mr. chairman , i yield myself the balance of my time . 
the greatest responsibility of the intelligence community is to protect our country from attack . 
today 's debate should flow from this simple premise which should not be controversial , contentious , or partisan . 
the 9/11 attacks have led us to war , to war with an unconventional enemy that hides literally around the globe . 
the full energies of the intelligence community are directed to finding and monitoring that enemy abroad , but our most pressing and immediate concern is with those foreign terrorists who may be even closer to home , those within the borders of the united states . 
the usa patriot act has provided basic and fundamental tools to investigators to help them find foreign spies and terrorists who may seek to harm our nation . 
the continued acts of alleged terrorism in london today should continue to highlight the urgency of these efforts and the critical nature of the patriot act authorities . 
within days of the first london bombings , british authorities were able to rapidly identify the bombers and follow their trail to other terrorists . 
the patriot act would be essential to do the same in the united states to investigate or prevent an attack . 
by now , you have all seen the chilling photograph of the very first group of london bombers to gather in a rail station . 
in the united states the authorities of the patriot act likely would have been used to obtain that photograph . 
in the london investigation , there has been extensive cooperation between the london metropolitan police and the british intelligence agencies . 
in the united states , that cooperation would not be possible without the patriot act . 
british investigators then obtained leads from a terrorist phone to tie them to the coconspirators of the first group of bombers . 
in the united states , the authorities of the patriot act likely would have been used to obtain those records . 
mr. chairman , our counterterrorism investigators in the intelligence community can do truly remarkable work to find terrorists and to piece together the puzzle of their networks , but to do that they need modern legal authorities to deal with modern threats . 
behind all the rhetoric , the patriot act is simple , sensible , reasonable and necessary . 
i urge all members to support the intelligence community in its effort to fight terrorism . 
support this bill and keep america safe . 
