Chuck Grassley: “I rise to support Senator Lieberman's amendment establishing a National Commission on Terrorist Acts Upon the United…”

“I rise to support Senator Lieberman's amendment establishing a National Commission on Terrorist Acts Upon the United States. This amendment would direct the new independent commission in both investigation of the facts and circumstances relating to the September 11 attacks, and evaluation of the lessons learned from the attacks regarding the Federal Government's abilities to detect, prevent and respond to such attacks. Further, the bill empowers the commission to hold hearings, collect relevant materials and subpoena witnesses for the purpose of studying the systemic problems within the intelligence and law enforcement communities and to discover what part these problems played in the September 11 attacks. I support this amendment with the expectation that the recommendations coming from this commission will assist us in strengthening our national security by improving our intelligence and law enforcement as well as our intelligence efforts. We need to do everything possible to make sure that this type of attack never happens again. As we learn more from the investigation into the September 11 attacks, it is increasingly evident that there are many barriers of communications between the several agencies involved in the battle against terrorism. I have been concerned about this problem for a number of years. There is no place for jurisdictional battles and unnecessary statutory barriers when America's security is at risk.”