Dan Burton: “I have high regard for both of them. We have tried to work on this in a bipartisan manner, and I really hope this whole…”

“I have high regard for both of them. We have tried to work on this in a bipartisan manner, and I really hope this whole issue does not degenerate into a political name-calling session, because we all want the same thing. We want to make sure Americans are secure and free from the threat of terrorism. Now, the President wants to encourage the private sector to give information to the Department of Homeland Security to enhance the safety of the American people. He is concerned that the people we are talking about will not volunteer information if they think whatever they turn over will be released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. I think he is right. You would not want some terrorist getting some of this information that would be voluntarily given to Homeland Security. Let me give you an example. If a business owner recognizes that some part of his business infrastructure might be vulnerable to a terrorist attack, we want him to be able to come to the government and tell us about what he thinks might be done and how to deal with it. We want him to go to the Department of Homeland Security and be very candid. We wanted to be proactive, not reactive. This is the sort of information we must have to prevent tragedy to the American people.”