Joe Lieberman: “Let me put this amendment in context. In response to the 9/11 Commission Report, Senator Frist and Senator Daschle sent…”

“Let me put this amendment in context. In response to the 9/11 Commission Report, Senator Frist and Senator Daschle sent it to our Governmental Affairs Committee to consider and then recommend, on the basis of that report, action to the Senate--which we have done. Senator Collins and I and the members of the committee essentially built a structure, a national intelligence director, a leader for our intelligence community where there is none now--what I called a quarterback for our intelligence team--where there is no quarterback, a general for our intelligence service. There have been two amendments put forward, in now this fifth day of debate on the bill, that went at the architecture of the structure we have recommended. One was by Senator Specter, which would have dramatically altered, gone well beyond, what we had.”