Political Quotes

“Another quick update on our progress along reform in terms of our intelligence operations, both within the Senate and outside the Senate with regard to the executive branch. The markup in the Governmental Affairs Committee has begun, with the leadership of Senator Collins and Senator Lieberman. Senator Daschle and I had directed that committee in late July to appropriately respond with legislation to the 9/11 Commission recommendations. The committee's legislation, as has been presented and is being marked up, does just that. I assume that process will go on over the course of the next several days. There will be amendments and modifications on issues such as the national intelligence director and how much authority will be given the national counterterrorism center. The bill tracks very closely with the plans and decisions that have been put forward by the 9/11 Commission, although we have learned a lot since even that Commission report has been written, and also with plans put forth by the White House. All of that is being considered by that committee. Next week we will be bringing this to the Senate floor for a full debate. It has been a very thoughtful process. The 9/11 Commission report came out in late July. We in this body have gone nonstop through late July, August, and now September, building on the foundation of really 2 or 3 years of work where we have looked at reform and appropriate organizational reorganization.”