[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 24, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H5727-H5732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HOMELAND SECURITY TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2003
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 1416) to make technical corrections to the Homeland Security Act
of 2002, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 1416
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Homeland Security Technical
Corrections Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS RELATING TO CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE INFORMATION.
Section 212(3) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-296; 6 U.S.C. 131(3)) is amended by striking
``systems--'' and inserting ``systems insofar as such
information pertains to--''.
SEC. 3. VISA ISSUANCE.
Section 428(a) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-296; 6 U.S.C. 236(a)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``subsection,'' and inserting ``section,'';
and
(2) by striking ``office'' and inserting ``officer''.
SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF UNDER SECRETARY FOR EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE.
Section 502 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-296; 6 U.S.C. 312) is amended by striking ``shall
include--'' and inserting ``shall be responsible for--''.
SEC. 5. MILITARY ACTIVITIES OF THE COAST GUARD.
Section 876 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-296; 6 U.S.C. 456) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 876. MILITARY ACTIVITIES.
``Nothing in this Act confers on the Secretary any
authority over warfighting, the military defense of the
United States, or other military activities that are
authorized to be directed by the Secretary of Defense. This
Act shall not be construed to limit the existing authority of
the Secretary of Defense over warfighting, the military
defense of the United States, or other military activities,
including such activities of the Coast Guard when it is
operating as a service in the Navy under section 3 of title
14, United States Code.''.
SEC. 6. ANNUAL INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF INFORMATION SECURITY
PROGRAM AND PRACTICES OF AGENCIES.
Section 3535(b)(1) of title 44, United States Code, is
amended by inserting ``or any other law'' after ``the
Inspector General Act of 1978''.
SEC. 7. IMMIGRATION-RELATED POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE
SECRETARY AND THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
(a) In General.--Section 1102 of the Homeland Security Act
of 2002 (Public Law 107-296; 116 Stat. 2273) is amended--
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``as
amended by this Act, is further amended by--'' and inserting
``is amended--'';
(2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
``(1) by amending the section heading to read as follows:
```powers and duties of the secretary of homeland security and the
attorney general' '';
(3) by amending paragraph (2)(D) to read as follows:
``(D) by redesignating the paragraph (8) added by section
372(3) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996, and the paragraph (9) added by
section 373 of such Act, as paragraphs (10) and (11),
respectively; and''; and
(4) in the matter added by paragraph (3)--
(A) by striking ``the Immigration Reform, Accountability
and Security Enhancement Act of 2002.'' and inserting ``the
Homeland Security Act of 2002.''; and
(B) by striking ``this section'' and inserting ``this
subsection''.
(b) Conforming Amendments to Immigration and Nationality
Act.--
(1) Section 103.--Section 103 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1103) is amended--
(A) in subsection (a)--
(i) in paragraph (2)--
(I) by striking ``He'' and inserting ``The Secretary of
Homeland Security''; and
(II) by striking ``of the Service.'' and inserting ``of the
Department of Homeland Security relating to the powers,
functions, and duties conferred upon the Secretary by this
Act and all other laws relating to the immigration and
naturalization of aliens.'';
(ii) in paragraph (3)--
(I) by striking ``He'' and inserting ``The Secretary of
Homeland Security'';
(II) by striking ``he deems'' and inserting ``the Secretary
deems''; and
(III) by striking ``his authority'' and inserting ``the
Secretary's authority'';
(iii) in paragraph (4)--
(I) by striking ``He'' and inserting ``Except as otherwise
provided by law, the Secretary of Homeland Security'';
(II) by striking ``the Service or the Department of
Justice'' and inserting ``the Department of Homeland
Security''; and
(III) by striking ``employee of the Service.'' and
inserting ``employee of the Department.'';
(iv) in paragraph (5)--
(I) by striking ``He'' and inserting ``Except as otherwise
provided by law, the Secretary of Homeland Security'';
(II) by striking ``in his discretion,'' and inserting ``in
the Secretary's discretion,''; and
(III) by striking ``such number of employees of the Service
as to him shall appear necessary and proper.'' and inserting
