Maurice Hinchey: “I want to raise some issues today with regard to certain aspects of this conference report and certain authorizations…”

“I want to raise some issues today with regard to certain aspects of this conference report and certain authorizations, particularly those dealing with the Defense Intelligence Agency and the responsibility of this Congress to oversee ways in which intelligence is used by the executive branch. There are very disturbing aspects of the way in which intelligence is used. We know that most of the expenditures for intelligence in our country are spent by the Defense Intelligence Agency. I am interested in why the majority party has not exercised its oversight responsibilities with the way in which intelligence has been misused in ways that are misleading. That goes all of the way back to a time prior to the attack of September 11, 2001. We know, for example, that all during the spring and summer of that year we were getting intelligence information talking about an impending attack on the United States. In fact, at one point, George Tenet, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, pointed out that the lights were flashing red. Others indicated that something very, very, very big was about to happen.”