“The principle behind our electronic surveillance has not changed since 1978. But the terrorist threat has. As we’ve tried to adapt to this asymmetrical threat, the terrorists have adapted too — by using increasingly modern and increasingly lethal tools and technologies against us. They’ve used planes and, if they get their wish, they’ll use chemical and even nuclear weapons. They’ve killed our citizens and our soldiers by the thousands. And they’ve shown their intent to continue to kill at an even larger scale.

“We must not let these enemies of America exploit a weakness that we can clearly see. Didn’t we learn this lesson after 9/11? Some have blamed our failure to prevent those attacks on a failure of imagination. Some have said it was because we didn’t connect the dots. Well, we’ll never be able to connect the dots if we can’t collect them. And failure to pass this legislation would suggest an indifference on the part of Congress about our ability to connect the dots.

“This threat is real, this threat is urgent, and we must not, we will not, leave for recess until we pass this urgent and necessary law.”