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Democrats Embrace Tech In Security Plan
by Chris Strohm
One thing is abundantly clear within a massive bill from House Democrats to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the commission that investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: Lawmakers are depending heavily on technology to solve gaps in homeland security.
The need and demand for technology is pervasive throughout the 277-page bill, which Democrats plan to bring to the House floor Tuesday on their first official legislative day since taking control of Congress.
"This landmark legislation will not only make it more difficult for terrorists to obtain nuclear materials," said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., "but it will arm first responders with the tools they need to respond quickly and effectively to disasters, our airplanes will be more secure, our borders will be harder to penetrate, our police and local law enforcement will finally have the ability to truly share information, and our ports and other critical infrastructure will be better protected."
House Homeland Security Committee ranking Republican Peter King of New York and his staff issued a report Monday that criticizes the bill. They charged that it does not address all the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, including oversight of the intelligence community and Homeland Security Department, and that Democrats voted against some key reforms over the last two years.
"In only their first few days in the majority, House Democratic leadership has already fallen short on the key security promise they made to the American people," King said. "Republicans have already enacted an overwhelming majority of the recommendations, and the opening of the 110th Congress was a terrific opportunity to finish the job. Unfortunately, it is amounting to nothing more than a missed opportunity."
The A, B and C Of Security
Three areas where lawmakers turn to technology the most are aviation, border and cargo security.
On the aviation front, the bill would require the Homeland Security Department to develop a system within three years to inspect all cargo put on domestic passenger airplanes. The measure calls for a system with the "equipment, technology, procedures and personnel" to inspect cargo at a level of security equivalent to that for carry-on baggage.
Seven days after enactment, Homeland Security would have to issue a strategic plan for the deployment of explosive-detection equipment at airport checkpoints to screen passengers and their baggage. Another provision would allow the Transportation Security Administration to collect $1 billion in ticket fees from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2011 to support the deployment of more in-line explosive-detection systems at screening checkpoints.
And the department would have to submit a strategic plan to Congress within three months to test and implement an advanced passenger pre-screening system. The department has been developing the Secure Flight program to meet that requirement.
When it comes to cargo security, the department would have to ensure that all containers on U.S.-bound ships at foreign ports are scanned for weapons of mass destruction and have tamper-proof seals within five years.
"The scans will be reviewed by American security personnel before the container is loaded, and as technology becomes available, containers will be sealed with a device that will sound an alarm when it is tampered with, and will notify U.S. officials of a breach before the container enters the exclusive economic zone of the United States," according to a fact sheet from Thompson's office.
To bolster border security, lawmakers require Homeland Security to submit a plan within seven days after the bill is enacted to accelerate the US-VISIT program for tracking foreign visitors, including a system to verify when travelers leave the United States. The program screens foreigners for criminal or terrorist connections using their biographical and biometric data.
Information Wants To Be Shared
The bill contains numerous provisions aimed at improving information-sharing among the federal government and state, local and tribal governments. For example, Homeland Security would have to establish grant programs to support so-called fusion centers where officials come together to share information and plot operations.
One grant program would be used to help state and local officials pay for personnel, training and communications connectivity at the fusion centers. Another program would focus on creating fusion centers in border regions.
"The department has not yet developed a single, easily accessible and widely available system to consistently share border intelligence and other information with its state, local and tribal law enforcement partners," lawmakers wrote. "It likewise has failed to establish a process by which state, local and tribal law enforcement personnel can consistently share with the department information that they obtain that is relevant to border security."
The bill would create a third grant program specifically to help state and local governments buy and deploy communications equipment that can work across jurisdictions.
The department also would have to establish "a comprehensive information technology network architecture" that connects all of its databases to each other. The network, according to lawmakers, will be a "framework for evolving or maintaining existing information technology and acquiring new information technology" to achieve strategic goals of Homeland Security's intelligence and analysis office.
And the bill tells the department to establish a database of nationwide critical assets that includes a list of infrastructure the government considers to be most at risk.
The Push For Privacy Safeguards
While lawmakers aim to solve homeland security gaps with technology proposals in the bill, they also are trying to ensure that the Bush administration protects citizen privacy and civil liberties.
The bill would revamp and breath new life into the defunct privacy and civil liberties oversight board, which Congress created two years ago in its first pass at implementing recommendations from the 9/11 Commission. The legislation would remove the board from under direct control of the president and require its members to be confirmed by the Senate.
The government's intelligence agencies each would have to designate at least one officer to consider the privacy and civil liberties implications of their policies and procedures. The officers would have the power to conduct investigations and be protected from retaliation.
The bill also would give the Homeland Security privacy officer expanded powers, including the ability to subpoena officials.
"Perhaps most importantly, passage of this bill will secure this nation while leaving our Constitution intact," Thompson said. "Unfortunately, in this post 9/11 era, the civil liberties of our citizens have been trampled on and our privacy infringed upon in the name of national security. This legislation has the safeguards in place so that never happens again."
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