Joe Cunningham: “I think for anybody to espouse complete acceptance of the 9/11 Commission recommendations is irresponsible, totally…”

“I think for anybody to espouse complete acceptance of the 9/11 Commission recommendations is irresponsible, totally irresponsible, and I will be specific. The bill that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman) presented is thoughtful, caring and actually has many, many of the H.R. 10 legislation bullets in it. She has done a good job. But there are many things that I totally disagree with that I think would do more harm for this country than good. First of all, putting the National Intelligence Director under the White House, everybody knows how it works around here. The closer you are to the White House, the more political things become. If you have everything that is scrubbed through the National Intelligence Director by the White House, regardless if it is a Republican or a Democrat, that White House is going to be concerned that anything that is done is going to reflect on their next election and it is going to cause gridlock at that level. It is going to keep our intelligence agents from being flexible and mobile and have initiative. I think that is wrong, and it could harm this country's intelligence services.”