WASHINGTON, 5 December 2006 — Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the weekend asked Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a former border patrol agent, to be the next chair of the House Intelligence Committee, ending a distracting fight among Democrats over who should get the influential post.
Both Pelosi and Reyes previously worked together on the Intelligence Committee. During his four years on the panel, Reyes has earned a reputation for a diligence often focusing on border security and domestic threats. Reyes “has impeccable national security credentials,” Pelosi said. “When tough questions are required, whether they relate to intelligence shortcomings before the 9/11 attacks or the war in Iraq, or to the quality on intelligence on Iran or North Korea, he does not hesitate to ask them.”
