Representative Peter King, incoming Homeland Security Committee chairman

and one of the advantages of a fiscal crisis is that it forces government — forces Congress to look at more efficiencies and more ways to reduce spending.

HSNW: Talking of disasters, do you have strong views on whether FEMA should stay within DHS or be broken off and become an independent agency again?

King: I believe it should stay within DHS the way it is now. I think the reforms we made, I guess it was back in 2006, accommodated the real interest of FEMA in that it’s similar to the Coast Guard: an independent agency within a Department of Homeland Security which, on a day to day basis, reports to the secretary of homeland security. But we changed the law so that at a time of national disaster, the FEMA director reports directly to the president. To me, that’s important. It’s important in that FEMA remain within Homeland Security because if there is an attack, God forbid, it’s important that the Homeland Security secretary be able to step in and coordinate the overall government response. On the other hand, when we’re talking about natural disaster, as we saw with Katrina, I think it’s also essential that the FEMA director be able to report directly to the President and not be blocked by the secretary of Homeland Security. So I think the hybrid we’ve come up with is the best way to approach this.

HSNW: Your fellow Long Island Congressman Steve Israel, is a big supporter of investing money to defend civilian aircraft against a shoulder-mounted or shoulder-fired missile. I believe Chuck Schumer is also in favor of it. It’s a lot of money. Do you support it? Do you think the risk is worth investing billions of dollars in it?

King: I don’t put it on a top priority now. Obviously, we have to prepare as much as we can, but we also have to see where the main threats are. There are other threats we have to address before that. At the same time, we should certainly go forward with research and see what can be done, but I do not put it in the top tier right now.

HSNW: The city I live in, Washington D.C., and neighboring city Baltimore, have sued the federal government because they do not want to see trains carrying hazardous materials to other cities pass through Washington D.C. and Baltimore. They say they will take the