John Cornyn: “both at home and around the world, the fight to defeat the coronavirus seems all consuming. It has changed virtually…”

“both at home and around the world, the fight to defeat the coronavirus seems all consuming. It has changed virtually every part of our lives, from the way we work to how we grocery shop. It dominates our conversations, our news cycles, and social media feeds. It is easy to feel like this is the only threat that the world is facing right now, but even a pandemic isn't enough to stop those who want to bring harm to our country or to the American people. As our fight against the coronavirus wages on, our dedicated counterterrorism and counterintelligence experts continue their critical work to identify potential threats against our country and to prevent them from being successful. One of the most powerful tools in their toolbox is the ability to covertly gather information about bad actors. That is absolutely critical to national security. Yet our commitment to public safety can be at odds with privacy and individual liberty. So we, as a country, must have sincere trust in both the people and the processes that govern that activity. That is why I fear that recent events have put our trust of both in grave jeopardy. Last December, the inspector general for the Department of Justice released his report on the FBI's counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign and its purported contacts with Russia.…”