Grassley: Oversight Needed in FBI's Facilitation of Ransom Payments
Prepared Floor Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
FBI Facilitation of Ransom Payments
Delivered July 13, 2016
Mr. President, I rise today to speak about allegations that the FBI has facilitated ransom payments to terrorist groups.
Unfortunately, the administration has been stonewalling the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the matter.
We’ve seen many terrible terrorist attacks recently. The government’s highest duty is to provide for national security. That means fighting the radical Islamic terrorist groups who mean us harm. An important part of fighting radical Islamic terrorist groups is going after their funding.
The US government should do everything it can to stop money from flowing to groups like al Qaeda and ISIS. And the government has had significant successes in fighting terrorist funding.
Ransom payments for hostages are one of the key sources of funds for terrorist groups to raise money. The government should not be participating in helping to make such payments.
Yet in April of last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI had helped facilitate a $250,000 ransom payment to al Qaeda. It was from the family of kidnapped aid worker Warren Weinstein back in 2012. That report was later confirmed by 60 Minutes in an interview with Dr. Weinstein’s widow.
Around the same time as that Wall Street Journal article, Army Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine contacted Judiciary Committee staff. He is a decorated war hero who reached out to Congressman Hunter, Senator Johnson, and to my office, to raise concerns about ineffective hostage-recovery efforts.
He alleged that the FBI was involved in a ransom payment made in an effort to recover Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
To be clear, the US government should take all appropriate measures to recover American hostages. But those measures cannot include ransom payments that end up funding more terrorist operations.
Ransom payments are big business for terrorist groups. According to a 2014 investigation by the New York Times, Al Qaeda and its affiliates have taken in at least 125 million dollars from kidnapping for ransom since 2008.
ISIS also takes in huge amounts from ransom payments. The United Nations estimated that ISIS collected between 35 and 45 million dollars in ransom payments in 2014 alone.
This is a serious threat to our national security.
In 2012, David S. Cohen, who was the Treasury Department’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the time, explained why in a presentation on the issue.
He said, quote:
“Ransom payments lead to future kidnappings, and future kidnappings lead to additional ransom payments.
“And it all builds the capacity of terrorist organizations to conduct attacks.
“Al Qaeda affiliates use ransom money to help fund the full range of their activities, including recruiting and indoctrinating new members, paying salaries, establishing training camps, acquiring weapons and communications gear and helping to support the next generation of violent extremist groups.”
End quote.
Paying ransoms incentivizes terrorists to kidnap more people. And it funds their terrorist attacks.
The administration says it is still US policy for the government to deny hostage-takers the benefits of ransom. But its policy on helping others make ransom payments is murky. If the FBI pays lip-service to the no-ransom policy by not making payments itself, but facilitates payments by others, then the financial incentive for terrorists to kidnap people remains the same.
The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the Department of Justice, including the FBI. The FBI’s hostage-recovery efforts, including any facilitated ransom payments, must be subject to constitutional oversight by the Committee. The Justice Department has failed to fully cooperate with the Committee’s inquiries.
In May of last year I wrote to the Attorney General. I asked several questions about the FBI’s alleged involvement in facilitating payments to terrorist groups. Among other things, I asked: “Has the FBI been involved in any transfer of money in connection with attempts to secure the release of hostages held by al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani network, ISIS, or associated forces?”
The Justice Department failed to respond for five months.
In the meantime, the President issued Executive Order 13698 and Presidential Policy Directive 30. Those established a new hostage-recovery policy as the result of an interagency review.
Then, five months after I sent my questions to the Attorney General, the Justice Department finally sent me a response. That response failed to answer my questions. Instead, the response just summarized the public documents released by the administration when it announced its new hostage-recovery policy.
Merely pointing to publicly available documents is not good faith cooperation with independent fact finding. So, I wrote to the White House last fall. I asked that the administration provide the Committee the classified parts of the new hostage-recovery policy, PPD-30, as well as the classified part of the policy it replaced, NSPD-12. But the administration failed to share those classified parts of the policies with the Committee.
Think about that. The FBI plays a key role in hostage-recovery efforts. The Judiciary Committee is responsible for overseeing the FBI. And yet, the administration refuses to even tell the Committee in full what its written policies say.
That kind of stonewalling is unacceptable.
