Plan on Economic Development issues within that area but that has all stopped now they decided to come in. It would be extremely helpful if the department of defense would engage with us and let us know what theyre doing. Mr. Thompson i agree. Phone call would not be enough but if they demonstrated the cost of whatevers involved. Is that a concern of yours. Governor haley they could tell me they would house these terrorists and i would not take them. The state of South Carolina does not want them. There is no amount of money that they can pay, whether it be cost or supplement that would justify those detainees coming to South Carolina. Mr. Thompson i appreciate your opinion. You referenced what happened to charleston relative to the unfortunate circumstances at mother emanuel. Some of us also participated in the services and it was not a good day. Thats the other ugly head of terrorism. Local can you tell me who has custody of the young man charged with killing the people at mother emanuel . Governor haley is he in South Carolina. Representative thompson is he in a feral facility or state or county facility . Governor haley i believe hes in a state facility. Do yountative thompson know where . Governor haley hes in charleston . Mr. Thompson the fellow that did that heinous crime is in charleston . Governor haley yes. Mr. Thompson has it posed any security issues, to your knowledge, to the people of charleston . Governor haley we wont let it pose any security issues. Right now what i can tell you is the constant reminder. Its a constant reminder what happened, what we have to deal with, as we have to know that hes there. No one wants him there. And right now, theyre in the process of Going Forward with the Death Penalty. Representative thompson and theres no issue on my part to pursue the Death Penalty at all. But the fact is sometimes we have difficult jobs to do , including dealing with bad people. As governor, you and local officials dealing with this bad person and whatevers required to make sure that that bad person is kept in a facility where he cant harm anyone, to the extent that hes prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, your oath of office and other things would allow you to extend whatever resources to guarantee the safety of the people in South Carolina. And thats the point im trying to get at. Governor haley yes, sir. I appreciate your point, mr. Thompson. Our goal is that we will deal with him as we need to deal with him. That was a homegrown issue that we will, you know, absolutely deal with. We just dont want a. D. Moore 80 more coming to charleston. Dealing with one has shaken the state enough. I cant imagine what we would have to do if we had to deal with 80 of them. Mr. Thompson thank you. Mr. Perry the chair recognizes the gentleman, mr. Duncan. Mr. Duncan thank you, mr. Chairman. Governor haley, i apologize. The Ranking Member had to bring a discussion about a deranged murderer into a discussion about Guantanamo Bay terrorists that are backed by global organizations known as al qaeda, isis, isil, whatever you want to term, boko haram, and the list goes on and on. There are global terrorist organizations that have a completely different mindset than individuals that are deranged and commit heinous crimes in this country. For the record, mr. Chairman, the governor sent a letter to secretary of Defense Ash Carter along with governor brownback on august 25 and there was an executive order, july, 2015, by Governor Haley after the chattanooga terrorist attack. I would like to submit that for the record. Mr. Perry without objection, so ordered. Mr. Duncan there is a school, Elementary School or middle school, near the naval big, is that correct . Governor haley yes. I talked to someone yesterday and said good luck tomorrow. He said everybody in my area is terrified what could happen. Mr. Duncan were talking about south carolinian mothers and fathers considering sending their children to a school in close proximity to some of the most wanted and dangerous terrorists in the world so thanks for pointing that out. The letter that you and governor brownback sent to ash carter, did yall get a response on that . Governor haley im not aware that we got a response. I will follow up and just confirm that but i am not aware of a response. Theyve been very they handled this very much on their own and have not included us in the process. I have had conversations of governor brownback and i have made it very clear and i want it to be made very clear, any governor that has to deal with this, i will fight for them to make sure it doesnt happen in their state. This is not just about South Carolina. This is about every state in the country. Mr. Duncan it sounded like it doesnt sound like the having anyion is dialogue with governors across the country their states are considered for the Guantanamo Bay terrorists . Governor haley no, sir. What we know is that already we have had to sit there and wonder whats going to happen. Again, the fear that is put in every state up for who we any is up for consideration, the fear that every state has is, whats going to happen . Whens it going to happen . Whats the turnaround time . We dont have any answers for them. Mr. Duncan wow. The administration talks about stakeholder involvement, public involvement. They denied the shores off of South Carolina, georgia, North Carolina and virginia in the next fiveyear Drilling Plan for Energy Development so that our states can play a part in the Energy Renaissance and Energy Security and they touted the fact that they talked to stakeholders. When 78 of south carolinians that were polled wanted to see our areas opened up to stakeholders they talked to were a small group of environmentalists. Here we have the administration wanting to fulfill a Campaign Promise and want to bring terrorists. These are not criminals. They are terrorists backed by the organizations i mentioned earlier, two states in violation of the ndaa which is a bilateral ndaa that goes back several congresses. Bring these terrorists to South Carolina, kansas or maybe another state without any correspondence with the governor . The governor represents 4. 