Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to honor Mr. Leonard Attman and Mrs. Phyllis Attman for their lifelong commitment to making a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. We recognize their generosity as the Board Room of Sinai Hospital in Baltimore is named in their honor.

In Baltimore, the Attman name is synonymous with ``charity.'' Over the years, Mr. and Mrs. Attman have worked hard to make a difference in the community through countless philanthropic efforts. In the past, they have made generous donations to support medical research, including groundbreaking studies on breast cancer and brain tumors. Their efforts have brought much-needed support to fields that are often overlooked or are in greater need of further understanding.

In addition to serving as a board member at Sinai and Northwest Hospitals, Mr. Attman's involvement in professional, civic and philanthropic organizations includes membership on the boards of Shosana S. Cardin High School and Beth Tfiloh Brotherhood, as well as the Board ofDirectors of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and the Signal 13 Foundation for the Baltimore City Police Department. He actively participates in the activities of many other organizations including the Advisory Board for the Shock Trauma Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Systems.

A longtime business leader, Mr. Attman has more than four decades of experience in residential and commercial real estate development. Mr. Attman was also the founder and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Future Care, which manages nine nursing home facilities serving more than 1,300 patients and providing employment to more than 1,500 workers.

In all of their business endeavors, the Attmans have always focused on family first. Mr. Attman humbly considers his employees not as subordinates, but as ``coworkers.'' He has worked to do whatever possible to avoid layoffs during the unsteady economic times in recent years.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Mr. Leonard and Mrs. Phyllis Attman. Their compassion and dedication to the Baltimore community and Sinai Hospital is an inspiration to us all. It is with great pride that I congratulate them on their exemplary service to their community and our country and wish them many more years of success.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the work and leadership of one of my colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Sue Myrick of North Carolina.

Representative Myrick has decided to retire from Congress and this may well be her last official vote for the Intelligence Authorization Act of FY 2013. With her retirement, we lose a dedicated committee member.

Representative Myrick's engagement on matters of homegrown terrorism and supply chain management and her leadership of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, HUMINT, Analysis, and Counterintelligence will be sorely missed.

As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Myrick has consistently demonstrated a willingness to work collaboratively to ensure the intelligence community has the resources it needs while simultaneously securing the Constitutional rights of United States citizens.

It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with her on the House Intelligence Committee. She has dutifully served both her local constituents and this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the work and leadership of one of my colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee Representative Dan Boren of Oklahoma. Representative Boren's support for educational matters and intelligence issues pertaining to the continent of Africa has been critical to the work of the committee. Representative Boren immediately began offering new and fresh ideas on intelligence, including suggesting the institution of a financial reward to incentivize efforts to capture Usama bin Laden. He personally worked to enhance the Boren Foreign Language Scholarship program initially established by his father, Senator David L. Boren.

Representative Boren's assistance during the Intelligence Committee's drafting and passage of the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act was critical to our success. I always knew I could count on him for good counsel and support. While his retirement will create a vacancy on the Subcommittee on Terrorism, HUMINT, Analysis, and Counterintelligence, his service has made our committee and country better.

As members of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Boren has consistently demonstrated a willingness to work collaboratively to ensure the intelligence community has the resources it needs while simultaneously securing the constitutional rights of United States citizens.

It has been a pleasure and an honor to work with him on the House Intelligence Committee. He has dutifully served both his local constituents and this nation.

Mr. Speaker, I and Mr. Rogers of Michigan rise to congratulate JC Richard P. Zahner, the 43rd Deputy Chief of Staff, G 2 (Intelligence) of the United States Army on his monumental and invaluable contributions to our national security from June 1976 until June 2012.

Commissioned into the Regular Army as a Military Intelligence Officer from Cornell University in June 1976, Lieutenant General Zahner consistently distinguished himself in difficult jobs that required superior leadership and keen innovation.

His distinguished 36 year military career included assignments in peace and war, at the tactical and national levels, in both conventional and Special Operations, and within the Army and at Joint and Combined Commands.

A 1980 plank owner of the Joint Special Operations Command, he was a cornerstone in the foundation that created the culture of excellence and achievement that exists to this day.

A dynamic force for innovation and technology balanced with a keen commitment to soldiers, he consistently challenged himself to be a change agent and transformation catalyst while integrating Army intelligence with wider Intelligence Community initiatives. He demonstrated unwavering resolve to build wartime readiness and provide brilliant and visionary Intelligence leadership.

His success is manifested in Army Intelligence support throughout the globe. His legacy will remain with the Army and in the Intelligence Community for years to come.

