http://www.heritage.org/Research/HomelandDefense/wm587.cfm
Homework: Congress Needs To Return with a Better Plan to Reform Homeland
Security Oversight
by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.
WebMemo #587
October 14, 2004 |
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Congress's failure to consolidate oversight of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) is the single greatest obstacle to creating an efficient and
effective Department. Whether this goal will be achieved in either chamber
of Congress is in serious question. Congress must act and reform the rules
for the 109th Congress to establish permanent oversight committees in both
chambers.
When calls came to create a DHS, respected congressional and security policy
experts of virtually every political persuasion (including the Heritage
Foundation; see Backgrounder No. 1612, "The New Congress Must Reform Its
Committee Structure to Meet Homeland Security Needs") agreed that an
essential step would be to reform Congress's committee system and establish
dedicated oversight of the Department, akin to the authority the House and
Senate Armed Services committees hold over the Department of Defense. But
committee chairs have been unwilling to relinquish much of their
jurisdiction over the 22 agencies and activities transferred to DHS and so
have blocked reform.
Congress's inability to address its homeland security responsibilities was
conspicuously noted in the 9/11 Commission's final report. Among the
Commission's priorities for enhancing the nation's capacity to protect
itself against terrorist threats was a pointed recommendation that both the
House and Senate must establish single committees with complete oversight
responsibility over all matters pertaining to DHS.
The Senate's response to the 9/11 Commission's recommendation (S. Res.
445)falls well short of this mark. A committee appointed to examine the
issue recommended renaming the Government Affairs Committee as the "Homeland
Security and Government Affairs Committee" and assigning it jurisdiction
over all DHS operations except for the Coast Guard and the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA). This makes little sense. The range of the
Committee's responsibilities is simply too broad to permit it to effectively
oversee one of the nation's most critical national security priorities.
Additionally, leaving out TSA and the Coast Guard means that two of the
Department's most important agencies, along with a significant portion of
the Department's resources and budget, will be outside the Committee's
purview. This solution is a product of political compromise. It is not a
good faith effort to provide badly needed reform of the congressional
committee system or address the issues raised by the 9/11 Commission.
In contrast, the House Select Homeland Security Committee has issued a
thoughtful report to House leadership that recommends establishing a
permanent oversight committee with clear authority over all of DHS's
homeland security operations. (See WebMemo No. 579, "Lack of Congressional
Reform Leaves America Less Safe") The House's omnibus 9/11 Commission reform
bill (HR.10) calls for the Committee on Rules to "act on the recommendations
provided by the Select Committee on Homeland security and other Committees
of existing jurisdiction" (Sec. 5027).
The House should adopt the recommendation of the Select Committee. And the
Senate should adopt a parallel structure in its committee organization.
Anything less would leave America less safe than it could be.
James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow in Defense and Homeland
Security in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International
Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
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