Conference Report On H.R. 1, Implementing Recommendations Of The 9/11 Commission Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, IMPLEMENTING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - July 27, 2007)

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Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the chairman and ranking member for their bipartisan spirit on this bill. It was an honor and I was proud to be a conferee to this report.

This is not a perfect bill. We raised concerns at the conference regarding the 100 percent screening for cargo containers, and I don't believe that's a realistic assessment. However, there were enough exceptions to give the Secretary flexibility that I felt comfortable.

Also, the Visa Waiver Program which the terrorists have exploited. However, under this bill, those provisions will be strengthened.

But nearly 6 years after the attacks of September 11, I believe it is now time to implement the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, but I want to focus my remarks at this moment on a unique opportunity we had with this bill and with the conference to address a gaping loophole in our national security, and that is regarding the FISA statute and FISA reform bill.

When I worked in the Justice Department, I worked on national security wiretaps, or FISAs as they were referred to. I believe that intelligence is our first line of defense in this war on terror, and the 9/11 Commission recognized this when they said there were systematic problems with covering communications of potential terrorists.

Just recently, Director McConnell wrote a letter to Chairman Reyes of the Intelligence Committee, and I think it's important to know what he said. He said: "Our Nation faces an intelligence 'gap,' a situation in which our intelligence community everyday is `missing a significant portion of what we should be getting' in order to protect the American people.

"Under FISA today, `we are significantly burdened in capturing overseas communications of foreign terrorists planning to conduct attacks inside the United States.' ''

As the head of the Nation's intelligence community, he says that, "I am obligated to provide warning of threats of terrorist activity and I have deep concern of the current threat situation.''

Indeed, the National Intelligence Estimate, recently published, concluded that our Nation faces a determined al Qaeda.

"If we are to stay a step ahead of the terrorists and protect the American people,'' he says, "I firmly believe that we need to be able to use our capabilities to collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets overseas without the requirements imposed by an out-of-date FISA statute.

"Simply put,'' he says, "in a significant number of cases,'' this is the Director of National Intelligence, "we are in the unfortunate position of having to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located overseas.''

He says, "It is essential that the administration and Congress work together and without delay to close the current intelligence gap by amending the FISA statute.''

I will say that every day we waste by not amending the statute and closing this gaping loophole in our national intelligence law, every day we take a risk of another attack on the United States, and I call upon my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work with us to get this done before we go home for the August recess.

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