WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) pressed nominees for top positions in the Intelligence Community (IC) on the need for the IC to be fully transparent with Congress and the importance of whistleblower protections to promote better governing. Senator King’s comments came during a hearing in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to consider the nominations of Christopher Fonzone to be General Counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Brett Holmgren to be Assistant Secretary of State of Intelligence and Research.

SENATOR KING: “Bad intelligence does lead to bad decisions and your job is to give us the best intelligence you have – us being policymakers. Mr. Fonzone, this committee really I think, has one role and one mission. The role is oversight of the Intelligence Community, and it’s an unusual one because in a democracy, secret agencies are kind of an anomaly and all the other agencies of government have all kinds of people looking at them – the press, the specialized press, the constituents. Intelligence, not so much, so this committee has an important responsibility. The mission it seems to me is navigating the tension between the Preamble of the Constitution – to ensure domestic tranquility and to provide for the common defense – and the first, fourth and fifth amendment, essentially the right of privacy of American citizens. Talk to me about how you navigate that, what is essentially a legal tension.

GENERAL FONZONE: “Thank you Senator, I think that is a fantastic framing of the role of this committee and an excellent explanation for why the relationship between the Intelligence Community and this committee is so important. I think that the Intelligence Community has a very important job to play in keeping the nation safe, but it can only do that if the American people trust what it is doing is lawful and consistent with the nation’s values… and if I was lucky enough to be confirmed, I would see a major focus of my role, both ensuring that [Director Haines] carries out her obligation to keep [SSCI] fully and currently informed about significant intelligence activities and also just making sure I’m a partner with this committee to make sure all the legal issues that come up that are significant, we’re working together on those.” 

+++

Senator King concluded his questioning period by highlighting the importance that America’s founders placed in the whistleblower statute, which dates before the adoption of the Constitution.

SENATOR KING: “I’m just about out of time, but I want to emphasize the importance that Chairman mentioned of the whistleblower statute. By definition, whistleblowers are unpopular, certainly…within the Executive Branch, so they need articulate and aggressive defensive and I hope you will commit to doing so within the Intelligence Community.”

GENERAL FONZONE: “Certainly, Senator, that’s something a number of Senators have spoken to me about in the run-up to this hearing and I’m committed to ensuring that, if confirmed, ensuring that whistleblowers know where to lodge their complaints and receive the full protection of the law if they do so.”

SENATOR KING: “Interestingly – the first American whistleblower law was in 1778, prior to the adoption of the Constitution – the people who founded this country understood how important it was.”

As Chair of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator King is recognized as a thoughtful voice on national security and foreign policy issues in the Senate. In addition to his committee work, Senator King serves on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the Senate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Observer Group, and is co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. He voted in favor of the Senate’s passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes several funding and policy priorities advocated for by Senator King to support military facilities and communities in Maine and advance the national defense. The legislation – containing 25 bipartisan cybersecurity recommendations from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission – became law earlier this year after Senator King and the overwhelming majority of his colleagues voted to override President Trump’s veto.