We wish him and his family Godspeed and good fortune as they complete their Army service and transition to the next successful chapter of their lives. Our nation is better and safer because of this superb Military Intelligence Soldier.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. It is a bipartisan bill that gives our intelligence professionals the resources, capabilities, and the authorities they need to keep our country safe. When Chairman Rogers and I took over the leadership of the Intelligence Committee, we made a commitment to bipartisanship. We believe politics has no place on the Intelligence Committee. The stakes are just too high.

We also made a commitment to passing intelligence budgets to give the intelligence community financial direction and to conduct proper oversight. I commend Chairman Rogers for making this an open process where we reached agreement on issues that will make this country safer and the intelligence process more efficient.

But we also know we're facing tough economic times so we must use every dollar wisely. This budget is about 4 percent below the enacted levels for FY 2012. It holds personnel at last year's levels and authorizes an initiative to achieve major efficiencies and improve performance and information technology. We made cuts where appropriate, eliminated redundancies, and pushed programs to come in on time and on budget.

The bill allocates resources to critical national security priorities: space, cybersecurity, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism.

We restored some of the cuts to commercial satellite imagery to ensure the warfighter and policymakers have the images they need. I believe commercial competition is important to ensure the warfighter and other policymakers get high-quality products while keeping costs down. It drives innovation and provides a much-needed policy in case there are problems with other government problems.

The bill reinforces cybersecurity by protecting the intelligence community's networks from countries like China and others trying to steal our valuable data.

The bill also makes counterintelligence a priority by increasing surveillance of foreign spies from countries like China, Russia, and Iran.

The bill improves supply-chain security and adds the counterintelligence analysts this Nation needs.

The bill enhances counterterrorism efforts to continue the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates around the world.

The bill increases oversight on the spending of domestic intelligence agencies.

The bill also expands the intelligence community's capabilities around the global to ensure the United States is capable and ready to address the threats worldwide.

The bill authorizes the Defense Clandestine Service created by the Department of Defense to reorganize its human intelligence collection and partner with the CIA's National Clandestine Service.

The Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee remain committed to giving our intelligence professionals what they need to do their jobs while also providing proper oversight and protecting personal privacy.

Provisions offered by the minority members were accepted as part of the chairman's mark and other amendments were adopted unanimously by the committee.

Congresswoman Schakowsky introduced an amendment that protects the inspector general of an intelligence agency from across-the-board cuts to preserve their role as a watchdog of an organization. I commend Ms. Schakowsky for her good work on this bill.

Congressman Thompson introduced an amendment to expand our efforts to prevent drug cultivation on Federal lands. I commend Mr. Thompson for his efforts on this bill as well.

In fact, we wouldn't be here today without the hard work of all of the members of the Intelligence Committee. This is truly a bipartisan product. The bill passed through markup by a margin of 19 0, a true testament to the bipartisan spirit of the committee.

I urge my colleagues to support the Intelligence Authorization Act for 2013. This bill ensures the Nation's intelligence community is effective, fiscally sound, and subject to appropriate oversight.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of California (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin), whom I consider one of the foremost experts in the area of cybersecurity. Thank you for your work in that field, Mr. Langevin.

(Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of California (Mr. Schiff).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Kentucky (Mr. Chandler).

Mr. Chairman, can I ask how much time each side has remaining?

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time, also.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I'm proud that the bill under consideration has an emphasis on supporting counterintelligence resources. Last year, the chairman and I made it a priority to review the community's counterintelligence posture after learning more about the aggressive ways foreign intelligence and security services continue to steal U.S. secrets, including trade secrets, from U.S. companies.

One of the most disturbing reports came from the National Counterintelligence Executive which said that Russia and China are both aggressively utilizing cyberspace to steal U.S. economic secrets. This informative unclassified report is available on the Director of National Intelligence Web site. I encourage every U.S. business to read it to understand the threat they face today. The hard work and money it takes to innovate and conduct research are all at risk.

What China, Russia, and any other country who engage in espionage realize is that it's faster and cheaper to steal U.S. creativity than to develop it themselves. The report also gives examples of the millions of dollars that are at stake, like a single proprietary paint formula from Valspar valued at $20 million. These are some economic impacts of espionage, but they are also the cost to our national security and those of our allies.

A spy within our intelligence community, with access to our most sensitive secrets, can mean the lives of our sources and our troops. In these cases, it is impossible to calculate the impact. Espionage is countered by the villages of our counterintelligence professionals. These are the people we depend upon to discover the spies within our midst. I'm proud that this bill adds the resources and personnel for this critical mission.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

For the third time in 3 years, Chairman Rogers and I have stood on the floor of the House encouraging our colleagues to support our intelligence budget bill. We both rise in support of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. I would like to thank Chairman Rogers for his bipartisan leadership on this bill.

