I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3038 
To affirm the authority of the executive branch to detain foreign nationals 
as unlawful combatants, to enable a person detained as an unlawful 
combatant to challenge the basis for that detention and to receive a 
disposition within 2 years, to provide for the President to establish 
military tribunals to try such persons, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 22, 2005 
Mr. SCHIFF (for himself, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, and Mr. OWENS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To affirm the authority of the executive branch to detain 
foreign nationals as unlawful combatants, to enable a 
person detained as an unlawful combatant to challenge 
the basis for that detention and to receive a disposition 
within 2 years, to provide for the President to establish 
military tribunals to try such persons, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Guantanamo Detainees 
Procedures Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. AUTHORITY OF EXECUTIVE BRANCH TO DETAIN 
PERSONS COVERED BY THIS ACT AS UNLAW-
FUL COMBATANTS. 
(a) FINDING.—Congress finds that the executive 
branch has authority to detain persons covered by this Act 
as unlawful combatants. 
(b) PERSONS COVERED BY THIS ACT.—In this Act, 
the term ‘‘person covered by this Act’’ means an individual 
who— 
(1) is accused of knowingly— 
(A) planning, authorizing, committing, aid-
ing, or abetting one or more terrorist acts 
against the United States; or 
(B) being part of or supporting forces en-
gaged in armed conflict against the United 
States; 
(2) is not a United States person or lawful per-
manent resident; and 
(3) is not a prisoner of war within the meaning 
of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment 
of Prisoners of War, done on August 12, 1949.
SEC. 3. RIGHT OF PERSON DETAINED AS UNLAWFUL COM-
BATANT OR ON SIMILAR BASIS TO CHAL-
LENGE THAT BASIS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever the United States de-
tains a person covered by this Act on the basis of a deter-
mination that the person can be detained as an unlawful 
combatant or can be detained on any similar basis, the 
person is entitled to a hearing under this section as expedi-
tiously as practicable but not later than 6 months after 
the date on which the United States first made the deter-
mination. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR HEARING.—A hearing re-
quired by subsection (a) must meet the following require-
ments: 
(1) The hearing officer is an active member of 
one of the Courts of Criminal Appeals of the Armed 
Forces. 
(2) The hearing officer has authority to decide 
de novo whether the basis of a determination under 
subsection (a) is valid and to grant appropriate re-
lief if the hearing officer decides that the basis is in-
valid. 
(3) The hearing officer is impartial in fact, and 
is in a position independent from— 
(A) the individuals who first determined 
that the person can be detained; and
(B) the individuals on whose orders the 
person is being detained. 
(4) The person is provided with access to the 
evidence that tends to support the determination 
that the person can be detained. 
(5) The person is provided with an opportunity 
to address the hearing officer, and is provided with 
an interpreter for that purpose. 
(c) ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW.—The Secretary of De-
fense shall conduct administrative review of the activities 
of a hearing officer under this section. 
SEC. 4. RIGHT OF PERSON DETAINED TO DISPOSITION 
WITHIN 2 YEARS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever the United States de-
tains a person covered by this Act on the basis of a deter-
mination that the person can be detained as an unlawful 
combatant or can be detained on any similar basis, the 
person is entitled to a disposition under this section not 
later than 2 years after the date on which the United 
States first made the determination. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR DISPOSITION.—A disposi-
tion under this section is any one of the following: 
(1) Repatriation to the governing authority in 
the area in which the person was first detained or 
the person’s country of origin, except where there
are substantial grounds to believe that the person 
would be in danger of being subjected to torture. 
(2) The commencement, by formal charges, of 
prosecution in an appropriate court, which may in-
clude an extraordinary tribunal under section 5 of 
this Act, an international criminal tribunal, or a dis-
trict court of the United States. 
(c) EXTENSION.— 
(1) CERTIFICATION.—The period required by 
subsection (a) for the repatriation of the person or 
the commencement of formal charges may be ex-
tended if the Secretary of Defense certifies, in writ-
ing, with respect to the person that the Secretary of 
Defense has determined that the person is a con-
tinuing threat to the national security of the United 
States due to a likelihood that the person will under-
take terrorist or belligerent acts against the United 
States based on the person’s past conduct, level of 
authority within the group or organization, state-
ment and actions during confinement, age and 
health, psychological profile, and other pertinent fac-
tors, and the repatriation of the person or the com-
mencement of formal charges will compromise the 
national security of the United States by curtailing 
intelligence gathering from the person, jeopardize in-