Joe Lieberman

Whether that will, in any measure, contribute to the evenhandedness of the DCI, or the perception of it, which will help to bring these two communities together better.

States local officials complain to each of us that they have not, up until this time, been kept in the loop by Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The President, obviously, would have the new center report to the Director of Central Intelligence rather than the Secretary of Homeland Security.

I thank you for holding this hearing and for moving as expeditiously as you have to examine what is clearly one of the most important issues we face in the near term in shoring up our homeland defenses.

It must answer questions about the center's role, if any, in the collection of domestic intelligence.

The administration needs to let the Congress know why the center's director should not be confirmed by the Senate.

I am disappointed that we are not going to hear from an administration representative today.

I consider the topic of the hearing to be one of the more important offensives, if I can put it that way, in the war against terrorism.

The intelligence disconnect, some of which you described in your opening statement, Madam Chairman, that in part led to the September 11 terrorist attacks are an embarrassment that should never have happened in the first place and we must…

We need to go that direction simply from a security standpoint.

I think it's absolutely critical that we do this as a Nation.

I urge my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, and people on--leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to take a good open-minded look at our proposal.

I particularly thank you for the now more than a year in which you and I and our staffs have been working with people in the--in business and environmental communities to fashion this practical program to deal through the marketplace, not…

I will request that the new Secretary of the Homeland Security Department give attention to the concerns about emergency management raised by the Senator from Minnesota, and I hope that homeland defense-integrated emergency management and…

Information assurance will be critical to the new Department of Homeland Security, and independent evaluations can be useful tools to improve the security of information systems. In fact, information assurance is critical to the entire…

I thank the Senator. As I said at the outset of the remarks I am giving here, there is a lot that is in this substitute that has, in fact, been taken from our committee bill. But as I am enumerating now, there is a lot also that has been…

I congratulate our new colleague from Minnesota, not only for the nobility of the purpose for which this legislation is dedicated, to honor the memory of our dear friends Paul and Sheila Wellstone, but for the fact he achieved the passage…

The Senator from Arizona is quite right. He remembers the numbers exactly. It was a 90-to-8 vote--very strong bipartisan support for this idea. That support ought not be frustrated. I have seen public opinion surveys that say it represents…

I hope that mandate would be felt by one and all. A 90-to-8 vote usually does not seem to have difficulty, at least from the Senate side, in becoming a part of legislation. Interestingly, we do not find it in the Homeland Security bill. In…

Again, let me thank Senator Hutchison in particular for her efforts on this bill. I believe we have worked out a good compromise, one that grants relief where it is warranted, but does not in any way threaten to open up a loophole in the…

I believe the threat is real. The weapons of mass destruction threat is real. Whether it is imminent or not, I do not know. As I said, the analogy that comes to mind is of a bomb on a timer. I don't know whether the timer is set to go off…

No. I think I will just finish because I am taking Senator Biden's time. I am reassured but still puzzled about why you then have the second part of your amendment, I say to Senator Levin. And it is this: If you believe you are not saying…

If I may briefly state it, you are saying the President can only take--forgive me for using the word ``only,'' but I will clarify it--action against, can only use the Armed Forces of the U.S. to take action against the weapons of mass…

If he determines the threat is not imminent, then he cannot take action against those weapons without the U.N. resolution, unless he returns to the Senate.

This comes directly from my experience as an attorney and attorney general. If you are saying ``pursuant,'' how else--I ask the Senator from Michigan, do you believe, under your amendment, and if there is no resolution of the United…