Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise today in strong support of this legislation. It has been five long years since an intelligence authorization bill was last signed into law, and each new revelation about the conduct of the previous administration testifies to the need for effective congressional oversight of the intelligence community. This bill also provides an opportunity to move beyond questions of misconduct and abuse to address the longer-term challenges of improving our intelligence capabilities, making them responsive to cyber-security and other new threats, and ensuring that they are accountable to Congress and the American public. I'd like to highlight two aspects of the bill on which I have worked in recent years (along with colleagues such as Ms. Schakowsky and Mr. Holt), and which I believe are important steps toward improving the effectiveness of our intelligence operations. First, the bill contains several provisions dealing with the use of private contractors by the intelligence community, which by some reports has come to consume nearly half of the annual intelligence budget. It would require a comprehensive report on the number and cost of contractors employed by the intelligence community and the extent of their use for intelligence collection, analysis, and other covert activities including detention and interrogation. It also explicitly prohibits the use of contractors for the interrogation of detainees, codifying a prohibition that the CIA itself has already adopted.…”