Today, November 28, 2011, the U.S. Senate is to consider a bill which would authorize the President to order the U.S. military to arrest and imprison indefinitely without charge or trial any persons, including U.S. citizens in the U.S., who engage in terrorist activities defined in the bill.  The bill was drafted in secret and passed in a closed door Senate committee meeting without a single hearing.

The military detention provisions are included in S. 1867, a much larger bill to authorize appropriations for the U.S. Department of Defense for fiscal year 2012.  You can read the relevant provisions, Sections 1031 and 1032, at pages 395-364 in the pdf of S. 1867 at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s1867pcs/pdf/BILLS-112s1867pcs.pdf

We urge you to contact your U.S. Senators to express your views on the military detention bill.