The Public Record
Dutch-American politician and diplomat (born 1953)
What is happening right now in grass-roots America is very, very healthy. People are engaged. And as they have gone through the last year, they saw the passage of a stimulus bill, $787 billion, then they saw a cap- and-tax bill passed in…
No Child Left Behind was a bill that I voted against because I believed in parental control, I believed in local control, and I believed in State control. I want to deconstruct the Education Department and return the rights back to the…
I think the political correctness here is not about profiling. It is a reluctance to acknowledge that this problem actually exists, to confront it, and ultimately then to defeat it.
This radicalization process is a very, very complicated process. Not everybody fits into a nice box.
The political correctness here is not about profiling. It is a reluctance to acknowledge that this problem actually exists to confront it and ultimately then to defeat it.
I think Shannen's story is probably very accurate. One of the things that's really struck me...is that people are saying that, wow, this is brand new.
I think that's exactly right. And I think that's why it would have been very appropriate, number one, for them to keep information classified, rather than leaking it.
The shootings are a tragic reminder of the potential deadly consequences of the threat posed by homegrown jihadism and the failure of the government to adequately respond to it.
I think that's why it would have been very appropriate, number one, for them to keep information classified rather than leaking it.
I do believe that there's indications here that this is more of an act of terrorism than just a criminal act or someone cracking.
Their responsibility is to keep Congress fully and currently informed. And they failed to do that.
A tragic reminder of the potential deadly consequences that's the threat posed by homegrown Jihadism and the failure of the government to adequately respond to it.
The Detainee Treatment Act outlaws cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. There seems to be a sense of urgency to do what we have done and do it again. It is too bad that there is no sense of urgency to give our individuals in the…
Thank you. Again, getting back to the point, the chairman has talked about energy security being tied to national security. This motion to recommit will do more to secure our energy independence and will do more to protect our energy…
What we try to do in the Intelligence Committee is to define the threat that is out there. We know that radical jihadists, al Qaeda, that it is a real threat. We attempt to provide our intelligence community with the tools that are…
So even before the attacks of 2001 and the implementation of the terrorist surveillance program, for 21 years the intelligence community had developed a strict regimen of here is what we do if our surveillance touches on an American to…
And did the intelligence community develop an elaborate system of protections which we call minimization to protect the civil liberties of Americans if and when that occurred?
Until we fixed it. But in the FISA, you know, there was not a commonsense exception. I'm sure that there are lots of people in America today who have paid a penalty or whatever, believing that what they were doing was, you know, it's just…
Just reclaiming my time, because, if we go back and we take a look at since this bill passed in 1978, 1979, FISA originally, I mean, at any time from 1978 to 2007 or before 2001, did we ever pick up American communications?
Reclaiming my time, and I think that's exactly right, that we take a look at the past but most importantly that we set the right objective, the right milestone looking forward; and I think as a Congress we ought to commit to the principle…
Right now, the facts are very clear. He pled guilty to what I think is a pretty ugly crime.
No, I will not yield. And I know that this colleague has been very sympathetic to making us and fixing this problem, and I appreciate his efforts in this area. But if we go back to knowing that we have had this information for more than 6…
That is exactly the point, that whatever abuses, whatever we wanted transparency, these were guidelines and rules that we agreed upon in the previous Congress, where I am glad that they were carried over into this Congress. I am…
Mr. Chairman, no, that does not follow. The measure that we had, you and I sat in a conference room; we went through the list with staff discussing specifically each and every earmark. And that earmark was not part of that process. When we…
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