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Kirsten Gillibrand on Homeland Security

Democratic Senator (NY); Democratic Candidate for President (withdrawn)

 


White supremacists are domestic terrorists

Q: Do you support making domestic terrorism a federal crime?

GILLIBRAND: Absolutely. And as President I would direct my Department of Justice to investigate white supremacy and other domestic terrorist groups to infiltrate them, to make sure we know if they're planning attacks, and to absolutely combat white supremacy in society because these groups are domestic terrorists.

Source: CBS Face the Nation interview for Democratic 2020 Veepstakes , Aug 11, 2019

Slash the defense budget

Kirsten Gillibrand on Defense Spending: Slash the defense budget.

SIX CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Tulsi Gabbard; Kamala Harris; Bernard Sanders; Eric Swalwell; Elizabeth Warren; Andrew Yang.

A sizable number of Democratic presidential candidates are doves with long track records of advocating deep cuts in the Pentagon budget in order to pay for what they consider more important domestic programs or diplomatic initiatives.

Source: Politico "2020Dems on the Issues" , Jul 17, 2019

Public service for young people would change country's heart

I believe that if you tell every young person that if you do a year of public service, you could have two years of community college or state school free. If you open up public service to all those industry groups and you incentivize young people to commit a year or two to that, it's going to not only create pipelines into new jobs and careers that will create economic growth, but it changes the heart of the country and the heart of these kids in a generation.
Source: NPR Morning Edition: Election 2020 Special Series , May 23, 2019

Military sex abuse victims can't trust commander as arbiter

In keeping with the tradition of the U.S. military, the decision to refer cases for prosecution of a crime--whether refusing an order or murder--lies solely with the commanding officer. That is one reason that tens of thousands of cases of unwanted sexual contact go unreported in the U.S. military every year. Victims are afraid to report the crime to their superiors, who are the ultimate arbiters of whether the offenders will be prosecuted or not. In the most flagrant cases, those arbiters are the offenders themselves.

In these efforts, Gillibrand stood against not only the entire senior rank of the Department of Defense, but also the presidential administration of her own party, as well as other Democrats unwilling to challenge the status quo or pick what might be an unpopular fight against the military.

I knew Senator Gillibrand was right in her approach, which is why I signed onto the bill as a cosponsor.

Source: A Time for Truth, by Ted Cruz, p. 54-5 , Jun 30, 2015

Form National Guard Cyber Protection Team

U.S. Senators Gillibrand, Schumer, Menendez, and Booker announced their support for the New York and New Jersey Army National Guards' formation of a combined Cyber Protection Team. In a letter to the Army National Guard's Acting Director, the senators urged allowing the NY and NJ Army National Guards to form a joint team focused on addressing the growing cyber security threats. This new team would leverage their existing relationships with the Department of Homeland Security and their extensive training, to focus on combatting increasing cyber security threats to the region's critical infrastructure and networks.

Currently, state Army National Guard units throughout the country are competing to form ten multi-state Cyber Protection Teams as part of the Army's efforts to build up its cyber capabilities. Senator Gillibrand introduced the Cyber Warrior Bill in 2013, which called for the creation of a National Guard Cyber and Computer Network Incident Response Team in each state.

Source: 2014 press release from 4 Senators to Army National Guard , Nov 17, 2014

Dont-Ask-Dont-Tell caused 13,000 qualified soldiers to leave

Arguments against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy could be found everywhere. In addition to being morally outrageous and corrosive, Don't Ask, Don't Tell undermined military readiness. Since 1994, when the law was first implemented, approximately 13,000 well-trained military personnel had been discharged from the U.S. military for being gay. More than 2,000 of those people were experts in mission-critical disciplines. The military lost close to 10 percent of it's foreign-language speakers. The cost of implementing the policy, from 1994 to 2003--including recruitment, retraining, and separation travel--was somewhere between $190 million to $360 million. I didn't understand how a reasonable person could think that such money would not have been better spent on equipment, mental or physical health services... almost anything.
Source: Off the Sidelines, by Kirsten Gillibrand, p.111 , Sep 9, 2014

Military sexual assault victims need champion with megaphone

I battled against the Department of Defense on how the military handles sexual assault within its ranks. I had not planned to take on this issue. To be honest, for my first four years as a public servant, I had no idea how bad it was. But then I started hearing stories of men & women who'd suffered the worst things imaginable while serving our country. Compounding the problem, commanders failed to prosecute the perpetrators of terrible crimes. These men & women needed a voice. They needed a champion with a megaphone, and I happened to have one. Fighting for them has become one of the most important things I've done in my career. The issue arose in the context of women not wanting to have to disclose a rape in order to have access to healthcare and abortion services while serving abroad as well as the fact that there were convicted rapists still serving in the military. Senator Jeanne Shaheen and I worked on and passed amendments to fix both, but we had only scratched the surface of the problem.
Source: Off the Sidelines, by Kirsten Gillibrand, p.163-4 , Sep 9, 2014

