On the recordNovember 17, 2011
Let me tell the Senator how he is dead right. I offered an amendment to the first bill we put on the table here on the floor about this, and I had a requirement of a military lawyer being given to the respondent at a combat status review tribunal. Every person being held as an enemy combatant by our military gets a combat status review tribunal. We are saying that tribunal has to be chaired by a military judge, and we are saying they can access a lawyer. That, to me, is a welcomed change. The Obama administration and the Bush administration decided to put the military judge requirement in place. But this now is a statutory requirement, so the next President is going to be bound to do that. We are trying to create a process to allow a status tribunal hearing to be done in a more due-process friendly fashion. We require a judge and we provide access to counsel. To me that is a giant step forward.
