Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar (R-Texas) today criticized the Obama Administration’s National Security Strategy, which was made public this morning.  The report outlines the Administration’s policies to prevent terrorist attacks.  Based off the past nine months, they do not appear to be working.

Ranking Member Smith: “Radical Islam poses the single greatest threat to America today—it motivated the hijackers on September 11 and it drives many of the terrorist threats currently facing America.  But once again, the Obama administration refuses to acknowledge the link between Radical Islam and the terror attempts of the past nine months. 

“This Administration is more concerned with appeasing terrorists than with doing what is necessary to protect Americans.  This strategy continues the Administration’s trend of weakening our national security efforts and emboldening our enemies.”

· Radical Islam:  Not only does the Administration refuse to use the phrase ‘Radical Islam,’ in their National Security Strategy Report, they go out of their way to deny any link between ‘violent extremists’ (aka the Administration’s new word for ‘terrorists’) and jihadists who are motivated by a radical version of Islam.  During World War II we were not at war with every German—certainly there were many who were opposed to the Reich.  But we were at war with German Nazis and our leaders were not afraid to define our enemy.  We cannot hope to win the War on Terror if the Administration refuses to acknowledge what motivates terrorists. 

· Closing Gitmo:  The Administration reiterated its desire to close Guantanamo Bay to ‘deny violent extremists one of their most potent recruitment tools.’  But Gitmo is not the cause of the terrorist threat.  It didn’t even exist on the morning of September 11 when 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial planes and killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans. Promising to close Guantanamo Bay has not made America safer.  Just yesterday, DHS said that attempted terrorist attacks against the U.S. in the last nine months have surpassed the number of attempts in any previous one-year period.

· Comprehensive Immigration Reform:  The Administration once again calls for comprehensive immigration reform—which could lead to the legalization of terrorists already in the country.  Even the background check conducted prior to naturalizing Faisal Shahzad--the Times Square bomber--did not identify him as a national security risk.  If we cannot detect a potential terrorist who submits himself to our security process, we cannot be confident in our ability to identify other potential terrorists who may already be in the U.S.

· Treating Terrorists Like Common Criminals:  The Obama Administration reiterates its priority to give terrorists full constitutional rights.  But giving radical jihadists like Abdulmutallab—the Christmas Day bomber—constitutional rights will not quell terrorists’ desire to attack Americans.  Abdulmutallab was fully prepared to die on the plane—and take several hundred innocent people with him.  He wasn’t concerned about whether he would be read a Miranda warning.  And neither should we. 

###