I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4938 

To establish a temporary limitation on the use of funds to transfer or 

release individuals detained at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo 

Bay, Cuba. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 23, 2014 

Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. FLORES, and Mr. POMPEO) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To establish a temporary limitation on the use of funds 

to transfer or release individuals detained at United 

States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guantanamo Bay De5 tainee Transfer Suspension Act of 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS TO 

2 TRANSFER OR RELEASE INDIVIDUALS DE3 TAINED AT UNITED STATES NAVAL STATION, 

4 GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

6 (b), no funds may be obligated or expended to transfer 

7 or release any covered detainee at Guantanamo to the cus8 tody or control of such individual’s country of origin, any 

9 other foreign country, or any other foreign entity until the 

10 earlier of— 

11 (1) the date that is 90 days after the date of 

12 submittal to Congress of the report required by sub13 section (d); or 

14 (2) the date that is 180 days after the date of 

15 the enactment of this Act. 

16 (b) EXCEPTION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not 

18 apply to the obligation or expenditure of funds to 

19 transfer any covered detainee at Guantanamo to ef20 fectuate an order affecting the disposition of such 

21 individual that is issued by a court or competent tri22 bunal of the United States having lawful jurisdic23 tion. 

24 (2) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary of 

25 Defense shall promptly notify the appropriate comVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:12 Jun 27, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4938.IH H4938

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1 mittees of Congress of the issuance of any order de2 scribed in paragraph (1). 

3 (3) DELAY IN DISCHARGE.—An order described 

4 in paragraph (1) may not be carried out until the 

5 date that is 5 days after the date on which the ap6 propriate committees of Congress are notified of the 

7 order pursuant to paragraph (2). 

8 (c) ENFORCEMENT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—An officer or employee of 

10 the United States shall be liable in his or her indi11 vidual capacity for a civil penalty of $10,000 for 

12 each covered detainee at Guantanamo transferred or 

13 released in violation of subsection (a) pursuant to an 

14 action or order of the officer or employee of the 

15 United States. 

16 (2) NO REPRESENTATION BY UNITED

17 STATES.—Notwithstanding section 50.15 or 50.16 of 

18 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, or any other 

19 provision of law, the United States Government may 

20 not provide representation to, or retain or reimburse 

21 private counsel for the representation of, an officer 

22 or employee in an action under paragraph (1). 

23 (3) QUI TAM ACTION.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—A person may bring a 

25 civil action for a violation of subsection (a) for 


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1 the person and for the United States Govern2 ment, seeking a civil penalty under paragraph 

3 (1). The action shall be brought in the name of 

4 the Government. The action may be dismissed 

5 only if the court and the Attorney General give 

6 written consent to the dismissal and their rea7 sons for consenting. 

8 (B) COMPLAINT.—A copy of the complaint 

9 and written disclosure of substantially all mate10 rial evidence and information the person pos11 sesses shall be served on the Government pur12 suant to rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil 

13 Procedure. The Government may elect to inter14 vene and proceed with the action within 30 

15 days after it receives both the complaint and 

16 the material evidence and information. 

17 (C) DETERMINATION BY GOVERNMENT.— 

18 Before the expiration of the 30-day period 

19 under subparagraph (B), the Government 

20 shall— 

21 (i) proceed with the action, in which 

22 case the action shall be conducted by the 

23 Government; or 

24 (ii) notify the court that it declines to 

25 take over the action, in which case the perVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:12 Jun 27, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4938.IH H4938

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1 son bringing the action shall have the right 

2 to conduct the action. 

3 (D) INDIVIDUAL CONDUCTING ACTION.—If 

4 the Government elects not to proceed with the 

5 action, and upon request and at the Govern6 ment’s expense, the Government shall be served 

7 with copies of all pleadings filed in the action 

8 and shall be supplied with copies of all deposi9 tion transcripts. 

10 (E) AWARD TO QUI TAM PLAINTIFF.—A 

11 person bringing an action under subparagraph 

12 (A) shall receive 50 percent of the amount of 

13 the civil penalty imposed on the officer or em14 ployee of the United States and the court shall 

15 award the person reasonable expenses which the 

16 court finds to have been necessarily incurred, 

17 plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, to be 

18 paid by the defendant. 

