Congressman Leverages IO Tie on Gitmo

Though it didn’t get much media play, the US Helsinki Commission held hearings yesterday on Guantanamo Bay. I don’t think it was particularly notable on the substance, though Legal Adviser John Bellinger did allow that the Administration is “working to move to the day that Guantánamo could be closed.” What’s more interesting is the genealogy of the hearings. The US Helsinki Commission is an independent commission charged with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other OSCE commitments, with members appointed by the House, Senate, the President. (Note that all three of the executive branch seats are currently vacant — a coincidence, a protest of the commission’s mission, or an OLC Appointments Clause objection?)

Alcee Hastings (who in a former life was impeached from the federal bench for taking bribes) is the chairman of the US Helsinki Commission. But he was also president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, 2004-06, during which tenure he appointed the president of the Belgian Senate, Anne-Marie Lizin, to be the PA’s Special Representative on Guantanamo. Lizin testified at yesterday’s hearings, which were convened in a House hearing room. So we have a congressman using his participation in an IO to advance an agenda on the home front. (This appears to be the first time the Helsinki Commission has directed its attention to US policy.) This sort of activity may be pretty marginal at the moment, but US legislators appear to be wearing a variety of diplomatic hats with increasing frequency.