Chairman Poe Statement On The Senate Democrat CIA Report

Every day the intelligence community goes to work to protect Americans. They risk their lives on covert battlefields all around the world to prevent another attack on America. Thanks in part to their efforts, there has not been another attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. Today our enemies are as strong as they have ever been, and we continue to rely on the CIA and the intelligence community to keep us safe. Unfortunately, in their final days in power, Senate Democrats are suddenly releasing a report that criticizes the CIA and focuses exclusively on Bush-era interrogation methods six years after President Bush left office. Why now? There is no question that the release of this report is politically-motivated, self-serving and legacy-driven.

The release of this report will not make Americans safer. What it will do is almost certainly put our citizens and service-members around the world in even greater danger. The terrorists will use this report as justification for murdering Americans and as enticement to recruit more terrorists. The enemies that we face behead our citizens abroad and are determined to attack us at home. Now more than ever, we must support, not weaken, the people who have kept us safe for 13 years.