8 Million People in South Carolina. The General Assembly, 124 in the house, 46 in the house represent a combined total of 4. 8 Million People in South Carolina. The congressional delegation, seven of us, represent 4. 8 Million People in South Carolina who overwhelmingly support your decision to stop or try to stop the administration bringing terrorists to charleston, South Carolina. So we listen to a small group of environmentalists about Energy Issues but he wont listen to the governor, the General Assembly and the congressional delegation with regard to bringing terrorists to u. S. Soil . That is alarming to me. So let me ask you this. Has there been any sort of threat assessment with regard to the naval big, transferring the brig transferring the terrorists . I believe a terrorist on an island isolated from the main land, very difficult to get to, difficult for the terrorist organizations that are supporting these terrorists to free them, attack the island or what not, theyre guarded by United States marines, by the way, has there been a threat assessment about that brig in charleston, South Carolina, about how that is a possible target and how that would be handled if you are aware of . Governor haley again, we have not been given any information by the department of defense. I look at this very much like i look at my correctional facilities. You never know whats going to happen. So if one has a medical emergency, you all of a sudden have to figure out, ok, where are they going to go . Which hospital is going to be there . How will we secure them from one point to another . How do we have to handle during the point in the process . If there is a breakout or if they shut down the prisons or if they take over the prisons, which that can happen, those are all things we have to deal with now. But were dealing with those in South Carolina. Never have we thought about or can we comprehend dealing with that with terrorists that have done the crimes that theyve done. Mr. Duncan well, thank you for your valuable leadership on this. Id be interested to see what other congressmen would say and what their governors would say if their state was targeted for these terrorists. Thank you for your leadership and for being here today. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Mr. Perry the chair Governor Haley i would dare to say any governor, republican or democrat, would not want these detainees in their state. Mr. Perry the chair thanks the gentleman from South Carolina. The chair recognizes the gentleman from louisiana, mr. Richmond. Mr. Richmond let me start off by saying, i know that mr. Duncan apologized on behalf of the Ranking Member. I dont think the Ranking Member needs anybody to apologize for him but if you want to apologize thats fine. Im sure he can speak for himself. The issue of bringing up mother emanuel and the fact that a terrorist is a terrorist is an issue that weve been raising on this side for a very long time. It doesnt matter the nationality of the perpetrator, doesnt matter their motivation. Terrorism is terrorism no matter the perpetrator or the victim. So when we look at those nine people that were killed, we call it domestic terrorism. And the fact that you can hold the domestic terrorist means you have the ability to safely how a very dangerous house a very dangerous person who others would want to do harm to. You would agree you at least have the ability to do it . Governor haley i will never question our military and our officers. We are totally capable, and i dont doubt them for a second that they are not able to do their job and able to do their job well. I am talking about the environment. You bring upon a state when you create that kind of fear. You send a chill factor into a state that you cant put a cost on, that you cant put a reason on, that you cant give an explanation for. I know we have the best military in the world. My military will do whatever they have to do to protect the people of South Carolina. My officers will do whatever they have to to protect the people of South Carolina. Thats not the issue. That will never be the issue. The issue is, why would you want to bring these detainees that have done these types of terrorist acts onto american soil when you dont have to . You dont have to. I am an elected official. I had Campaign Promises. I know what thats about. You want to fulfill everyone. Its in your heart and soul that you want to fill it. I believe that president obama had his intentions back in 2009 when he was going against ms. Clinton that he had a reason for saying that. These are different times. We are seeing different types of terrorism. We are seeing a different level of terrorism. It is time to rethink this and understand that those people that are doing those types of acts that we send to guantanamo, were sending them there for a reason, were