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Hoyer: Republican Congress Is Failing to Ask the Hard Questions on Terrorist Threat

Democratic Whip Says Intelligence Agencies’ Assessment “Must Provoke Serious, Searching Inquiry”

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today:

“The assessment by our nation’s intelligence agencies that the overall threat of terrorism has grown since the attacks on September 11, 2001, is deeply disturbing, and must provoke a serious, searching Congressional inquiry into this Administration’s national security policies.

“Unfortunately, this Republican Congress has repeatedly failed to ask tough questions of this Administration, choosing instead to help Administration officials try to deflect any and all criticism of the President’s national security policies.  I believe that Members on both sides of the aisle have a constitutional duty to perform meaningful oversight and to hold the Administration accountable.

"It is incumbent upon this Congress to ask the hard questions as to what is working and what is not.  If we do not, we will be destined to continue repeating the same mistakes that have plagued us for the last three and a half years, and that have produced such a dire assessment.

“It is imperative that we recognize that the war on terror is not only a war of arms, but also a war of ideas.  This intelligence report demonstrates that we must undertake a new direction in our national security."

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