My New Role as Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee

Statement

Dear Friends,

This past week has been a whirlwind.

Last Thursday, I was selected to be the Ranking Member, or top Democrat, of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), the committee in charge of overseeing all activities of our nation's intelligence community and agencies. If Democrats were in the majority, that would make me the Chairman of the committee.

I feel honored, to say the least, and I'm deeply grateful for the trust placed in me by the Democratic Caucus and Leader Nancy Pelosi. The Committee has one of the most important and difficult tasks in the Congress -- keeping our country safe and overseeing the many agencies within the Intelligence Community. As the tragic events of the last week make clear, the work of our intelligence agencies and our relationships with allies will continue to be of unsurpassed importance in protecting our nation and values.

This means that I will serve as part of the "Gang of Eight," which refers to the four top members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees along with the Senate President, Senate Minority Leader, House Speaker and House Minority Leader. By law, the President must keep the Gang of Eight informed of our country's most secret intelligence activities to maintain proper oversight. It's a big responsibility.

There will be no shortage of issues to come before the Committee in this session, from addressing new threats of terrorism at home and around the world, to reforming our surveillance capabilities and oversight, securing and reinforcing our nation's cybersecurity, and maintaining the privacy rights of law-abiding Americans.

But even as I take on this these added responsibilities, I am determined to be as tenacious as ever in pursuing the priorities and policies of importance to our community -- from improving our economy and helping to create new, and good-paying jobs, to passing comprehensive immigration reform, and repairing our nation's crumbling infrastructure. It also means I will continue pushing for increased parkland and open space, a strong space program, more mass transit, relief from excessive helicopter noise, better forest fire protection, an earthquake early warning system, and many, many other matters of importance to you and your neighbors.

So I hope you will share with me any thoughts you may have on intelligence, national security and privacy matters, and continue to keep me abreast of other local and national issues you wish me to pursue. I really value your input and can't do my job well without it. You can also always share your thoughts through Facebook or Twitter.

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