mr. bennet: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president of. and before i speak on what i am here on the floor, i would like to thank senator murray for not just the women in my state and the women in your state but all across the nation. i want to say how grateful i am. thank you. mr. president, we have had over the last ten days or so or two weeks or so in the senate briefing after briefing that our constituents never get the chance to see. these are briefings by the intelligence community, by the department of defense about what the nature of the global threat is to the united states, the state of our national security, what they call our -- the net effect is between, you know, where we are as strategic force and where our competitors are as a strategic force, and without revealing anything i've heard in any of those classified sessions, either in those sessions or as a member of the intelligence committee, i can tell you that i i have found the briefings very sobering over the years. and i'd be surprised if there isn't a ing s