war poses to israel and stability of the middle east. our enemies are emboldened all over the planet. al-qaeda and iraq is coming back with a vengeance, al-qaeda groups in yemen and libya are working together. at the national defense ministry last week, he called for new and tighter restrictions on drones, a renewed effort to close the detention center at guantanamo bay and the end to the authority the congress gave the president after 9/11. this war like all wars must end. that is what history advises. that is what our democracy demands. reporter: senator graham who opposed the end dated in iraq found the speech troubling. i ve never been more worried about our national security than i am right now. this speech did not help.
but a criminal co-conspirator he is not. we re beginning to criminalize journalism. i think that should worry us all. this all stems from an affidavit filed. claiming it believed rosen violated the federal espionage act. the attorney general s review of this as well as the records seizure at the associated press is due in july. despite those two scandals, as well as questions over the deadly terror attack on our consulate in benghazi, libya, president obama came out late last week with a major speech on counter terrorism and national security defending his formerly top secret drone program and renewing the pledge he made before taking office. to close the detention center at guantanamo bay. critics say he is trying to shift the focus away from three scandals. peter with news now from washington.
reporter: with scandals swirling around the white house, president obama left campus this week to give a speech at ft. mcnair where he reminded americans he wants to scale back the war on terror, close the military prison at guantanamo bay, cuba, and limit the use of drones. before any strike is taken, there must be near certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured. the highest standard we can set. reporter: that sounds like a retreat to some of the critics who say now is not the time to limit our options for dealing with terrorists. this is the most tone deaf president i ever could imagine. making such a speech at a time when our homeland is trying to be attacked literally every day. changing the standards of when you can go after somebody with a drone. it has to be a continuing imminent threat to american people with no chance of civilian casualties. virtually no chance. i think we re diminishing our national security infrastructure. other senators see the
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restoring afghan sovereignty. so we bring law of war detention to an end and we are committed to prosecuting terrorists wherever we can the glaring detention to this time tested approach is the detention center at guantanamo bay. the original premise for opening gitmo that detainees would not be able to challenge their detention was found unconstitutional five years ago in the meantime gitmo has become a symbol around the world for an american that flouts the rule of law. our allies won t cooperate with terrorist will will end up at gitmo. during a time of budget cuts we spend $150 million each year in-to-imprison 166 people.