Joe Lieberman: “first let me say to Senator Specter that he is quite right, we do, much more often than not, agree on matters.…”

“first let me say to Senator Specter that he is quite right, we do, much more often than not, agree on matters. Unfortunately this amendment is not one of them, notwithstanding the arguments he just made. There is an interesting historical note we are familiar with that when the 10-year term for the FBI Director came into effect, I was not here, but I gather it was as a matter of reform as against the effective lifetime term that the former Director, Mr. Hoover, had. So that was in that reality. Here is the circumstance I am worried about. We have done everything we can in this bill to create independence in the national intelligence director position and to set standards that say: You have to level with the President. The worst thing that can happen is if you feel you have to create a good personal relationship and satisfy policy desires. In fact, we have language in here that is quite remarkable that says the national director 'must provide intelligence to the President that is timely, objective, independent of political consideration, and based on all sources available to the intelligence community, information that has not been shaped to serve policy considerations, that comes from a variety of intelligence assessments and analytical views.' I am quoting directly from our proposal.”