Russ Feingold: “I support the intelligence authorization conference report, which is so important to Congress's efforts to conduct…”

“I support the intelligence authorization conference report, which is so important to Congress's efforts to conduct oversight of the intelligence community. The administration's illegal actions and its relentless efforts to obtain vast new eavesdropping authorities make oversight more important than ever. I particularly support the provision limiting interrogation techniques to those authorized by the Army Field Manual. I was a cosponsor of this amendment when it was offered in conference, and I am pleased that it has the support of bipartisan majorities of both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. It represents, at long last, an important step toward bringing this administration into conformity with the law and with our national principles. It also represents a clear decision by the very Members of Congress who have been briefed on the CIA's interrogation program that the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques is not in our country's best interests. When the intelligence authorization bill was marked up by the committee in May, I made my position clear. I could not support the CIA's program on moral, legal, or national security grounds. When I was finally fully briefed on the program, it was clear that what was going on was profoundly wrong. It did not represent what we, as a nation, stand for, or what we are fighting for in this global struggle against al-Qaida. And it was not making our country any safer.”