[House Hearing, 108 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE HOMELAND SECURITY TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2003
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SELECT COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RULES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
H.R. 1416
__________
MARCH 28, 2003
__________
Serial No. 108-2
__________
Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Homeland Security
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/
house
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SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
Christopher Cox, California, Chairman
Jennifer Dunn, Washington Jim Turner, Texas, Ranking Member
C.W. Bill Young, Florida Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi
Don Young, Alaska Loretta Sanchez, California
F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Edward J. Markey, Massachusetts
Wisconsin Norman D. Dicks, Washington
W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, Louisiana Barney Frank, Massachusetts
David Dreier, California Jane Harman, California
Duncan Hunter, California Benjamin L. Cardin, Maryland
Harold Rogers, Kentucky Louise McIntosh Slaughter, New
Sherwood Boehlert, New York York
Lamar S. Smith, Texas Peter A. DeFazio, Oregon
Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Nita M. Lowey, New York
Christopher Shays, Connecticut Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey
Porter J. Goss, Florida Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of
Dave Camp, Michigan Columbia
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida Zoe Lofgren, California
Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Karen McCarthy, Missouri
Ernest J. Istook, Jr., Oklahoma Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas
Peter T. King, New York Bill Pascrell, Jr., New Jersey
John Linder, Georgia Donna M. Christensen, U.S. Virgin
John B. Shadegg, Arizona Islands
Mark E. Souder, Indiana Bob Etheridge, North Carolina
Mac Thornberry, Texas Charles Gonzalez, Texas
Jim Gibbons, Nevada Ken Lucas, Kentucky
Kay Granger, Texas James R. Langevin, Rhode Island
Pete Sessions, Texas Kendrick B. Meek, Florida
John E. Sweeney, New York
John Gannon, Chief of Staff
Uttam Dhillon, Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director
Steven Cash, Democrat Staff Director
Michael S. Twinchek, Chief Clerk
(ii)
?
CONTENTS
----------
MEMBERS STATEMENTS
The Honorable Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Florida, and Chairman of the Subcommittee
on Rules..................................................... 4
The Honorable Christopher Cox, a Representative in Congress
From the State of California, and Chairman................... 1
The Honorable Donna M. Christensen, a Representative in
Congress From the U.S. Virgin Islands........................ 4
The Honorable Jennifer Dunn, a Representative in Congress From
the State of Washington...................................... 5
The Honorable Bob Etheridge, a Representative in Congress From
the State of North Carolina.................................. 5
The Honorable Barney Frank, a Representative in Congress From
the State of Massachusetts................................... 5
The Honorable Jane Harman, a Representative in Congress From
the State of California...................................... 3
The Honorable Sheila Jackson-Lee, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Texas...................................... 6
The Honorable Louise McIntosh Slaughter, a Representative in
Congress From the State of New York.......................... 4
The Honorable Jim Turner, a Representative in Congress From the
State of Texas, and Ranking Member........................... 9
Smith.......................................................... 2
WITNESS
Michael Dorsey, Director of Administration, Department of
Homeland Security............................................ 7
(III)
THE HOMELAND SECURITY TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2003
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FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 2003
House of Representatives,
Select Committee on Homeland Security,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 8:30 a.m., in
room 345, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Christopher Cox
(Chairman) presiding.
Members present: Representatives Cox, Dunn, Diaz-Balart,
Istook, Linder, Shadegg, Thornberry, Turner, Frank, Harman,
Slaughter, Andrews, Pascrell, Christensen, Etheridge, Gonzalez,
Lucas, Langevin, and Meek.
Chairman Cox. This legislative hearing of the Select
Committee on Homeland Security will come to order.
The committee is meeting today to hear testimony on H.R.
1416, making technical corrections to the Homeland Security
Act. This should be a relatively brief hearing.
Chairman Cox. Under committee rule 3, members who are now
present can make opening statements of 5 minutes. I recognize
myself for 5 minutes, although I intend to make a much more
brief opening statement.
I would like to welcome the members who are here
punctually. We are rewarding you by beginning on time.
Thank you, Mr. Dorsey, for being here, for agreeing to
appear before the committee to testify.
Our Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and Response
yesterday held a joint hearing with the Energy and Commerce's
Subcommittee on Health, but this is the first legislative
hearing of the full Committee on Homeland Security. The bill we
are hearing testimony on will likely be the first legislation
passed out of this new committee.
