| This week in Congress, the House and Senate approved the Intelligence
Bill, which will put into effect many of the sensible safety and security
recommendations made by the nonpartisan 9/11 Commission.
Though the time is long past for lawmakers to bring this bill to the
floor for a vote, what’s important is that the critical steps necessary
to provide further protection to our home front and to our citizens will
finally be put into practice.
This new bill will improve our nation’s intelligence infrastructure
by centralizing the operations of the 15 government agencies that make
up the intelligence community. Under the new Director of National Intelligence,
our government’s ability to identify and respond to potential terrorist
attacks will become more efficient, which in turn will make our communities
safer and stronger.
The Intelligence bill is only the beginning to providing further protections
to the American people by strengthening the methods in which we accumulate
and disseminate our intelligence. We this to the American people, and I
am glad Congress has taken action on this important measure. |