After successfully passing an Intelligence Authorization Bill for 27 years, Congress has failed to pass a bill for the past three. It’s time that Congress takes the necessary steps to reassert itself as a constitutional check to the Executive Branch.

We can no longer afford to give such deference to the FBI regarding its intelligence reform. The threat of terrorism is too urgent for us to not intervene.

If we are to continue to assert our moral authority abroad, then we must take a stand. We must send a firm message of zero tolerance for torture in order to uphold our position as the foremost advocate of human rights and individual freedom throughout the world.

I believe that one key way to prevent the same mistakes from happening again is to inject more accountability into the Intelligence Community, and it is my hope that by creating a sound, strong, and aptly- equipped Inspector General, we will achieve this goal.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 11:15 am and is filed under Politics .