Sam Gibbons: “since September 11, all Americans have witnessed our intelligence community at its best. We have witnessed their loss…”

“since September 11, all Americans have witnessed our intelligence community at its best. We have witnessed their loss, our first combat loss of an American hero in our war against terrorism, CIA agent Johnny ``Mike'' Spann. We must provide the resources needed to combat terrorism at the most basic level, intelligence. This is a good bill. It provides significant resources to the intelligence community, which during the 1990s was underfinanced, understaffed, and underappreciated. The 1990s was a ``risk averse'' period, during which the bullies of the world began to get the idea that the United States had gone soft, and no longer had a will to defend American lives and American interests. The intelligence community often was not performing aggressively enough, though this was by no means the fault of the dedicated men and women who constitute the intelligence agencies' rank-and-file. They are now doing a stupendous job of catchup, and they deserve the best support we can give them. Regarding today's needs, we are providing logistical and technical resources for a worldwide campaign to root out terrorism.”