[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 116 (Thursday, September 23, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9557-S9558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMARKS OF SENATOR DANIEL K. INOUYE
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, there are times when one reads a speech
that has been given by another Senator and reaches a conclusion and
says: I could have given that speech.
Today I was given a copy of the statement made by my Senate brother
from Hawaii, Senator Inouye, at the David Sarnoff Award Banquet last
night. I came to the floor to commend that speech to Members of the
Senate. I do think if Senators read it, some of them at least might
change their position on some of the issues that are going to come
before us next week.
This is a very thoughtful speech that Senator Inouye made. This David
Sarnoff Award, as we all know, is named after the founder of the
Association of Communications, Electronics, Intelligence and
Information Systems Professionals, a group of people who have devoted
their lives to improving the technology for our people who are engaged
in the intelligence-gathering system of the United States.
This is an award that has been given to many distinguished people in
the past--former Secretary Bill Perry, Secretary of State Colin Powell,
former Senator and Vice President Al Gore, our current Vice President,
Dick Cheney. It is an award anyone would be proud to receive, but as a
practical matter, I bet those people did not expect the speech of the
type they heard. It is one that I think, as I said at the beginning,
demonstrates what we say from time to time: That the two of us think
alike and speak alike.
I commend this speech to Members of the Senate and hope Members will
read it and understand it. I ask unanimous consent that Senator
Inouye's speech be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Statement of Senator Daniel K. Inouye at the David Sarnoff Award
Banquet, September 22, 2004
Admiral Browne, General Renzi, distinguished guests, I want
to thank you for bestowing this great honor upon me. I am
pleased to accept the David Sarnoff Award, named after your
founder of the Association of Communications, Electronics,
Intelligence and Information Systems Professionals.
Moreover, I am humbled to be included with such notables as
Bill Perry, Colin Powell, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney in
receiving this award.
David Sarnoff was a visionary who provided so much to the
communications industry.
Rising from humble beginnings to become a powerhouse in the
radio and television business, he is indicative of the
American success story. As one who has served in government
most of my adult life, I especially admire Mr. Sarnoff for
his goal of fostering a partnership between government and
industry.
This partnership between the communications, electronics
and information technology business has been critical to our
Nation's security and to the advances in our defense and
intelligence capabilities. So, I thank you most sincerely for
this award.
My friends, we live in interesting and very dangerous
times. Many felt with the collapse of the Soviet Union we had
entered into a new era of global peace. Today however, we
recognize that we face a new enemy, one that knows no borders
and operates beyond the norms of civilized society.
Much of what you in the AFCEA Association do helps to fight
this new threat and we thank you for that. Your hard work
pays great dividends for our Nation's security every day.
Through your efforts we have made tremendous improvements in
command and control and communications and in information
technology. These improvements are so critical to our
Nation's defense and its intelligence capabilities.
I often remark that we have the greatest military in the
world, perhaps in the history of mankind. Our young men and
women who put on the uniform of this country serve us all
magnificently.
Let me remind you that it is only one percent of our
citizens who serve in our armed forces to protect the
remaining 99 percent of us. We are truly in their debt.
It is for them that I strongly encourage our leaders to
approve a robust budget to strengthen defense every year.
Your members also help to strengthen our defenses by
improving electronics, communications and information
technology programs. Your work helps every day to protect
these young men and women and enable them to perform their
mission more efficiently and effectively.
I would like to note tonight, in addition to our military,
our Nation is lucky to be served by the men and women in our
intelligence community. They truly represent the best in
public service. And your work means a great deal to their
success.
Today in Washington we are focused on intelligence,
specifically on the intelligence community and the need for
further improvement. The tragedy of 9-11 and the faulty
intelligence which had many believing that Iraq had weapons
of mass destruction led the 9-11 Commission and many others
to call for reforming intelligence.
The Commission contends that we had an intelligence
failure, that it was a systemic problem as opposed to several
mistakes being made by our intelligence community. They blame
it on a failure to connect the dots and a lack of
imagination.
In their analysis, they note that several terrorists met in
Malaysia and that a few proceeded from there to the United
States and took part in the attack on 9-11. They conclude
that the CIA should have recognized that these terrorists
were linked to the bombing of the USS Cole and should have
informed the FBI and the State Department about the meeting.
It is this type of error which they say necessitates an
overhaul of our intelligence infrastructure.
We all wish that our analysts would have been prescient
enough to recognize the relationship among these terrorists,
and their connection to the Cole bombing, and the importance
of the Malaysian meeting.
