Dan Coats: “For me, national security and taking care of our veterans rises to a higher level than a lot of programs.”

I would argue that ours is not working very well and it is--at the moment.

One of the first things you can do--at this hearing, even--is to make a strong statement of support for professionalism in the IC and pledge that you will not tolerate politics influencing the analytical process.

You will need to inspire a workforce that has unfortunately been hollowed out by years of firings, and remind them that their mission is critical--and still noble.

I know others have talked about that here today, but when you and I had a chance to talk earlier in the last couple weeks, I mentioned one of my real concerns about China.