``such number of employees of the Department of Homeland
Security as shall appear necessary and proper to the
Secretary.'';
(v) in paragraph (6)--
(I) by striking ``He'' and inserting ``The Secretary of
Homeland Security''; and
(II) by striking ``of the Service.'' and inserting ``of the
Department of Homeland Security.'';
(vi) in paragraph (7)--
(I) by striking ``He'' and inserting ``The Secretary of
Homeland Security'';
(II) by striking ``of the Service'' each place such term
appears and inserting ``of the Department of Homeland
Security'';
(III) by striking ``he may,'' and inserting ``the Secretary
of Homeland Security may,''; and
(IV) by striking ``in his judgment'' and inserting ``in the
Secretary's judgment'';
(vii) in paragraph (8), by striking ``Attorney General''
and inserting ``Secretary of Homeland Security'';
(viii) in paragraph (10) (as redesignated by section 1102
of the Homeland Security Act of 2002)--
(I) by striking ``Attorney General'' each place such term
appears and inserting ``Secretary of Homeland Security''; and
(II) by striking ``of the Service.'' and inserting ``of the
Department.''; and
(ix) in paragraph (11) (as so redesignated)--
(I) by striking ``Attorney General'' and inserting
``Secretary of Homeland Security''; and
(II) by striking ``by the Service'' each place such term
appears and inserting ``by the Department'';
(B) in subsection (b), by striking ``Attorney General''
each place such term appears and inserting ``Secretary of
Homeland Security'';
(C) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
``(c) The Secretary of Homeland Security may enter into
cooperative agreements with State and local law enforcement
agencies for the purpose of assisting in the enforcement of
the immigration laws.'';
(D) in subsection (d), by striking ``The Commissioner,''
and inserting ``The Secretary of Homeland Security,'';
(E) in subsection (e)--
(i) by striking ``The Commissioner'' and inserting ``The
Secretary of Homeland Security''; and
(ii) by striking ``district office of the Service'' and
inserting ``field office of the Department of Homeland
Security''; and
(F) in subsection (f)--
(i) by striking ``Attorney General'' and inserting
``Secretary of Homeland Security'';
(ii) by striking ``of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service'' and inserting ``of the Directorate of Border and
Transportation Security of the Department of Homeland
Security''; and
(iii) by striking ``the functions of the Service,'' and
inserting ``the functions of the Directorate,''.
(2) Section 287(g).--Section 287(g) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1357(g)) is amended by striking
``Attorney
[[Page H5728]]
General'' each place such term appears and inserting
``Secretary of Homeland Security''.
(c) Clerical Amendments.--
(1) Homeland security act.--The table of contents in
section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law
107-296; 116 Stat. 2135) is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 1103 the following:
``Sec. 1104. Effective date.''.
(2) Immigration and nationality act.--The table of contents
of the Immigration and Nationality Act is amended by amending
the item relating to section 103 to read as follows:
``Sec. 103. Powers and duties of the Secretary of Homeland Security and
the Attorney General.''.
(d) Construction.--The amendments made by this section
shall not be construed to repeal, or limit the applicability
of, section 456, 462(e), 1512(d), or 1517 of the Homeland
Security Act of 2002, or any other similar provision
pertaining to the treatment of references in law, with
respect to any provision of law that is not amended by this
section.
SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE OF MODIFICATIONS TO REORGANIZATION
PLAN.
Section 1502(d) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002
(Public Law 107-296; 6 U.S.C. 542(d)) is amended by striking
``subsection (d)'' each place it appears and inserting
``subsection (c)''.
SEC. 9. REPORT ON WAR RISK INSURANCE FOR AIR CARRIERS.
Section 1204 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (116
Stat. 2287) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through (C) as
paragraphs (1) through (3), respectively, and by moving the
text of such paragraphs 2 ems to the left;
(2) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) (as so
redesignated) by striking ``Secretary'' and inserting
``Secretary of Transportation''; and
(3) in paragraph (3) (as so redesignated) by striking
``Department'' and inserting ``Department of
Transportation''.
SEC. 10. AUTHORITY TO ARM FLIGHT DECK CREW WITH LESS-THAN-
LETHAL WEAPONS.
Section 1405(a) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (116
Stat. 2307) is amended by striking ``section 6 of this Act''
and inserting ``section 1406 of this Act''.
SEC. 11. REQUIREMENT TO SUBMIT REPORTS AND NOTIFICATIONS TO
SELECT COMMITTEE.
(a) Requirement.--The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-296) is amended by inserting after section 4 the
following:
``SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT TO SUBMIT REPORTS AND NOTIFICATIONS TO
SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY.