The bill gives our intelligence professionals the resources, capabilities, and authorities they need to protect American and American interests. We crafted a bill that addresses our core needs, including space, cybersecurity, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism, while also keeping an eye on the bottom line. This bill is about 4 percent below last year's budget and holds personnel at last year's levels.

The Intelligence Committee came together as Democrats and Republicans to do what is right for our country and for the intelligence community. The bill unanimously passed out of our committee by a margin of 19 0.

I would also like to thank the staff of the Intelligence Committee for their hard work on this bill. You're only as good as your team and your staff.

I urge my colleagues to support the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2013.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

I rise in opposition to the amendment, but I do support the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment, though I do not oppose it.

First, I support this amendment as a continuation of the work that we have begun in Congress as an attempt to focus our intelligence community and the executive Agencies to this important threat that my friend and colleague has made.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, this week, the House of Representatives is expected to take up a bill reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a traditionally noncontroversial bill that improves the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women. The bill works: We've seen a 60 percent decrease in domestic violence since the bill first passed in 1994.

The Senate recently passed its version of this bill in an overwhelming, bipartisan vote. Unfortunately, the partisan House version rolls back some of its most critical components, limiting protections for certain classes of women. In fact, women's advocacy groups like the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence say this bill would discourage victims of these heinous crimes from going to the police for help and actually increase abusers' power.

I can't support this bill for a number of reasons, but chief among them are its failure to include provisions to help reduce violence against young women on college campuses. This issue, in particular, resonates as we mark the second anniversary of the tragic death of Yeardley Love, a Baltimore native and student athlete at the University of Virginia who was beaten by her abusive ex-boyfriend.

Yeardley's mother, Sharon Love, recently visited Washington to encourage lawmakers to swiftly pass the VAWA reauthorization approved by the Senate. That bill requires colleges to provide clear protocols and disciplinary policies for reports of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking. It also requires colleges to help victims report the incident to law enforcement and seek a protective order if they choose to do so, as well as provide victims with options to change academic, living and transportation arrangements. Finally, it provides prevention programs for students who could be abusers, victims and bystanders.

It is shameful that the architects of the House bill have opted to remove these critical components. I am urging House leadership to bring the Senate version to a vote so we can provide real protection to women of all ages and races.

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to honor Mr. Joseph Falbo, who was recently named the ``2012 Dundalk Citizen of the Year'' by the Optimist Club of Dundalk. Mr. Falbo was chosen to receive this prestigious award for his remarkable efforts to improve the quality of life in his community.

Mr. Falbo has volunteered with the Dundalk Heritage Association since 1980, when he answered an ad in the Dundalk Eagle seeking volunteers to help erect a fence for Dundalk's signature event, the Heritage Fair. Working his way through the ranks, Mr. Falbo stepped up to serve as the organization's president in 2007 when its then-president fell ill.

From booking bands to ensuring the event runs on schedule, the fair requires year-round planning. Though unprepared and inexperienced, Mr. Falbo's first fair at the helm went off without a hitch. The event has grown since, with last year's shattering attendance records. He continues to make improvements to each year's fair. addition to being named the ``Citizen of the Year,'' Mr. Falbo recently received a ``Milestone Award'' from the Dundalk Renaissance Corp., which honors residents who help revitalize the community. The organization said Mr. Falbo's ``leadership and heavylifting'' ensure the annual fairs ``grow and evolve with our community.''

Despite his many awards and acclamations, Mr. Falbo remains humble and appreciative. When told he was receiving his most recent

award, Mr. Falbo said he couldn't accept it unless his whole organization was also recognized.

Mr. Falbo also spent years coaching tee ball, baseball, and soccer teams for the Dundalk-Eastfield Recreational Council. Furthermore, Mr. Falbo helps with the group's annual Dundalk Christmas Parade.

In addition to his volunteer efforts, Mr. Falbo is a fixture in Dundalk's business community, having owned and operated his auto-repair shop since he took it over from his father in the 1990s. He is a graduate of Dundalk High School.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Mr. Joseph Falbo. His genuine love for his community and neighbors are an inspiration to us all, and are deserving of the utmost gratitude. It is with great pride that I congratulate Mr. Falbo on his exemplary contributions to the Dundalk community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to recognize Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis, president of the Community College of Baltimore County, who was recently named the 2012 ``Humanitarian of the Year'' by the Optimist Club of Dundalk.

This prestigious honor is reserved for individuals who serve the Dundalk-Edgemere community. As president of the Community College of Baltimore County for the past seven years, Dr. Kurtinitis leads the largest provider of higher education in the Baltimore region and is credited with establishing a leaner executive structure that prioritizes the classroom.

