Jay Rockefeller: “in the wake of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, it is not with pride exactly, but with a firm resolve that I…”

“in the wake of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, it is not with pride exactly, but with a firm resolve that I join with my good friend and colleague Senator Bob Graham, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in cosponsoring two important pieces of legislation: Bills to establish the National Office for Combating Terrorism and the Intelligence to Prevent Terrorism Act of 2001. While we strive to go on and do the work that the people sent us here to do, we cannot help but feel heartsick as a Congress, and I am quite sure as individuals, when we consider the unimaginable loss of human life and the magnitude of the destruction wrought by these malicious and misguided men. But grieve though we must, it is our solemn responsibility as representatives of the American people to look into this abyss and find the lessons that may be there for us. When a relatively large group of foreign terrorists who had lived and even trained in this country carried out a despicable and unfortunately well-choreographed wave of terror attacks months or years in the planning, it cast a harsh light on a range of deficiencies in our Nation's efforts to combat terrorism. We are made to feel vulnerable by the sheer enormity of the evil and by the realization that any of us could become targets of the next fanatical assault.”