``In any case in which a report or notification is required
by this Act or an amendment made by this Act to be submitted
to the Congress or to a Committee of the Congress, such
report shall also be submitted to the Select Committee on
Homeland Security of the House of Representatives.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section
1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-
296) is amended by inserting after the item relating to
section 4 the following:
``Sec. 5. Requirement to submit reports and notifications to Select
Committee on Homeland Security.''.
SEC. 12. CLARIFICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENT CONCERNING
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS PRIVACY ACT EMERGENCY
DISCLOSURE EXCEPTION.
Section 225(d)(2) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002
(Public Law 107-296; 116 Stat. 2157) is amended by striking
``2702(b) of title 18, United States Code,'' and inserting
``2702(b)(7) of title 18, United States Code (as added by
paragraph (1)(D)),''.
SEC. 13. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect as if
included in the enactment of the Homeland Security Act of
2002 (Public Law 107-296).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox).
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Turner), the ranking minority member of the Select Committee on
Homeland Security, and the rest of the committee members for devoting
their time and energy to the important work of this committee. I rise
today in support of H.R. 1416, which amends the Homeland Security Act.
Mr. Speaker, the broad bipartisan support given to this bill
exemplifies the collaborative nature of our committee. This committee
is united in its mission to provide aggressive oversight of the
Department of Homeland Security and to ensure the full implementation
of the Homeland Security Act. When President Bush called on Congress to
create the Department of Homeland Security last year, the goal was to
create a more secure America. By putting one department in charge of
scores of agencies and programs, we can better protect our country, we
can protect our critical infrastructure, and, most importantly, we can
protect the American people.
Congress proved it was up to the challenge. In a display of
bipartisan cooperation, in only 5 months Congress delivered to the
President's desk for signature the 187-page Homeland Security Act of
2002. This law authorized the most comprehensive reorganization of the
Federal executive branch since the creation of the Department of
Defense in 1947. The act clearly laid out goals of the Department of
Homeland Security: The prevention of another terrorist attack, the
protection of our critical national infrastructure, and preparedness in
the event we cannot prevent attacks on our domestic territory.
Key to this is our ability to collect, analyze and use timely and
accurate intelligence information. This lies at the heart of the
primary mission of preventing another terrorist attack. What we do not
know empowers our enemies, but what we do know will help defeat them.
By properly understanding the threats that confront us, we can better
allocate our resources, and we can focus our security efforts where
they are most needed, where the risks and potential consequences of
attacks are greatest.
The Department of Homeland Security must analyze information quickly
and reliably so that it can martial its own resources as needed and,
more importantly, it must also transmit that information to those on
the front lines, our State and local law enforcement and first
responders, who protect us and our critical infrastructure.
The Homeland Security Committee has been overseeing the Department's
early efforts to achieve this critical intelligence capability mandated
by the Homeland Security Act and we will continue to do so. This
committee and the Department of Homeland Security are also working
together to ensure that a comprehensive security plan is in place to
make the best use of intelligence. Critical elements of this security
plan include a layered defense, effective border security, thorough
passenger and baggage screening at America's airports, and a rigorous
inspection process to keep would-be terrorists and their weapons out of
the country.
Our first responders must also have the best information about
pending threats as well as the training and the tools to respond to any
disasters if they were to occur. The Homeland Security Act laid out a
vision of a more secure America, which is now being realized through
the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security working in concert
with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, private
industry, charitable organizations, community centers, and private
citizens. Secretary Ridge and his staff are working diligently to
coordinate these efforts and to complete this mission, a mission that
is as difficult as it is important. I thank Secretary Ridge for his
leadership and for being willing to work very closely with the Homeland
Security Committee in the House during the act's implementation.
The legislation we are considering today is in itself an important
aspect of the act's implementation. Congress' desire to expedite the
creation of this important department meant that minor errors were made
and certain details were omitted from the Homeland Security Act. As a
result, my fellow Members and I felt that one of the first orders of
business of the Homeland Security Committee in the current Congress
should be to honor the original intentions of the drafters by making
certain corrections to the act so that it can be properly implemented.
Today's legislation successfully fills in the cracks created by the
speedy construction of the Homeland Security Act and strengthens the
legislation which is already helping the United States win the war on
terror.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. TURNER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1416, the Homeland
Security Technical Corrections Act, and I first want to thank the
chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), for
[[Page H5729]]
his leadership of our new Select Committee on Homeland Security.
