Cornyn: Work Together to Fix Intelligence, Combat Real Threats

CORNYN: WORK TOGETHER TO FIX INTELLIGENCE, COMBAT REAL THREATS

'We must work together to rebuild the intelligence community, keep Americans safe'

WASHINGTON-U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made the following statement Friday regarding a report by the Senate Intelligence community on pre-Iraq war intelligence:

"In contrast to the claims by political opponents of the Bush administration, the Intelligence Committee found no evidence of pressure from the administration or anyone else to mischaracterize or exaggerate the intelligence about Iraq's WMD capabilities. And it's disappointing that anyone would try to politicize the shortcomings within our intelligence community.

"While there are clear deficiencies in our intelligence community that must be corrected, we need to keep in mind why this is so important - the threats we face are real and serious. Al Qaeda still wants to kill us and our allies. Terrorists based in Iraq and elsewhere are still bent on destroying us and our freedom. And there are those who still seek to impose their form of thugocracy on our nation and the world.

"It is also important to recognize the reasons behind the degradation of our intelligence. The constant cuts and attempts by some members of the Senate to cut even more money from the budget of our intelligence community in the 1990s left us with inadequate resources to carry out important intelligence missions. And now we must work together in a bipartisan way to rebuild the intelligence community and fix the problems, so that we can keep Americans safe."