[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 24, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CANINE DETECTION TEAM IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 24, 2007

  Mr. CARNEY. Madam Speaker, some of the nation's most dedicated 
citizens stand at the ready each and every day, working to detect and 
prevent the next terrorist attack on our soil. They are vital to our 
security and are to be commended. Often, they fulfill this critical 
homeland security work with significant help from what we have come to 
call ``man's best friend.'' Canines trained to detect explosives and 
other dangerous materials regularly roam our nation's airports, 
subways, and ports, anywhere else that they are needed to deter, 
prevent, detect and respond to terrorist threats. U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection, the United States Secret Service, the Coast Guard, 
and the Federal Protective Service regularly use canine detection teams 
to secure National Special Security Events and to protect Federal 
buildings and their occupants.
  As a consequence of September 11, demand for trained explosive 
detection dogs has increased dramatically. Today, there simply are not 
enough trained dogs to meet the demand. There also are no national 
standards to certify a dog as a capable bomb-sniffing dog or drug-
sniffing dog. In the absence of national training and certification 
standards, there have been a number of cases of fraudulent operations 
and the use of inadequatelytrained canines and canine handlers. In one 
documented case, a Virginia man, Russell Lee Ebersole, was hired to 
protect several government buildings, including the Federal Reserve 
Board. In multiple tests his dogs failed to detect 50 pounds of 
dynamite, 50 pounds of TNT, or 15 pounds of C-4 in the agency's parking 
facilities.
  The ``Canine Detection Team Improvement Act of 2007,'' which Rep. 
Mike Rogers of Alabama is introducing today and on which I am the 
Democratic original cosponsor, will make the United States more secure 
by addressing the shortage of trained canine detection teams and 
establishing standards for canine detection teams and an accreditation 
process to assure Federal, State, local and tribal authorities that the 
dog they look rely on to help defend the homeland can get the job done.
  Specifically, the bill directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to 
coordinate all training programs within the Department, including 
research and development of new canine training methods. The bill also 
directs the Secretary to consult on the use of canines with other 
Federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, and private 
training facilities in order to increase the number oftrained canines 
available to Federal, State, and local law enforcement. By coordinating 
all programs within the Department and working with outside resources, 
section 2001 empowers the Secretary to build upon the synergy of 
multiple resources to enhance dog training programs.
  Section 2002 of the bill addresses canine procurement. It directs the 
Secretary to make it a priority to increase domestically bred canines 
used by the Department, and includes a provision encouraging the use of 
universities and private and non-profit organizations to accomplish 
this effort. This bill's section also directs the Secretary to consult 
with other public and private entities to not only encourage the use of 
domestic bred canines, but also to work with them to consolidate canine 
procurement wherever possible in the hopes to reduce the cost of 
purchasing canines across the Federal Government. Section 2003 of the 
bill is a ``Domestic Canine Breeding Grant Program'' for further 
encouragement of the development and growth of canine breeds best 
suited for detection training purposes.

  However, perhaps the most significant accomplishment of this law is 
the establishment of an accreditation board, which will ensure proper 
certification standards. The board will consist of experts in the field 
of canine training and explosives detection from Federal and State 
agencies, universities, other research institutions, and the private 
sector. It is modeled after the executive board of the Scientific 
Working Group on Dog and Orthogonal Detectors, or SWGDOG as it is 
popularly known. This group has already done a tremendous job in 
bringing together the major stakeholders in canine detection and I 
applaud them for their work on this issue. This law will build upon the 
success of SWGDOG in order to ensure the proper standards for voluntary 
certification are applied and maintained. The board will maintain a 
public list of accredited entities upon which other agencies, Federal, 
State, and local can rely for qualified canines. The aim of this board 
is to reduce misrepresentative, fraudulent or otherwise improper 
certification of dogs and their training organizations, but ultimately 
the board will ensure public safety and the safety of law enforcement.
  Before closing, I want to personally thank Mike Rogers from Alabama. 
Under his leadership in the previous Congressional session, the 
Committee on Homeland Security began to address this issue. He held a 
hearing in the previous Congress entitled ``Sniffing Out Terrorism: The 
Use of Dogs in Homeland Security.'' Many of the findings from that 
hearing were a source of guidance in writing this legislation and I 
thank him for his stewardship on this issue. I urge my colleagues in 
the House of Representatives to join me in passing this very critical 
legislation.

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