Jane Harman

There’s no deep bench there, Mahmoud Abbas is, I think, the best leader of the Palestinians we could field.

A lot of the things that we’ve been able to do in the last several years were Democratic ideas, including the structure for this new director of national intelligence.

If the withdrawal from Gaza goes badly, obviously, that will set us back.

We can no longer expect an Intelligence Community that is mostly male and mostly white to be able to monitor and infiltrate suspicious organizations or terrorist groups.

We need spies that look like their targets, CIA officers who speak the dialects terrorists use, and FBI agents who can speak to Muslim women who might be intimidated by men.

But as I often say, terrorists won’t check our party registration before they blow us up.

The Committee’s review of a series of intelligence shortcomings, to include intelligence prior to 9/11 and the pre-war intelligence on Iraq, clearly reveal how vital a diverse intelligence workforce is to our national security.

So, you know, I think that Democrats are being more successful in Congress and I’m really going to be proud of the role I will play tomorrow as ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee when this bill passes.

I think I am aggressive, I think I am critical when it’s necessary.

At the same time as we clearly condemn actions of violence by groups in Palestinian against Israel.

The point is to solve problems, not point fingers.

In a post-9/11 world, diversity has become even more important.

In 1969, when I graduated from Harvard Law School, women and minorities made up a tiny fraction of the first year associates accepted by top law firms.

Maybe it’s my 15 minutes of fame, maybe it’s longer.