Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Congress has acted to improve our Nation's intelligence community--and therefore our national security-- by passing an intelligence authorization bill and sending it to the President. The President's signature will enact this bill into law and will implement several common sense solutions to problems in our large and unwieldy intelligence community that we have recognized for years. I believe the new Director of National Intelligence, Jim Clapper, is the right leader at the right time, and this timely bill will provide him the authorities he needs to do this job well. The bill provides the DNI streamlined personnel management authorities throughout the intelligence community, including the authority to convert contractor positions to government jobs, move personnel from one agency to another, provide annual assessments of personnel levels for each agency, harmonize language training in different agencies, and conduct performance evaluations of personnel throughout the intelligence community. It provides the DNI streamlined oversight for major acquisitions-- perhaps most critically, to provide for interoperable information technology systems in different intelligence agencies--and strengthened budget authorities for his management of the intelligence community.…”