part of the frame work, is my understanding, that that plans and intelligences of foreign leaders would be important for the united states to know. >> that's a hearty paren yell. as long as i've been in the intelligence business, 50 years, leadership intentions, in whatever form expressed, it kind of a basic tenant of what we are to collect and amize. >> why is that important for policymakers to know what the intention of foreign leaders might and might not be? >> well, for one, to determine if what their -- from the intelligence perspective if what they say jells with what's going on. it's invaluable to us to know where countries are coming from, what their policies are, how that would impact us across a whole range of issues. it is not just leaders themselveses. it's what goes on around them and policies they convey to their governments. >> and it's certainly, in my time since being in this business as an fbi agent and since 2004 on this committee, i always found the best way to determine a foreign leaders' intentions is to somehow either get close to a foreign leader or actually get communications of the foreign leaders, would that be accurate? >> yes