Wednesday
Dec092009
Congress Questions Napolitano On Role Of DHS
By Julianne LaJeunesse, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
If you could count all of the concerns that were thrown at U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, it might make you more than a math whiz, it might make you curious. Curious as to why and how the department is going to handle international border issues, cyber terrorism and how the U.S. legal system will adequately handle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s New York City trial.
The committee hearing was intended to provide oversight over DHS, and several times the role of the department was questioned. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked Napolitano about the department’s role in protecting cyber security, suggesting the entity may not be the best group for the job.
“When you take out the technical aspects, and the legal aspects, it’s hard to see how Homeland Security ends up with a very strong platform for persistent leadership, unless there’s some vehicle for coordinating the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], and you, and the Attorney General, and everybody together, and I’m not comfortable that that presently exists,” Whitehouse said. “I think the NSC [National Security Council] is a good interim measure, but it would seem that that should evolve into a more formal cyber-specific government structure at some point.”
Though Whitehouse suggested that cyber security could be handled by another government arm, too much government role was a theme that Senators Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) and Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said may be unnecessary. The two said transportation measures, such as some airport securities and aggressive border patrol practices, could be safely downgraded if proof of their need doesn’t exist.
“I wonder, do you have results as to what all of these elaborate tests at airports show?” Specter asked. “Is all of it really necessary? Because if it is, fine.”
Generally, however, the committee was not ready to dismiss the precautions taken by the department, and indeed did call for more action from Napolitano and her staff in regard to answering questions about how best to deal with issues of illegal immigrant labor and its good and bad effects on U.S. farming. Napolitano didn’t have a direct comment on the utility of illegal immigrant employment, but did say that the DHS is starting to better track immigrants who have overstayed the Visa allowance.
Similarly, the Secretary left Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohmmamed, one of five suspected September 11th terrorists, to the U.S. Department of Justice, saying, “that is a prosecution decision, as to where, and in what venue to bring a case.” “I believe that is properly held by the AG.”
If you could count all of the concerns that were thrown at U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, it might make you more than a math whiz, it might make you curious. Curious as to why and how the department is going to handle international border issues, cyber terrorism and how the U.S. legal system will adequately handle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s New York City trial.
The committee hearing was intended to provide oversight over DHS, and several times the role of the department was questioned. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) asked Napolitano about the department’s role in protecting cyber security, suggesting the entity may not be the best group for the job.
“When you take out the technical aspects, and the legal aspects, it’s hard to see how Homeland Security ends up with a very strong platform for persistent leadership, unless there’s some vehicle for coordinating the DNI [Director of National Intelligence], and you, and the Attorney General, and everybody together, and I’m not comfortable that that presently exists,” Whitehouse said. “I think the NSC [National Security Council] is a good interim measure, but it would seem that that should evolve into a more formal cyber-specific government structure at some point.”
Though Whitehouse suggested that cyber security could be handled by another government arm, too much government role was a theme that Senators Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) and Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said may be unnecessary. The two said transportation measures, such as some airport securities and aggressive border patrol practices, could be safely downgraded if proof of their need doesn’t exist.
“I wonder, do you have results as to what all of these elaborate tests at airports show?” Specter asked. “Is all of it really necessary? Because if it is, fine.”
Generally, however, the committee was not ready to dismiss the precautions taken by the department, and indeed did call for more action from Napolitano and her staff in regard to answering questions about how best to deal with issues of illegal immigrant labor and its good and bad effects on U.S. farming. Napolitano didn’t have a direct comment on the utility of illegal immigrant employment, but did say that the DHS is starting to better track immigrants who have overstayed the Visa allowance.
Similarly, the Secretary left Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohmmamed, one of five suspected September 11th terrorists, to the U.S. Department of Justice, saying, “that is a prosecution decision, as to where, and in what venue to bring a case.” “I believe that is properly held by the AG.”
tagged 
Attorney General Eric Holder decision, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Janet Napolitano, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Penn., Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), cyber security, illegal immigrant employment, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration in News/Commentary
Attorney General Eric Holder decision, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Janet Napolitano, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Senator Arlen Specter (D-Penn., Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), cyber security, illegal immigrant employment, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration in News/Commentary
Reader Comments (1)
The fools in Washington have not even thought about the consequence of calling for another Comprehensive Immigration Reform package. Has anybody really got any conceivable idea of the ramifications, once President Obama and his political troops whisper AMNESTY. It will be like the final Marconi radio SS (Save our Souls) urgent message from the HMS Titanic? Those perpetrators who want to pass a bill of Immigration reform, are completely ignorant of the masses of humanity that will be pushing against the border fence. From the tip of South America to the huge continent of Asia, new peoples are already biding their time? It will not matter if E-Verify becomes a permanent fixture or even if Homeland Security fully empowers once again the uniformed police 287 (g) federal immigration detainment bill. Even a sudden surge in ICE raids or any enforcement matters will be completely obsolete, as millions more will be swarming the border barrier. It might as not exist, for all the good it will do against millions of destitute, sick, handicapped, pregnant, criminal and just illegal immigrants looking to feed their families. Tell me who is going to stop this sudden surge in numbers, that will start moving towards the fence in Canada and the Southern fence. Then we have tourists and students who have arrived for years by aircraft, but never returned to their home country. People trying to cross the undermanned border will never end. Knowing that there is always a chance of another AMNESTY, those who cannot make it in their own country will keep on coming--and never STOP?
Has anybody with at least one brain cell in their head, considered that once somebody yells AMNESTY--everybody and their Grandmother are going to be slipping across the border or boarding a jet to come here. Neither the Border Patrol, National Guard or Jesus Christ himself are going to stop, the millions of destitute, uneducated, unskilled foreign labor and all the rest in this behemoth deluge? They will wait for the call to go out and just like the 1986 AMNESTY, they will appear with fraudulent documents, that indicates they have been here 5 years or more. Those 3 million people who were legitimized, turned into 5 million after the Simpson/Mazzoli bill was ratified? We already are subsidizing 20 to 30 million foreign national families, whose going to pay for the unknown number waiting just across the fence? Its going to be the unmentionable mass numbers, exiting from every far corner of the impoverished countries on this Earth to be departing for America. GOD HELP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ITS SURVIVAL.
So get on the phone and demand as a voter for your lawmaker to vote for THE SAVE ACT (H.R. 3308) and be relentless. The number to call is 202-224-3121. Also bombard the House-Senate policy makers with 28 cent postcards, to stop the open border organizations from engineering another Path to citizenship or AMNESTY. Tell them to amend the 1986 Immigration Reform Act, not another facade that was a bloated with fraud. Understand that THE SAVE ACT will protect American jobs and remove illegal immigrants from working locations over time. Those who believe in America’s survival, without OVERPOPULATION as stated by the US Census bureau better read the facts, not the lies at NUMBERSUSA. Those who want details of corruption in WASHINGTON and state government go to JUDICIAL WATCH. For Overpopulation statistics, should go to CAPSWEB. Other sites of interest on Immigration enforcement is ALIPAC and AMERICAN PATROL.