I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4600 

To prohibit the use of funds to transfer or release an individual detained 

at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to the custody of another country. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2010 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. SMITH of 

Texas, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. LEWIS of California, 

Ms. GRANGER, and Mr. PENCE) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit the use of funds to transfer or release an individual detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to the 

custody of another country. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) On January 22, 2009, President Obama 

6 signed Executive Order 13492, requiring the deten7 tion facilities at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base 

8 (Guantanamo) to be closed ‘‘as soon as practicable’’, 


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1 but not later than one year from the date of the 

2 order. 

3 (2) A task force of United States Government 

4 agencies, including the Departments of Homeland 

5 Security, Defense, State, and Justice and the Cen6 tral Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of 

7 Investigation, has reportedly concluded that large 

8 numbers of the detainees held at the United States 

9 military facility at Guantanamo pose a severe and 

10 permanent threat United States national security 

11 and thus should be held indefinitely without trial 

12 under the laws of war. 

13 (3) Despite this conclusion by United States 

14 national security and intelligence agencies, the 

15 Obama Administration continues to plan for addi16 tional transfers of detainees to other countries. 

17 (4) According to a report by the Government 

18 Accountability Office, as of March 2009, the prin19 cipal ‘‘rehabilitation center’’ in Saudi Arabia used to 

20 rehabilitate 250 former Guantanamo detainees in 

21 order to prevent such detainees from resuming their 

22 war on the United States had a recidivism rate of 

23 20 percent. 

24 (5) In July 2007, a Department of Defense 

25 spokesman stated that, ‘‘Our reports indicate that at 


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1 least 30 former Guantanamo detainees have taken 

2 part in anti-coalition militant activities after leaving 

3 United States detention. Some have been killed in 

4 combat in Afghanistan and Pakistan.’’. According to 

5 the Department of Defense, the recidivism rate of all 

6 former Guantanamo detainees was 14 percent in 

7 May 2009. 

8 (6) In some instances, countries and organiza9 tions have expressed strong reluctance to accept any 

10 or additional former Guantanamo detainees, citing 

11 security as their primary concern, such as: 

12 (A) Australia: ‘‘Assessing those requests 

13 from a case-by-case basis, they had not met our 

14 stringent national security and immigration cri15 teria and have been rejected.’’, stated Julia 

16 Gillard, Acting Australian Prime Minister, on 

17 January 3, 2009. 

18 (B) Hungary: ‘‘Hungary is likely to take 

19 one or two former detainees provided they get 

20 the green light from parliament after a national 

21 security check-up. . . . We are going to study 

22 each case, taking the safety of Hungary and of 

23 Hungarians as our first priority.’’, announced 

24 Hungarian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman 

25 Zsuzsanna Matrai on June 19, 2009. 


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1 (C) Switzerland: On January 12, 2010, in 

2 a 15–10 vote, a Swiss Parliamentary Security 

3 Committee voted against accepting any more 

4 detainees from Guantanamo, citing ‘‘height5 ened’’ security concerns due to the Christmas 

6 Detroit bombing attempt. 

7 (D) European Parliament: ‘‘Many of the 

8 detainees, for example, who went to Afghani9 stan after September 11, [2001,] have attended 

10 training camps for terrorists. And those who 

11 did so were no tourists wanting to admire the 

12 beauty of the country, but remain potential ter13 rorists.’’, stated Harthmuth Nassauer, a Ger14 man member of the European Parliament, on 

15 February 4, 2009. 

16 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR TRANSFER OR 

17 RELEASE OF INDIVIDUALS DETAINED AT 

18 GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi20 sion of law, no funds made available to any relevant execu21 tive branch agency may be used to encourage, facilitate, 

22 or otherwise effect the transfer or release of any individual 

23 currently detained at Guantanamo to the custody of the 

24 individual’s country of origin or a third country unless the 


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1 President makes the certification described in subsection 

2 (b). 

