Gitmo Detainee Questions Remain Unanswered

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last year I asked Attorney General Eric Holder what government employees at the Department of Justice had potential conflicts of interest with detainee policies.  At the time, the Attorney General could only commit to consider my request and moved on to the next question. 

The decisions to bring detainees into the United States and afford them civilian trials are highly questionable and I wanted to know more about who was advising the Attorney General on these important national security issues. 

I just now received an inadequate written response to my questions.  The five page letter from the Department of Justice reeks of secrecy.  I asked for names, cases and recusals and in return I received pages of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo that never sufficiently answered my simple questions. 

I’ve held nearly 30 constituent listening posts in Iowa since the first of the year and people are upset about the direction of our national security policy.  They want to know who is advising the President and the Attorney General, especially after it’s become very clear that misguided decisions on terrorism policy are being made. 

It’s incomprehensible that the Department of Justice does not maintain comprehensive records on potential conflicts of interest information on such an important issue and it raises questions about how serious the department is about national security.

An answer like I received today doesn't live up to the transparency in government President Obama promised and doesn’t sit well with me or Iowans. 

If you want to read the response I received from the Department of Justice click here.