Bill Nelson: “I rise to state that I enthusiastically support this legislation. If I had to sum up in one sentence what would be one…”

“I rise to state that I enthusiastically support this legislation. If I had to sum up in one sentence what would be one of the most powerful statements as to why we need to pass this legislation, it would be from the television interview of Governor Kean, the Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, when he said: This bill will pass. It is just a question of will it pass now or will it pass after the next terrorist attack. His statement was full of so much meaning because of all the deliberation and the factfinding that the 9/11 Commission had brought to the light of day in showing how the intelligence apparatus of this country had failed us in alerting that we were about to be attacked. We do not have the luxury of two big oceans protecting us as we have had in the past, for we now have a new kind of enemy who deals with stealthiness. Our ability to protect ourselves is having the information ahead of time so we can thwart the attack. It was also very revealing in the 9/11 Commission Report when they concluded that we are safer than September 11, but we are not safe. I commend the chair of the committee and her ranking member, as they have done an extraordinary job in the crucible of legislative give and take to stand on their principles and to insist on those principles that a reorganization be done under which there would be accountability instead of the separate and multifaceted intelligence communities that we have seen in the past that do not talk to each other.”