Mr. President, I join my colleagues and all Americans in solemn observance of the loss of 3,000 American lives on September 11, 2001, truly the greatest tragedy on American soil in our recent…
Mr. President, I join my colleagues and all Americans in solemn observance of the loss of 3,000 American lives on September 11, 2001, truly the greatest tragedy on American soil in our recent history. Our thoughts and prayers are with these victims and their families.
We all know that al-Qaida terrorists declared war on the United States 7 years ago today. These vicious attacks claimed American lives and brought great concern and destruction across our country. While America has remained safe from another attack on our soil since 9/11/ 2001, it is by no accident.
It is fitting that as we observe the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 al-Qaida attacks, al-Qaida has been dealt a significant defeat in Iraq, both tactically and most certainly morally. It has been handed such a defeat in what its own leaders claim was the central front in the war against the United States. This victory was achieved at the hands of our brave troops and the people of Iraq.
As the result of new leadership under General Petraeus, his counterinsurgency strategy, and the surge, we are seeing our troops come home on success, including my son Sam, a marine who served two tours in Iraq. I heard about the success from the troops on the ground in my visits to Iraq, and our military leaders testified about this success before Congress, but now even the New York Times and Washington Post are writing about our return on success.
Look at some of the facts:
Anbar Province, once considered lost, has now been reclaimed by the Iraqi people. Not just in Anbar, but across the country, the Iraqis are leading operations to seek out al-Qaida--from Mosul to the Diyala Province. Across Iraq, violence is at its lowest point since the spring of 2004, and civilian deaths, sectarian killings, and suicide bombings are all down. For the Iraqi people, life is returning to normal. Markets are open and thriving, students are going to school--including girls, for the first time--and professionals are returning to work in Iraq. This win in Iraq is not only critical to the Middle East, but it is critical to our own Nation's security.
Defeat in Iraq would have given the terrorists who launched the 9/11 attacks a safe haven to exploit terror worldwide. It is fitting that on this day we honor the memory of the victims of 9/11 and their families, that we take a moment to thank our troops fighting the al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq.
Our troops fought in Iraq so that future generations of Americans will not have to fight them on our own soil. I am proud of these brave men and women who sacrificed so much in defense of freedom and security here at home. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid.
Our troops are also fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan. Troop increases are now making a difference. But it will also take smart power, a careful blend of kinetic and nonkinetic power of the United States and its allies to defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere; efforts to build institutions in education, rule of law, infrastructure development, roads and power; efforts such as our Missouri National Guards's agriculture development teams. These teams are training the Afghanis in sustainable agriculture methods and techniques that will help them build a more secure and stable society.
It is critical that Pakistan continue to partner with the United States in defeating the terrorists who plague Afghanistan. The Taliban and other terror fighters hide in Pakistan's remote borders. We all hope that the country's newly elected democratic leaders will seek out and destroy these terrorists, not only for the security of their country but to prevent the terrorists from gaining a haven to plot and carry out attacks on America and our allies.
As we thank our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, killing the terrorists before they can attack the homeland, we also thank the many patriots who fight unseen and unheard to keep our Nation safe. As the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know all too well the dangers facing us.
I also know that in addition to our troops, our intelligence operators are on the front lines of the war on terror. Our intelligence officers and law enforcement efforts work tirelessly to stop attacks before they happen. We all owe the brave Americans who work to keep us safe, and the firefighters and first responders who come to our aid when disaster strikes.
In Congress, it is our job to ensure the intelligence community has the tools it needs to detect, disrupt, and prevent attacks on America, our troops, and our allies, which is why it is important that here in Congress we never forget the critical lessons of September 11--that our intelligence proved inadequate to stop the mass murder of innocent Americans on our own soil.
As we honor these lives lost, we must continue to work to improve our intelligence capabilities to keep a similar tragedy from ever happening again. Since 9/11 we have strived to strengthen our intelligence. My proudest accomplishment in 22 years in the Senate was the passage of the bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act--our Nation's early warning system to alert us of attacks. It was a long fight, but we now have a terrorist surveillance law that allows our intelligence operators to listen in on foreign terrorists.
We have also made other important changes in our laws and priorities related to the threat of international terrorism, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, intelligence reform measures, and implementing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act. But Congress has not done enough.
On the seventh anniversary of 9/11, it is noteworthy that there remains one unaddressed 9/11 commission recommendation, and that is to reform the legislative branch's oversight of intelligence and terrorism activities which the commission rightly described as ``dysfunctional.''
The 9/11 Commission stated:
Of all of our recommendations, strengthening congressional
oversight may be among the most difficult and important.
Yet here we are 7 years after 9/11 and 4 years past the issuance of the 9/11 commission report, and that most significant recommendation for change remains unaddressed. The Senate tinkered around the edges by adding term
limits for Intelligence Committee members, but it has not addressed the fundamental structural dysfunction regarding the fiscal oversight of the intelligence.
The 9/11 commission made two bold recommendations to fix the problem: either consolidate authorization and appropriation functions into a single committee in both Houses or create a bicameral intelligence committee. Both of these approaches were considered and rejected by the Senate during consideration of S. Res. 445 in October of 2004. But many of us believe there is a better, less disruptive way to achieve reform through a carefully constructive intelligence appropriations subcommittee.
This approach was endorsed earlier this year by all but 1 of 15 members of the Intelligence Committee in a letter sent to the majority and minority leaders along with an endorsement from the chairman and ranking member of the Homeland and Government Affairs Committee.
I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the Record at this time.
