The Staten Island Ferry remains a potential terrorist target.

Russia under President Putin is less democratic and less free today than when he assumed office. If Russia cannot fulfill its obligation to the G-8 and maintain a high standard of democratic governance then its membership should be suspended.

The sad fact is that the same terrorist scenarios, if they occurred in five different States, there could be five different sets of responses to the American people. We need, at a minimum, a level of coordination on communicating threats to the public.

I represent Staten Island and Brooklyn, and not just that the financial services industry is important to the U.S., but is disproportionately important to New York City.

One of the reasons I wanted to leave my position at Common Cause and return to politics was to regain the freedom to speak out politically - to not be constrained by a non-partisan organization.

Basically, the start of my thinking process is: 'OK, if you didn't have to worry about re-election, what would you be doing?' That's kind of how I'm starting to think.

National interest is above anything else. Just because you sit in an air-conditioned room, you can say you shouldn't relate cricket and movies to politics. Ask anyone who has lost a family member to terror attacks, and you will get your answer.

The Obama administration says we only destroy the privacy of non-Americans. That is not true. The government is spying on Americans.