Address backlog of veterans' claims & chronic underfunding

Once, a veteran who lost a limb in Vietnam told me, "When I strap on my leg, I strap on my patriotism. Why isn't the VA supporting me?" Those two sentences moved my office to work until we got him $60,000 in benefits and back pay. This story also opened my eyes to the backlog of veteran's claims caused by the chronic underfunding of the Veterans Administration.
Source: Off the Sidelines, by Kirsten Gillibrand, p. 60 , Sep 9, 2014

No across-the-board budget cuts to anti-terrorism

Gillibrand used it to blast sequestration that would require across the board budget cuts to areas like federal anti-terror funding. Referencing Wednesday's thwarted terrorist attack in New York City, Long said it's further evidence that the United States must stand with Israel in ensuring Iran does not have nuclear capabilities while
Source: New York Daily News on 2012 N. Y. Senate debate , Oct 17, 2012

Voted YES on extending the PATRIOT Act's roving wiretaps.

Congressional Summary: A bill to extend expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 and Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 relating to access to business records, individual terrorists as agents of foreign powers, and roving wiretaps until December 8, 2011.

Proponent's Argument for voting Yes:
[Rep. Smith, R-TX]: America is safe today not because terrorists and spies have given up their goal to destroy our freedoms and our way of life. We are safe today because the men and women of our Armed Forces, our intelligence community, and our law enforcement agencies work every single day to protect us. And Congress must ensure that they are equipped with the resources they need to counteract continuing terrorist threats. On Feb. 28, three important provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act will expire. These provisions give investigators in national security cases the authority to conduct "roving" wiretaps, to seek certain business records, and to gather intelligence on lone terrorists who are not affiliated with a known terrorist group. The Patriot Act works. It has proved effective in preventing terrorist attacks and protecting Americans. To let these provisions expire would leave every American less safe.

Opponent's Argument for voting No:
[Rep. Conyers, D-MI]: Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows a secret FISA court to authorize our government to collect business records or anything else, requiring that a person or business produce virtually any type record. We didn't think that that was right then. We don't think it's right now. This provision is contrary to traditional notions of search and seizure which require the government to show reasonable suspicion or probable cause before undertaking an investigation that infringes upon a person's privacy. And so I urge a "no" vote on the extension of these expiring provisions.
Status: Passed 86-12

Reference: FISA Sunsets Extension Act; Bill H.514 ; vote number 11-SV019 on Feb 17, 2011

Voted YES on requiring FISA warrants for wiretaps in US, but not abroad.

CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective Act of 2007 or RESTORE Act: Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to provide that a court order is not required for electronic surveillance directed at the acquisition of communication between non-US citizens outside the US, whether or not the communication passes through the US or the surveillance device is located within the US; and provides procedures when one party is located inside the US or is a US citizen.

SUPPORTER'S ARGUMENT FOR VOTING YES:Rep. CONYERS: Earlier this year, in the Protect America Act, PAA, amendments were made to FISA, giving the Government enhanced flexibility to collect foreign intelligence information. But the broad scope of the authority without up-front court approval raised grave concerns about the need for more safeguards of innocent Americans' communications. The RESTORE Act improves upon the PAA by providing a series of checks and balances while still allowing maximum flexibility. The RESTORE Act does not require individual warrants when persons are abroad, but it is firm that a FISA warrant is required to obtain communications of people in the US.

OPPONENT'S ARGUMENT FOR VOTING NO:Rep. KING of N.Y.: Electronic surveillance is one of the strongest weapons in our arsenal. The real enemy is al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism, not our own government working so hard to protect us. The PAA updated FISA and struck the appropriate balance between protecting our citizens from terrorist attacks and protecting our civil liberties. Today's bill, the RESTORE Act, marks an undeniable retreat in the war against Islamic terrorism. It limits the type of foreign intelligence information that may be acquired and actually gives foreign targets more protections than Americans get in criminal cases here at home.

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Bill passed, 213-197.

Reference: RESTORE Act; Bill H.R.3773 ; vote number 08-HR3773 on Mar 14, 2008

Voted YES on Veto override: Congressional oversight of CIA interrogations.

PRESIDENT'S VETO MESSAGE:This bill would impede efforts to protect [against] terrorist attacks because it imposes several unnecessary and unacceptable burdens on our Intelligence Community. [I reject] subjecting two additional vital positions to a more protracted process of Senate confirmation [and I reject] a new office of Inspector General for the Intelligence Community as duplicative. [Most sigficantly,] it is vitally important that the CIA be allowed to maintain a separate and classified interrogation program, [and not] use only the interrogation methods authorized in the Army Field Manual on Interrogations. My disagreement over section 327 is not over any particular interrogation technique such as waterboarding. Rather, my concern is the need to maintain a separate CIA program that will shield from disclosure to terrorists the interrogation techniques they may face upon capture.

