Porter Goss: “We are not talking about due process. We are talking about way beyond due process here. Due process is guaranteed. This…”

“We are not talking about due process. We are talking about way beyond due process here. Due process is guaranteed. This is not an issue of due process. This is a provision of special privilege for a narrow group of government employees that is entirely unwarranted and will in fact hamper investigation by those who are charged with the heavy responsibility of investigating wrongdoing in the Department of State. Who would want to stand behind the proposition that we want to slacken our efforts, defang our watchdogs and just basically cast a blind eye to the fact that there might be some wrongdoing in this day and age? That is not what the constituency of America is asking us to do. I am not an investigator, and my distinguished colleague from New Jersey, whose opinion I have great respect for and I have every reason to believe, has come to a conclusion that he firmly believes but based on the wrong information. Let me tell my colleagues what the people who are charged with this responsibility are saying. They are saying that passage of this amendment would seriously impede effectively and timely criminal investigations.”