Trent Lott: “we need to find a way to deal with the problem. The point I want to make is, Congress is now like somebody that has been…”

“we need to find a way to deal with the problem. The point I want to make is, Congress is now like somebody that has been at the scene of an accident. We saw it happen, but now we are pretending we weren't there. Congress is a part of this problem. For 20 years we have underfunded, we have limited human intelligence. We have improperly funded the intelligence community. We have allowed a situation where 80 percent of the money for the intelligence community is under the Department of Defense, not the CIA. Let me give some numbers. During the 1990s, the number of CIA stations declined by 30 percent. The number of agents declined by 40 percent. The volume of intelligence reports decreased by 50 percent. The intelligence community connected the dots, and got it wrong. It was not just our intelligence community that got it wrong--there was a global breakdown in intelligence analysis. The report is not an indictment of the hard-working and dedicated men and women who put their lives on the line, and are charged with connecting the dots. It is a criticism of the process and community at large, and demonstrative of a lack of leadership, oversight, and insufficient investment. The breakdown in intelligence capability evolved over several years. It was recognized in 1976 by a 5-volume report by the Church committee.”