The legislation before us is a product of the bipartisan cooperation
that we have on that committee. It has been a pleasure to work with the
chairman. I know that all of our members who serve on that important
select committee feel the same dedication that the chairman and I do to
accomplishing the task of protecting America and to do it in a way that
moves us forward in a more rapid and stronger way.
The select committee, of course, has been in business for just a few
months, and no business is more important than the work of the House
Select Committee on Homeland Security. We have quickly discovered that
when it comes to doing all we can to protect America, our needs are
indeed very great.
Mr. Speaker, we are, as we all know, involved in a great struggle:
The war against international terrorism. It is not a war we sought, it
is not a war we started, but it is a war that we must and we will
finish. Mr. Speaker, we must move faster in some very critical areas.
We must do a better job in determining how to meet the threat posed by
international terrorism.
The testimony before our committee from some high officials in the
Department of Homeland Security revealed to us that there are only 21
analysts matching intelligence on threats with our vulnerabilities and
then recommending protective action. This critical area of the
Department of Homeland Security, the responsibility which is housed
within the Office of Information Analysis, has been the subject of
scrutiny by our select committee, and both sides of the aisle have
expressed concern about the lack of full functioning of that particular
entity, which in many ways is the nerve center of the Department of
Homeland Security.
It is perhaps the most important new addition that this Congress
provided in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, to place within that
department the responsibility for gathering the threat information and
matching it against our vulnerabilities, and then using that
information to direct the entire activities of the 22 agencies that
were merged into that new department, and to further take that
information, of matching threat against vulnerability, and providing it
to our States and our local entities so that they will know how to
protect their communities against the threat of terrorism.
We also learned in our committee, during a hearing on Project
BioShield, that this very same Office of Information Analysis has to
date only one, only one person dedicated to responding to the
bioterrorist threat. Our committee, in a bipartisan hearing, shared our
mutual concern for the failure to get that particular activity within
that Office of Information Analysis functioning in a way that it must
function in order to carry out the purpose and intent of the Project
BioShield legislation that we will be considering on this floor in just
a few days.
{time} 1100
Mr. Speaker, I believe it is clear that all of us understand that we
must move faster to ensure that this critical function of this
Department is in place, up and running as soon as possible. It has
become very clear that we as a Nation need to make the same commitment
to the protection of our homeland as we made to securing victory in
Afghanistan and Iraq. This Congress made sure that our 220,000 troops
that fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom were supported by the best
equipment and training in the world; and the cost of that battle,
according to the appropriations made by this body, will approach $65
billion.
Today, to secure America from the threat of terrorism, the Coast
Guard has plans to review security for 4,400 port facilities and over
10,000 ships that enter our waters, and yet this Congress has yet to
make the commitment to make sure that the funds are there to get the
threat assessments done that are required to carry out that important
responsibility. We must move faster.
Today we have only one person on guard for every 16 miles on our
northern border. The PATRIOT Act called for the tripling of our forces
on our northern border to close the gaps on our northern frontier. The
resources have not yet been committed to deploy the 1,800 border
personnel needed to enhance our security. We must do better, and we
must move faster.
Today, we know that half of the firefighters' shifts across our
Nation that will be the first called upon to respond to a terrorist
attack lack the necessary communications equipment to deploy in the
field so as to be able to talk to one another and to the other agencies
that would be responding in the event of a terrorist attack. We must do
better, and we must move faster.
Mr. Speaker, we have many challenges ahead of us, but I am confident
that this legislation is but a first step in moving us forward as a
Nation to be sure that we do everything necessary to be sure that every
American can know that they will be safe and secure in their
communities.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Camp), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Borders and
Infrastructure.
Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1416, the Homeland
Security Technical Corrections Act of 2003. This bipartisan bill makes
grammatical and technical changes to the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
The Department of Homeland Security, the product of the Homeland
Security Act, has existed for a little more than 100 days. The Homeland
Security Act brought together a number of Federal agencies with
homeland security functions into one collaborative effort, joining
resources, information and missions to defend our Nation.
Protecting our Nation from attack requires strengthening our border
defenses. We must know who and what is passing through our country. The
American people deserve this level of security. Utilizing technology
advancements, we can monitor individuals and intelligently screen cargo
without delaying legitimate trade and travel. Cross-border commerce is
critical to the American economy. Trade with Canada and Mexico, our
country's top trading partners, is growing at a rapid pace with almost
$1.4 billion crossing the northern border every day; and with more than
$250 billion in trade per year with Mexico, our Nation cannot lose
sight of the vital importance of the uninterrupted flow of trade as new
policies for border security are pursued. Security and commerce are not
mutually exclusive goals.
