As Senator Collins says, the Lab Response Network is critically important to our biodefense.

the effort to secure our borders is not limited to the borders themselves.

When do you anticipate that the Department will complete its review of how in the world this could have happened...

Homegrown terrorism is another challenge and evolving threat.

What is being done to improve coordination between DHS and HHS in this area...

the DNI, Admiral Blair, issued a directive in which he claims the right to select an individual other than a CIA station chief.

In this 10th year after 9/11, adopting this legislation I think is one of the best things to do to show that we have learned the lessons from 9/11.

We cannot become complacent or let our guard down when every single intelligence briefing that I have ever attended always warns that the enemy remains determined to attack our country.

I think the Executive Order strikes a sensible balance between protecting information from unauthorized disclosure and coordinating information sharing across all levels of government.

I have been a supporter of fusion centers. I have visited two of them--one in a large urban area, one in a rural State.

That is an offense we absolutely need in order to protect our homeland, and NCTC provides that.

the House action to zero out these funds is just plain bad policy, and I hope we will be able to overturn that legislation here in the Senate.

This one, in particular, is very frustrating to me because Senator McCaskill and I repeatedly wrote to Secretary Napolitano.

I think we did create a compromise or some lack of clarity in order to get the bill accomplished.

with the leadership of Senator Collins and Lieberman, Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Counterterrorism Center

I do think that we need to move toward a more risk-based system and TSA is doing that, to Administrator Pistole's credit.

As we have seen over the years, terrorists continue to look for gaps in our aviation security procedures.

the oversight in Congress is much too diffuse and overlapping, and the consequence of that is that we are taking much too much time of the executives, particularly in the Department of Homeland Security.

Security ought to be No. 1.

First, let me thank you for holding today's hearing to review the first 8 years of the Department of Homeland Security, whose vital mission is to protect our Nation and our people.

I appreciated the irony also.

If there is anything we know about al-Qaeda, it is that its members have demonstrated extraordinary patience over the years.

We must also pass legislation to ensure that key U.S. intelligence officials are consulted following a foreign terrorist's detention in the United States.

Did your committee... take a look at whether those guidelines and Memoranda of Understanding... need revision?

But the fact remains that al-Qaeda is not going away, and that is why it is time for Congress to closely examine and build upon the successes.