Jeh Johnson

I pledge to have a very open, transparent relationship with the Chair and the Ranking Member.

If confirmed, I will take a prompt look at that request. I would be inclined to give you what you need.

I respectfully submit that I am ready, willing, and able to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

I have recently come to the conclusion . . . the problem, I believe has become so pervasive. The bad behavior so pervasive, we need to look at fundamental change in the military justice system itself.

10 years later, the AUMF remains on the books and is still a viable authorization today.

The AUMF, the statutory authorization from 2001, is not open-ended. It does not authorize military force against anyone the executive labels a terrorist.

The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 struck many carefully crafted balances of both intra- and inter-service equities.

The CNGB represents only the Army and Air National Guards, and the proposed legislation would thus alter some of Goldwater-Nichols's careful balances.

There are no outright legal barriers to enacting this legislation.

Well, it was not our task to determine whether the law should be repealed. That is a matter for the Congress and the President.

I would respectfully suggest to the Congress that it does make a difference that Guantanamo Bay has been allowed to become that recruitment tool.

No. No, and I am happy to submit a letter for the record that I wrote to the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee last week where, in response to inquiries from that Committee, I stated pretty unequivocally that it is not the…

Well, the Boumediene case granted the Gitmo detainees the right to habeas.

I would like to think that given the circumstances we in this Administration, in our review process, would have got to the same result on our own.

I could foresee problems with codifying in the law in the abstract a requirement of equal access to witnesses.

There have been three completed prosecutions so far. I don't believe any of the three completed involved detainees who were teenagers at any point.

The President called for some process of periodic review--in other words, if we prevail in a habeas case, we are not going to just simply throw away the key and forget about the person.

At some point during their detention they were minors--you know, the evidence suggests.

There are two cases that I just referred to.

The Boumediene case granted the Gitmo detainees the right to habeas.

But some, for whatever their motives may be, continue to want to create a fear, if you will, among the American public.

I can think of at least two, including one referred to by the Chairman in his opening remarks, that the evidence suggests were teenagers at the time they were captured.

This President, when he took office, recognized that large Federal bureaucracies work best with a deadline and imposed a deadline on us for doing so.

Whatever decisions are being made, are being made, I believe, consistent with national security, consistent with public safety, the safety of the American people and the rule of law.

The initial process is a form of board that should occur within a period of days after a person is captured.