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Washington, D.C., Jun 15, 2009 - Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) announced today that he intends to offer two amendments to the annual defense policy bill tomorrow that would seek to prevent the transfer or release of terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States. The first amendment would prohibit the use of funds to transfer individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to any facility or location in the United States or to house any such individual at a facility or location in the US. If the first measure fails, Forbes intends to offer a second amendment in the House Armed Service Committee, which would require the President to meet strict criteria and certification standards before terrorists housed at the Guantanamo prison could be brought to the United States. 

The second measure, which will be offered less than a week after the first Guantanamo Bay detainee was transferred to the U.S., would include a pre-approval requirement by a governor and state legislature prior to the transfer or release of any terrorist detainee into their state. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, in a response to a letter from Virginia Delegation Members, has indicated he would not oppose the President’s decision to bring terrorist detainees to the United States.

“Our military is the best equipped and the best trained in the world,” Forbes said. “The question is not whether or not they can handle the transfer or detention of Guantanamo detainees on US soil.  It is whether, we as American citizens, are comfortable placing a target on our backs right here in our own communities.”

On May 20, 2009, Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Robert Mueller told Congress that bringing Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States could pose a number of risks, even if they were kept in maximum-security prisons. “The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing, radicalizing others,” Mueller said, as well as “the potential for individuals undertaking attacks in the United States.”

If passed, the second amendment would, among other things, require the Administration to certify to the respective governor and state legislature that the detainee does not pose a security risk to the United States. The President must also certify that the release or transfer would not negatively impact continued prosecution or continued detention of the detainee. The certifications must be made 60 days before any transfer or release.

A memo prepared for members of the House Armed Services Committee in 2007 indicated that several military installations in Virginia are potential relocation point for terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay – the Naval Station Brig, Norfolk and the Marine Corps Base, Quantico.

Earlier this year Congressman Forbes introduced legislation, H.R. 1638, to prohibit the use of federal funds to transfer detainees to locations in Virginia, legislation used as a model for the first amendment. Forbes is also a cosponsor of H.R. 2294, the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, legislation used to model tomorrow’s second committee amendment.