Diaz-Balart: Much Has Already Been Done to Fight Terrorism

August 2, 2004

Diaz-Balart: Much Has Already Been Done to Fight Terrorism

WASHINGTON- An aide to John Kerry said yesterday that the hike in the terror alert indicates the country is not as safe as it could be and used it to criticize President Bush's strong efforts to fight terrorism.

"Strangely, I thought the terror alert - especially this one with so much detail - showed that we are being very proactive against terrorism," said Diaz-Balart Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.). "Perhaps if John Kerry and John Edwards had spent more time doing their jobs than campaigning they would realize just how much has been done to fight terror and how much we are already doing to improve."

During John Kerry's eight years of service on the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, he missed 38 of 49 open, public hearings. John Edwards has only attended four of the eight open, public hearings since he joined the Senate Intelligence Committee. Kerry and Edwards have yet to release their attendance at closed hearings.

"Still, how ironic that the Kerry campaign is saying we should be doing more about terrorism," Diaz-Balart continued. "One way we can do better is not have Kerry's national security advisor stealing highly classified documents. Another way we can do better is to not cut defense and intelligence funding - unlike John Kerry's Senate record. Overall, we are already doing better of preventing terrorist attacks here at home with tools like the Patriot Act - which Kerry voted for but, of course, has since flip-flopped.

"Thankfully, as this terror alert shows, President Bush and his administration continue to take the threat of terrorism seriously and are willing to act at any moment when there is evidence to act on."