SUPPORTER'S ARGUMENT FOR VOTING YES:Rep. REYES: This legislation goes a long way towards strengthening oversight of the intelligence community, which the President seems to consistently want to fight. That's why the President vetoed it. He wants the authority to do whatever he wants, in secret, with no oversight or authorization or without any checks and balances. Well, I don't agree. The Constitution gives us a role in this process. We do have a say in what the intelligence community does. That's why we need to override this veto.

OPPONENT'S ARGUMENT FOR VOTING NO:Rep. HOEKSTRA: This bill fails to give the intelligence community the tools that it needs to protect the American people from radical jihadists. The debate on this authorization bill is not about a single issue, [waterboarding], as some would have you believe. It is about the need to ensure that we give the right tools to our intelligence professionals in this time of enhanced threat.

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Veto override failed, 225-188 (2/3rds required)

Bill Veto override on H.R. 2082 ; vote number 08-HR2082 on Mar 11, 2008

Voted NO on removing need for FISA warrant for wiretapping abroad.

Vote on passage of S.1927, the Protect America Act: Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to state that the restrictions on "electronic surveillance" should not encompass surveillance directed at any person reasonably believed to be located outside the US.

A modified version, S.2011, failed in the Senate; it called for amending FISA to provide that a court order is not required for the electronic surveillance of communication between foreign persons who are not located within the US for collecting foreign intelligence information, without respect to whether the communication passes through the US or the surveillance device is located within the US.

Opponents recommend voting NO because:

Sen. LEVIN: Both bills cure the problem that exists: Our intelligence agencies must obtain a court order to monitor the communications of foreigners suspected of terrorist activities who are physically located in foreign countries. Now, what are the major differences? Our bill (S2011) is limited to foreign targets limited overseas, unlike the Bond bill (S1927), which does not have that key limitation and which very clearly applies to US citizens overseas. Our bill does not. Now, if there is an incidental access to US citizens, we obviously will permit that. But the Bond bill goes beyond that, citing "any person." It does not say a "foreign person." We avoid getting to the communications of Americans. There you have to go for a warrant.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Sen. LIEBERMAN: I will vote for the Bond proposal (S1927) because we are at war, & there is increased terrorist activity. We have a crisis. This proposal will allow us to gather intelligence information on that enemy we otherwise would not gather. This is not the time for striving for legislative perfection. Let us not strive for perfection. Let us put national security first. We are going to have 6 months to reason together to find something better.

Reference: Protect America Act; Bill S.1927 ; vote number 2007-0836 on Aug 4, 2007

Voted YES on restricting no-bid defense contracts.

  1. Improving the Quality of Contracts--to restrict the contract period of noncompetitive contracts to the minimum period necessary to meet urgent requirements; and not more than one year unless the the government would be seriously injured.
  2. Increasing Contract Oversight--to make publicly available (on websites) justification documents for using noncompetitive contract procedures.
  3. Promoting Integrity in Contracting--to prohibit former federal officials from accepting compensation from contractors as lawyers or lobbyists.

Proponents support voting YES because:

In Iraq, we were told we needed Halliburton to get a contract without any competition because they were the only ones who know how to put out oil well fires. So they got a contract on a cost-plus basis even though they had a history of overcharging the taxpayers. And then later we found out that they didn't do anything about putting out oil well fires in the first Gulf war; it was Bechtel, not Halliburton. Contractors were given special treatment by not having healthy competition.

In dealing with Hurricane Katrina, and we have seen the same mistakes again: No-competition contracts; cost-plus contracts. We have seen what the result has been: Wasted taxpayer dollars. This bill requires that if there is an emergency to give a contract, give it. But then have bidding within a year.

Opponents support voting NO because:

We support transparency and accountability in decision-making, but this bill asks for audit reports that are only advisory. To provide those to Congress not only gives you too much information, a lot of it can be misleading and can increase the number of contract disputes.

When you are fighting a war, you need to move quickly. You don't give a 6-month appeal to the folks that lose the competition. You don't give small business set-asides because there is one thing you don't have, you don't have time.

Reference: Accountability in Contracting Act; Bill H R 1362 ; vote number 2007-156 on Mar 15, 2007

Extend reserve retirement pay parity back to 9/11.

