On the recordNovember 30, 2011
But what Senator Feinstein is proposing is that no longer do we have the option of holding the American citizen as an enemy combatant to gather intelligence, and we don't have the ability to hold them for a period of time to interrogate them under the law of war. What I would suggest to the Senator is that the information we receive from Guantanamo Bay detainees has been invaluable to this Nation's defense. To those who believe it was because of waterboarding, I couldn't disagree more. The chief reason we have been able to gather good intelligence at Guantanamo Bay is because of time. The detainee is being humanely treated, but there is no requirement under military law to let the enemy prisoner go at a certain period of time. If you take away the ability to hold an American citizen who has associated himself with al-Qaida to be held as an enemy combatant, you can no longer use the technique of interrogating him over time to find out what he knows about the enemy. You are worried about prosecuting them. I am worried about finding out what they know about future attacks. They are not consistent. You can prosecute somebody. That is part of the law. What the Senator is taking away from us is the ability to gather intelligence. Our criminal justice system is not set up to gather intelligence.
