Political Quotes

“I also join in support of the conference report for H.R. 3694, the intelligence authorization bill, and give due credit to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) and to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss) who worked so very hard on this to do such a wonderful job. United States policymakers must have the most comprehensive, responsive and timely strategic perspective on major global changes. To help provide this perspective, we rely on our intelligence agencies to collect, sort, and analyze information from all over the world. When this bill was originally before the House in May, I expressed concerns about the capability of the intelligence community to tackle specialized financial issues like economic analysis and tracking illicit money laundering. As global financial markets grow and intertwine, timely economic intelligence in tracking the flow of laundered money becomes increasingly important to the United States national security. Support for economic intelligence was downgraded earlier this decade, but the need for stronger support in this area was driven home by the degree to which the Asian financial crisis caught our government flat-footed. If we are to rely on the United States intelligence community to provide this kind of support, it is essential that we provide them with the resources necessary to do the job.”