and Doctrine Command’s Combined Armed Center. The Combined Arms Center oversees 13 schools, including the Command and General Staff College. And most recently, Ft. Leavenworth was named The Army University, giving our “Intellectual Center of the Army” an official title.  

Since 1881, the Command and General Staff College and the Combined Arms Center have been engaged in the primary mission of preparing the Army and its leaders for war. 

In order to accomplish critical missions, Ft. Leavenworth develops and integrates Army leader development, doctrine, education, lessons learned, functional training, training support, training development, and proponent responsibilities in order to support mission command and prepare the Army to successfully conduct unified land operations in a joint, inter-agency, inter-governmental, multinational environment. 

To degrade Ft. Leavenworth to a terrorist prison would have ominous repercussions our professional military and the value it serves every American and our national security. 

In addition, we must consider how our allies will respond to having enemy combatants so close to their top military leaders training at Ft. Leavenworth. 

In my effort to reach out to embassies tied to the school, all have expressed their deep support for the International Military Officers Division, its value to their military and security, the importance of maintaining the program at Ft. Leavenworth. 

There is every possibility that given the countries who participate in the Command and General Staff College would reconsider their participation given the relocation of terrorists. This would bring negative consequences and represent a terrible detriment to the partnership building that takes place during their coursework. It would mean a loss for international cooperation, for American military education, and our national security.  

There are so many imperative factors that must be examines at Ft. Leavenworth – in Colorado and in South Carolina. 

Factors that we cannot ignore.

The fact that the FBI has nearly 1,000 investigations into ISIS activity within the U.S., that ISIS released a video right after the attacks in Paris stating the U.S. was next, and most importantly, the fact that we are not dealing with every day criminals. The detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay are enemy combatants – terrorists – individuals with no remorse and, with a recidivism rate at 30 percent, a strong desire to return to the battlefield. 

The reality is, these individuals and the organizations they support pose the greatest risk to national security we face today. 

This Administration should not obstruct the will of Congress, reflecting the voice of the American people, which has prohibited this White House from transferring detainees from GITMO to the U.S. every year since 2009. 

Won the battle back then, why do we have to repeat it now. 

If the President believes he can act without consequences, he is wrong.

91 Senators voted in favor of this prohibition just last week when we passed the National Defense Authorization Act. That’s not just a majority. That’s a veto-proof majority. Article II of the Constitution does not provide this president – any president – with the power to ignore the law.

In a tele town hall meeting just the other night, caller after caller asked the president’s actions are constitutional. How can the president do this when Congress has prohibited funding? In my view, and that of the President’s own Attorney General, if the president acts by Executive Order, he is acting unconstitutionally.

I agree with our founding fathers, like George Mason who said, “When the same man, or set of men, holds the sword and the purse, there is an end to liberty.” And James Madison who said it is, “particularly dangerous to give the keys of the treasury and the command of the army, into the same hands.”

I have mentioned the Congress, the merits of Ft. Leavenworth, the Constitution, but what I have not mentioned is our servicemembers.

We have asked so much of our men and women in uniform over the past fourteen years. We have asked for them to go into harm’s way before every bit of equipment was ready, we have asked them to deploy and redeploy with almost no dwell time, we’ve asked them to extend their stays, and we’ve put them in more places across the globe than at any other period in history.

They have done it all without hesitation or complaint because we have the best fighting force in the world.

But I am unwilling to ask them to take on the challenge of guarding enemy combatants in the United States and put their families at risk for harassment, kidnapping, or other tactics homegrown terrorists and foreign fighters have use or will used.

Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines do not live anonymously when their families are stationed with them, as is the case at Ft. Leavenworth.

I believe, along with many that have worn the uniform, the attacks in Benghazi broke the nation’s promise to never leave a man in harm’s way.

On a personal note, when I signed up to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, I was told that  I was harm’s way, I would never been left behind. The Corps would have my back. Either by squad, platoon, company, battalion, regiment, division, or the whole Marine Corps – they would have my back.  

It has been the same for generations before me and hopefully, generations after. That is, until now. If we are going to ask our men and women to fight ISIS or to put their families at risk, they have to know that we have their back.

Until that bond is restored and we have a president that is willing to lead, instead of following, our nation remains vulnerable to every terrorist organization and cell in the world.

We must put national security back as our top priority. It must be our first duty in the Congress, and by the Commander-in-Chief.

Mr. President, I stand here because America’s national security is my top priority and bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States is not putting our nation’s security above politics, campaign promises, or anything else.  

Roberts has actively fought the Obama Administration’s efforts to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the mainland, particularly to Ft. Leavenworth. Roberts placed a hold on the administration’s nominee for Secretary of the Army in August. He said, “During my conversation, I was reminded that the administration that it could not implement any parts of a study without explicit authorization from Congress. So, if and when a study was produced and the desire to act on it arose, the Administration would come before Congress to ask for that authority. The Administration’s threat to act by Executive Order yesterday speaks to the exact opposite of that understanding.” 

 

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