I referred the matter to the Inspector General for the Department of Justice last October. In February, he informed me that his office had opened an initial inquiry. That inquiry is ongoing.
My investigation continues as well.
Yesterday I sent another letter to Attorney General Lynch and Director Comey seeking complete answers to my questions and complete copies of the policy documents.
If the public reports are accurate, then there is a very real possibility that the FBI has helped send millions of dollars to al Qaeda and ISIS. That money inevitably was used to help terrorists kill more innocent people.
The Judiciary Committee needs all the facts to get to the bottom of this. The FBI should cooperate. The Department of Justice should cooperate. And the White House should cooperate.
Mr. President, FBI Director Comey and Attorney General Lynch should fully respond to all the questions in my May 2015 letter. I ask unanimous consent to place a copy of that letter in the record.
There is no excuse for stonewalling oversight. But it is especially inexcusable in a matter as important as this. It is shocking that the only answer the FBI can come up with to these allegations is silence.
Burying our heads in the sand does not make the issue go away. If our government is assisting in paying ransom money to terrorists, Congress needs to know. The public needs to know. The government officials involved need to be accountable.
The facts cannot be hidden from the FBI’s oversight committee. The policies implementing our laws on this topic cannot be kept secret from the FBI’s oversight committee.
I yield the floor.
-30-
Deadline Extended: Grassley Fall Internship Applications Due August 1
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said today that the deadline for fall internships for college-age Iowans has been extended. Applications will now be accepted through August 1, 2015.
Internships are available in Grassley’s Washington, D.C., office as well as his offices in Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Sioux City and Waterloo. The semester-long internships will run from August 22 through December 16.
Interns assist staff members with administrative, legislative and communications work, including that of Grassley’s staff on the Committee on the Judiciary, where he serves as Chairman. An internship allows for a wide range of learning experience and exposure for students on Capitol Hill. A firsthand account of a Grassley internship can be read here.
Grassley said he encourages young Iowans who are interested in learning more about the government to apply. “Interning in a congressional office is a good way for college students and new graduates to learn more about the legislative branch of the federal government while gaining valuable experience. Internships in my offices are available to students in all areas of study,” Grassley said.
Application forms are available on Grassley’s website and in Grassley’s offices in Iowa. Due to security-related delays in postal mail delivery to U.S. Senate office buildings, internship applications should be emailed to intern_applications@grassley.
-30-
Grassley Bill Requires Immigration Officials to Hold and Remove Drunk Drivers
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today introduced legislation requiring federal immigration authorities to take action against undocumented immigrants arrested for driving drunk. The legislation follows several recent incidents in which immigration authorities failed to detain individuals for drunk driving following fatal collisions, including one that claimed the life of 21-year-old Iowan Sarah Root.
“Nobody argues that drunk driving is not a public safety risk, so it’s remarkable that the Obama Administration’s own immigration enforcement priorities fail to take perpetrators off the street. Families coping with the grief of losing a loved one to such a reckless crime must also live with the reality that their government is quick to release offenders back into our communities. My bill keeps immigration authorities accountable by ensuring that undocumented immigrants who drive drunk are not allowed to put more lives at risk on America’s roads,” Grassley said.
Background
Currently, the Obama Administration’s Priority Enforcement Program for people in the country unlawfully does not require Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain immigrants arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI), even if it results in injury or death. Grassley’s bill requires federal immigration authorities to take custody and hold anyone in the country illegally who has been charged with DUI or DWI offenses. Specifically, the bill:
· Prohibits the release from federal custody of undocumented immigrants held for DUI or DWI offenses;
· Makes immigrants with three DUI/DWI convictions inadmissible to and removable from the country; and
· Makes three DUI/DWI convictions an aggravated felony under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, allowing for expedited removal, precluding eligibility for certain benefits and permanently barring legal admission into the country.
Several recent tragedies underscore the need for this legislation:
January 2016: Eswin Mejia was charged with felony motor vehicle homicide after he struck and killed 21-year-old Iowan Sarah Root while drag racing drunk. Despite reported requests from local authorities, ICE refused to detain Mejia, allowing him to post bail. He remains at large.
February 2016: Jose Munoz Aguilar was arrested in Kentucky for drunk driving after he collided with a car occupied by two women, putting one in a coma. ICE promptly released Aguilar because he didn’t meet the Obama Administration’s enforcement priorities.
