Threat Assessment of the Director of National Intelligence for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Chairman Rockefeller, Vice-Chairman Bond, Members of the Committee, thank you for the invitation to offer my assessment of threats to US national security. ... In addition to this unclassified Statement for the Record, I will submit a classified Statement and make an oral presentation to the Committee. Before I talk about specific threats, I want to raise an issue of immediate importance for the functioning of the Intelligence Community and protection of the nation. The authorities granted by the Protect America Act PAA which temporarily closed gaps in our intelligence collection and allowed the Intelligence Community to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance are critical to our intelligence efforts to protect the Nation from current threats. Briefly, some of the most important benefits include Better understanding of international al-Qaida networks Greater insight into future terrorist plans that have allowed us to disrupt attacks More extensive knowledge of instructions to foreign terrorist associates about entering the United States Information on efforts to obtain guns and ammunition Knowledge on terrorist money transfers. Expiration of the Act would lead to the loss of important tools the Intelligence Community relies on to discover the plans of our enemies. As reflected in your Committee report, merely extending the PAA without addressing retroactive liability protection for the private sector will likely have far reaching consequences for the Intelligence Community. At the request of members of Congress, I have provided letters discussing these matters in greater depth.