This approach embodies the spirit of the 9/11 commission recommendation, yet poses less structural change to the Senate and could be accomplished easily during this Congress simply by creating a carefully designed subcommittee on intelligence within the Appropriations Committee. The necessary parameters of this new committee are contained in the Senate resolution that I will submit momentarily. We believe these stipulations in this resolution would effect the change sought by the 9/11 commission and enable us to bring intelligence spending under effective oversight.
Now, some of my colleagues may ask themselves why I decided to file this Senate resolution today. The answer is simple. Here we are on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and more than 4 years after the 9/11 commission's final report was issued, and we still haven't addressed the recommendation that they considered most important. Furthermore, I have tried to work within the system for 5 years now to bring about adequate change to no avail.
I believe we should no longer delay the implementation of this crucial recommendation. Congress has insisted that others reform, but we have not yet adopted any meaningful reform ourselves. The hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed by members of the 9/11 commission or by the families of the victims whom we honor today. The time has come for us to put our House in order, and I believe a carefully designed appropriations subcommittee on intelligence is the proper way to implement the spirit of the 9/11 congressional oversight recommendations.
I am concerned about wasteful spending, not just in the billions of dollars, but in the dozens of billions of dollars, that the public does not know about because it is all classified. I am concerned about technology programs that consume billions of dollars for a number of years and never get off the ground. Our current Director of National Intelligence boasted publicly about killing one such program early last year. But that was a program that our defense and intelligence leaders trumpeted for years as a silver bullet before finally throwing in the towel because it did not work. The intelligence acquisition system is hard to change, and the DNI and the intelligence community need Congress's oversight and accountability.
As for Congress, when the Intelligence Committee looks at an issue of great import for several years, and when the Armed Services Committee does the same and agrees in its assessment, yet the appropriations process is so disconnected from them that billions of dollars come to naught because the executive branch is not having its feet held to the fire, then the American taxpayers are ill served, and billions of
dollars that could have been used elsewhere are wasted.
Another example of disjointed oversight happened again yesterday in the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee markup. After years of billions of dollars having been wasted by the intelligence community and the National Reconnaissance Office I proposed a much cheaper, multifunctional approach to sustain our satellite constellation.
This approach is advocated by outside experts and scientists and officials within the intelligence agencies. It also was adopted 2 years in a row by the Intelligence Committee and by the Armed Services Committee in its bill that is on the floor before us today.
Yet, in the Defense Appropriations markup yesterday, even though multiple Senators who have been studying this issue on other committees for years spoke in strong support of it, the old system kicked in and the measure was shut out; that is a structural deficiency the 9/11 Commission pointed out.
In a classified session I can give examples upon examples from other services.
Those who have the time and mandate to study the issue extensively need to be the ones whose discernment is brought to bear on those matters--this is case in point of what the 9/11 Commission said must happen in this specific area of national security, with intelligence. It is in this one area, in our front line of defense against terror, where this has to take place.
Having tried to work within the system and failed, I cannot remain silent about this sort of thing any longer.
We hear a lot today about needed change and reform coming to Washington. Let us prove to the American people that we do not need to wait for an election to start that process.
At this point, lest anyone get the wrong idea about the problems I am addressing here, I must say something about the leadership of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The American people all know about our war hero from the Senate, John McCain, who is running for President, but I want to draw attention to another one of our war heroes who served 2 wars before Senator McCain did in Vietnam, and that is Senator Dan Inouye from Hawaii, chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Senator Inouye is a true American hero whom I have the utmost admiration for, and I greatly commend him for the manner in which he has led, and is leading, the Defense Subcommittee. He ensures that America's priorities on defense are put in the right place.
I also commend my good friend Senator Stevens, another true American patriot and veteran. His leadership has been invaluable on this subcommittee for over two decades. And I commend my good friend Senator Cochran also, who has recently been sitting in for Senator Stevens as ranking member on the subcommittee and has always listened patiently to my concerns over the years.
I cannot say enough about these three men who are true leaders; they have acted with wisdom and discernment in how they have led the subcommittee. They are good friends, they are esteemed colleagues, and I am honored to serve under their leadership. So let me make it very clear, that the problem I am addressing today is not the people; these men lead with dignity and discernment in putting together the most complicated funding bill in the Congress.
The problem rather that I am addressing is structure. With a nearly $500 billion Defense appropriations bill, of which less than 10 percent is for intelligence, and with only a handful of committee staff on hand to look at intelligence matters and barely enough time for just a few hearings on intelligence squeezed between all the defense hearings and briefings throughout the year, there is simply no way they can pay adequate attention to intelligence, it is just not possible.
They are rightly consumed with the other 90 percent of their budget that focuses on defense matters. On the Intelligence Committee, however, we spend several days each week poring over intelligence matters and receiving briefs on all aspects of the intelligence community, and with a cadre of 50 professional staff at our disposal we are able to dig real deep into a number of disciplines.
We know that change is needed, and I appreciate the leadership that Chairman Rockefeller and the rest of my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee have shown on this issue. I am also grateful for the support expressed by other Members of the Senate who recognize the importance of this issue to our esteemed body.
I recognize that we are quickly running short on legislative days to get this done. However, I would ask my colleagues to give serious consideration to this Senate resolution. I stand ready to discuss its details and debate its merits. If we are not able to act in this Congress, then I expect to address this issue again first thing in the new Congress.
As we reflect on the horrible events of the September 11 terrorist attacks, I suggest to my colleagues that we all ask ourselves whether we can do more to improve congressional oversight of intelligence. I think we would all agree that the answer to that question must be an emphatic ``yes.''
If we agree that we can do more, then why don't we?
