Al Qaeda "very much alive"; U.S. needs to be "aggressive and preemptive"

and efforts to reduce the deficit, what can DHS do to spend its money more effectively without jeopardizing security? As a follow up, what programs are you closely examining for potential cuts?

PK: As we work to reduce overall federal spending, we need to ensure that cuts in that spending do not undo the homeland security progress we have made in the decade since the 9/11 attacks. In addition to the heartbreaking loss of life, the attacks resulted in a tremendous economic and financial cost as well. Some seem to have forgotten that, and fail to recognize that one successful attack by al Qaeda, its affiliates, or its adherents here in the U.S., particularly in New York City, would likely have a hugely devastating nationwide economic impact, the losses of which would negate any homeland security budget reductions.

I have for years been working, and will continue, to see the homeland security grant programs at DHS reformed to ensure that funding – particularly that of the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) – is allocated effectively and efficiently and to those areas most at risk of a terrorist attack.

Shortly after 9/11, UASI was set up and provided critical funding to the seven highest-risk cities, but by 2010 the number of cities sharing in this funding reached sixty-four. At my urging, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has reduced the number of eligible cities from sixty-four to thirty-one. DHS should continue to look for ways to ensure that this important funding is allocated in a truly risk-based fashion.

The Committee on Homeland Security is conducting a thorough review of departmental programs and operations to identify additional cost savings that do not jeopardize security.

HSNW: The 9/11 Commission’s report card on the status of its recommendations gave a “failing mark” to the protection of civil liberties in light of expanded federal investigative powers. What immediate actions should the government be taking to implement the commission’s recommendations in regards to civil liberties and executive power?

PK: While I do not buy into the liberal talking point that civil liberties have been violated, more could be done to support the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which was recommended by the 9/11 Commission and established in 2007. For whatever reason, the Senate has not moved on two pending nominations to the Board and President Obama has failed to nominate additional members.

In the meantime, the Department of Homeland Security has established a privacy officer and a civil rights and civil liberties officer to oversee such issues, actions which I support.

HSNW: Looking ahead, what do you foresee as the main security challenges for the next decade?

PK: Osama bin Laden is dead, but the threat from al Qaeda, its affiliates, and its adherents remains very much alive. As we have made progress securing our homeland over the past decade, it has become much more difficult for these enemies to launch an attack from overseas similar to the 9/11 attacks.

In recent years, we have seen these terrorist organizations working to recruit and radicalize individuals from with the Muslim American community – people who are U.S. citizens or who are here legally. For example, the 2009 Fort Hood shooter, who killed thirteen, was a U.S. Army Major who had corresponded with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Anwar al Awlaki; the Afghan national arrested in 2009 for plotting to blow up the New York City subway system was a legal permanent resident; and the 2010 Times Square bomber was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan. Al Shabaab, the Somalia-based terror group, is actively recruiting within our country and at least forty Muslim Americans from Minneapolis and other U.S. cities have been recruited by and joined the group. Many have disappeared to fight in Somalia.

In March, I convened a series of hearings to examine this dangerous and deadly trend. I was roundly criticized by liberals in Washington and throughout the media. Despite the criticism, I will continue the hearings. After all, the Obama Administration has recognized this radicalization within the Muslim American Community, and 9/11 co-chairs Kean and Hamilton recently referred to radicalization as “most troubling.”