Christopher Shays: “I strongly support the PATRIOT Act, which plays an instrumental role in the detection and prevention of terrorist…”

“I strongly support the PATRIOT Act, which plays an instrumental role in the detection and prevention of terrorist attacks. Terrorists will strike again. It is not a question of if, but of when, where and of what magnitude. We are in a race to stop the terrorists before they use weapons of mass destruction against us. The PATRIOT Act empowers our intelligence and law enforcement communities to play vital roles in helping the United States win this race. To fight the war on terrorism, our intelligence agencies must have the right tools. However, with these added tools, there must be added oversight. The protection of our civil liberties is of utmost concern to me. For this reason, Congresswoman Maloney and I have offered H.R. 1310, the Protection of Civil Liberties Act, which would reconstitute the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board as an independent agency within the Executive Branch. The establishment and adequate funding of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board was a crucial recommendation by the 9/11 Commission. In its Final Report on 9/11 Commission recommendations, the commission notes ``very little urgency'' and ``insufficient'' funding as it relates to the establishment of the Board. The bottom line is, we can no longer think in terms of the Cold War paradigm of containment, reaction and mutually-assured destruction. The modern threat requires us to detect and prevent attacks.…”