Updated 7 am: Despite protests from the Obama administration and New Mexico legislators, a $662 billion defense spending bill still includes provisions allowing federal officials to indefinitely detain US citizens suspected of terrorism without a trial.

Yesterday, US Rep. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, helped lead a charge in opposition to the controversial language.

“I strongly oppose mandating military custody and allowing for indefinite detention without due process or trial,”  Heinrich, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, writes in an email to SFR. “These provisions are deeply concerning and would risk putting American citizens in military detention, indefinitely. In short, this authority is at complete odds with the United States Constitution.”  

Heinrich and US Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Georgia, sent a letter signed by 30 other representatives (including Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-NM) urging leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to "make appropriate changes so that Congress can provide essential resources to our armed forces while ensuring we have the flexibility to confront terrorism as effectively as possible."

Committee members listened, but only to a degree. From the Associated Press:

Responding to appeals from Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller, the lawmakers added a provision that says nothing in the bill will affect "existing criminal enforcement and national security authorities of the FBI or any other domestic law enforcement agency" with regard to a captured suspect, "regardless of whether such ... person is held in military custody."

The bill also says the president can waive the provision based on national security. Originally that authority rested with the defense secretary.

House and Senate negotiators dropped several of the provisions in the House bill that also had drawn a veto threat, including the requirement of military tribunals for all cases.

"We took significant steps to address the administration's concerns," Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House panel, told reporters.

The legislation would deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention. The lawmakers made no changes to that language.

The revisions weren't sufficient for at least one civil rights group. "The so-called `changes' to the detainee provisions that came out to conference are cosmetic at best," said Raha Wala of Human Rights First. "They do little to fix the underlying problems with the bill. The president has no choice now but to veto, both for the sake of our national security and the rule of law."

The detainment language has prompted outrage from civil liberties groups like the ACLU, a scathing editorial by the New York Times (not to mention plenty of lampooning from liberal comedian Jon Stewart), and a veto threat from President Obama. Scroll down to read Heinrich's letter.

Heinrich letter re Defense Authorization Act

Document

Pages

Notes

Text

Zoom

CLOSE

Previous for “” Next

p. 1

Loading Loading

p. 2

Loading Loading

Contents

Related Article »

«

Page Note  1 of  2 0

»

To print the document, click the "Original Document" link to open the original PDF. At this time it is not possible to print the document with annotations.