Since the Department of Homeland Security was officially created,
coordination between border security agencies has definitely improved.
Twenty-four hours a day, American citizens are patrolling our borders,
searching cargo, and checking individual travelers. This is not new
since September 11, 2001; however, we are now acutely aware of the
threat to our Nation and people and have stepped up our response by
uniting our security functions. As the new Department continues
integrating and organizing, there are certain areas that the Federal
Government needs to address.
As chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Infrastructure of the
Select Committee on Homeland Security, I look forward to working with
the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the Department of Homeland
Security to address security along our Nation's borders, over 300 ports
of entry, and to better protect our critical infrastructure. As
Congress continues to assist the new Department in meeting obligations
in the act, I would like to thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Cox) for bringing this technical corrections bill to the floor and for
his leadership, and reiterate my support for H.R. 1416.
Mr. TURNER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez), who is the ranking
member of the Subcommittee on Borders and Critical Infrastructure.
Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk
about H.R. 1416, the Homeland Security Technical Corrections Act. I
would like to commend our chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Cox), for his leadership and stewardship, and also, of course, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner) for the stewardship that they have on
this new Select Committee on Homeland Security and for their efforts to
push this bill and to get it included on the suspension calendar.
[[Page H5730]]
H.R. 1416 is a historic bill because it is the first bill that our
committee, the Select Committee on Homeland Security, will do. I trust
that it is going to be the first of many bills that this committee will
work on in a very bipartisan manner as we continue to tackle the many
difficult issues surrounding homeland security.
Over the last month, members of our committee worked very diligently
to look at the oversight function through a number of informative
hearings and briefings. Unfortunately, however, the message is all too
often the same: the Department of Homeland Security is not moving fast
enough to fill the gaps that exist in so many areas of homeland
security.
H.R. 1416 comes to the floor on the heels of a select committee
delegation trip and field hearing in Southern California just this past
weekend. The hearing focus was on one specific aspect of homeland
security, port security. Our ports are one of the most vulnerable
threat risks in our Nation, and we need to provide the means and
resources for adequate security.
Every year, more than 4 million cargo containers accounting for 35
percent of all the U.S. international trade passes through the ports of
Los Angeles and Long Beach. Over the weekend we saw for ourselves just
how important this port is to economic and trade commerce issues for
the United States and the global economy. And the message that we
received from Southern California witnesses involved in port security
was familiar to all of us because we had heard it from other witnesses
in other areas of homeland security: they are understaffed, they are
underequipped, and they are underfunded.
Members of the Coast Guard told us they have not received the funding
that they need for basic security upgrades. The United States Customs
Inspector Program is understaffed, and employees that are there do not
have the equipment that they need to adequately secure and check the
containers, and resources needed are just the beginning of the problem
that we saw at our ports. We heard from the sheriffs from both Los
Angeles and Orange counties who are in desperate need of funding,
especially Orange County, because unlike Los Angeles, we are not
considered a high threat urban area and because funding of one of our
most costly expenditures, personnel costs, simply does not exist at
this point. They told us they have not seen any of the money that they
were promised to cover personnel and other costs. The funds simply are
not getting through the pipeline down to the local level.
In my community, the city of Anaheim where Disneyland is located, our
police department spends over $20,000 every day that we go from yellow
to orange alert just on our police department. If we go to red alert,
it is double that, almost $40,000 additional money every day; and yet
we have not helped at the Federal level to get that money down to them.
It does not include equipment that they need, supplies, the fire
department personnel or personnel at the emergency operations center,
and then there are other costs to consider also.
For instance, the Joint Terrorism Task Force that has been set up and
is very effective in sharing intelligence and information between FBI
and CIA and the local law enforcement agencies, the State of
California, they want to participate in that and they do, but at their
own costs. The city of Anaheim, at its own cost; the city of Santa Ana,
at their own cost; the County of Orange, at their own cost.
