Jay Rockefeller: “It is a fact of life that Governors don't like to have oversight. They don't get it. The legislatures don't get it. They…”

“It is a fact of life that Governors don't like to have oversight. They don't get it. The legislatures don't get it. They get it by the people every 4 years. It is a little different here. The President sends legislation. We look at it. It gets passed or not. But the country is so huge, and there are innumerable problems, none of which are more important than the national security. It is incredibly important not just to take the President's decision and assume that it is right. Maybe that works at the State level, but it doesn't work here. We have an absolutely sacred obligation--and in this case a life-and-death obligation--to review, to do oversight, to ask questions, to call people in and to have closed hearings. We have endless numbers of closed hearings which are attended by members of the committee. Suddenly, this committee has come together, it is alive, and this sense of oversight is felt and appreciated by the intelligence community.”