keeping them there for a reason. Mr. Richmond well, let me ask you a question. In 2002 suspect terrorist was transferred to a naval brig into North Carolina, same location being looked at today for some of the transfers. Did his presence cause concern . Did you even know he was there . I dont think you were governor then but, you know, did it create an uproar when we transferred him there . Governor haley i know that he was there but the concern has youre not talking about one, and not only that, this is a different day in time than it was back then. Weve seen tremendous amounts of terrorist attacks. Youre looking at a time where you want to bring a different level of terrorist to South Carolina. So i dont think you can compare that one detainee that we happen to have at that time compared to the others. Totally different. Mr. Richmond just because of the raw because of the size of the number . Governor haley because if you go and you bring these detainees here, now the way the element comes to the area, it will encourage more people to want and go and be in South Carolina whether to protest, whether to join forces, whether to create homegrown terrorism, all of the things that governors are trying to protect them from as it is, youre creating a whole new magnet for that when you do Something Like that. That is the concern. We now i get flood reports. My state Law Enforcement division. The flood reports we get are now watching all of the homegrown terrorists that we think we may be getting there that are being getting that are being trained overseas. And thenaer co are coming back. If you put these terrorists in South Carolina it creates a magnet. The propaganda you claim is in Guantanamo Bay, you are going to move that propaganda to charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Richmond well, let me just say im from new orleans. Tourist area, very similar to charleston. Both founded because of the slave trade. I understand tourism being a base. I guess my ultimate question is, this is just a classic example of i guess all of the american territories and states saying not in my back yard. Lets leave them in cuba because we dont have a responsibility over there and we dont care about how, you know, ramifications over there. So if everybody says, not in my back yard, which is basically the argument that i hear, is we just dont want the Chaos Associated with housing these bad guys. Governor haley so that would imply all the governors are wrong . Mr. Richmond im asking is that the argument, not in my back yard . Governor haley this is not me saying, oh, put it in South Carolina or put it in kansas or put it in i dont want it going into any state in the country. This is not a not my back yard. This is the United States of america. This is an area we want to keep safe. And to bring terrorists from a place where they cannot harm anyone to an area that has populations within their states that they can harm and god forbid one error happened, one, none of us wants that on us. None of us. We cant afford that. And for what . Why are we having this conversation . What is the urgency to move these detainees . I have yet to hear what the logical reasoning is. The propaganda is not true because they hate us because the terrorists will always hate america. They hate our freedoms. They hate what we stand for. They hate that were against terrorism. So for the tax money, d. C. Has never been that stickler on cutting tax dollars. I think we could help you save some money so you can keep Guantanamo Bay open. When you talk about the other things that this will do, there are i just dont get it. And neither do any of the governors across this country understand what the urgency is to move terrorists that are in a place where we know they cant touch americans. Why do we want to put them on american soil . Because now we not only know if they come to american soil, what sort of rights are they now going to have . We watched the Supreme Court totally start to go down that slippery slope. We dealt with the habeas corpus issues. We dealt with all this. What rights will we say they have because they are on u. S. Soil . No one has yet been able to answer that question and everyone governor wants to know what rights these terrorists have. We deserve answers as governors. We deserve answers to what you are trying to do to our states and the fact that no one in the federal government will give us those answers is an unfair assumption and an unfair thought to not let the people of this country speak up because no one wants Guantanamo Bay in the United States. Mr. Richmond mr. Chairman, i see my time has expired. Mr. Perry the chair thanks the gentleman. The chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. Carter. Mr. Carter thanks, mr. Chairman. Governor, thank you for being here. Let me begin by saying i associate myself with your earlier testimony about this being an illconceived plan. I just think its absolutely ludicrous to think that moving these prisoners to american soil could somehow improve our National Security. I just dont get it. I dont understand it at all. And i can tell you, i think this is just, again, an illconceived plan to try to keep a Campaign Promise which makes it even worse. Governor, my question is this. I have the honor and the privilege of representing coastal georgia, of savannah. You mentioned in your opening testimony that charleston was the second most favorable vacation spot behind savannah and georgia was the friendliest state. I wanted to