Dianne Feinstein: “I will use the time, if I might, then. The distinguished chairman of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs…”

“I will use the time, if I might, then. The distinguished chairman of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs mentioned something which affected me a little bit, and I would like to respond to it respectfully, that our amendment was cobbled together on the Senate floor. I point out that our amendment was introduced as a bill on May 12. I also point out that prior to that we worked on this amendment for at least 6 months with high-risk areas, with cities, with States, and with law enforcement. This amendment is born in the belief that just as terrorists in Great Britain did not go to Stratford-on-Avon, they went to London; just as 9/11 did not take place in Milpitas, CA, it took place in the financial center of America; and just as the bombers in Spain did not go to a rural Spanish community, they went to Madrid. Now, I can only use my experience as a member of the Intelligence Committee to say whether it is advisable to have a fixed formula or advisable to give those people who have access to all of the intelligence--intelligence from CIA, intelligence from counterterrorism people, intelligence from the FBI, and all of those who do the risk analysis, whether they should have the flexibility to determine where the moneys go. From my perspective, that is the way to go.…”