19 (F) EXPEDITED APPEAL OF DISMISSAL.— 

20 It shall be the duty of the courts of the United 

21 States to advance on the docket and to expedite 

22 to the greatest possible extent the disposition of 

23 any appeal by a person bringing a civil action 

24 under subparagraph (A) of the dismissal of the 


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1 civil action with the consent of the Attorney 

2 General. 

3 (d) REPORT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

6 of Defense shall, in coordination with the Secretary 

7 of State and the Director of National Intelligence, 

8 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 

9 report setting forth the following: 

10 (A) A detailed description of the previous 

11 assessments by Joint Task Force Guantanamo 

12 regarding the risk that the 5 detainees trans13 ferred from United States Naval Station, Guan14 tanamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar on May 31, 2014, 

15 would reengage in terrorist activity after trans16 fer. 

17 (B) A detailed description of any changes 

18 between the assessments described in subpara19 graph (A) and the assessments as of May 31, 

20 2014, of the risk that the detainees described in 

21 that subparagraph would reengage in terrorist 

22 activity after transfer as described in that sub23 paragraph, including the reasons for such 

24 changes. 


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1 (C) A detailed description of the prior in2 stances, if any, in which Qatar did not fully 

3 honor its commitments to monitor, detain, or 

4 control the travel of individuals formerly de5 tained at United States Naval Station, Guanta6 namo Bay, Cuba, by the Department of De7 fense. 

8 (D) A detailed assessment of the likelihood 

9 that the 5 detainees described in subparagraph 

10 (A) will return to Afghanistan or reengage in 

11 terrorism. 

12 (E) A detailed assessment of whether the 

13 transfer of the 5 detainees as described in sub14 paragraph (A) will increase the likelihood that 

15 the Taliban and terrorist groups around the 

16 world will try to capture United States individ17 uals or personnel in order to obtain concessions 

18 from the United States. 

19 (2) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 

20 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

21 include a classified annex. 

22 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con24 gress’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

2 Committee on Foreign Relations, the Com3 mittee on Appropriations, the Select Committee 

4 on Intelligence, and the Committee on the Judi5 ciary of the Senate; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

7 Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee 

8 on Appropriations, the Permanent Select Com9 mittee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

10 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. 

11 (2) The term ‘‘covered detainee at Guanta12 namo’’ means each individual who— 

13 (A) is not a United States citizen or a 

14 member of the Armed Forces of the United 

15 States; and 

16 (B) is or was held on January 20, 2009, 

17 at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo 

18 Bay, Cuba, by the Department of Defense. 

19 (3) The term ‘‘officer or employee of the United 

20 States’’— 

21 (A) includes— 

22 (i) the President; 

23 (ii) the head and any officer or em24 ployee of any Executive agency or military 

25 department (as those terms are defined in 


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1 chapter 1 of title 5, United States Code); 

2 and 

3 (iii) any other officer or employee of 

4 the United States; and 

5 (B) does not include— 

6 (i) a member of the Armed Forces; or 

7 (ii) an officer or employee of an ele8 ment of the intelligence community (as de9 fined in section 3 of the National Security 

10 Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)). 

11 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OR RELEASE OF DE12 TAINEES AT UNITED STATES NAVAL STATION 

13 GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA, WITHOUT EXPRESS 

14 WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION OF THE PRESI15 DENT. 

16 (a) PROHIBITION.—No detainee described in sub17 section (b) may be transferred or released from United 

18 States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a foreign 

19 country without the express written authorization of the 

20 President. 

21 (b) COVERED DETAINEES.—A detainee described in 

22 this subsection is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other 

23 detainee who— 

24 (1) is not a United States citizen or a member 

25 of the Armed Forces of the United States; 


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1 (2) is or was held on or after January 20, 

2 2009, at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo 

3 Bay, Cuba, by the Department of Defense; and 

4 (3) is held as of the date of the enactment of 

5 this Act at United States Naval Station, Guanta6 namo Bay, Cuba, by the Department of Defense. 

7 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify, 

9 limit, or supersede the requirements under section 1035 

10 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

11 2014 (10 U.S.C. 801 note) relating to the transfer or re12 lease of an individual detained at Guantanamo (as defined 

13 in subsection (e)(2) of such section). 

Æ 


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