We all wish that these same analysts would have made that
information available to the FBI and State Department where
there exists a possibility that it would have triggered an
investigation of their movements here. But I for one believe
it would have taken a lot of luck for that to have happened--
more than simply connecting the dots or having better
imagination.
Consider this point. It has been 3 years and 11 days since
the attack on our Nation. In that time, we have devoted
billions of dollars and we have sacrificed many young lives
in the war on terrorism, but as far as we know, Osama Bin
Laden remains hidden from view directing the far flung al
Qaeda network.
Would anyone seriously claim that we have not worked hard
enough to connect the dots?
Let's assume we capture Osama soon, somewhere in Pakistan.
When we then learn how he escaped from Tora Bora and made his
way to Pakistan will we blame faulty intelligence for letting
him slip through our grasp?
I fear in today's environment some will offer that
critique.
Ladies and gentlemen, intelligence is a tough business.
Many of you, perhaps most of you have been involved as
providers or users of intelligence in your distinguished
careers. I am not telling you something new.
You have witnessed and in some cases taken part in the
advances in communications and in command and control which
have revolutionized intelligence. You know the incredible
progress we have made through information technology. But,
with all the highly sophisticated tools in our arsenal we
still can't find Osama.
So I ask you, is then a failure of our intelligence system?
I think most, if not all of you would agree it is not.
As you know, as ranking member of the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee, I have access to virtually all
of our Nation's secrets, including those in the Defense
Department and in intelligence programs as well.
I am well aware of what happens day to day in our
intelligence business.
But, because of the necessary secrecy of intelligence, most
Americans never hear about the success in intelligence.
If the CIA breaks up an al Qaeda cell in southern Europe or
western Africa, it is not reported.
If a ship transporting raw materials for the construction
of weapons of mass destruction is stopped in port before it
reaches its destination, the world is unaware. You know,
sometimes I just shake my head when I hear those in the media
and even some of my colleagues criticize our intelligence
capabilities because all they can see are the failures.
Over the past 3 years my committee has been informed of
multiple threats most of which have never been publicized.
The intelligence community must treat each warning with
utmost care. They must research and investigate each one to
determine its veracity, and then respond appropriately to
those incidents which are deemed credible.
In many cases what some call connecting the dots is really
like searching for a needle in a haystack. And, just to make
it more difficult, there are many haystacks to examine and in
some cases the needle looks exactly like hay. Sure the
needles are there and theoretically they could be found, but
should we really expect our analysts to find them every time?
My friends, intelligence is tough business. Our experts are
working round the clock on these issues.
Furthermore, I want everyone to realize that we are not
standing still. The intelligence community has come a long
way in improving intelligence cooperation.
We created the terrorist threat integration center to bring
analysts from various parts of the community to work
together. The enactment of the PATRIOT Act brought down
[[Page S9558]]
a wall which had previously blocked information sharing
between various parts of the intelligence community and the
FBI.
Our leaders have successfully worked to break stovepipes
and to ensure that information sharing is working.
The American communication and electronics business has
been instrumental in assisting this effort. You have provided
the technology to allow us to share information across
agencies.
You have invented new ways to protect certain sensitive
issues while still allowing many analysts to see essential
data. Certainly more improvements are needed in intelligence
cooperation and in new technology to improve information
sharing. Together that partnership that David Sarnoff talked
about a half century ago can help make this work. With your
assistance I am confident we will succeed.
Ladies and gentlemen, our Nation has the finest national
security apparatus--defense and intelligence--in the world.
It's not perfect and it never will be. Some areas can be
improved. But it is a critical capability. Our warfighters--
our young men and women who, as we speak, are serving in
harm's way--depend on seamless intelligence. Many of you help
provide that capability to them. It is our solemn duty to
ensure that we can continue to provide them the best.
You who represent the providers of these systems, you who
are responsible for the revolution in information technology,
I offer you my most heartfelt thanks for what you do. I say
this because you provide the tools that protect our military.
You provide the tools to our first responders and homeland
security managers that will help them hopefully deny and
certainly defeat any additional terrorist activity. We are
grateful for all you have done to improve our Nation's
security.
And to those that want to rush to change our intelligence
system and congressional oversight I urge caution. I would
urge all to remember the old medical adage, first do no harm.
Again, I thank you for inviting me here to join you this
evening and to receive the David Sarnoff Award. I wish you
all the best. Thank you.
Mr. STEVENS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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