Throughout her tenure at the Community College of Baltimore County, Dr. Kurtinitis has gone above and beyond the call of duty to reconnect the once fledgling Dundalk campus with the community. As a result of Dr. Kurtinitis' efforts, enrollment at the Dundalk campus is thriving, having doubled from 2,500 students in 2005 to 5,000 students today.

Shortly after her arrival, Dr. Kurtinitis worked to place several of the college's signature programs on the Dundalk Campus in order to attract new students. Under her direction, the school constructed a new building to house a new program for dental hygienists and dental assistants. In an effort to integrate the school with the surrounding community, the facility is open to the public and will offer low-cost preventive dental work to more than 2,000 residents each year.

In addition, Dr. Kurtinitis has overseen a $6 million renovation of the campus cafeteria and

library. She also boosted the college's presence at community meetings and events, working closely with the Dundalk Renaissance Corporation and the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce. The college has begun entering a float in the annual Dundalk Independence Day parade, winning awards for the past three consecutive years.

A self-described ``servant leader,'' Dr. Kurtinitis is an experienced and respected educator, administrator and author. Before returning to Maryland, she served as president of Quinsigamond Community College in Massachusetts and, prior, taught English at Prince George's Community College for 22 years.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Dr. Sandra Kurtinitis. Her dedication to quality education for all students is an inspiration. It is with great admiration and appreciation that I congratulate Dr. Kurtinitis on her well-deserved recognition and wish her many more years of success.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 199, had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, this week, we joined people in the State of Israel and her many friends around the world in celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut--the independence from British mandatory rule and the establishment of the State of Israel.

The United States and Israel have shared a special bond since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948. The United States, under the leadership of then-President Truman, was the first country to recognize Israel, only 11 minutes after its founding. Today, the United States and Israel continue to share a commitment to democracy, the rule of law, the freedoms of religion and speech, as well as respect for human rights. The United States and Israel also share a desire for peace and stability.

Our countries cooperate closely on intelligence issues, partnering on the development of new technology to promote the security and safety of our citizens. Bilateral ties in trade were codified in the 1985 U.S- Israel Free Trade Agreement. Today, the American and Israeli governments and businesses are working together to develop and promote new energy solutions.

The Jewish people paid a heavy price for security and independence. Nearly 23,000 men and women have been killed defending Israel since the first Jewish settlers left the secure walls of Jerusalem in 1860. Since the end of the War of Independence, nearly 2,500 people have been killed by terror attacks in Israel, including 14 in the past year.

Today, despite disturbing political instability in the region, Israel stands strong. She is among the safest countries in the world, her economy is sound, life expectancy there is among the highest in the world, and more Israelis earn advanced degrees than most other nations. And, at a time when our own country is challenged by polarizing politics, an astounding 88 percent of Israelis say they are proud to be Israeli.

I want to extend my best wishes to the people of Israel as we celebrate Israel's extraordinary friendship and honor her achievements over the past 64 years.

Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First of all, I do want to thank the chairman for working with us in a bipartisan way to protect our country from this very serious threat of cyberattacks.

As the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, people often ask me what keeps me up at night. I tell them: weapons of mass destruction entering the country undetected and also a catastrophic cyberattack shutting down our water supply, power grid or banking systems; and those are just a few of the many areas that could be attacked and shut down.

Every day, U.S. Web sites and our Nation's networks are threatened by foreign governments like China, Iran, Russia, and other groups trying to steal our money and valuable trade secrets. According to the National Counterterrorism Executive, the number one thing cyberthieves are trying to steal is information and communication technology, which form the backbone of nearly every other technology. In fact, according to the United States Cyber Command, $300 billion worth of trade secrets are stolen every year. This proves we need to make real changes to how we protect our cybersystems.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act helps the private sector protect itself and its clients from these attackers and data thieves. The intelligence community has the ability to detect these cyberthreats, these malicious codes and viruses, before they are able to attack our networks; but right now, Federal law prohibits the intelligence community from sharing the classified cyberthreat with the companies that will protect us, that control the network--the AT&Ts, the Verizons, the Comcasts, those groups. We have the ability to give them the information to protect us; yet we have to pass a law to do that, and that's why we are here today.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act will clearly do that if we pass the bill. It allows the intelligence community to share the codes and signatures associated with malware and viruses and the means to counter the bad stuff with the companies. These companies keep a lookout for these viruses and work to stop them before they are able to attack their system.

Companies then voluntarily give information about the cyberattack back to the government, machine code consisting of strings of zeroes and ones that uniquely identifies the malware. Cyberanalysts will use this information to better understand the attack and try to figure out who launched it and where it came from.

This information will be used to protect against similar attacks in the future.

