Joe Lieberman: “If I might, I hear what the Senator is saying, and this goes back to the debate we have had off and on over the 5 days…”

“If I might, I hear what the Senator is saying, and this goes back to the debate we have had off and on over the 5 days in which we have been on the bill. Let us take the Department of Defense, because that is a concern we have that has been expressed. This was something we argued with regard to the so-called Specter amendment which would have created line authority in the national intelligence director over all the constituent intelligence agencies, including those in the Department of Defense. Senator Collins and I argued we do not want to go that far. We want the Secretary of Defense to maintain line authority over NSA, NRA and NGA. On the other hand, we do want-- and we may argue this on another amendment--the national intelligence director to be able to have the budget authority we give him and have the transfer authority, et cetera. Maybe we are heading in the same direction. I think this is one we can try to work out.”