Doug Bereuter: “I am not a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. I do not expect to respond to the gentleman's…”

“I am not a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. I do not expect to respond to the gentleman's questions. My understanding, Mr. Chairman, is the money has been recovered. It is not lost. In any case, what I want to say is that countries from around the world send their parliamentary bodies to try to understand how we conduct oversight of the intelligence functions of our government, and they do that because of the quality of what is done by the people appointed by the minority leader and the Speaker of this House. Now, they choose people who they think will give the interest, the competence, the time, and have the intense focus necessary to give oversight to these important functions of the Federal Government. We have a limitation. First 6 years, now 8 years, like the other body, on the length of time that Members can serve on the intelligence committees, and that is so that these Members do not become co-opted by the agencies over which they conduct oversight. That is a protection for all of us. Now, I have been a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. I do not serve there any longer because of that term limitation. I spend a lot of my time on foreign policy and trade issues, and I want to speak to my colleagues from that perspective today. Mr. Chairman, our policymakers, from the President on down, depend upon accurate and timely intelligence when making their most critical decisions.”