Скачать или смотреть Senator Burr Discusses Leaks of Classified Intelligence on the Senate Floor

On June 26, 2012, U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) gave these remarks on the floor of the Senate.

"The unauthorized disclosure of classified intelligence at best violates trust and potentially damages vital liaison relationships and at worst it gets people killed. Clandestine operations are often, as I wrote with Senators Coats and Rubio in the Washington Post, ``highly perishable and they depend on hundreds of hours of painstaking work and the ability to get foreigners to trust our Government. I strongly believe that these leakers are also violating the trust of the most important constituency of all--the American people.''

"Even more troubling is that there appears to be a pattern to these stories and leaks, that they may be designed to make the administration look good on national security. It used to be that the good stuff was buried by the media and the worst was run. Not anymore. Truth be told, rarely have I seen a story that paints this administration in a bad light. Then, when we are about to, the administration invokes executive privilege. They can do that. That is OK. But there is a big difference between invoking executive privilege on not producing documents for Fast and Furious, and releasing classified information that puts at risk individuals who are embedded in terrorist organizations, who are doing their job to keep America safe.

"This has crossed the line. I wish this administration was as concerned about preventing leaks of classified information as it is about keeping a lid on the information Congress is asking for. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee I understand firsthand the grave importance of keeping information secure. The unauthorized and reckless disclosure of classified information undermines the hard work of our intelligence officers and puts lives at risk, and it jeopardizes our relationship with overseas partners. Congress's intelligence oversight committees will not tolerate it, nor should the American people.

"Simply, I come to the floor today to deliver a message to those individuals who were briefed on the discussions, who were part of the program, who were in the room, who are speaking on condition of anonymity: Stop talking. Whatever agenda you have, I can assure you it is not worth the damage you are causing and the lives you are putting at risk. We cannot continue to tolerate leaks at any level or branch of government.

"My colleagues and I are considering every available legislative option to ensure the security of the intelligence community operations and the people who support them. If you have access to classified information and are tempted to leak that information for whatever reason, I ask you to remind yourself what you may be hurting and what trust you are violating and, more importantly, keep your mouth shut.

"The Intelligence Committees on both sides of the Hill I think will take action in their authorization bill to try to address a structure that brings a new level of oversight and hopefully prosecution to those who choose to leak secrets. In the interim, I am still considering the fact that for any person who openly talks about a program that is secret or compartmentalized, the day they say one word about that program they lose their top secret clearance. I would love to see them lose their pension but I understand how problematic that is. But at least we can stop the bleeding by taking away their access to the conversations or the meetings they happen to be a participant in or the information they happen to be entrusted with in a fashion that allows them to go out and publicly talk about that and jeopardize the lives of Americans, the lives of our partners and, more importantly, the security of the American people."