Representative Heather Wilson: “If you think about how the challenge has changed since the Cold War, in the Cold War, we had early warning systems. We…”

“If you think about how the challenge has changed since the Cold War, in the Cold War, we had early warning systems. We had Cheyenne Mountain that was watching early warning systems to see if Soviet bombers were heading towards us or missile systems had launched, immediately scrambling airplanes and taking immediate action to protect this country. And we had intelligence systems set up to be able to detect and give us that early warning. The problem has changed, but the need for early warning is still there. Now, what we didn't do when we got a detection that bombers were coming towards the United States was call the lawyers in Washington to see if we could launch our airplanes to protect us. The system was set up to be fast and immediately responsive. What the Democrats are going to do this week is to say if you get a detection, if you believe you have early warning, that the terrorists are coming to destroy Americans or attack Americans, put that on hold while you go get a warrant, talk to judges, take hours to decide whether we can respond. That will not allow us to protect America.”