February 2016: Esmid Valentine Pedraza was charged in California with the murder of his girlfriend. In 2013, prior to the alleged murder, Pedraza was reportedly arrested by ICE and placed in removal proceedings after being convicted for DUI. Although ICE could have continued to detain him, ICE released him back onto the streets after he posted bond.
The bill is cosponsored by senators Joni Ernst, Mike Lee, Orrin Hatch, Roger Wicker, David Vitter, David Perdue, Jerry Moran, and Jim Inhofe.
Text of Grassley’s bill is available HERE.
-30-
Grassley 99 county meetings
Assertions have once again been raised by political operatives about Sen. Grassley’s long tradition of county meetings with Iowans. I’m writing with information about these meetings, which are structured as they have been for years, despite misleading partisan attacks. In fact, the last time these false accusations were brought up, the Cedar Rapids Gazette Fact Checker gave the organization an “F.”
Sen. Grassley makes a point to proactively go to Iowans-where they work, where they live, where they worship, where they study-in their own communities. He’s had at least one official business meeting in every Iowa county every year that he’s represented the state in the U.S. Senate. Any political meeting or event that Sen. Grassley attends does not count as one of his county meetings. This is the 36th consecutive year that Sen. Grassley has held an official meeting in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties.
The meetings are a mix of formats, with the hallmark of every meeting being a lengthy Q&A where Grassley takes questions and comments on any subject, letting the audience set the agenda. The formats include public town meetings, where Sen. Grassley has Q&A with Iowans. There are also hour-long Q&A meetings at high schools, factories, offices, hospitals, and service clubs, where Sen. Grassley is the guest of a local host and, again, invites questions and comments from Iowans on any subject. Sen. Grassley seeks out these formats so that Iowans who are unable to leave work to attend an open town meeting have an opportunity for Q&A with their U.S. senator. He also likes to meet with young Iowans for Q&A in high schools and on college and community college campuses. When meetings are at plants and other workplaces they typically include a brief tour, but the vast majority of the time is spent in Q&A with a gathering of employees, which is sometimes hundreds of Iowans and, again, many who would otherwise be unable to access a Q&A meeting.
In 2014, Sen. Grassley held 30 town meetings, and Q&As at 28 local businesses, 18 service clubs, 23 schools. In 2015, Sen. Grassley held 39 town meetings, and Q&As at 32 local businesses, 11 service clubs and 17 schools. In 2016, thus far, Sen. Grassley has held 24 town meetings, and Q&As at 29 local businesses, 7 service clubs, 11 schools, and one tax forum.
Every county meeting of Sen. Grassley’s is scheduled with 15 minutes after the meeting for media availability with local reporters before he heads to the next meeting.
The variety of formats for constituent meetings has been conducted the same way for years and has allowed Sen. Grassley to hear from a cross-section of Iowans.
Sen. Grassley’s office notifies local reporters about meetings so that reporters have access to the routine media availabilities following every Q&A session. This approach is designed to avoid confusion about the meeting being hosted by the business, school, hospital or organization rather than an open town meeting.
- 30
Vacant plant in Cherokee; Tyson announces offer that could clear impasse
On Monday, Sen. Chuck Grassley asked the head of Tyson Foods, Inc., to work with community leaders to restore jobs at the now-defunct Tyson meat processing plant in Cherokee. Grassley became involved after seeing coverage in the Cherokee Chronicle Times and the Des Moines Register and hearing from city officials who asked if he might weigh in. Today Tyson Foods, Inc. announced that it will offer to buy out the company’s lease of the plant and give the owner complete control over finding a new tenant. It appears that if the owner accepts the offer, the city would be clear to find another employer to occupy the facility. Grassley made the following comment on this development.
“This appears to be great news for the people of Cherokee. The job loss when the plant closed was significant, and a vacant plant has been a frustration for the community. I hope the announcement will lead to continued progress toward a new employer’s taking over the facility and restoring jobs and adding economic vitality in Cherokee. I also hope Iowans will continue to call on me whenever I might be able to help bring people together to reach solutions for public benefit.”
The Tyson letter to Grassley is available here. Grassley’s letter earlier in the week is available here.
-30-