It was just a few months ago that the Homeland Security Act
created the Department of Homeland Security. One of the
principal reasons Congress created this Select Committee on
Homeland Security was to oversee implementation of the new act
and, of course, the creation of the new Department. H.R. 1416
is the first important step in this process.
Whenever a major bill is passed, there are errors and
oversights that can negatively impact the bill and its
administration and hamper or delay proper implementation of the
law. This is especially the case with the Homeland Security Act
which, due to the urgent threat against our Nation, was drafted
under intense time pressure. H.R. 1416 is designed to correct
the smallest and most technical and most obvious of these
errors.
The changes made are not controversial in any way. Mr.
Dorsey is here with us today simply to walk us through these
fixes. The process of fine tuning the Homeland Security Act
will be ongoing throughout the 108th Congress. In the future we
will be making more substantial changes to make the new
Department as effective as possible, but that process begins
here today.
The Chair now recognizes Mr. Turner, the ranking Democratic
member, for any statement he may have.
Mr. Turner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is good to be here
this morning at this second meeting of our select committee.
I was pleased, as you were, Mr. Chairman, with the joint
subcommittee hearings that we had yesterday with the Energy and
Commerce Committee. I think it is a very important and timely
subject that was discussed, Project BioShield, and I think it
was clear from the hearing that there are questions that need
to be answered. We know we need to move with dispatch on that
very important issue. So I hope we will have an opportunity as
the committee to look at the various options that should be
examined on the best way to produce the vaccines and the
medicines necessary to face the very serious threat of
bioterrorism. Yesterday's hearing was a good one and a good
first step in that effort.
Also, I am pleased that we have started with a piece of
legislation that is constructed in the way I think the chairman
pledged to us it would be. It is a purely technical corrections
bill, and I would anticipate that we could move this bill
forward with unanimity.
I also want the committee to know, on our side, we have
solicited ideas for future hearings, Mr. Chairman. Each of our
subcommittee ranking members are talking with their members,
and we will put together a good list of suggestions. I hope you
and I could sit down and work through those because I know you
feel, just as I do, that we have a heavy responsibility; and
inasmuch as we are in perhaps the most perilous time of threat
to our homeland security, we want to be very vigilant in moving
forward on all of these critical issues as quickly as we
possibly can.
So, it is good to be here at this second meeting; and I
look forward to continuing to work on the very important
matters that we have before us. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. Thank you.
Does any other member wish to be recognized?
Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. The gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just want to acknowledge, as you already have, that this
is a very auspicious beginning for a great committee, it being
the first hearing of the Homeland Security Select Committee. I
appreciate not only the hearing, but the fact that you are
chairing this particular committee.
Mr. Chairman, two comments that aren't really an opening
statement. One is, I know these are proposed technical changes,
but it might be helpful in the future if we do have testimony
and I know it might not be necessary today but if we could get
advance copies of testimony in the future, I think that would
be helpful to members.
The second is and this is something we can discuss with
your staff--I have a technical amendment I would like to see
added to the list. It involves nothing more than inserting the
number 7, and we can talk about that in more detail. But I
would hope that that would be considered by the staff as we
move forward.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman Cox. Your cryptic description of the proposed
amendment is intriguing. We are anxious to find out what it
means.
Ms. Harman?
Ms. Harman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. Gentlelady is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Harman. I would like to echo some of the comments of
the ranking member about the urgent need to go beyond technical
issues in this committee and focus on some of the big ones, and
I would like to put out there just a few that occur to me.
As we meet this morning, U.S. troops are approaching
Baghdad, Iraq; and reinforcements are on the way. That war may
take some time, and there may well be the possibility of
attacks in our country as that war continues. There may well be
the possibility of attacks in our country even without the war.
I am one who thinks we are very vulnerable. But it seems to me
critically urgent that we focus in this committee on many of
the things that we can help achieve, such as accelerated
disbursement of funds that are already at the Department of
Homeland Security and designated for our first responders.
There are several funding streams in place. Some of them take
longer than others. I would like all of them to take 24 hours
or less.
That is obviously a flip comment, but my point is I think
most of our first responders know precisely what they need.
Some of them, like the city of Los Angeles, are writing their
own checks this weekend so that they can purchase the equipment
that they need; and I think we could help accelerate that
funding. That would be one.
