Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague. I will wrap up and then give the last word to my friend from New Mexico on the subject. He is absolutely right that some of the most authoritative leaders in our country-- experts on terror--have reached the same judgment we have. I made mention of the President's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, and I really would encourage colleagues who are following this debate and citizens across the country--that report is available online, and it is available in our office. Page 104 of that report is very explicit. It says that the information that would otherwise be obtained in collecting all of these phone records-- millions of phone records of law-abiding Americans, people such as Mike Morell, former Acting Director of the CIA, and Richard Clark, who served in two administrations--they said it could have been obtained through conventional processes. This is a program that is not making us safer. And it is not my judgment that ought to be the last word; it should be that of people like those I just quoted. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board's report on the telephone records program said pretty much the same thing: [T]he Section 215 program has shown minimal value in safeguarding the nation from terrorism.…”