Bob Kerrey: “I rise in my capacity as vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee to urge passage of the intelligence authorization…”

“I rise in my capacity as vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee to urge passage of the intelligence authorization conference report. The House and Senate both produced good bills this year, they fit together quite well, and the conference committee under Chairman Shelby's leadership worked out a compromise which I recommend to my colleagues. The outcome of the conference favors new technology, focuses on today's and tomorrow's hardest targets, and increases the usefulness of U.S. intelligence to its Government customers and to the public. The legislation coming out of conference is not perfect, because it drops a provision which the Senate had strongly favored, the provision guaranteeing the right of public employees to share classified information about wrongdoing directly with the appropriate congressional committee. I will return in a moment to the failure to include this provision, and I will have more to say in the future about the necessity of such a provision. Last month, while the conferees were meeting, the CIA was publicly celebrating the 50th anniversary of its creation. I salute its employees and I join President Clinton in praising their generous patriotism, their willingness to take risks for America, and their great professional skill.”