Our first responders do not have the necessary resources to allow
them to dedicate a few of their personnel to these effective anti-
terrorism programs. This is a striking example of good solutions that
exist where there are no resources to adequately implement them. The
Department of Homeland Security has done a decent job in outlining what
its mission is. However, we need to move quickly and forcefully to
achieve that mission. The Department has a number of programs in place
to improve homeland security. But so far the first responders, the
people right at street level, handling information, trying to
understand what is happening, trying to stop things from happening, and
God forbid having to react to what happens, they have not seen the
information they need nor the resources they need; and I hope that this
is not just the first piece of legislation that our committee does, but
that we continue our oversight function and our program function to get
this done.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Washington (Ms. Dunn), the vice chairman of the Select Committee on
Homeland Security.
Ms. DUNN. Mr. Speaker, every morning 180,000 of our fellow citizens
go to work with one main thing on their mind, to prepare, to prevent
and to respond to a potential terrorist attack in the United States.
These people work for one of the 22 agencies that have been brought
together under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland security has new meaning since September 11. We can no
longer assume that we will be protected from terrorist acts. We now
live in a world where we must prepare for possible attacks. For this
reason, I was proud to support the President's request for the creation
of a Department of Homeland Security that is solely focused, with a
very laser-like focus, on the prevention and protection from terrorist
attacks in this country.
Since its inception on January 24, 2003, the Department of Homeland
Security has made significant strides in protecting the country from
terrorist attacks. Let me give a few examples. In March 2003, the
Department opened its door and then it launched Operation Liberty
Shield, the first comprehensive national plan to increase protections
of American citizens and national infrastructure. Homeland security
funding has increased over 1,000 percent from fiscal year 2001 to
fiscal year 2004, and this has allowed States and localities to
purchase new technologies and tools for first responders.
Recently the Department ran TOPOFF II, a simulated exercise in
Seattle and Chicago using large-scale weapons of mass destruction.
Exercises like this are very important to provide first responders the
experience needed to know when the decisions are going to be made, who
is going to make these decisions, and how to handle our resources.
While the Department of Homeland Security has had great success over
the last 5 months, there are still many issues to be resolved. The
House of Representatives took the appropriate steps at the beginning of
the 108th Congress in establishing a Select Committee on Homeland
Security to help Secretary Ridge in guiding and overseeing the newly
created Department. As with all Federal agencies, it is very important
to hold this large Department accountable to the people we represent.
The Select Committee on Homeland Security will act as the people's
voice to focus attention toward our security. It will listen to the
first responders, it will find a better way to get the millions of
dollars that have already been allocated and should have been already
received by first responders, such as $45 million in grants allocated
to the State of California, but not received by their first responders.
We need to help solve this problem.
It will be a focal point between Congress and the administration to
coordinate the necessary resources to best defend our Nation. I look
forward to continuing to work with the gentleman from California (Mr.
Cox) and other members of our committee to develop legislation and
provide oversight that will aid the Department of Homeland Security in
their mission to prepare, prevent, and respond to a terrorist attack to
protect our constituents all over the country.
Mr. TURNER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews), a member of the Select Committee on
Homeland Security.
(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
{time} 1115
Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for yielding
me this time. I would like to congratulate and thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Turner) for
their leadership in bringing the first of what I hope is a series of
bipartisan bills to the floor that will improve our country's homeland
security. There is much
[[Page H5731]]
work to be done. In each area that comprises homeland security, the
work of this committee thus far has uncovered significant weaknesses
and deficiencies that our country must resolve.
Homeland security first is the matter of knowing who is outside the
fence of our home who is trying to do us harm, and that principally is
a matter of diplomacy and intelligence. I frankly was dismayed to hear
in recent weeks the testimony about the chaotic and dysfunctional
relationship between the Department of Homeland Security and the
various intelligence agencies. You cannot stop someone from attacking
America if you do not know that they are trying to do it. This is an
urgent problem that needs our attention.
The second aspect of homeland security is building the highest and
strongest wall that we can build around our country. There is
significant progress that has been made here. I especially commend the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry), chairman of the Subcommittee on
Cybersecurity, and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), who I
think have very correctly focused on the risk to the country in the
cybersecurity area.
But there are many more areas that need to be pursued. I would echo
what the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez) said a few
minutes ago. The front line soldiers in making that wall as high and
strong as possible are America's first responders, our police, our
fire, our emergency services personnel. Later today, the House will
consider a homeland security appropriations bill that does more for
those first responders than has ever been done before in the history of
the Federal Government. It is not nearly enough. It is not happening
nearly soon enough. I know there will be some discussion under the
appropriations bill about the wisdom of trading off over $2 trillion
worth of tax cuts for more urgent and necessary help for these first
responders. I think we should have chosen to help the first responders,
and I think that is an area of debate that should be explored as the
committee goes forward.
