The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2013 passed the
House Armed Services Committee 56–5 on May 10. The bill as reported to the House authorizes $554.2 billion in base
Pentagon spending and $88.5 billion for overseas contingency operations (OCO). The bill passed the full House on May 18 by a vote of 299–120. The bill was approved by the Senate on December 4, 2012, by a vote of 98–0. The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Conference Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 in December 2012. The House passed it on December 20, 2012, with a vote of 315 yeas to 107 noes; the Senate passed it on December 21, 2012, with a vote of 81 yeas to 14 noes. President
Barack Obama signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act The bill authorizes fiscal year 2013 appropriations for Department of Defense programs and military construction,
Department of Energy national security programs, and
Department of Transportation maritime security programs; authorizes recruitment and retention bonuses, special payments, and other authorities relating to the
U.S. Armed Forces; and makes other modifications to national security, foreign affairs, and other related programs. The enacted act sets the U.S. Armed Forces' budget for the 2013 fiscal year to $633 billion. In his signing statement to the Act Obama stated "Even though I support the vast majority of the provisions contained in [NDAA] I do not agree with them all. ... Though I continue to oppose certain sections of the Act, the need to renew critical defense authorities and funding was too great to ignore." "This law makes it harder for the President to fulfill his promise to close the Guantanamo detention facility, perpetuating a grave injustice against the detainees held without charge or fair trial," said
Frank Jannuzi, Deputy Executive Director of
Amnesty International USA. "Solutions for ending human rights violations, not excuses, must be found." and added in Section 1033 the Feinstein–Lee NDAA Amendment which states: "An authorization to use military force, a declaration of war, or any similar authority shall not authorize the detention without charge or trial of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States apprehended in the United States, unless an Act of Congress expressly authorizes such detention." Civil liberties group are concerned with this amendment because they think anyone on American soil should be given a trial if accused of a crime, given that the U.S. Constitution protects "persons," rather than "citizens." The Feinstein–Lee Amendment is "inconsistent with the constitutional principle that basic due process applies to everyone in the US," said American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) legislative counsel Chris Anders. Anders was also worried that the amendment could be construed to actually imply that the U.S. government has the constitutional authority for indefinite detention without charge and trial. There was no reason given for this. Instead, the following replacement provivison was added:
The Huffington Post noted that the replacement version appeared to do little, because the
Supreme Court has already declared that the writ of
habeas corpus, i.e. the constitutional requirement that someone be presented to a judge, applies to all people. This was echoed from the civil liberties groups. "This language doesn't do anything of substance," said Raha Wala, a lawyer in the law and national security program of
Human Rights First. "It doesn't ban indefinite detention within the United States or change anything about existing law."
Smith–Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 The Smith–Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 was introduced by U.S. Congressman
Mac Thornberry on May 10, 2012, in the House of Representatives. U.S. Congressman
Adam Smith was a Co-Sponsor. Amendments made to the Smith–Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1987 allow for materials produced by the
State Department and the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) to be released within US borders.
U.S. Representative Adam Smith stated with respect to the bill's purpose that
al-Qaeda was infiltrating the Internet in order to promote
anti-Americanism and that with passage of the Smith–Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 the U.S. government would be able disseminate
public diplomacy information by the State Department to counter that in the Arabic language abroad. The news website
BuzzFeed News for example quoted an unnamed source saying the Smith–Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 would allow "U.S. propaganda intended to influence foreign audiences to be used on the domestic population." He argued against a complete repeal of the Smith–Mundt Act of 1948 stating that the law "creates a statutory firewall between resources intended for foreign audiences and those used domestically. Tear down that firewall, and it will be a matter of time before resources and personnel who focus on talking about America overseas are diverted in favor of domestic "public affairs," the short-term political imperative of any administration." An unnamed Pentagon official who was concerned about the 2012 law version stated: "It removes the protection for Americans. It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information. There are no checks and balances. No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false." As it turned out, Camille Chidiac, who executed the marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, admitted to be a part of the smear and propaganda campaign against the
USA Today reporters. ==See also==