Terrorism

Voices continuing support for the President’s pledge to shutter Guantanamo

November 13, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- Today, Congressman Joe Sestak (PA-07) expressed his continuing support for the Administration’s pledge to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by January, 2010. In response to the announcement that Khalid Sheik Mohammed -- the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- and four co-defendants will be tried in federal court in New York instead of a military commission, the Congressman issued the following statement:    » read more »

WASHINGTON, DC (November 14, 2009) -- Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, released the following statement in response to proposals that Guantanamo Bay deatainees will be relocatoted to a prison in Illinois.

“The Guantanamo Bay facility is a recruiting tool for Al Queda and a mark against the morals of the United States. In closing ‘Gitmo’ and moving some detainees to Illinois, we strengthen our national security, create thousands of jobs, and bring long overdue justice to those who have committed atrocities against the United States.

"Our American criminal justice and penal systems are fuIly capable of handling these individuals. In fact, today there are 340 domestic and international terrorists in U.S. prisons, including 35 in Illinois.    » read more »

Decisions on Accused 9/11 Plotters, Alleged Mastermind of USS Cole Attack & Others

November 13, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The Departments of Justice and Defense today announced forum decisions for ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay whose cases were previously charged in military commissions, including five detainees accused of conspiring to commit the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and a detainee accused of orchestrating the attack on the USS Cole.    » read more »

Speech of Attorney General Eric Holder

Washington, D.C. -- Friday, November 13, 2009 -- Good morning. Just over eight years ago, on a morning our nation will never forget, nineteen hijackers working with a network of Al Qaeda conspirators around the world launched the deadliest terrorist attacks our country has ever seen. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in those attacks, and in the years since, our nation has had no higher priority than bringing those who planned and plotted the attacks to justice.

One year before, in October 2000, a terrorist attack on the USS Cole killed seventeen American sailors.

Today we announce a step forward in bringing those we believe were responsible for the 9/11 attacks and the attack on the USS Cole to justice.    » read more »

Continuation of Investigation into Terrorism on U.S. Soil

November 9, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Senate Homeland Security Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., formally announced on Monday that their Committee will be conducting an investigation into last week's murders at Ft. Hood, beginning with a public hearing next week. The Senators released the following statements today on their inquiry and intention to hold hearings on the attack:    » read more »

November 7, 2009 -- SHANKSVILLE, Pa. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today joined Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Senator Bob Casey and the families of the Flight 93 heroes to break ground on the Flight 93 National Memorial. Senator Arlen Specter and Congressmen John Murtha and Bill Shuster had representatives there on their behalf.

“On behalf of a grateful nation, we say to the men and women of Flight 93 who gave their lives on September 11, 2001 to prevent terrorists from attacking our nation’s capital ‘We will never forget you,’” Salazar said. “This national memorial will always stand to honor you and to remind future generations that you fought and were victorious over the forces of evil.”    » read more »

Ensures University Laboratories Are Not Burdened by Regulations Intended for Commercial Facilities

Washington, Nov 6 - Today, Rep. Bill Foster (IL-14) offered an amendment to the Chemical and Water Security Act of 2009 with Rep. Ben Lujan (NM-3) that would require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to create and report a plan of precaution and prevention to accompany normal campus procedures, instead of subjecting academic laboratory facilities to the same regulations as large commercial facilities. The amendment was accepted into the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act, which passed by a vote of 230-193.    » read more »

November 5, 2009 -- U.S. Senator Mark Begich released the following statement regarding the tragedy today at Fort Hood:

"No words can come close to expressing the shock we are all experiencing today following the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

"As Americans we are collectively stunned when a tragedy of this magnitude occurs in one of our communities. No life is ever more valuable than another, but knowing the victims were soldiers serving their country and preparing for deployment to Iraq perhaps makes it even more difficult to comprehend.    » read more »

Italian Prosecution Highlights Inaction of US Justice Department

November 3, 2009 -- (Milan) - The verdict expected Wednesday in a landmark case may present a historic legal challenge to the US Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) rendition program, Human Rights Watch said today.

The trial in Milan of 26 Americans in absentia and seven Italians for the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian imam began in 2007.    » read more »

Failed Riverdale Bomb Plot Contributes To Added Funding in the Homeland Security Appropriations

10/15/09 -- Washington, D.C.-- Congressman Eliot Engel voted today to approve the FY 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which included $19 million in federal funds to help protect civil, religious and community institutions from terrorist attacks. The funding will be part of the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Non-Profit program.    » read more »

PITTSBURGH, PA and CHALFONT ST. GILES, UK, 12 October, 2009 -- In an effort to bolster U.S. biosecurity, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), today announced a collaboration aimed at the construction of an advanced development and production facility for the manufacture of vaccines and therapeutics to counter a range of biological threats.    » read more »

Major Boost For High Threat Areas, Transit, And Ports; House and Senate Set to Approve DHS Funding Bill Next Weeks

October 9, 2009 -- (New York, NY) – In light of Najibullah Zazi’s efforts to stage a terrorist attack against New York City's mass transit system, U.S. Representative Joseph Crowley and U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced today that New York City is in line to receive millions in additional security funding to protect our city against terrorist attacks.    » read more »

Senator Lautenberg Introduces Legislation to Close "Terror Gap" In Nation's Gun Laws

June 22, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Congressmen John Conyers (D-MI) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) today released a new GAO report finding that, from February 2004 to February 2009, there were 963 cases in which a known or suspected terrorist attempted to buy a gun. In 90 percent of those cases – a total of 865 times – they were cleared to proceed with that purchase. One of those cases involved the purchase of explosives.    » read more »

Ahmed Ghailani Transferred from Guantanamo Bay to New York for Prosecution on Terror Charges

June 9, 2009 -- Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national who had been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility since September 2006, arrived early this morning in the Southern District of New York to face criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the Aug. 7, 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.

After a thorough review of his case by the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force, Ghailani was recently referred for criminal prosecution in the Southern District of New York pursuant to a March 12, 2001 superseding indictment against him.    » read more »

Fact Sheet: Prosecuting and Detaining Terror Suspects in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

June 9, 2009 -- I. Terror Prosecutions in the Southern District of New York

Since the 1990s, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has investigated and successfully prosecuted a wide range of international and domestic terrorism cases—including the bombings of the World Trade Center and U.S. Embassies in East Africa in the 1990s. More recent cases include those against individuals who provided material support to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, as well as against international arms trafficker Monzer al Kassar and the Somalian pirate charged in the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama.

Major Historical Cases in SDNY:    » read more »