|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary-Designate Chertoff Seeks Improvement in Spending Priorities By Joe Fiorill WASHINGTON — Federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff told a U.S. Senate committee today that he planned to improve border and transportation security if confirmed as the new secretary of the Homeland Security Department (see GSN, Jan. 11). Questioned by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about the young department’s allegedly haphazard spending habits, Chertoff said port-security grant-making in particular could benefit from assessing the “reality of vulnerabilities and risks, to ensure that we’re making a fair allocation.” In his first confirmation hearing, Chertoff also told the panel he planned to enhance technology and management generally at the fledgling department. “If I am confirmed as secretary, we will work as a department to improve our technology, strengthen our management practices, secure our borders and transportation systems and, most importantly, focus each and every day on keeping America safe from attacks,” he said. President George W. Bush nominated Chertoff earlier this month to replace outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who has headed the department since its inception in January 2003. In describing his experience to the panel, Chertoff highlighted his 2001-2003 tenure as head of the Justice Department Criminal Division, where he said he worked on disaster-response planning and information-sharing, and his earlier experience as a prosecutor working with state and local governments. “I have had the rare experience of managing a critical government organization under the stress of a national emergency,” Chertoff said. “My duties made me fully familiar with many of the central elements of the war against terrorism.” Experts including Homeland Security’s own acting inspector general told the Senate committee last week that the department is plagued by disorganization and a lack of overall priorities (see GSN, Jan. 26). Committee members and invited guests today raised related points, often questioning the department’s strategy — or, as some indicated, its apparent lack thereof — for funding the state and local governments that are likely to be the first institutions to respond to any terrorist or WMD attack. “We really need to make sure that we’re allocating those scarce resources … based on … threat and vulnerability,” said Senator John Corzine (D-N.J.), who is not a member of the panel but appeared to introduce longtime New Jersey resident Chertoff. Committee member Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) described the “distressing” effect of “what appears to be the very arbitrary and nonsensical elimination of funds” for some localities’ emergency responders at the expense of others’, while fellow panelist Robert Bennett (R-Utah) said Homeland Security finds itself in “a situation that can only be described as dysfunctional.” “Secretary Ridge has handled the first two years with great distinction, but the challenge is just as great,” Bennett said. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) cautioned colleagues against pre-empting Chertoff’s eventual assessment of the department’s needs by calling now for more funds for Homeland Security. He also warned Chertoff against seeking to respond to too many perceived threats rather than adhering to a consistent set of overall priorities. “You can’t distribute the first-responder money the way all the senators want it distributed,” Domenici said. “Every first-responder request is not answering a risk that’s worth fighting — no question about it.” The committee planned to reconvene this afternoon to continue questioning Chertoff. No further committee hearings are scheduled so far on the nomination. The office of committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) would not project the date of the full Senate’s vote on the nomination.
| ||||||||||
Back to top
