Saxby Chambliss: “I wish to thank my friend from Arizona for his very direct comments on this very sensitive issue. As vice chairman of…”

“I wish to thank my friend from Arizona for his very direct comments on this very sensitive issue. As vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I can say without a doubt that these ongoing leaks of classified information are extraordinarily harmful to our intelligence operations. Every day we ask our intelligence officers and agents to be out there on the frontlines, putting their life in harm's way, gathering information, meeting sources, and using a variety of highly sensitive collection techniques. Depending on where these officers are around the world, the operating environment can be both dangerous and downright hostile. This means they have to be as much or more on guard to ensure that operations don't get blown and their own lives and the lives of our sources are not jeopardized. But each time classified information shows up in the media, the intelligence community's ability to do these dangerous assignments becomes that much more difficult. Not only do these leaks tell our enemies how we do our jobs and therefore how they can block or impede our efforts, but with each leak our friends and allies are left to wonder how much they can trust us with their own secrets. These are not hypothetical concerns. Senator McCain alluded to a couple of anecdotes. Also, a few weeks ago, in the middle of an ongoing operation, we all--friends and enemies alike--learned the details of efforts to disrupt an al-Qaida plot to bomb a civilian aircraft.…”