Now, the Democrats worked hard to protect privacy and civil liberties in this bill throughout the entire process. We fought for additional privacy protections in the original bill that was marked up in committee. In the version we will vote on tomorrow morning, additional changes are also included in the amendments.

Privacy and civil liberty groups and the White House all agree we made important positive changes that went a long way to improve the initial bill that came out of committee. We severely limit what information can be shared with the government and how it can be used.

It is also important to note the entire process is completely voluntary and provides industry the flexibility they need to deal with business realities.

The bill also requires an annual report from the inspector general of the intelligence community to ensure none of the information provided to the government is mishandled or is misused. This is a very important privacy issue.

The review will include annual recommendations to improve the protection of privacy and civil liberties. That review will be done again by the inspector general.

We also made it clear this legislation grants no new authority to the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, or the intelligence community. At the urging of the White House and others, we included the Department of Homeland Security in the process so that there is not even a perception that our intelligence agencies or military will be in control of this. The Homeland Security Department will be coordinating as a civil body.

In addition, companies that act in good faith to protect systems and networks can receive liability protection. This is what our bill does.

Now, what does it not do? The bill does not allow the government to order companies to turn over private email or other personal information. This is not surveillance. The bill does not allow the government to monitor private networks, read private email, censor, or shut down any Web site.

We have a broad coalition of support with 100 cosponsors, close to 30 companies and industry groups, and dozens of trade organizations like Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, a lot of different groups that are supporting this bill.

This is not a perfect bill, but the threat is great. I believe this legislation is critical for our national security and yet deals with the issue of privacy. We can do better in privacy, and we hope to get the bill to the Senate, where there will be a lot more negotiation. Congress must act now, and I encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Utah (Mr. Boswell) who formerly served on the Intelligence Committee.

I yield the gentleman an additional 10 seconds.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of New Jersey, Mr. Rush Holt, who was formally on the Intelligence Committee.

I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of California, Mr. Adam Schiff, who is also the ranking member on the Technical and Tactical Intelligence Committee.

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Mississippi, Mr. Bennie Thompson, who is also the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague and friend from the State of Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin), who is also a member of our Intelligence Committee and has worked very hard with the chairman and myself on the issue of cybersecurity. I consider him one of our experts on the Hill in the area of cybersecurity.

(Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield the gentleman from Rhode Island 30 additional seconds.

I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Georgia (Mr. Johnson).

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Oklahoma (Mr. Boren), who is also a member of the Intelligence Committee. He has worked very closely with me and the chairman to bring this bill to the floor today, and we thank him for that.

I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Chair, may I ask how much time we have on both sides?

Madam Chair, I have no more speakers, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First thing, there were some comments that I would like to respond to.

First thing, this bill does not allow the wholesale violation of privacy rights. This bill is extremely important to our national security, but also important to our citizens of this great country, our privacy rights, and civil liberties.

The chairman and I have taken this very seriously, as have the members of our caucus. We know this is not a perfect bill--there will probably be additional changes. We will have more debate later on this afternoon.

Now, some of the things I want to address. During the drafting of this legislation we put forward a wide range of privacy protections. We worked for the last year with the White House, privacy groups, and business groups to come to a coalition to make sure that we get this bill right.

First, the bill severely limits what kind of information can be shared with the government. Only information directly pertaining to the threat can be shared, which is mostly formulas, X's and O's of the virus code. It's almost something that the companies deal with now in dealing with spam.

Second, the bill encourages companies to voluntarily strip out personal information that may be associated with these zeroes and ones. Occasionally, that does occur, and we have to deal with that, and we'll continue to deal with that issue.

There also are strong use limitations on the data. This information must be used for cybersecurity purposes or the protection of national security. The information cannot be used for regulatory purposes. For example, if there's evidence of tax evasion, that information cannot be used in a criminal proceeding, only in national security, only in the areas of life and limb, or for anything involving juvenile crimes.

The bill prohibits the government from requiring the companies to give information to the government in exchange for receiving the cyberthreat intelligence. That means that when we pass the information of the attacks--it's called the secret sauce--to the providers, it's only voluntarily. The government can't put any restrictions on that whatsoever. That really means that this is not surveillance at all.

The bill does not allow the government to order you to turn over private email or other personal information. This is not, again, surveillance.

The bill does not allow the government to monitor private networks, read private emails, censor or shut down any Web site. This is not

Madam Chair, I have a speaker on the way.

Mr. Rogers, do you have any more speakers?

