I am pleased that the Senate Judiciary Committee has today favorably reported by a unanimous vote a substitute amendment to S. 1754, the “Denying Safe Haven to International and War Criminals Act of 1999," which Senator Hatch and I introduced yesterday. This bill would give United States law enforcement agencies important tools to help them combat international crime, and contains a number of provisions that I have long supported.

Unfortunately, crime and terrorism directed at Americans and American interests abroad are part of our modern reality. Furthermore, organized criminal activity does not recognize national boundaries. With improvements in technology, criminals now can move about the world with ease. They can transfer funds with the push of a button, or use computers and credit card numbers to steal from American citizens and businesses from any spot on the globe. They can strike at Americans here and abroad. They can commit crimes abroad and flee quickly to another jurisdiction or country. The playing field keeps changing, and we need to change with it.

This bill would help make needed modifications in our laws, not with sweeping changes but with thoughtful provisions carefully targeted at specific problems faced by law enforcement. We cannot stop international crime without international cooperation, and this bill gives additional tools to investigators and prosecutors to promote such cooperation, while narrowing the room for maneuver that international criminals and terrorists now enjoy.

I initially introduced title I, section 4 of this bill, regarding fugitive disentitlement, on April 30, 1998, in the “Money Laundering Enforcement and Combating Drugs in Prisons Act of 1998,” S. 2011, with Senators Daschle, Kohl, Feinstein and Cleland. Again, on July 14, 1998, I introduced with Senator Biden, on behalf of the Administration, the “International Crime Control Act of 1998,” S. 2303, which contains most of the provisions set forth in this bill. Virtually all of the provisions in the bill were also included in another major anti-crime bill, the “Safe Schools, Safe Streets, and Secure Borders Act of 1998,” S. 2484, that I introduced on September 16, 1998, along with Senators Daschle, Biden, Moseley-Braun, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Mikulski, Bingaman, Reid, Murray, Dorgan, and Torricelli. In addition, Senator Hatch and I included title II, section 1 of this bill regarding streamlined procedures for MLAT requests in our “International Crime and Anti-Terrorism Amendments of 1998", S. 2536, which passed the Senate last October 15, 1998.

We have drawn from these more comprehensive bills a set of discrete improvements that enjoy bipartisan support so that important provisions may be enacted promptly. Each of these provisions has been a law enforcement priority.

Title I sets forth important proposals for combating international crime and denying safe havens to international criminals. The substitute amendment passed today removes sections 1 and 2 of the original bill. Section 1 of the bill set forth detailed procedures and safeguards for proceeding with extradition for offenses not covered in a treaty, and section 2 contained technical and conforming amendments. Specifically, treaties negotiated many years ago specified the crimes for which extradition would be allowed and have not kept up with developments in criminal activity, which unfortunately have outpaced the ability of countries to renegotiate treaties to include newly developing criminal activity. Under the removed section of the bill, extradition would nevertheless proceed as if the crime were covered by a treaty for “serious offenses,” which are defined to include crimes of violence, drug crimes, bribery of public officials, obstruction of justice, money laundering, fraud or theft involving over $100,000, counterfeiting over $100,000, a conspiracy to commit any of these crimes, and sex crimes involving children. I remain hopeful that any concerns over these two provisions may be addressed to allow them to be included in the final bill considered by the Senate.

Section 3 would give the Attorney General authority to transfer a person in custody in the United States to a foreign country to stand trial where the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of State, determines that such transfer would be consistent with the international obligations of the United States. The section also allows for the transfer of a person in state custody in the United States to a foreign country to stand trial after a similar determination by the Attorney General and the consent of the State authorities. Similarly, the Attorney General is authorized to request the temporary transfer of a person in custody in a foreign country to face prosecution in a federal or state proceeding.

Section 4 is designed to stop drug kingpins, terrorists and other international fugitives from using our courts to fight to keep the proceeds of the very crimes for which they are wanted. Criminals should not be able to use our courts at the same time they are evading our laws.

Section 5 would permit the transfer of prisoners to their home country to serve their sentences, on a case-by-case basis, where such transfer is provided by treaty. Under this section, the prisoner need not consent to the transfer.

Section 6 would provide a statutory basis for holding and transferring prisoners who are sent from one foreign country to another through United States airports, preventing them from claiming asylum while they are temporarily in the United States.

Title II of the bill is designed to promote global cooperation in the fight against international crime. Specifically, section 1 would permit United States courts involved in multi-district litigation to enforce mutual legal assistance treaties and other agreements to execute foreign requests for assistance in criminal matters in all districts involved in the litigation.

Section 2 outlines procedures for the temporary transfer of incarcerated witnesses. Specifically, the bill would permit the United States, as a matter of reciprocity, to send persons in custody in the United States to a foreign country and to receive foreign prisoners to testify in judicial proceedings, with the consent of the prisoner and, where applicable, the State holding the prisoner. A transfer may not create a platform for an application for asylum or other legal proceeding in the United States. Decisions of the Attorney General respecting such transfers are to be made in conjunction with the Secretary of State.

Title III of the bill is the “Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act,” S. 1235, which I introduced on July 15, 1999, with Senator Kohl and is cosponsored by Senator Lieberman. This bill has also been introduced in the House with bipartisan support as H.R. 2642 and H.R. 3058. This title of the bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to expand the grounds for inadmissibility and deportation to cover aliens who have engaged in acts of torture abroad. “Torture” is already defined in the Federal criminal code, 18 U.S.C. § 2340, in a law passed as part of the implementing legislation for the “Convention Against Torture.” Under this Convention, the United States has an affirmative duty to prosecute torturers within its boundaries regardless of their respective nationalities. 18 U.S.C. § 2340A (1994).

This legislation would also provide statutory authorization for OSI, which currently owes its existence to an Attorney General order, and would expand its jurisdiction to authorize investigations, prosecutions, and removal of any alien who participated in torture and genocide abroad -- not just Nazis. The success of OSI in hunting Nazi war criminals demonstrates the effectiveness of centralized resources and expertise in these cases. OSI has worked, and it is time to update its mission. The knowledge of the people, politics and pathologies of particular regimes engaged in genocide and human rights abuses is often necessary for effective prosecutions of these cases and may best be accomplished by the concentrated efforts of a single office, rather than in piecemeal litigation around the country or in offices that have more diverse missions.

Unquestionably, the need to bring Nazi war criminals to justice remains a matter of great importance. Funds would not be diverted from the OSI’s current mission. Additional resources are authorized in the bill for OSI’s expanded duties.

These are important provisions that I have advocated for some time. They are helpful, solid law enforcement provisions. I thank my friend from Utah, Senator Hatch, for his help in making this bill a reality. Working together, we were able to craft a bipartisan bill that will accomplish what all of us want, to make America a safer and more secure place. I urge that this bill be promptly considered by the Senate.