The third area of homeland security is the question of chain of
command and allocation of responsibility when we have a terrorist
attack that is imminent or ongoing. There is chaos and dysfunction in
this area as well. Because everyone is in charge of an ongoing attack,
no one is in charge of defending against an ongoing attack. The Select
Committee on Homeland Security, working together with the Committee on
Armed Services and other relevant committees, needs to think about who
would be in charge in America this morning if, God forbid, our
President received word that a terrorist attack was happening right
now, who reports to whom, who is in charge of whom, and who is
responsible for what. This is an area that is unexplored and
dysfunctional at the present time.
Finally, homeland security is a matter of response. It is a matter of
the immediate aftermath of an attack. One of the most impressive things
about September 11 was how the first responders and other responders
reacted to the tragedies in New York and in Virginia and Pennsylvania,
because in many ways they were making it up as they went along. They
did not have the contingency plans, they did not have the equipment,
they did not have the training. They did a heroic and spectacular job.
One of the least impressive things about our country's preparations in
homeland security is how still relatively unprepared we are for that
immediate aftermath. Questions about taxing the public health system,
questions about evacuation plans, questions of coordination and joint
services agreements among municipalities, counties and States still
need to be worked out.
This is a bipartisan mission of national urgency. I am encouraged
that the committee has worked together on this technical corrections
bill. I fully support it. But if this is all we do and if this is as
far as we go, then the deficiencies that I pointed out this morning
will come back to haunt us. That benefits no one; that jeopardizes
everyone. I hope that we will work together in the months and years to
come to strengthen ourselves so we never again live another nightmare
like this country did on the 11th of September, 2001.
Mr. TURNER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Washington (Mr. Dicks).
Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding
me this time. I want to commend the chairman and Mr. Turner for the
work that has gone on on this particular legislation; and I want to
rise, too, to raise my concerns about this whole homeland security
effort. I have had several meetings with Tim Lowenberg, the head of the
National Guard in Washington State and Governor Locke's coordinator for
homeland security. We have discussed on two or three occasions our
mutual concerns about the resources getting back to those first
responders in the State of Washington. In fact, I have contacted my
fire department and police department in Tacoma and in Bremerton, the
two biggest cities in my district. I have convened a meeting of the
officials, and very little of the money that Congress has authorized
and appropriated has actually gotten back to those first responders. I
think this is something we have got to get straightened out. The
Congress has to get this straightened out. I also have been out to
Northern Command. I regret that I could not be with the chairman on
their recent trip twice now to talk to General Eberhart about the role
that the military of the United States is going to play.
As strange as it may seem, for many, many years we did not have a
CINC that was in charge of protecting the United States. We took it for
granted that somehow we were secure from an attack. That is one thing
that 9-11 certainly did change. We now recognize the vulnerability of
our country and the vulnerability of our infrastructure. I agree with
the comments that I have heard here this morning. We need to continue
to do more. We have got to get the private sector to protect its
critical assets. We have got to work with them to make certain that
they are doing it. The chemical industries, our nuclear reactors, our
energy plants, the transmission lines for our power grids and
facilities, all of these things have to have a plan for protection. The
States have to have, I believe, an individual plan for their
protection. So there is a lot of work that has to be done. I want to
make the same plea.
I worked with the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) on a select
committee on transfer of technology to China. I have great confidence
in his leadership and in his willingness to take on a tough issue. But
we have to have the courage in this body, this institution, to tell the
administration when they are doing a good job, but also tell them when
they are not doing enough. I worry that when you have the Council on
Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution taking independent
looks at what has happened in the last 2 years since 9-11 and the
conclusion is that not much has really changed, then we in this body
have a responsibility to make certain that the job, in fact, is getting
done. Let us continue to work on a bipartisan basis, but let us make
sure the job is getting done.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Thornberry), the chairman of the select committee's Subcommittee
on Cybersecurity, Science, and Research and Development.
Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman yielding me
this time, and I rise in support of this technical corrections bill. I
also want to acknowledge that there is a lot of work left to be done.
