Statement of Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) on the Confirmation of General Michael Hayden as Central Intelligence Agency Director

STATEMENT OF SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA) ON THE CONFIRMATION OF GENERAL MICHAEL HAYDEN AS CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DIRECTOR

Harkin today voted against General Hayden's nomination to be the new head of the CIA

"Given General Hayden's support of and key role in the Administration's secret domestic spying program, I am not convinced that he is the right choice to head the CIA. Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 1978 to establish legal ways to conduct secret surveillance for suspected espionage and terrorism. In 2001, Congress made changes to that law to make it even easier to eavesdrop in these cases.

"As I have said all along, our intelligence services should be listening to terrorists' conversations, but they must do so within the law and the Constitution. Yet General Hayden glossed over the FISA law and pretended it simply didn't exist. Our country needs a CIA director who is committed to aggressively fighting terrorism, but someone who also respects our laws and the rights of all Americans."

http://harkin.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=256204