Political Quotes

“tomorrow the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence gets back on the national security high wire as the committee continues to work on legislation reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act. I described this process as a high-wire act because success means striking a balance, an equilibrium, between fiercely protecting our country from terrorism while still preserving the privacy and civil liberties that make our democracy so precious. Chairman Pat Roberts, to his credit, has held several open hearings on this issue. I gladly participated because I believed the open hearings would help to address some of the skepticism about why the PATRIOT Act has almost totally been debated in secret. Unfortunately, the most important part of the debate, the part where the committee must actually discuss how to walk that high wire, is still going to be done behind closed doors. In my view, this secrecy in going forward will undermine any public confidence that open hearings helped to create. I have repeatedly and vigorously opposed making these decisions out of public view. Holding the decisionmaking process in secret is a mistake because it makes it harder for citizens to hold elected officials accountable. Holding the decisionmaking process in secret is unnecessary because it is not difficult for the committee to go behind closed doors, certainly, briefly, when necessary, to discuss any PATRIOT Act-related issue that requires secrecy.…”