Political Quotes

“I am pleased to give the assurances the Senator from Missouri is seeking. He and I, as he mentioned, along with my friend from Connecticut, serve on the Armed Services Committee and have a deep commitment to making sure that our men and women in the military receive the real-time, actionable intelligence they need to be effective. Nothing in this bill would in any way hinder the flow of intelligence from NSA to the combatant commanders to the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan--nothing. In fact, as the Senator from Missouri knows, we opposed an amendment last week which would have undermined the relationship between those defense agencies and the Secretary of Defense by essentially moving them out of the Pentagon--not physically but from an authority standpoint--and having them only report to the national intelligence director. We recognized that we need a dual reporting, that these agencies are providing critical intelligence to our troops and to Pentagon officials as well as to the rest of the intelligence community. I agree with the Senator that vigilant oversight is going to be necessary to make sure this is implemented in the manner we intend.”