C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger: “I rise in support of the 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act. I believe that good intelligence is the best defense…”

“I rise in support of the 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act. I believe that good intelligence is the best defense against terrorism. As we continue to fight this war on terror, I believe we must give the intelligence community the resources it needs to keep our families and communities safe. As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I support this legislation because I believe that it provides intelligence officials with key resources as they work to protect our country. The bill improves the U.S. human intelligence activities, boosts U.S. counterintelligence programs and personnel, and increases funding for counterterrorism programs by 22 percent to achieve full funding, something the President's budget did not do. But I do have some reservations about this bill as well. This legislation, supported by the Bush administration, moves a large number of intelligence agents and analysts from the FBI's new national security branch, currently under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence, to the Department of Justice. I do not believe this move is good for our country's security. The agents in this new FBI branch specialize in collecting and analyzing domestic intelligence. They work to penetrate terrorist cells currently operating in the United States to thwart another attack on our soil.…”