Second, for the private sector, which has developed
cuttingedge technology that I think is the key to making much
of our homeland security efforts successful, we can make sure
that they know where the front door is to the Homeland Security
Department and they can get their technology evaluated and
purchased if that technology turns out to be suitable.
Third, we can do what I think Mr. Turner mentioned, which
is expedite consideration of not just BioShield but all the
other ways in which we can make certain that we are protected
from a bioweapon or a chemweapon attack. We read in the
newspaper this week that technology transfers from Russia to
Iraq have aided tremendously that nation's ability to produce
those weapons, and Iraq is not the only place producing those
weapons. So it seems to me, again, that is another urgent area
for us to address.
My basic point, in conclusion, is that there are bigticket
items that this committee has jurisdiction over; and we have a
membership that is keenly interested in them; and I would echo
the comments of the ranking member and urge you to move out
quickly and address the issues that confront our Nation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. Any member on this side wish to be
recognized?
Gentleman from Florida.
Mr. Diaz-Balart. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I waive my opening statement. Thank you.
Chairman Cox. Any other member on this side?
Ms. Slaughter is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Slaughter. Thank you. I won't take nearly that time.
I want to echo what Ms. Harman just said. The area that I
represent, just outside of it, is where we are hearing in
Federal Court now the case of the Lackawanna Five, which have
already become Lackawanna Seven, apparently, with more to come.
It was a fairly active al Qaeda cell that worked there, and we
really need the first responder money desperately. That is the
one issue I think we talk about constantly up on the border
between United States and Canada. I saw a mayor last night who
put it most succinctly that he is not going to be able to
finance what he needs to do for homeland security by holding
bake sales.
So I am very pleased to be on this committee and look
forward to the work and hope that we can expedite some of these
things for our citizens to give them security and some sense of
hope that we are getting somewhere with this.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Cox. Thank you.
Dr. Christensen.
Mrs. Christensen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. The gentlelady is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Christensen. I do have a written statement that I
submit for the record, and I share many of the concerns also
that Ms. Harman already voiced. But, as you can imagine, as I
came onto the committee, one of my main concerns would have
been that the territories be adequately covered; and I am
satisfied that wherever the word State appears that it does
include the territories of the United States.
But the other concern that I had is with respect to the
Native American areas of our country. I think that there could
be some improvements that I think would be considered technical
to this bill, and I would like to be able to offer some
technical amendments that will clarify this bill with respect
to Native American reservations at an appropriate time.
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN
Thank you Mr. Chairman for the opportunity to make this opening
statement. I am pleased that we are finally getting the opportunity to
meet as a committee for the first time. Our constituents and indeed the
American public in general, are anxious for our work to begin on the
very important work of overseeing and guiding the efforts of the
administration to protect our homeland.
Yesterday, we joined the Subcommittee on Health of the Energy and
Commerce in hearing from Secretary Thompson on the Bush
Administration's Bioshield proposal. While that meeting was a good
start, we have much to do to craft an appropriate proposal that will
fast track the various countermeasures that will be needed to prepare,
protect or respond in the event of a bio-terrorism attack. As several
of us pointed out yesterday, it is equally important that we ensure
continuing research into the antibiotics, vaccines and other therapies
needed to address the illnesses that plague our people every day, and
that we repair and not further exacerbate the current deficiencies in
our public health system.
Mr. Chairman, as to the bill before us today, which would make
technical amendments, my concerns as I began my service on this
committee are to ensure that the U.S. offshore areas and Native
American reservations were fully included in all of the programs and
protections of the underlined Homeland Security Act of 2002. After my
initial review of the underlined legislation, I am satisfied at
present, that the definition of ``state'' includes the offshore areas,
but I believe that we need to make some technical amendments with
regard to the areas under the jurisdiction of the Native American
tribes in our country. I would like to offer those amendments at the
appropriate time.
In conclusion Mr. Chairman, I want to note, that in addition to
ensuring that the Territories and commonwealths are included in our
Homeland Defense, I am also very concerned that we are not providing
our first responders with the kind of support that they need to do the
best job possible to protect us all. As was pointed out by the U.S.
