Political Quotes

“This month we observe the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile. It is important to note the role that the House played in declassifying documents relating to the United States' role in the coup of Allende and the Presidency of Pinochet. I rise to pay tribute to our former colleague, Maurice Hinchey, who in 1999 introduced legislation to declassify documents related to the coup in Chile. Following his leadership, I took his legislation to the House Intelligence Committee conference. In our markup of the conference report of the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2000, I was successful in getting an amendment passed in committee that mirrored the Hinchey legislation. This language was sustained on the floor and when the FY 2000 Intelligence bill was signed by President Clinton, it became law. The legislation stated that no longer than 270 days following enactment--we wanted a shorter period of time, they wanted a longer period of time. This was the compromise--270 days following the enactment, the CIA had to submit a report on all of its activities in various events in Chile in three categories: the assassination of President Salvador Allende; the ascension of Pinochet to the Presidency; and the violation of human rights committed by the henchman of President Pinochet. In 2001, therefore, the CIA prepared 16,000 documents for declassification. Since then, thousands more documents--maybe up around 23,000 documents--have been declassified.…”