Saxby Chambliss: “I rise in opposition to cloture on the nomination of James Cole to be the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.…”

“I rise in opposition to cloture on the nomination of James Cole to be the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Last December, I objected to further consideration of Mr. Cole's nomination because of the refusal of the Department of Justice, DOJ, to comply with reasonable document requests from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Unfortunately, the President decided to circumvent the Senate and recess-appointed Mr. Cole on December 29, 2010. Here we are 5 months later: the Justice Department is still thwarting the Intelligence committee's oversight. The documents we have requested all relate to the Guantanamo Detainee Review Task Force that made recommendations to the Administration on whether to transfer, release, or detain Gitmo detainees. Over 2 years ago, the committee became aware of rising recidivism rates among former Gitmo detainees. At that time, the rate was around 11 percent--it is now above 25 percent. Congress has a unique obligation to the American people to ensure that no more dangerous detainees are released from Gitmo, and that those who have been released do not resume their terrorist ways. Each one of the documents we are seeking is essential to understanding why the task force made certain recommendations about certain detainees, especially those detainees our intelligence professionals judged were too dangerous to transfer.…”