[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 537 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 537

 Recognizing the exemplary contributions of the Gilmore Commission to 
  the homeland security of the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2004

 Mr. Weldon of Pennsylvania submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and 
in addition to the Committees on Armed Services and the Judiciary, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the exemplary contributions of the Gilmore Commission to 
  the homeland security of the United States, and for other purposes.

Whereas on October 17, 1998, Congress provided for the establishment of the 
        Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism 
        Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction in section 1405 of the Strom 
        Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999;
Whereas the 18-member panel, chaired by the former Governor of the Commonwealth 
        of Virginia, James S. Gilmore III, also known as the ``Gilmore 
        Commission'', was the only comprehensive means to address the basic 
        level of preparedness and response to a terrorist attack within the 
        United States prior to September 11, 2001;
Whereas the Gilmore Commission was the first annual advisory panel to address 
        homeland security preparedness using experts in the fields of first 
        response, intelligence, national defense, public health, and emergency 
        management at the Federal, State, and local levels;
Whereas Ray Downey, Deputy Chief and Commander of Special Operations for the New 
        York City Fire Department and a member of the Gilmore Commission, the 
        most decorated firefighter in the New York City Fire Department, 
        responded to emergencies in Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and other cities 
        outside his jurisdiction, was decorated 21 times for valor, brought 
        incredible insight into the basic needs of first responders, including 
        the lack of interoperable communications, and, on September 11, 2001, 
        perished in the collapse of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 
        New York City;
Whereas in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the 
        Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the 
        Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and supported by 
        the RAND Corporation, the Gilmore Commission assessed Federal agency 
        efforts to enhance domestic preparedness for incidents involving weapons 
        of mass destruction; evaluated the progress of Federal training programs 
        for local emergency response; assessed deficiencies in programs for 
        response to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, including a 
        review of unfunded communications, equipment, and planning requirements 
        and the needs of maritime regions; recommended strategies for ensuring 
        effective coordination with respect to Federal agency and local response 
        capabilities to weapons of mass destruction incidents; and assessed the 
        roles of State and local governments in funding effective local response 
        capabilities;
Whereas the Gilmore Commission proposed 144 recommendations in its first 4 
        reports to the President and Congress, and 125 of those recommendations 
        were adopted by Congress and various government agencies, including the 
        establishment of a framework for national security; the basic structure 
        of the Department of Homeland Security; the establishment of 
        congressional committees dedicated to the oversight of homeland 
        security; increased sharing of intelligence and information among 
        Federal, State, and local governments; the establishment of U.S. 
        Northern Command, the Department of Defense's unified command for 
        homeland defense; an emphasis on the use of non-governmental 
        organizations; the creation of a Terrorist Threat Integration Center to 
        assess and pool the resources of various classified and nonclassified 
        intelligence sources; increased resources for State and local 
        governments to equip, train, and employ responders to terrorist threats; 
        increased resources for the United States Coast Guard; increased 
        resources for and improved coordination of homeland security research, 
        development, testing, and evaluation; increased attention on security 
        issues for cargo on commercial airlines and maritime and general 
        transportation infrastructure; increased resources for public health 
        systems; improvements in definitions and standards; and a consolidation 
        of all Federal emergency plans into a single national plan; and
Whereas the Gilmore Commission recently published its 5th and final annual 
        report, titled ``Forging America's New Normalcy: Securing Our Homeland, 
        Protecting Our Liberty'', and officially disbanded on February 17, 2004: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the exemplary accomplishments and 
        contributions of the Gilmore Commission to improvements to the 
        homeland security of the United States;
            (2) urges Congress--
                    (A) to implement the remaining recommendations by 
                the Gilmore Commission, including the 20 additional 
                recommendations made in its 5th annual report, 
                published in December 2003;
                    (B) to establish an advisory panel to report to the 
                President and Congress on the adequacy of State, local, 
                and private sector entities to respond to terrorist, 
                environmental, and accidental catastrophes and the 
                coordination of the response of these entities with 
                that of Federal agencies; and
                    (C) to establish an advisory panel to report to the 
                President and Congress on deficiencies in protection of 
                the Nation's critical infrastructures and strategies to 
                protect those infrastructures; and
            (3) urges the President to establish an independent, 
        bipartisan oversight board to provide counsel on the effects on 
        civil liberties of homeland security efforts.
                                 <all>