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of Georgia, Mr. John Lewis, one of the most respected Members of our Congress.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In closing, I want to say again that the purpose of this bill, as the chairman just said, is very basic and simple. We want to protect our citizens from attacks. We are being attacked as we speak right now. Just last year, it was estimated we lost $300 billion worth of trade secrets. We even know that one country is attacking a fertilizer company to find out how we make it better than they do. This is putting our businesses in jeopardy and jobs in jeopardy, and we know we sure need jobs.

More importantly, those of us who work in this field know how serious these threats are. The head of our FBI, whose responsibility it is to provide our domestic national security, has said that one of the most serious threats, if not a bigger threat, in terrorism would be a catastrophic cyberattack. We've already talked today about what that would be. We have Secretary Napolitano, the Director of Homeland Security, who has said the same thing: that it is one of the most serious issues our country has to deal with. It's unfortunate, but most of our citizens aren't aware of how serious this threat is.

So we've attempted to allow our intelligence community, which is one of the best in the world, to have the ability to see these threats coming in from other countries or from terrorist groups and to be able right now to give this information over to the private sector to protect us, you, me, our businesses. That's what this bill does. Nothing more. What we're attempting to do is to move the bill and get the bill to the Senate.

We can always do better in the area of privacy and civil liberties, and we're going to continue to do that. We can always do better in the area of homeland security and go further to protect those institutions and our grid systems and that type of thing; but this is the start, because the one thing that now is stopping our country and is stopping us from protecting our citizens is this Congress.

This Congress needs to pass this bill now. We need to move forward. We need to get it to the Senate. We need to start working with the Senate. Then hopefully we'll deal and work very closely with the White House and find a bill so that we can protect our citizens and also protect our civil liberties and privacy.

I also understand Mr. Lewis. We all respect him and what he has gone through. As a former prosecutor and lawyer who has worked on many search and seizure warrants and that type of thing, I can tell you this: there are no violations in this bill at all. That is not what this bill is about. If it were, I wouldn't be in favor of it.

I thank you, Mr. Rogers, for your cooperation and for working with us in this bipartisan manner. It is a very serious issue.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I claim time in opposition to the amendment; however, I do not oppose the amendment.

I agree with Mr. Issa's comments. This is a joint amendment of Mr. Rogers and me. The amendment would make it clear that while FOIA exemption protects information obtained under the bill, regulatory information required by other authorities remains subject to FOIA requests.

The chairman and I agree the law should not create a broad change. The type of information that is available under the Freedom of Information Act, we have a responsibility to protect classified information from disclosure, but we also understand the need to keep information open to the public. The amendment makes clear that information available under other authorities remains subject to FOIA, and I urge all Members to support this bipartisan amendment.

I yield to the gentleman from Utah.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

I rise to claim time in opposition, but I do not oppose the amendment.

I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson). He is on the Intelligence Committee and also a sponsor of this amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment; although I do not oppose the amendment.

I also support this amendment. It is very important. It's another example of what we're attempting to do to protect the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens but yet have a bill that we clearly need to protect them from a national security perspective.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment, but I do not oppose the amendment.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe).

Will the gentleman yield?

As we said before, our bill is extremely limited, and we're attempting again to allow our government, our intelligence community, to give the information that's necessary to protect our citizens from these cyberattacks.

Ours is the most active bill that is out there now. Our bill, hopefully, will pass and go to the Senate, and there will be a lot more negotiation. But there is a lot of work to do in other areas, too, such as Homeland Security; and I know there are other issues involved in the Homeland Security markup, I know that there are issues involving Judiciary.

I can say this: I know that the chairman and I for 1 year now have worked very openly with every group that we think would be involved in this bill. Because of different positions taken, including HLU, we listened. This bill is better, and we hope that it passes.

So we clearly will work with you, but we on the Intelligence Committee are very limited to our jurisdiction, and that's why a lot of these issues we can't deal with other than what is in our bill right now.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to recognize Mrs. Marlene Greenebaum, who will be honored at the Centennial Celebration of Hadassah for her many contributions to medical, communal and Jewish causes in Baltimore and beyond American borders.

Mrs. Greenebaum is one of Baltimore's most well-known and well- respected philanthropic leaders. Her civic endeavors include serving as president of the Oheb Shalom Sisterhood as well as president of Miriam Lodge. In addition, since her diagnosis with breast cancer more than 20 years ago, Mrs. Greenebaum has dedicated each and every day to helping treat and research life-threatening disease so that others can enjoy the gift of good health.

In 1994, Mrs. Greenebaum and her husband, Stewart, created a scholarship program for University of Maryland School of Medicine students who are residents of Maryland. They are also the founding donors of the Children's House at Johns Hopkins, helping to build an 18-bedroom facility that provides lodging for families of children being treated for life-threatening illnesses. The couple was recently recognized for donating more than $1 million to the American Cancer Society since 2007.