Conference of Mayors, since September ll additional homeland security
costs impact cities across the country, large and small. Exasserbated
by the weak economy, which continues to severely pressure the budgets
of local governments in all our districts there needs to be ``an
effective and cooperative partnership with Washington on homeland
security--and that means direct financial assistance.'' I want to make
sure that the Act is clear in this regard as well,
I look forward to working with you Mr. Chairman and my colleagues
in making this a reality. Thank you.
Chairman Cox. Thank you.
The gentlelady from Washington is recognized.
Ms. Dunn. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I will be
brief.
I am happy to welcome you, Mr. Dorsey. We are eager to hear
your testimony and also to welcome Pam Turner. We are very
pleased that you moved over to Homeland Security and look
forward to working with you.
Chairman Cox. Thank you.
Mr. Etheridge.
Mr. Etheridge. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I won't take all
that time. I will be very brief, and I welcome our witnesses
this morning.
Let me echo some of the comments that have been made,
because I think it is important.
I met last Saturday at the dedication of the fire
department and EMS. One of the things they impressed on me
greatly, and I hope we will pay an awful lot of attention to it
not only just in New York, Los Angeles and Washington but in a
lot of small towns where things are very vulnerable, they need
the resources to have the things to respond with. Because if a
catastrophic thing should happen along a major interstate or a
crossing of an interstate, we could have serious problems in
this country and not have the ability to respond. I trust we
will spend some time there and get the resources as quickly as
we possibly can, and I hope this committee will hold hearings
and do things in that regard.
Second, as relates to one of the issues--a lot of companies
in this country, private companies, really do want to help; and
we ought to provide an avenue that they can participate. I know
that is not what this hearing is about, but I do hope we will
make that opportunity available to them. They aren't
profiteers. They are great Americans who want to help and make
a difference.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and I yield back.
Chairman Cox. Thank you.
Is there any other member who wishes to be recognized?
Mr. Frank, the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. Frank. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I apologize for my
lateness.
I am glad that we are beginning this very difficult
process, and I agree that it is important for us to act on
these corrections and make sure that everything is in order. I
hope that will prepare the way for us to deal with very
important substantive issues.
One that I want to note that is particularly important is
the great stress we are putting on the higher education system
of this country by the dysfunction in the new student visa
program. It is a new program, and it has been complicated by a
transfer of authority. I would like to point out, we would like
to protect our borders, but we are talking here I think about
harm that is being inflicted on higher educational institutions
which is wholly unnecessary from the standpoint of security.
One of the things that foreign students do on the whole is
to pay full tuition, and the absence of foreign students would
have a very negative effect on the financial situation at many
of our universities. Those of us who are concerned with the
ability of people of more limited economic means in America to
pay for college should understand that, to the extent that we
dry up the pool of foreign students, we are going to put more
financial pressure on the students from America. The foreign
students on the whole are a significant source of economic
help, but I think it is very important for this country to have
that flow of ideas.
I saw the Secretary of State's comments the other day
saying that one of the things we will need to do is to repair
the incorrect, excessively harsh image of America many of them
have. Colin Powell is the ideal person to do that. But one way
we do that is to have young people from other cultures come
here and see our country at its best at the university level.
So I would hope we would give immediate attention in a hearing
fairly soon and try to get them to fix that up.
We have a semester starting in September; and, as I said, I
just hear why spread the stress on universities over
bureaucratic and other snarls, some of which are inevitable.
But I hope we give a high priority of straightening that out.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. Any other member wish to be recognized?
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE SHEILA JACKSON-LEE
One of my priorities is to ensure that the Homeland Security
Department has adequate funding to meet the needs of its immigration
components. At this point, we cannot determine the funding levels
available to immigration operations because of the lack of specificity
in funding allocations and the fact that this is the first budget that
combines 22 agencies within the new department. I note in particular
that some customs operations have been combined with immigration
operations, which also makes it difficult to determine whether
immigration operations will have adequate funding.
The Department separates immigration operations into two new
organizations, the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security
and the Bureau of Citizenship and an Immigration Services. The success
of these organizations, however, depends in part on coordinating the
operations of the two organizations. Such coordination receives
inadequate attention in the new law and needs to be addressed through
oversight and practice.
Equal emphasis needs to be placed on improving service, as well as
on effective and fair enforcement of our immigration laws. Direct
Congressional appropriations must supplement user fees to ensure the
effective, efficient, and fair provision of services.
