On the recordJanuary 21, 2021
the Director of National Intelligence must demonstrate commitment to restraining the vast power of our intelligence agencies. They should not view themselves as an enabler or facilitator of agencies that already operate without public scrutiny. We do not need another Washington insider in this position, someone who will go along to get along, helping to further the expansion of secret government powers. What we need is someone who is a skeptic of these powers. After years of revelations of government spying on Americans and the exposure of the unconstitutional applications of these powers, I had hoped that the President would submit a nominee that understands the importance of regaining the public's trust, to pledge transparency and accountability. The President's nominee, Avril Haines, does not meet that profile. She played a key role in formulating the government's legal authority to conduct summary executions by drone and was reportedly summoned in the middle of the night to approve lethal drone strikes. As Deputy Director of the CIA, she declined to punish any of the CIA employees who spied on the Senate as it was investigating the CIA's torture programs. Her record is that of an insider, someone who will defend the broken status quo. I will not support more of the same unconstitutional policies, and I oppose her confirmation. ____________________
