Governor Chris Christie plans to blast the rising political momentum against the federal intelligence communities even as Congress is reconsidering key provisions of the Patriot Act.
In advance excerpts of his speech released to reporters, Christie blasts the culture of “civil liberties extremists” who are raising fears of the government’s surveillance practices.
“Let me be clear – all these fears are baloney. When it comes to fighting terrorism, our government is not the enemy,” he will say.
Christie will also use the occasion to criticize Hollywood for adding to the culture of fear surrounding what he deems as important work done by government law enforcement and intelligence communities.
“They want you to think of our intelligence community as the bad guys, straight out of the Bourne Identity or a Hollywood thriller,” he will say, adding that, “[W]e don’t need advice from Hollywood, the guys who made our intelligence agencies the villains in practically every movie from the last twenty-five years.”
Christie also plans to ridicule Edward Snowden for hiding from his crimes in Russia.
“We shouldn’t listen to people like Edward Snowden, a criminal who hurt our country and now enjoys the hospitality of President Putin – while sending us messages about the dangers of authoritarian government,” he will say.
Christie’s remarks will directly combat those of Sen. Rand Paul, who routinely slams the intelligence communities for monitoring phone call records and metadata of ordinary Americans.
“Warrantless searches of American’s phones and computer records are un-American and a threat to our civil liberties,” Paul said during an appearance at CPAC earlier this year. “I say that your phone records are yours. I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their damn business.”
Christie will deliver his foreign policy speech at noon today in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.