Political Quotes

“This amendment would provide welcome accountability and transparency for our security cooperation training programs. It would require the Department of Defense and Department of State to review the participants in security cooperation training programs from the last ten years to determine if any of the participants were later designated by the United States Government as human rights abusers, terrorists, or military coup participants. The amendment would require such reporting be updated on an annual basis. And, finally, it would create a reporting requirement to Congress for any names submitted to the Departments by the Chair and Ranking Member of the armed services and foreign affairs committees. Earlier this year, it was reported that some of the members of the kill squad that murdered and dismembered Jamal Khashoggi were trained right here in the United States. This is not something we found out through congressional reporting requirements from the Department of Defense, Department of State or public admissions from private sector contractors. We found out because of reporting based on leaked documents. It has also been reported that at least seven of the individuals who helped assassinate the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moise, were trained by the United States military. The review and ongoing transparency required by this amendment would provide welcome oversight of U.S.…”