Porter Goss: “I rise this evening to briefly summarize the bipartisan recommendations of the Intelligence Committee on title 2 of H.R.…”

“I rise this evening to briefly summarize the bipartisan recommendations of the Intelligence Committee on title 2 of H.R. 5005. Before I offer the committee's recommendation, let me give you an idea of why the committee took its action. If you look at the overall structure of the new department, you will notice that the vast majority of the organization has to do with planning, implementation, protection and response to terrorist threats and actions. What we also know is that combating terrorism relies very much on timely, well-coordinated access to intelligence and other sensitive information. I would submit that if the analytical portion of the Department doesn't work, the rest of the Department's operations and functions are somewhat academic. The committee's strategic vision was that the new department needs an analytical focal point where foreign intelligence, Federal law enforcement, and state and local information will all be analyzed collectively in order to best understand threats, specifically to our homeland, and to properly evaluate the weaknesses in our defenses.”