3 (b) PRESIDENTIAL CERTIFICATION.—The certifi4 cation described in this subsection is a written certification 

5 that the President submits to the appropriate congres6 sional committees that contains each of the following with 

7 respect to an individual currently detained at Guantanamo 

8 or an individual covered by this section who is proposed 

9 to be transferred or released into the custody of another 

10 country: 

11 (1) A certification that the government of the 

12 country— 

13 (A) exercises effective control over all of its 

14 territory; 

15 (B) does not allow any area of its territory 

16 to be used as a safe haven or sanctuary by ter17 rorists or insurgent groups, including Al Qaeda; 

18 and 

19 (C) has effectively and verifiably tracked 

20 the movements and activities of all individuals 

21 who had been detained at Guantanamo who are 

22 transferred or released into its custody, includ23 ing any individual who may have subsequently 

24 left the country, and has provided the United 


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1 States Government with all relevant informa2 tion relating thereto. 

3 (2) A certification that there is no confirmed 

4 case of any individual who had been detained at 

5 Guantanamo who reengaged in any actual or 

6 planned act of terrorism or threat to United States 

7 citizens or members of the United States Armed 

8 Forces subsequent to being transferred or released 

9 to such country. 

10 (c) ADDITIONAL PROHIBITION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

12 provision of law, no funds made available to the De13 partment of State may be used to provide assistance 

14 to the government of a country to which an indi15 vidual currently detained at Guantanamo is to be 

16 transferred or released for use by the security forces 

17 of such country unless the President makes the cer18 tification described in subsection (b). 

19 (2) WAIVER.—The President may waive the 

20 prohibition of paragraph (1) if the President deter21 mines that— 

22 (A) it is vital to the national security of 

23 the United States to do so; and 


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1 (B) the government of the country has 

2 taken effective action to meet the requirements 

3 of subsection (b). 

4 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Accompanying each certification 

6 submitted pursuant to section 2(b), and every 90 days 

7 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the ap8 propriate congressional committees a report that de9 scribes— 

10 (1) the ability and willingness of the govern11 ment of the country to which an individual currently 

12 detained at Guantanamo is to be transferred or re13 leased to continuously track the movements and ac14 tivities of all individuals who have been detained at 

15 Guantanamo who have been transferred or released 

16 to such country, including any such individuals who 

17 have subsequently left the country; 

18 (2) any activity by any individual who had been 

19 detained at Guantanamo who has been transferred 

20 or released to such country that has contributed to 

21 any actual or planned act of terrorism or threat to 

22 United States citizens or members of the United 

23 States Armed Forces subsequent to being trans24 ferred or released to such country; 


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1 (3) the extent to which the government of the 

2 country has provided the information described in 

3 paragraphs (1) and (2) to United States Govern4 ment authorities; and 

5 (4) the steps taken by the government of the 

6 country to comply with the requirements in this Act. 

7 (b) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 

8 shall be submitted in an unclassified form, but may con9 tain a classified annex. 

10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT13 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com14 mittees’’ means— 

15 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

16 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

17 of Representatives; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

19 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

20 Senate. 

21 (2) INDIVIDUAL CURRENTLY DETAINED AT

22 GUANTANAMO.—The term ‘‘individual currently de23 tained at Guantanamo’’ has the meaning given the 

24 term under section 1(c) of Executive Order 13492. 


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1 (3) RELEVANT EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCY.— 

2 The term ‘‘relevant executive branch agency’’ 

3 means— 

4 (A) the Department of State; 

5 (B) the United States Agency for Inter6 national Development; and 

7 (C) any other United States Government 

8 department, agency, instrumentality, or rep9 resentative carrying out any provision of law 

10 that is classified under Budget Function 150 

11 (International Affairs). 

12 (4) SANCTUARY.—The term ‘‘sanctuary’’ has 

13 the meaning given the term in section 140(d)(5) of 

14 the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal 

15 Years 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. 2656f(d)(5)). 

Æ 


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