-
Hardin, Montana, wants to take in Guantanamo prisoners
Hardin, Montana (pop. 4,300) had a problem: it invested $27 million in a 464-bed modern prison facility which is standing empty; the city council offered to use it to house Guantanamo prisoners; Montana’s congressional delegation objects
-
-
Senators urges Gates to continue production of Stealth fighter
Utah senators lead group of legislators urging Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to continue production and procurement of the F-22 Raptor and the C-117; other legislators form group to fight Gates’s cancellation of other weapon systems
-
-
Obama's budget cuts off most funds for Yucca Mountain repository
The future of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository appears grim; Obama campaigned against the project, which is already more the 10 years behind schdule; new scientific evidence showing that water flows through Yucca Mountain much faster than initially believed raises the prospect that the nuclear waste would leach over time
-
-
NSA gains support for cyber security role
New Director of national Intelligence tells Congress DHS not up to task
-
-
President's proposed 2010 budget shows DHS priorities
Proposed budget increase DHS budget by 6 percent; priorities include cyber security, helping TSA screen travelers, increase bomb disposal and counter-IED capabilities, border security, emergency response
-
-
Hill committees put authorization, chemical security bills on top of agendas
Top House and Senate Homeland Security committees staffers say their top priorities would be authorization of DHS budget and chemical plants safety measure which may include “inherently safer technologies”
-
-
Political wrangling over House homeland security panel's priorities
Democratic majority on panel wants DHS authorization bill completed by 1 May - but panel chairman admits schedule may “slip”; Republicans want to make sure authorization is completed before appropriations are set, arguing that the authorization bill would give direction to appropriators
-
-
TSA meets initial screening cargo goal
Congress has mandated through the 9/11 law that 50 percent of cargo on passenger carrying aircraft be screened by February 2009 and 100 percent of cargo be screened by August 2010; TSA says it currently screens all cargo on narrow body, passenger-carrying aircraft; these account for more than 90 percent of all passenger carrying aircraft in the United States
-
-
Neither presidential campaign has contacted DHS about transition
DHS has set up transition teams to facilitate a smooth and effective transmission of information and transition of authority to the new administration, but neither the McCain or the Obama campaign has contacted the teams
-
-
DHS may operate under continuing resolution in the new fiscal year
Republican lawmakers and DHS officials warn that allowing DHS to operate under a continuing resolution in the new fiscal year would have consequences for several programs, possibly weakening U.S. security; Democrats strongly disagree
-
-
Congress increases DHS budget
Congress adds 6 percent — or $2.3 billion — to DHS budget over President Bush’s request; $950 million added for state homeland security grants, the same as last year, and $750 million above the requested level
-
The long view
Congress’s Spending Bill Protects a Mysterious Island for Studying Diseases from the Auction Block
For decades, Plum Island, off the northeast edge of Long Island, has been the subject of the kind of conspiracy theories the Internet loves. The truth is more prosaic: By order of Congress, the Plum Island Animal Disease Laboratory opened in 1956 to study how to combat dangerous foreign animal pathogens, such as foot-and-mouth disease. A dozen years ago, Congress approved a plan to move the animal research facility to Manhattan, Kansas. The move was to be followed by auctioning Plum Island to the highest bidder. A coalition consisting of environmental groups, Native American nations, local businesses, and other organizations was formed to block any such sale. James Bennet writes that “deep within the 5,000-plus pages of the spending bill awaiting President Trump’s signature… is a terse provision that saves Plum Island from the auction block.”
Tragedy at the Capitol: Four Questions that Demand Answers
How can the U.S. Capitol, surrounded by one of the largest concentrations of law enforcement and national security personnel in the world, be so quickly overrun by Trump insurrectionists hell-bent on “stopping the steal,” halting our cherished democratic processes, and potentially harming lawmakers? Mark Nevitt writes that “it was always drilled home from my time in the military the importance of unity of command and unity of effort…. But prior to the insurrection, Trump himself incited it, in tweets and in a speech that morning. Shockingly, the person at the very top of the chain of command was not interested in protecting the Capitol nor the lawmakers inside during a time of national crisis.”
Necessary and Insufficient: The Problems Impeachment Does Not Solve
Congress could not ignore President Donald Trump’s relentless, persistent campaign of Big Lies about the 3 November election—a pattern of behavior that culminated in the president’s move last week to assemble a mob in Washington and loose it on the Capitol. Benjamin Wittes writes that impeachment was, therefore, necessary – but “Impeachment is an awkward remedy in a more practical sense” since “It does nothing to disable Trump in the last seven days of his presidency.” “Congress can remove a president using impeachment but, in the meantime, has to leave the mad king in possession of all of his powers.”
A Proposal for a Commission on the Capitol Siege
On 6 January, the U.S. Capitol was assaulted and occupied for the first time since 1814. Five people were killed, including Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who was beaten to death while attempting to repel the siege. Herb Lin and Amy Zegart write that the insurrectionists were ultimately unable to block the Congressional certification of Joseph Biden as president-elect and Kamala Harris as vice president-elect. “Accountability, healing, and national reconciliation are vital to restoring American democracy in the days ahead,” they write. “It is critical for the nation to conduct a systematic, thorough and bipartisan examination of this event to understand how it happened and how to prevent similar violent attacks on democratic processes in the future.”