Senate Armed Services Language on Detainee Matters

The Senate Armed Services Committee announced Friday that it had completed its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012. Committee Chairman Carl Levin, in the press release accompanying the bill, declared that "The bill contains a bipartisan compromise provision regarding detainee matters that provides a statutory basis for the detention of individuals captured in the course of hostilities conducted pursuant to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force and deals with other important matters relating to such detainees." I have not yet seen the language itself, but from the committee's summary, it appears to lack the House bill's language on the AUMF but to include a version of the mandatory military detention provision that was stripped from the House version. The committee's summary describes the language as follows:

The bill reported by the committee includes a bipartisan detainee compromise, introduced by Senators Levin, McCain, Graham, Chambliss, Brown, and Webb, that was adopted by a 25-1 vote. The bipartisan detainee provision would:

• Provide a statutory basis for the detention of individuals captured in the course of hostilities conducted pursuant to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force.
• Require military detention – subject to a national security waiver – for the core group of detainees who are part of al Qaeda and participate in planning, carrying out or attempting attacks against the United States or coalition partners.
• Establish permanent limitations on the transfer of Guantanamo Bay (GITMO)detainees to foreign countries, to ensure that all possible steps have been taken to avoid recidivism, subject to a national security waiver.
• Establish a permanent prohibition on the use of DOD funds to build facilities in the United States to house GITMO detainees.
• Require DOD to issue procedures addressing ambiguities in the review process established for GITMO detainees and ensure that the Secretary of Defense has final responsibility for any release or transfer decision.
• Require DOD to establish procedures, including a military judge and a military lawyer, for determining the status of detainees who will be held in long-term custody pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force.
• Clarify procedures for guilty pleas in trials by military commission

I will post the text--and my thoughts on it--as soon as I can obtain a copy.