Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the United States is under attack. We are under attack--not a week ago, a month ago, September 11 or yesterday, but right at this moment. We are under attack from state actors, from terrorist nonstate actors, and from garden-variety criminals. This cyber issue is one of the most serious that we face. When I first got here, I was appointed to the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. On those two committees over the past 3 years, at least half of our hearings have touched upon this issue and the threat that it presents to this country. The leaders of our intelligence community and our military community, in open session and in closed session, have sounded the alarm over and over and over. The most dramatic--I don't remember what the hearing was--was when one of our witnesses said: ``The next Pearl Harbor will be cyber.'' As the Senator from Missouri just pointed out, we are fortunate that we have had a number of warning shots but none have been devastating. But we have had warning shots--at Sony, at Target, at Anthem, at the Office of Personnel Management of the U.S. Government, and at the home email of the Director of the CIA. We have had large and small intrusions and cyber attacks that have been more than annoying, but, so far, they haven't been catastrophic. That is just a matter of time. That is why we have to move this bill. This bill isn't a comprehensive answer to this question, but it is at least a piece of it. It is a beginning.…”