Officials charged with organizing our immigration functions and
leading these divisions within the new department should understand
immigration policy, recognize the importance of both adjudications and
enforcement, and work to ensure the necessary coordination of the
separated adjudications and enforcement functions. I hope that these
officials will be accountable and will be willing to address problems
that result from this massive reorganization.
The new law is silent on how our immigration functions will operate
at our ports. It is critical that those responsible for inspections at
our entry points be fully aware of, and educated about, the policies
and practices of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. To
ensure consistent and fair border adjudications, key responsibilities
should reside with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
personnel present at each port.
Local offices must be staffed by knowledgeable people capable of
making crucial, often life and death, decisions. These offices must be
accessible to the communities they serve and operate within a clear
chain of command. These offices must be adequately funded because
expertise, accountability, and accessibility alone cannot solve the
pervasive financial crisis and resulting backlogs.
It is essential that visas be denied to those who mean to do us
harm, but we cannot allow the need to exclude our enemies to interfere
with the access of people who come to our country for legitimate
purposes. We must balance our national security and economic security
needs in recognition that the United States is tied to the rest of the
world economically, socially, and politically.
It also is essential that we do not lose sight of civil rights in
addressing our security needs. I hope that the civil rights officials
in the department are given the authority they need to effectively
protect civil rights and liberties. Such authority is vitally needed,
given the scope and authority of the department.
I am pleased that the department will have a national and local
ombudsmen with authority to identify and report problems with
recommendations on addressing them. This is another crucial function.
It will assist in ensuring that the important goals of the department
are achieved.
Thank you.
Chairman Cox. If not, we will proceed to the business of
this morning's hearing.
I want to join with the vice chairman in welcoming you
again, Mr. Dorsey, and also welcoming Pam Turner. I want to--
introduce Pam, if you would stand to the rest of the members of
the committee--the new Assistant Secretary for Congressional
Affairs. We have a big committee of 50 members. You have a much
bigger Department of 177,000 people. So our liaison with you is
going to be very important. But I think the President and the
Secretary are very well served, and we are very pleased that
you are in this position, and we look forward to working with
you in the days ahead.
Mr. Dorsey, thank you for being here. As you can infer from
the opening statements of members, the breadth of the
Department's responsibilities are matched by the breadth of the
interests of our members. We do not want to put a burden on you
this morning--we are pleased that you are here in your role as
Director of Administration. We don't want to put a burden on
you this morning to respond to questions outside the scope of
the purpose of the hearing, which is the technical amendments
that we are making. We know you are prepared on that subject.
If you would, please run us through these technical
amendments, which I think we all appreciate are
noncontroversial, so that we have an understanding of why each
of these is necessary and what we are doing in this very brief
piece of legislation.
The chairman now recognizes Mr. Dorsey for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL DORSEY, DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION,
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Dorsey. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Turner,
distinguished members of the committee. It is a distinct
pleasure to be here today as the first Department of Homeland
Security witness to appear before the Select Committee on
Homeland Security. Thank you for this honor and the opportunity
to answer questions from the committee on the proposed Homeland
Security Technical Corrections Act of 2003.
The Department has only recently received this version of
the bill and, as I am sure you understand, has had very limited
time to fully consider it. As a result, the administration has
not yet taken a position on the legislation.
There is new language in the bill. We are evaluating the
new provisions and look forward to working with your staff on
these items. I would be pleased to respond to your questions
relating to technical corrections.
Mr. Cox, you asked about walking through; and I would be
glad to do that at this time.
Section 1 of the bill is just the title.
Sections 2, 3 and 4 are strictly typographical amendments.
Section 5 clarifies the role of the Secretary of Homeland
Security and Secretary of Defense with respect to the Coast
Guard, and our understanding is that it does not change the
roles of the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of Homeland
Security but simply clarifies those roles.
Section 6 is simply a technical correction to a statutory
reference.
Section 7, the Department is evaluating the language of
section 7; and we would like to work with your staff on
revisions to the language. We are not prepared to do that this
morning, but we will be very quickly.
Section 8 simply corrects the typographical error.
Section 9, the references in the rest of section 1204 of
the Homeland Security Act references the Secretary of the
Department of Transportation, but this particular section
references simply the Secretary and then says the Secretary
will provide a report. This technical correction would clarify
that the Secretary reference is to the Secretary of the
Department of Transportation.
Section 10 is a typographical reference. There is a
reference to section 6, and this would correct it to the
appropriate section, section 1406.
