WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, today expressed his disappointment with the latest attempt to rewrite history on the passage of the Protect America Act and for efforts to discredit Admiral Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
 
            “I am surprised and disappointed to see this attempt to rewrite history and discredit Admiral McConnell with partisanship and duplicity, nothing could be further from the truth.”

             Bond referred to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller’s letter to the DNI, dated August 29, 2007, that was in the DNI’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) release today.  Bond stressed that the letter wrongfully accuses the DNI of caving to White House pressure and making bad faith negotiations with members of Congress during the final negotiations of the Protect America Act (PAA), which updated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and was signed into law in August of this year.  

            Bond, who was the primary sponsor of the PAA and party to final negotiations, stressed that the DNI was not responsible for the chaotic manner in which the bill was passed.  Bond pointed out that he had argued after the DNI delivered his proposal to Congress on April 27th that Congress should address the FISA question immediately. 

             Despite the Intelligence Committee’s practice, and Bond’s agreement with the Chairman that a copy of any letter sent on Committee Letterhead is to be entered into the historical files of the Committee, the letter and its reply from the DNI were both withheld from the Committee’s system.  Bond noted that as a witness to final negotiations he would have been able to dispute the letter’s accusations, and he surmised that its release through FOIA was not anticipated. 

           Bond stressed that he is speaking out on the issue only to set the record straight.  In October, the Senate Intelligence Committee passed out a FISA bipartisan bill – on a vote of 13-2 – that protects American civil liberties while giving intelligence and law enforcement agencies the tools and agility they need to intercept terrorist communications.

            “The Chairman and I worked together to pass a bipartisan bill to modernize permanently this critical early earning system.  This bill is a delicate compromise, after months of negotiation, between Democrats, Republicans, the Intelligence Community and Department of Justice.  The Senate needs to pass that bill and give our law enforcement and intelligence operators the tools they need to track terrorists before the Holiday recess.” 

            Earlier this year, Bond delivered a speech on the Senate floor (September 19, 2007) where he laid out a timeline of events in the making of the PAA.