Senate Grills DNI Nominee On Defense Contractors

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) nominee Gen. Jim Clapper testified Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. If confirmed, he would become the fourth director of the fairly young department. 

Today, the Washington Post published the second of a three-part series detailing how heavily the Department of Defense (DoD) relies on contractors to do, among other things, intelligence gathering. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expressed concern to Clapper over the large number of civilian contractors currently carrying out such work.

“The use of contractors needs to continue to decrease substantially,” said Feinstein.

Clapper told the committee that he believes the bloated number will come down naturally. History, he said, shows that the size of the nation’s intelligence community has fluctuated based on events.

“We were constricting facilities, [employing] fewer people, then 9/11 occurred. We put the breaks on screech, and then had to rejuvenate and re-expand the intelligence community,” he said. “Of course, the obvious way to do that is through contractors.”

Clapper said the giant number of contractors will swing back like a pendulum, and compared the situation faced by the intelligence community now, to the problem the U.S. faced after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the Pentagon reduced its intelligence force by 20 percent.  

Multiple members of the committee asked Clapper to confirm that the DNI is the clear leader of the intelligence committee.

“I would not have agreed to take this position on if I were to be a titular figure or a hood ornament,” he replied.  “There needs to be a clear, defined, [and] identifiable leader of the intelligence community to exert direction and control over the entirety of that community.”

EPA Says Dispersants Are Not Affecting Gulf Coast Environment

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson told the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday that the high amount of dispersants being used in the Gulf of Mexico has not produced any negative side effects, yet. 

Committee members grow wary of dumping high amounts of oil dispersants into the Gulf and showed particular concern about the short and long-term effects these dispersants will have on the environment.

“As of yesterday, BP had used 1.8 million gallons of oil dispersants in the Gulf,” said Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). “In Exxon Valdez we used 250 thousand barrels.  By comparison, Deepwater, the biggest oil spill in history, now uses 35-60 thousand barrels a day.”

Jackson assured the committee that the EPA has not seen any significant environmental impacts from the dispersants so far. Due to unknown scientific factors regarding these dispersants, the EPA has directed BP to greatly reduce the number of barrels of dispersants being dumped into the Gulf. The number of gallons being dumped has been reduced nearly 70% since May 26.

Dispersants have not been used within 30 miles of the coast and are prohibited from being used off shore because of the time it takes the dispersants to break up oil.

“Yesterday, the state of Louisiana reopened some state waters to fishing after tests showed no presence of oil or dispersants,” said Jackson.

Oil continues to spew from the well unabated after BP failed to cap it earlier this week.

Senate Majority Leader Accuses Republicans Of Trying To Tank The Economy

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) accused Republicans of trying to tank the economy to undermine the Democrats in the midterm elections.

“They’re betting on failure,” said Reid during a press conference to discuss the small business agenda.  “They think that the worse the economy is come November, the better they’ll do election wise.  We’re not dealing with just numbers here, we talk about the almost two million people who are long-term unemployed.  These are not numbers, they’re people.”

Reid says that the new small business bill currently under Congressional consideration will help small businesses grow and hire.  He pledged that the government will continue cutting taxes, make it easier to get loans and write off investments.

“It does not happen automatically, government must be involved.  More than any other part of our economy, small business fuels our growth,” said Reid.

Clean Energy Advocates March To White House, Demand Change

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group, rallied outside the Canadian Embassy Thursday to protest against a proposed pipeline that would link the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. The advocacy group said the pipeline would put many farms and ranches at risk in the event of yet another catastrophic oil spill. 

“For far too long Canada has been pushing tar sands oil, the dirtiest source of oil on Earth, onto the U.S. people, and we’ve been a willing buyer,” said Alex Moore, Dirty Fuels Campaigner for Friends of the Earth.

TransCanada, the company proposing the pipeline, is seeking a safety waiver which would allow them to use thinner piping. 

“We have all… seen the ramifications of how the fossil fuel industry has been reeking havoc on our lives, on our health, on our communities [and] on our environment by their blatant disregard for environmental and safety regulations,” said Actress and National Wildlife Federation board member, Gloria Reuben.

The group marched from the Canadian Embassy to the White House to raise awareness for clean energy reform and to make it a priority for the Obama Administration and Congress.

Faith Organizations Saddened By Gulf Coast Tour

By Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Members from many faith-based organizations toured the Gulf Coast coast Wednesday and told reporters they are concerned with how Gulf Coast citizens are handling the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“We are seeing a significant increase in the issues, the mental health issues, the depression, people are tending to fall apart now, it’s really ramping up, the loss of composure, particularly for people who have been self-reliant for most of their lives,” said Patty Whitney of Bayou Interfaith Shared Community Organizing.

The faith-based organizations expressed growing concern that after BP caps the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans will continue with their lives and forget about the residents of the Gulf who will be affected for decades.

“It is said that America has an eight day memory.  Something happens and we get all involved in [it], and in eight to ten days, it passes over,”  said Rev. Gerald Durley. “I think we have a moral and a spiritual obligation across faith to keep this at the forefront of the American conscience.”

Rev. Canon Sally Bingham said her most moving experience was seeing the damage being done to America’s Gulf Coastline.

“I think unnecessary risk was taken with nature, and now we’re faced with the worst case scenario,” Bingham said. “Human lives have been lost, creatures destroyed, and some habitats will never recover.”