Section 11 adds this committee as a committee to receive
reports from the Department; and, of course, we are glad to
cooperate with Congress and provide the reports that you are
requesting.
And section 12 is simply the effective date.
So those are the provisions as we see them, and I would be
glad to answer any other questions that the committee may have.
Chairman Cox. Thank you, Mr. Dorsey, for your testimony.
As advertised, this is in fact a very straightforward and
technical amendment to the act.
The Chair will now recognize any member for questions on
this. I should add that, prior to bringing this piece of
legislation before us to the hearing today, the majority and
the minority have worked together on this; and I think,
speaking for myself and the ranking member, on both sides, we
were comfortable with what is in this legislation.
Mr. Frank.
Mr. Frank. Thank you.
I had a question raised by this particularly dealing with
the jurisdictions in the immigration area, which is the area
that I had the hardest time sorting out exactly what we are
doing. One of the changes does relate to jurisdiction about
immigration, and there was a question suggested by some of our
staff as to what this does to the Bureau of Citizenship. Could
you clarify that? Can you explain what the effect of that will
be on the division of immigration duties?
Mr. Dorsey. Congressman Frank, that is the area where the
administration has not taken a position; and we are looking at
that language and have some concerns and would like to work
with you and the rest of the members of the committee to
clarify that.
Mr. Frank. That language in the bill did not come from the
administration?
Mr. Dorsey. I don't know.
Chairman Cox. If the gentleman would yield, the purpose of
the provision in the technical corrections bill is to change
references to the Attorney General to the Secretary and
likewise references to the Commissioner of INS to the Director.
Because the structure in the new Department of Homeland
Security does not perfectly mimic the structure at the
Department of Justice and INS, there is an opportunity--the
translation is not completely technical, and that is why.
Mr. Frank. I appreciate that. I do have a lot of people who
would like me to mimic the Department of Justice, but that is
not what we are doing here. Do I understand that this then
completes the transfer of authority over these immigration
issues to the Homeland Security Department from the Department
of Justice? It changes some references--presumably some
authority from the Attorney General to the Secretary? Is that
in pursuance of completing that transfer of authority?
Chairman Cox. It is elsewhere in the statute that transfer
is made. What we are trying to do is make sure that the statute
in its four corners is internally logically consistent.
Mr. Frank. In the absence of the gentleman from Wisconsin,
I will make that go easier this morning, I assume.
Chairman Cox. To be entirely clear, there are a number of
substantive issues about what is in and what is out of the
Department of Homeland Security that not only could be taken up
but that will be taken up by this committee. It is our aim to
take up none of those issues in this piece of legislation. What
we are aiming to do now with both the Department and OMB, which
is conducting their separate review, and our own process here
is to purge from this legislation--
Mr. Frank. Thank you. I apologize for bringing a
substantive issue. I hope there will be a time we can do that.
Chairman Cox. The ranking member is recognized.
Mr. Turner. Mr. Dorsey, on this same section, I wanted you
to take a look at this and be sure that this section
accomplishes your intent. The Homeland Security Act created, as
we all know, two entities that have authority over immigration,
the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security, which is
in charge of Border Patrol and other functions, and the Bureau
of Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for
naturalization and other citizenship services. When you read
section 7, it gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the
authority to delegate all authority exercised under the
Immigration and Naturalization Act to the Under Secretary for
Border and Transportation Security without mentioning the
Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services. I was curious
as to whether or not that was an oversight or whether that is
intended to be that way. I would ask you to try to take a look
at that as we discuss the other issues that have been raised.
Mr. Dorsey. That is the issue we are looking at,
Congressman Turner.
Mr. Turner. Another issue I would like your comments on
relates to the technical correction in section 2. As you are
aware, this section was the subject of considerable debate in
the Congress because there were many who were sensitive to the
erosion of the Freedom of Information Act that potentially
could occur under this section. This provision, as you recall,
allows private companies, private industry to disclose to the
Department certain information about critical infrastructure
and for that information, once conveyed, to be maintained in a
confidential form by the Department.
In the technical corrections bill, it says, the term
``critical information'' ``means information not customarily in
the public domain and related to the security of critical
infrastructure or protected systems.'' We add, ``insofar as
such information pertains to,'' and it goes on, ``any actual,
potential or threatened interference with or attack on or
compromise of or incapacitation of critical infrastructure of
protected systems,'' et cetera.