Gillibrand co-sponsored extending reserve retirement pay parity back to 9/11

    Congress makes the following findings:
  1. Since September 11, 2001, members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces have been sent into harm's way and fought alongside members of the regular components of the Armed Forces.
  2. Between September 11, 2001, and December 7, 2007, more than 600,000 members of the reserve components have been mobilized in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other contingency operations.
  3. More than 142,000 members of the reserve components have been mobilized more than once during this same period.
  4. On December 7, 2007, the conference report for H. R. 1585 offered an earlier retirement benefit for members of the reserve components who are mobilized in support of contingency operations.
  5. The House of Representatives and the Senate agreed to the conference report on December 14, 2007.
  6. However, the conference report only considers service performed after the date of the enactment, and this effective date fails to recognize the service and sacrifice made by members of the reserve components since September 11, 2001.
Source: Reservists Parity for Patriots Act (S.2836/H.R.4930) 07-S2836 on Dec 19, 2007

Repeal Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell, and reinstate discharged gays.

Gillibrand signed HR1283&S3065

Repeals current Department of Defense policy [popularly known as "Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell"] concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces. Prohibits the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard, from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation against any member of the Armed Forces or any person seeking to become a member. Authorizes the re-accession into the Armed Forces of otherwise qualified individuals previously separated for homosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexual conduct.

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the furnishing of dependent benefits in violation of section 7 of title 1, United States Code (relating to the definitions of 'marriage' and 'spouse' and referred to as the 'Defense of Marriage Act').

Source: Military Readiness Enhancement Act 10-HR1283 on Mar 3, 2010

Exempt Veterans Affairs from federal hiring freeze.

Gillibrand signed exempting Veterans Affairs from federal hiring freeze

Excerpts from Letter from 53 Senators to President Trump We are deeply troubled that your freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees will have a negative and disproportionate impact on our nation's veterans. As such, we urge you to take stock of this hiring freeze's effect on our nation's veterans and exempt the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from your Hiring Freeze.

We urge you to classify VA's delivery of health care as a national security and public safety responsibility, and exempt it from this hiring freeze. To do otherwise is to jeopardize the national security and public safety of our nation.

Opposing argument: (Heritage Foundation, "Eliminate Redundant Government Hiring," May 9, 2017): It's not hard to find federal programs that are duplicative or ineffective. The president's executive order requires all agency heads to submit plans for reorganizing their operations. Their proposals are to "include recommendations to eliminate unnecessary agencies and programs." That all sounds great, but what does it actually mean?

Well, for starters, it means the previous federal hiring freeze is no more. But it doesn't mean programs and departments are free to hire willy-nilly. Instead, they've been instructed to follow a smart-hiring plan, consistent with the President's America First Budget Blueprint.

A few agencies, like the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs, will beef up staff. Most, however, will have to pare down employment. All federal employees can expect to see resources shift to higher-priority ones. Many may be asked to do something new or different with the goal of optimizing employees' skills and time.

Source: Letter on DVA 17LTR-DVA on Jan 26, 2017

Restore habeas corpus for detainees in the War on Terror.

Gillibrand co-sponsored restoring habeas corpus for detainees in the War on Terror

A bill to restore habeas corpus for those detained by the United States; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Sen. SPECTER. "I introduce this legislation, denominated the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act. Last year, in the Military Commissions Act, the constitutional right of habeas corpus was attempted to be abrogated. I say "attempted to be abrogated" because, in my legal judgment, that provision in the Act is unconstitutional.

"It is hard to see how there can be legislation to eliminate the constitutional right to habeas corpus when the Constitution is explicit that habeas corpus may not be suspended except in time of invasion or rebellion, and we do not have either of those circumstances present, as was conceded by the advocates of the legislation last year to take away the right of habeas corpus.

"We have had Supreme Court decisions which have made it plain that habeas corpus is available to non-citizens and that habeas corpus applies to territory controlled by the US, specifically, including Guantanamo. More recently, however, we had a decision in the US District Court applying the habeas corpus jurisdiction stripping provision of the Military Commissions Act, but I believe we will see the appellate courts strike down this legislative provision.

"The New York Times had an extensive article on this subject, starting on the front page, last Sunday, and continuing on a full page on the back page about what is happening at Guantanamo. It is hard to see how in America, or in a jurisdiction controlled by the United States, these proceedings could substitute for even rudimentary due process of law."

Source: Habeas Corpus Restoration Act (S.185/H.R.2826) 2007-S185 on Jun 22, 2007

2017-18 Governor, House and Senate candidates on Homeland Security: Kirsten Gillibrand on other issues:
NY Gubernatorial:
Andrew Cuomo
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Cynthia Nixon
George Pataki
Howie Hawkins
John DeFrancisco
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Larry Sharpe
Marc Molinaro
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Freshman class of 2019:
"Freshman class" means "not in Congress in January 2017", with exceptions:
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Page last updated: Jun 02, 2020