As prepared for delivery

“With the inauguration of President Obama this week, we – the new Administration and the Congress – have a long-overdue opportunity to strengthen an intelligence community that has been distracted and undermined by the lawlessness of the Bush Administration.  As President Obama put it so clearly on Tuesday, ‘we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.’  That simple statement, which we have been waiting to hear for eight long years, is, in my view, the bedrock on which Congress can finally develop a new relationship with the executive branch.  That relationship is going to include vigorous, independent oversight by this committee of the intelligence community.  But, based on everything I have heard so far, from the President, from you, Admiral Blair, and from Congressman Panetta, I have every expectation that this relationship will be collaborative and grounded in mutual respect between our two co-equal branches of government, with all of us working toward a common purpose.

“Our consideration of Admiral Blair’s nomination to be Director of National Intelligence is a key first step in establishing this relationship and in defining this common purpose.  I hope and expect that Admiral Blair will state clearly that he and other officials of the Obama Administration will keep the full congressional intelligence committees fully and currently informed on all intelligence matters, a statutory requirement violated repeatedly by the Bush Administration.  And I anticipate that he will provide assurances that no one – not the DNI and not the President – is above the law.

“I have two overriding concerns related to the position of DNI.  First is the critical need to continue and broaden reform efforts by integrating the intelligence community with the rest of the United States government.  This includes developing strategies for collecting and analyzing information needed to inform foreign policy decisions and defend the nation, whether collected clandestinely by the intelligence community, or overtly, particularly through State Department reporting.  Legislation introduced by Senator Hagel and myself last year would establish an independent commission that would make recommendations as to how to develop these strategies.  It passed the Intelligence Committee and I hope that the new Administration, as well as the new Congress, will support this important effort.  In addition, I was long frustrated by the Bush Administration’s repeated failure to develop interagency counterterrorism strategies, despite requirements in statute and repeated urgings in classified letters.  It is my hope that the incoming national security team, including the DNI, will develop new interagency processes for developing these strategies, while working closely with Congress.

“Second, even as the Obama Administration tackles the critical and urgent issues of detention and interrogation, the intelligence community must take a fresh look at the surveillance authorities it currently holds.  Many of these authorities are overbroad, lack sufficient checks and balances, and otherwise fail to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.  They include PATRIOT Act and FISA authorities, many of which were provided by Congress in response to Bush Administration scare tactics and political intimidation.  In classified contexts as well as publicly, I have repeatedly indicated where I believe we can collect the intelligence we need while protecting our constitutional rights.  I have identified many of these changes as part of a broader return to the rule of law that I have encouraged the Obama Administration to undertake, and I am looking forward to working with the President’s team –at both the intelligence community and the Department of Justice – on these critical matters.”