Hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security; Subject: Holding the Department of Homeland Security Accountable for Security Gaps

Statement

HEARING OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
SUBJECT: HOLDING THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ACCOUNTABLE FOR SECURITY GAPS

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REP. AL GREEN (D-TX): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you, of course, and the ranking member for hosting this hearing. It is exceedingly important.

Mr. Secretary, it's an honor to see you again, and I know that you have a tough job. And I'd like to talk to you for a moment, if I may, about some deadlines and timelines. In fact, timelines can become deadlines or they can be lifelines, and I have before me a document that -- if we were in court, I would say, "Do you recognize this and can you tell me what it is?"

SEC. CHERTOFF: Actually, I have -- I've seen it a bit. I haven't gotten my copy yet, though.

REP. GREEN: Well, having an opportunity to see it above -- I suppose I could share this one with you if you -- are you able to --

SEC. CHERTOFF: I actually can't read it.

REP. GREEN: Okay. Well, let me just -- folks -- Mr. Chairman --

REP. THOMPSON: Please.

REP. GREEN: In court, I'd say, "Your Honor."

REP. THOMPSON: You may approach. (Laughter.)

REP. GREEN: I've checked off items three, I believe, and four, and I would like to as a predicate indicate that there's an adage that "One must plan one's work and work one's plan." And a corollary of this adage is "A failure to plan is a plan to fail." Number three on the check-off list, which is filed, I believe, the Chertoff Check-Off List, number three on that list deals with the NPR (sic/NRP), the National Response Plan. And for edification purposes, there was a deadline or a timeline of I believe initially June 1st of '07 that was extended to July 1st, and it is my belief that we still do not have a final National Response Plan in place.

The National Response Plan is of vital importance, as you and I would agree, because it coordinates the efforts of the state, the local, the tribal government and the private sector, if we should have a dastardly deed perpetrated by some humans or if we should have a national disaster comparable to Katrina, which we just celebrated the second anniversary of.

So the question that we have to embrace, Mr. Chairman -- Mr. Secretary -- excuse me -- is that of the timeline and what assurances do we have that we can have a timeline that we can be assured of?

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SEC. CHERTOFF: The new National Response Plan, which we actually call the National Response Framework -- we completed the draft about a month or so ago. We circulated it to -- this was a product of a lot of work among state and local stakeholders. We then wrote it up, we circulated a draft, we received comments, and I expect a final version to be circulated this month.

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REP. A. GREEN: If I may, Mr. Secretary -- am I to assume that the end of this month -- which, of course, is September --

SEC. CHERTOFF: September.

REP. A. GREEN: -- at the end of September, we will have the new plan that we were indicated would occur in --- indicated to us would occur in July and then of course before that June?

SEC. CHERTOFF: Correct. Correct.

REP. A. GREEN: So we'll have it at the end of September?

SEC. CHERTOFF: Yes.

REP. A. GREEN: Okay.

Now moving to another topic, if I may. The TWIC Card -- some of our friends in Labor have some concerns about the TWIC Card. One concern is the cost of course and the second is who will bear the cost. But more importantly, the whole concept of one accepting the responsibility for the cost and how this will, in the long run, impact one's commitment made, because many times we start out anticipating that we will pay an initial cost, but then other things are added on to it, and what became just a cost for a card can become a cost for a number of security measures.

Will the TWIC Card, first of all, be -- the ports be announced to us at any point soon -- what 10 ports? And will this be just the first of many fees that will be imposed upon workers?

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REP. A. GREEN: And quickly I will say this. Much is said about the southern border, but much also should be said about the northern border. The 9/11 hijackers did not come in through the southern border. The Millennium bomber did not come in through the southern border. When (inaudible name) had his foray into Europe and decided to he wanted to covertly come back into the country, he did not come in through the southern border -- northern border. At some point, I think we have to make it abundantly clear to the public that the southern border, while it is important -- it is not the border of paramount importance to the exclusion of the northern border, to the exclusion of the Virgin Islands, which is the southernmost border.

So if you would quickly tell me, how do you plan to handle the northern border and how do we plan to let the public know as well that the northern border has a -- great importance to us?

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SEC. CHERTOFF: So -- although I think the strategy in the northern border may be a little different than the Southwest because of the flow between the ports of entry, the security concern is every bit as important. And that's why, even though we get pushback sometimes, frankly, from some of the communities in the North, we're insistent on continuing to raise security measures on the northern border as well.

REP. A. GREEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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