Jeff Bingaman: “I rise today in strong opposition to several sections of the fiscal year 2012 Department of Defense authorization bill…”

“I rise today in strong opposition to several sections of the fiscal year 2012 Department of Defense authorization bill relating to detainees. I have serious concerns regarding the detention provisions included in the final conference report. When this legislation was being discussed in the Senate, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation clearly stated that these provisions would undermine the ability of the government to bring suspected terrorists to justice. The language in the bill also raises significant issues regarding civil liberties, including the applicability of the indefinite detention provision to American citizens. Section 1021 of the conference report provides the U.S. military with the authority to indefinitely detain, without trial, an individual suspected of involvement in hostilities against the United States. The ability to detain the person without charges could last until the ``end of hostilities''--a completely undefined period of time considering that we are confronting a long-term conflict with groups, such as al- Qaida, who will never sign a peace treaty ending the hostilities. The final language does include an amendment offered by Senator Feinstein that states that the provision should not be construed as affecting existing law with respect to the detention of U.S. citizens, but this language simply restates that the law is what the law is.…”