Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Feinstein amendment No. 1125, which would modify the requirement that the Armed Forces detain suspected terrorists by adding the word ``abroad'' to ensure we are not disrupting domestic counterterrorism efforts. I wish to correct the Record, because some of the opponents of this amendment have stated that by inserting the word ``abroad'' we would be ``preventing the military from detaining al Qaeda terrorists on U.S. soil.'' This is simply not true. I am not comfortable with the detention provisions in this bill because I think they will undermine our fight against terrorism. While section 1031 of this legislation will authorize the military to detain terrorists, section 1032 requires that the military detain certain terrorists even if the FBI or local law enforcement is in the middle of a larger investigation that would yield the capture of even more dangerous terrorists. This may disrupt the investigation, interrogation, and prosecution of terrorist suspects by forcing the military to interrupt FBI, CIA, or other counterterrorism agency operations--against each of these organizations' recommendations, including the military's. This would be an unworkable bureaucratic process that would take away the ability to make critical and split-second decisions about how best to save Americans lives. That is why the director of the FBI and the director of National Intelligence have strongly opposed the underlying provisions.…”