Mrs. Greenebaum has served on the University of Maryland Medical System's Cancer Center Board of Advisors since its inception in 1993. Along with her husband, she donated $10 million to the School of Medicine, the largest private contribution in its history. In recognition, the couple is the namesake of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, where new life-saving drugs and groundbreaking clinical trials have attracted national and international recognition. In fact, its lab and clinical research facility are ranked among the Nation's top 25 cancer centers by U.S. News and World Report.

Mrs. Greenebaum was also the driving force behind the creation of the Multidisciplinary Breast Center at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem that bears her name. Her gift is ensuring that Israeli women can benefit from the best diagnostics, treatment and research possible.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Mrs. Marlene Greenebaum. Her dedication to quality healthcare for all people is an inspiration. Her strength and courage now give hope to countless other women. It is with great admiration and appreciation that I congratulate Mrs. Geenebaum on her well-deserved recognition and wish her many more years of good health and happiness.

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to honor Mr. Charles T. ``Chuck'' Kennedy on the occasion of his retirement with the National Security Agency, NSA, after 31 years of distinguished service.

As Chief of the Office of Contracting at NSA, Mr. Kennedy has been responsible for about 36,000 contracting actions per year. His expertise has been used in joint NSA initiatives with other countries and foreign contractors. Mr. Kennedy is also a member of NSA's Power, Space, and Cooling Triage Team. This cross-functional team, made up of leaders throughout the NSA Washington Enterprise, ensures that high- priority mission requirements receive the necessary power and cooling to function.

Mr. Kennedy is also a member of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Procurement Executive Council. This interagency team examines procurement challenges, helps streamline processes and establishes contracts.

Mr. Kennedy spent his entire career in the contracting field, graduating from his internship in 1983. Over the years, Mr. Kennedy progressed through various management levels that included Chief of the Signals Intelligence Directorate/Research & Development Contracting Office, Chief of the Information Technology Enterprise Contracting Office, Chief of the Mission Support Contracting Office and Chief of the Cost and Economic Analysis Contracting Office.

Mr. Kennedy is a recipient of the Meritorious Civilian Service Award. This is NSA's second highest honorary award, given only to extraordinary individual achievements of major significance to NSA, the Department of Defense, or the United States Government.

Mr. Kennedy holds two Masters of Science Degrees, a Bachelors of Science Degree and is a graduate of the NSA Senior Cryptologic Course. His certifications include Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act Certified Level 4--Acquisition Corps and NSA Logistician. He holds an unlimited Contracting Officer warrant.

Mr. Kennedy and his wife Patti have been married for 34 years. They have three sons and three grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Mr. Kennedy. His long and dedicated service to the United States government is an inspiration to all of us. It is with great pride that I congratulate Mr. Kennedy on his retirement and wish him the best of luck in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in favor of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2012.

When Chairman Rogers and I took over leadership of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, we made a commitment to work together to ensure the intelligence community has the authorities it needs to effectively protect America. This intelligence authorization bill achieves this purpose. It gives our intelligence professionals critical resources, capabilities, and authorities. We passed FY11 earlier this year, and now we can see the finish line for

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my distinguished colleague from the State of California (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I think we really need to discuss the issue of cybersecurity. Cyberthreat is the one thing I think that keeps a lot of us on the Intelligence Committee up at night, how serious a threat it is to our country--we're being attacked on a regular basis. And we as a country need to do what we have to do to go forward and deal with the issue of cyber.

Cyber poses one of the greatest threats to Americans from both an economic and national security perspective. We are losing millions of dollars because of cyberattacks. Our intellectual property is being stolen daily just as we speak. Our Pentagon is being attacked as we speak. We have seen countless examples of cutting-edge U.S. ideas being stolen and used for foreign products.

Cyber is also a major national security concern. We only have to look at the attack on South Korea's banking system to realize the impact an attack can have on critical infrastructure. In South Korea, depositors lost access to their money and critical investment. Data was lost. An attack like this could happen in the United States if we do not prepare and focus on the issue of cybersecurity. This bill strengthens U.S. cyberdefenses, again, a very important part of this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I think another major issue that we've addressed in this bill is the issue of space. Years ago, when we went to the Moon, the whole country understood how important space was to the national defense of our country, and, in those days, everyone knew the names of the astronauts the same as they know the names of NFL quarterbacks today.

And yet, because of the fact that there hasn't been as much in space, we as a country need to educate our constituents how important space is. We are the strongest country in the world, and one of the main reasons is because we are active and control the skies. Yet, right now, our space program has to be reinvigorated, and we have to refocus on that.

