The House just passed a Terrorist Surveillance Compromise Bill. This after nearly a year since the Director of National Intelligence warned Congress that we were missing vital intelligence needed to protect the nation. br /br /I have no idea why it took the House so long to pass a reasonable bill to address this problem (actually, I do know why; to some in DC, politics is more important than national security—we need to get rid of them, regardless of party). Unfortunately, some see a greater threat from the hardworking professionals in our intelligence community than the actual terrorists who attacked our homeland. The intelligence community is our nation’s first line of defense against terrorists and foreign enemies. Our intelligence professionals deserve our support. They should not be demonized for the sake of politics. br /br /We need to be focused on preventing the next attack on our homeland. br /br /When it becomes law, the bill will close gaps in our ability to collect intelligence on foreign targets in foreign countries in order to detect and prevent potential terrorist attacks. It also provides a long overdue means of retroactive liability protection for businesses that may have assisted the government help keep our homeland safe from terrorist attacks since 9-11. By the way, President Bush does deserve credit for the fact that we’ve had no further successful terrorist attacks since then.