We will not make our country as secure as it needs to be in just a few
short weeks, months or possibly even years. It is tempting for us in
the Congress to think that if we can just pass a bill or we can spend
more money, then we will have solved the problem. That is probably not
true with most problems. It is particularly not true here. In fact, I
have said that if we spend the whole Federal budget on something called
homeland security, we will still not have eliminated the terrorist
threat to the United States.
Instead, we have to do it the harder way. We have to really
understand the problems, we have to set priorities, and we have to have
the sense of urgency that is required coupled with a thoughtfulness
that indicates that we are really doing the right thing. There is a
tension there that I think a lot of us on both sides of the aisle feel.
[[Page H5732]]
In our Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science, and Research and
Development, we are focusing partly on technologies, so that we can
identify technologies that have been developed and encourage them to be
fielded quickly so that we can be safer quickly. And then in addition,
we can research those areas where technologies have not yet been
developed where there is a need. We will focus on the cyber threat. We
are having a hearing, for example, this week to try to understand the
nature of the threat, also our vulnerabilities and the appropriate role
of the Federal Government. We are interested in the information
technology of the Department itself, because whether we are focused on
the borders or in many other aspects of guarding our homeland, having
good information technology, where the databases communicate with each
other, that are user friendly but also secure is a key part of the
challenge that faces this Department.
Mr. Speaker, to be successful there has to be partnerships involved,
partnerships across the aisle, partnerships with the administration,
partnerships with the private sector. I look forward to working with
all my colleagues to develop those partnerships and to be successful.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona
(Mr. Shadegg), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness and Response.
Mr. SHADEGG. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I rise in strong support of H.R. 1416, the Homeland Security
Technical Corrections Act. Today's bill represents our committee's
first adjustment of the Homeland Security Act. As we have been
examining some of the issues pertinent to homeland security, it will be
necessary to make other changes to the act in order to provide clearer
counsel to the Department as it undertakes its massive new
responsibilities. For example, on my Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness and Response, we have discovered that while the
Department's main mission is to prevent terrorist attacks against the
United States, the law fails to rest the specific responsibility for
preventing such attacks with any one of the four directorates; and
therefore it is unclear which of those directorates is in charge of
this most critical mission. Other examples of how and where fine tuning
of the statute is needed will arise as we do our work, and we will act
to improve the law.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Homeland Security became a reality
just in March. It represents the largest reorganization of the Federal
Government since World War II. This is truly a herculean task, but the
Department has taken some important steps to assist our Nation's
readiness for emergencies. $566 million has been made available to the
States and the cities from the fiscal year 2003 budget to assist first
responders in the form of funding for equipment, training, planning and
exercises. $750 million has been made available for firefighter
assistance grants from the fiscal year 2003 budget to help rural, urban
and suburban fire departments better train, prepare and equip
themselves. On April 30, $1.5 billion was made available to States and
localities from the fiscal year 2003 supplemental budget to help State
and local law enforcement personnel pay for equipment, training and
exercises and to offset the costs associated with enhanced security
measures deployed during heightened periods of threat. On May 14, $700
million was allocated from the fiscal year 2003 supplemental budget as
part of the urban area security initiative for 30 cities and their
contiguous counties and mutual aid partners to enhance the security of
urban areas with high-density populations.
I rise in strong support of this legislation. I thank the chairman
for bringing it forward. I look forward to working to make our Nation
more secure.
Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nevada
(Mr. Gibbons), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and
Counterterrorism.
(Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for
yielding me this time. I rise in support of H.R. 1416, the technical
corrections bill for the Homeland Security Act. Mr. Speaker, following
the events of September 11, 2001, our Nation began the most significant
reorganization of the Federal Government since 1947, all in an effort
to better protect America from terrorist attacks. The Department of
Homeland Security was founded in an effort to create a centralized
authority capable of streamlining and harmonizing our country's
domestic security.
One of the clearest lessons learned from the tragic events of
September 11 was the need for our intelligence and security agencies to
share information and unify their efforts to the most feasible extent
possible. Tasked with meeting this challenge is the Department of
Homeland Security's directorate of information analysis and
infrastructure protection, commonly known as the IAIP. H.R. 1416 will
help the directorate achieve the goal of information-sharing.
The Homeland Security Act established the IAIP as a critical
component in providing comprehensive threat analysis and management
capacity to our Nation and will serve as the primary focal point for
intelligence-sharing and analysis related to domestic security.
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