Dereliction of Duty

Nancy Pelosi should be charged with dereliction of duty. Never has a Speaker of the House so shamelessly put partisan politics ahead of this country's safety

Democrats in charge of Congress have a clear choice before them when they reconvene the House today: Will they act immediately to close significant gaps in America's intelligence capability - or not?

Ten days ago, their leaders chose to adjourn the House of Representatives without passing a Senate-approved anti-terror bill that had overwhelming bipartisan support. As a result, Democrats left America at significant risk and potentially blind to new terrorist plots.

The Democrats' dereliction of duty left our intelligence community without critical, 21st-century intelligence tools for unearthing those plots. Until the House passes this bill, our agencies are bound by the overly bureaucratic Vietnam-era law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Senators passed it by a margin of more than 2-1 - no easy feat in this era of partisan gridlock. Democrats in the Pelosi-led House responded by putting the Senate bill in a drawer.