House Intel Committee Hearing Remarks

Chairman Mike Rogers included in his remarks from yesterday's House Intelligence Committee meeting some thoughts about detention authorities. In light of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon's comments from a few weeks ago, Chairman Rogers's remarks suggest that some sort of critical mass may be forming regarding the possibility of new detention legislation.  The relevant portion from his statement is below, and here's the link to the hearing Web site (all of the prepared statements should be posted eventually).

10^th Anniversary of 9/11

The 9/11 attacks transformed our country and the way we view national security.  Since that day, the many threats we face have continued to evolve and grow in complexity.  As these threats evolve, our response needs to keep pace.

In the face of this rapidly changing environment, and with the 10^th Anniversary of 9/11 attacks coming up this year, it is an appropriate time for this Committee to take stock of the last ten years and examine whether the tools and institutions we’ve created are working, and whether they are positioned to face the threats of the future. Tools: Congress has made comprehensive, historic changes since 9/11 to update the laws that authorize and govern our intelligence activities.  We need to keep working to ensure that those laws keep pace with the new threats and rapid changes in technology.

• Critical provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expire at the end of this month.  We need to rapidly reauthorize these provisions while examining other laws, like the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), that are in need of modernization.  FISA has been vital to protecting our nation, and we need to work toward making its tools permanent parts of our arsenal.

• We must also reinforce legal authorities concerning detainees – one of our best intelligence sources in the war on terrorism.  We need a system for intelligence exploitation and long-term detention that is flexible and can endure changing circumstances and court challenges, no matter where a detainee is picked up in the world.  Executive Orders and other band-aids are not good enough; this problem requires a legislative solution.