America, again, controls the world because we control the skies. Our investment in space keeps us safe. If we fail to make that investment, other countries will move ahead and edge us out. As an example, China is going to the Moon. They are spending time, research, and development to go to the Moon. Currently, we rely on the Russians to get to the international space station.

We must reinvest in the capabilities to give us the edge in space. We also need to think about different ways to get ahead. The bill breaks down barriers of our launch industry. All options need to be on the table as we talk about keeping America's edge in space.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I think it's extremely important that we look back where we've come from since 9/11.

During 9/11, or before 9/11, we had agencies, intelligence agencies that just were not working together. There was not a teamwork approach. And, as a result of not working together, the attack of 9/11 occurred. The 9/11 Commission made numerous recommendations, and a lot of those recommendations were very positive and were implemented.

As a result of the bin Laden raid and bringing him to justice, I think it showed the teamwork that is needed, especially in the intelligence community, to work together, whether or not it's NSA, the NRO, it's the military, all those different agencies coming together and working as a team. And we would not have had the success that we had with bin Laden if it weren't for that teamwork approach.

I think now we have to learn about the teamwork approach and working together in Congress, also. We as Members of Congress need to do our job and come together and do the people's work, and the partisan politics has to stop.

What I'm leading to is that I think that this bill, and the previous bills that we've passed, and the leadership of Chairman Rogers and the open minds of every member, whether Democrat or Republican, on the Intelligence Committee has allowed us to come together and have a bipartisan bill. And we would hope that what is happening here today in the bills that we've passed will be looked at as an example for the future.

Again, Chairman Rogers, thank you for that commitment. We made a commitment when we first came that the stakes are too high, national security is too high, and we must work together.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to a member of the Intelligence Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I do want to acknowledge the Technical and Tactical Subcommittee and the work done by Mr. Heck and also Mr. Schiff. I have served with Mr. Schiff for years on the Intelligence Committee, and he has been very focused on the technical area, which is extremely important to our national security.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, it took a long time for us to get to this point here today. We spent days in important hearings analyzing the intelligence community, making sure that we focused on what the intelligence community needed. We knew, as this country has an issue with respect to the deficit, that we had to do some cutting.

It's not about cutting; it was what to cut. And we wanted to make sure that the cuts that we made in this intelligence bill, working as Republicans and Democrats, would not affect the mission for the national security of our country. We spent time before the bill passed, hours and hours, working, staff working, coming together. And what's very unique, also, about this committee is that both the Democrat and the Republican staff worked very closely together, and I hadn't seen that in the past as a member of this committee for over 9 years right now. And that's one of the main reasons that we have such a great, effective staff that work together as a team, to come together to make sure that we did what we had to do.

Now we are here today to finish the job. Republicans and Democrats have come together to make important choices and to do what is right for the intelligence community and our country. This bill makes America safer.

Again, I commend everyone who participated in this effort, especially the bipartisan leadership of Chairman Rogers, the other members of the Intelligence Committee, and the leadership of Senators Feinstein and Chambliss in the Senate Intelligence Committee, again working together. We can do our work here, but we need the Senate to come together, and we did and we now have the product here today.

I would like to thank again both the Democrat and Republican staff for the countless hours they spent.

I fully support the fiscal year 2012 Intelligence Authorization Act and urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to honor Mrs. Patricia Nicklow, a resident of Essex, Maryland, on the occasion of her retirement from the U.S. Navy's Program Executive Office for Aircraft Carriers after more than 37 years of dedicated service to the federal government.

Patricia Nicklow was born in Baltimore and attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Kenwood Senior High Schools in Essex. She is Level III certified in Acquisition Logistics with Level II certifications in both Program Management and Business Financial Management from the Defense Acquisition University.

Over the course of her 37-year career with the federal government, Mrs. Nicklow has developed an extensive background in acquisitions and logistics. She spent 13 years with the General Service Administration throughout the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. She then served 23 years at the Naval Sea Systems Command, including her final nine years at PEO Carriers. During this time, she became the In-Service Logistician for Mine Sweepers and Hunters before finally coming to Aircraft Carriers to work in new construction, mid-life Refueling and Complex Overhauls, and supporting the Navy's in-service Aircraft Carriers.

Mrs. Nicklow's current duties include ensuring that in-service Aircraft Carriers are logistically supported so that sailors are trained properly to perform and maintain their equipment.

Her well-deserved plans post retirement include more traveling, spending time with family, partaking in health classes, and bowling. Mrs. Nicklow currently lives with her husband and mother.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join with me today to honor Mrs. Nicklow. Her long and dedicated service to the United States of America is an inspiration to all of us. It is with great pride that I congratulate Mrs. Nicklow on her retirement and wish her the best of luck in the future.