Ripon Society—Ripon in the News: From CQ HOMELAND SECURITY

Ripon in the News:

From CQ HOMELAND SECURITY
Sept. 20, 2010 – 6:53 p.m.

Post-Election Might Be Only Chance to Streamline DHS Oversight

By Rob Margetta, CQ Staff

If Congress is going to fix its fragmented jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security, it will have a narrow window to do so after the November elections, no matter which party is left with a majority, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Monday. “If you don’t do it while they’re reorganizing, it’s not going to get done,” Ridge said, after a discussion on the state of U.S. homeland security hosted by the conservative Ripon Society.

Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., ranking member on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure, agreed that jurisdiction, which executive branch officials and lawmakers alike have bemoaned over the years, needs to be a priority when Congress begins its new session. “I believe the committee, this session of Congress, has not been as aggressive on jurisdiction as it should have been,” he said during the Ripon forum. “It’s a problem, and I hope in the next Congress that we’re going to rectify it.”

Later the same day, Homeland Security ranking Republican Peter T. King of New York promised action if the GOP takes the House in November. “Obviously, Homeland Security jurisdiction must be consolidated and refined, and Republican leadership will do that,” he said. Ridge and the two officials who followed him as head of DHS, Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano, have all echoed the same complaint about congressional jurisdiction — with dozens of committees and subcommittees claiming oversight authority, the department has to expend precious manpower resources on burdensome requests for reports and testimony. Additionally, the various panels outline sometimes conflicting priorities for the department, Ridge said.

“No secretary of Homeland Security and their team should be subjected to that kind of scattered oversight,” he said. “It’s not that they should be afraid of oversight. It’s that they need a more strategic partnership. Why not reduce the number of committees?”

Under both the Democratic and Republican majorities, Congress has already opted not to act on the issue on several occasions, starting when the department was formed in 2003. Since then, the lawmakers who have called for streamlining oversight have mostly been confined to DHS’ two main authorizing committees — those who stand the least chance of losing oversight turf.

At the outset of the 111th Congress, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., and his counterpart in the House, Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., called jurisdiction a debilitating problem for the department in need of an immediate fix. But leadership made no visible moves in response. In fact, over the past several years, DHS has bumped up its estimate of panels claiming jurisdiction, from around 85 to over 100. Ridge said that number needs to come down, and the weeks after the election are the time to do it.

The potential benefits go beyond freeing up manpower at the department, he said. Changing the oversight structure would create “a more productive relationship between the executive and legislative branches.”

Moving DHS Forward
Ridge also outlined a number of priorities for Congress that he said would improve U.S. homeland security, starting with funding the Coast Guard adequately. “It’s an outrage,” he said. “They are the most overworked, under-appreciated, overtaxed, underfunded organization.”

Despite earning the acclaim of lawmakers and security experts alike, the Coast Guard is persistently short on money, he said. At one point, he said, the agency had so little in helicopter procurement and maintenance money that its engine failure rate was 10 times what the Federal Aviation Administration permits for the commercial sector. “They rescued 30,000 people after Hurricane Katrina. You know how much more money they got? Zero,” Ridge said. “When it comes to writing the check, they don’t get close to what they need.”

He also called for members to push the Federal Communications Commission to create a dedicated public safety information network, a project he called long overdue. Giving response agencies the ability to transmit data quickly and reliably would not only be useful during a terrorist attack, he said, but mass-casualty accidents and pandemic disease outbreaks as well.

Ridge and Dent both said the government has to come up with an equation that balances adequate security with risk.

“You’re never going to eliminate the risk,” Ridge said. “You’ve got to manage the risk.” Dent said the federal government has made progress in securing airports with advanced screening equipment and refined procedures, but said the same approach would not work for ground transportation. Aviation-style security, where passengers are individually screened, simply won’t work at bus and train stations, which depend on allowing a large number of people quick access to mass transit, he said.

Rob Margetta can be reached at rmargetta@cq.com Source: CQ Homeland Security © 2010 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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