DOJ Must Clarify Terror Trial Numbers

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today urged the Justice Department to provide substantive information regarding the number of terrorists currently housed in U.S. prisons and the number of terrorists successfully prosecuted in the U.S. post 9-11.

According to the Administration, “hundreds of terrorism suspects have been successfully prosecuted in federal court since 9-11” and approximately 300 “international or domestic terrorists” are currently incarcerated in federals prisons.  But according to recent reports, these numbers may be inflated due the Department’s overbroad definition of “terror suspects.”

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Ranking Member Smith urged the Department to provide Congress with lists detailing the name, charge and sentence for each terrorist prosecuted in the U.S. after 9-11 or incarcerated in a federal prison. 

Ranking Member Smith: “The American people deserve to hear the facts before terrorists are brought to the U.S. for prosecution and detention.  The prosecution of domestic terrorism, acted out by U.S. citizens on American soil, is not the same as the prosecution of the 9-11 conspirators!  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators are enemies of our country.  And 9-11 was not simply a crime committed on U.S. soil; it was an act of war.

“Allegations that the Justice Department is padding its numbers to generate support for terror trials in the U.S. are serious.  Before importing dozens of terrorists to the U.S. for prosecution, the Justice Department must make public accurate and detailed information about the record of terror trials in the U.S.”