Doug Bereuter: “It has been an extraordinary afternoon and evening here in the House, and I am moved to comment upon the sentiments that…”

“It has been an extraordinary afternoon and evening here in the House, and I am moved to comment upon the sentiments that have been expressed: strong comments, high-minded comments, and deeply felt sentiments. I can and do associate myself with all those remarks. I know we are all very proud of the individual examples of heroism and bravery on the part of so many Americans, and we certainly I think all sense a degree of unity and resolve that we have not seen perhaps since 1941. As a member of the Committee on Intelligence 6 years previous and now again as vice chairman since January, I can tell, Mr. Speaker, we have had in the intelligence community many examples of successes against terrorism directed at our homeland. But the inadequacies and the failures of our intelligence are available for all to see. The successes we do not talk about. I recall when I visited General Schwarzkopf's headquarters 4 days after the end of the Persian Gulf war, he reminded us there is never enough intelligence for our field commanders and for our civilian leaders. We face a whole new range of asymmetrical threats against the United States, including terrorism directed at our civilian population. So now we have reached the point where all of our great rhetoric must be matched by actions.”