U.S. Response:  House Passes Homeland Security Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation Friday to create a homeland security department (see GSN, July 26).

The bill, approved 295-132, would create the third-largest Cabinet-level department, after the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments, according to the Los Angeles Times (see GSN, July 15).  The proposed department is expected to have more than 169,000 workers and an annual budget of $37 billion.  The department would merge 22 federal agencies including the Coast Guard, Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Almost all House Republicans and 88 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, according to the Times.  In opposition were 120 Democrats, 10 Republicans and two independents.  While the final vote on the legislation passed by a large margin, representatives defeated several amendments in close votes, the Times reported.  An amendment that would have allowed more liability for companies that sell homeland security products was defeated 215-214.  By a 222-208 vote, Republicans also defeated an amendment to ensure collective bargaining rights for department workers.

The White House Friday said it supports House homeland security legislation but disagrees with the Senate version of the bill (see GSN, July 18).  The full Senate is expected to vote on the department next week.  Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said, however, that attempts to pass the legislation before the Senate’s summer recess might be “in jeopardy.”  Some critics of the bill might attempt to derail it through parliamentary procedures, Lieberman said (Nick Anderson, Los Angeles Times, July 27).

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International Response:  U.S.-Russian Counterterrorism Group Meets

The U.S.-Russia Working Group on Counterterrorism met for the first time Friday to discuss ways to prevent terrorists from using weapons of mass destruction and other issues (see GSN, May 24).

The group, formerly known as the U.S.-Russia Working Group on Afghanistan, met in Annapolis, Md., in a session co-chaired by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov, according to a joint press statement.

U.S. and Russian delegates discussed the potential threat of terrorist WMD use and agreed on the importance of U.S.-Russian cooperation in addressing the threat of WMD terrorism, especially with regard to consequence management, according to the joint statement (see GSN, July 16).  The delegates “agreed that these issues require the highest priority attention and the application of the full range of intelligence and law enforcement capabilities,” the joint statement said.

The delegates also discussed increased tensions between India and Pakistan, the joint statement said (see GSN, July 26).  They discussed measures to combat terrorism in other parts of the world and agreed on the need to improve cooperation in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council and other international agreements (see GSN, May 29).  Both delegations also announced support for efforts to implement U.N. Resolution 1373, designed to combat terrorism financing (see GSN, June 28).

The delegates agreed to hold the group’s next meeting in December in Moscow, according to the statement (U.S. State Department release, July 27).

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