I want to be sure that the language that we have inserted
here in no way expands the provision and ensure that we do not
construe the provision any more broadly than we have to. I
think it is a very important consideration here, considering
the history of the debate of this issue in Congress, to ensure
that companies do not utilize this provision to keep from the
public information that otherwise should be available to them
under the guise of national security.
So when I look at the language ``insofar as such
information pertains to''--a question was raised in my mind as
to whether language could be--``directly relates'' rather than
the language chosen, in order to be sure that this provision is
construed as narrowly as possible by the Department.
Mr. Dorsey. I am not here to interpret the statute this
morning, but my understanding is that we were simply trying to
correct a grammatical structure of the sentence. We weren't
trying to change the meaning of the section itself at all.
Mr. Turner. Well, I hope that is the case and certainly
want that to be the case.
The other item I wanted to mention in passing is section 5.
That amendment in section 5 implies that the Secretary of
Homeland Security has statutory warfighting responsibilities
with respect to his authority over the Coast Guard. It would be
interesting I think for us to hear your thoughts on some
examples of how the Secretary might utilize that authority I
would also want to be assured that the Department of Defense
concurs with the language that we have chosen in this technical
corrections bill. Do we know if the Department of Defense has
reviewed this section and concurs with it?
Mr. Dorsey. The administration has not taken a position on
this legislation at this point. It is being reviewed. I don't
know if the Defense Department has provided comments yet, but
it has not cleared.
Chairman Cox. If the gentleman would yield on that point.
The reason this is a technical amendment is that elsewhere in
the act it is made very clear that the responsibilities of the
Department of Defense remain the Department of Defense's
responsibilities, and none of those is being assumed by the
Secretary or the Department of Homeland Security.
In the existing statute, the Coast Guard can be placed
under the control of the Secretary of Defense, although
heretofore the Coast Guard has been under the control of the
Secretary of Transportation. That requires, among other things,
a declaration of war from the Congress. In all other
circumstances, the Coast Guard has been under the control of
the Secretary of Transportation; and so we are creating the
perfect analog here. In fact, it was already created in the
statute. We are simply making it clear that there is no
possibility under any circumstances that is ever assumed by the
Department.
But, likewise, there is not any question about who is in
charge of the Coast Guard so long as they are not operating
under preexisting statute under the control of the Secretary of
Defense. Then they are under the control of the Secretary of
Homeland Security. The technicality here is to ensure that
there is no time when the Coast Guard is under the control of
no one.
Mr. Turner. I thank the chairman for that clarification.
And, Mr. Dorsey, if you wouldn't mind, please make sure that
the Department of Defense concurs with the language we have
there.
Mr. Dorsey. Absolutely. And the chairman is consistent with
our interpretation of this. This language is not intended at
all to change the roles. It is just to clarify the roles.
Mr. Turner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Cox. Does any other member wish to be recognized?
I want to thank you for your testimony and the members for
their excellent questions.
Members of the committee may have additional questions. To
the extent that members do have additional questions, you may
submit them in writing; and the hearing record will be open for
10 days for these responses.
If there is no further business before the committee, I
will excuse our witness; and the Chair wishes to make
announcement. Thank you again, Mr. Dorsey.
As you know, we have a markup scheduled of this legislation
for next week on Monday. I have been working with the ranking
member, with our staff and with the administration to find the
earliest opportunity for members of this committee to be
briefed by FBI and CIA on the threat assessment that they have
recently completed for the terrorist threat to the domestic
United States. That is apparently going to be possible. This
will not be the last opportunity but the first opportunity for
members, and we want to make it as convenient as possible.
We are trying to do it immediately after the markup that we
have scheduled on Monday, and I am working right now to see if
we can't provide you dinner as part of that. Of course,
providing dinner in a secure room at the same time introduces
some logistical challenges for us. The briefing is more
important. So, if necessary--
Mr. Frank. Will we have tasters, Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Cox. Those members who request it may ask other
members on their side of the aisle to taste for them.
So we are going to email your offices with further
information on this. But I think that this is an excellent
opportunity for us to segue immediately from what has been
purely technical to what will be purely substantive and get us
started very quickly on the more urgent business of this
committee.
I want to thank--our witness. The Committee will Markup
this bill at 3 o'clock on Monday.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 9 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]