Political Quotes

“the bill to implement the 9/11 Commission's unanimous recommendations, while flawed, is an important first step towards comprehensive intelligence reform. Passing this bill, however, does not let Congress off the hook. We must be vigilant of how this legislation is implemented by an administration that has a tendency to disregard civil liberties all too quickly. Specifically, I'm disturbed by provisions relating to pretrial detention of terrorist suspects. While everything must be done to minimize the flight risk of terror suspects, under this legislation, the government will not need to prove that the suspect is a flight risk before detainment. The 9/11 Commission concluded that intelligence opportunities were missed before the terrible tragedies of September 11, 2001, not because law enforcement did not have adequate surveillance powers, but because of a misreading of existing surveillance laws. This bill still includes provisions that allow non-citizens to come under federal wiretaps even if they are not connected to a foreign government. I'm concerned that we not forget the balance between information sharing within the intelligence community and privacy safeguards for sensitive data. We must return in the 109th Congress and be prepared, when necessary, to intervene to ensure that law enforcement has the tools to secure our homeland but at the same time holds American civil liberties sacred.”