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Letter to The Honorable John A. Boehner Speaker of the House

Letter

Date: Sept. 8, 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security

Dear Mr. Speaker:

As you are aware, the Bipartisan Study Committee, co-chaired by the former Chair and Vice Chair of the national Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission), recently released an evaluation of the Federal governments progress in fulfilling several 9/11 Commission recommendations. With respect to the 9/11 Commission recommendation that Congress create "a single, principal point of oversight and review for homeland security," the report emphasized that continued disjointed jurisdiction has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and undermined security.

One year ago this month, then-Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, Representative Peter T. King, promised that homeland security jurisdiction would be consolidated if the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives. At the time, he stated that "obviously, homeland security jurisdiction must be consolidated and refined, and Republican leadership will do that." However, since the opening of the 112th Congress, there have been no changes to homeland security jurisdiction. Last week, in response to the release of the Bipartisan Study Committee report, now-Chairman King pledged "to continue to work with [you] and other House leaders to implement this important recommendation on House committee jurisdiction."

As the Member with the longest tenure as Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, I have keen insights about the challenges posed to the security or our Nation by the current unwieldy jurisdictional divisions over homeland security and, as such, am requesting to be included in your efforts to address committee jurisdiction over homeland security. Further, I would note that this undertaking is timely insofar as the consolidation of homeland security jurisdiction is critical to the fate of the forthcoming Department of Homeland Security Authorization legislation that the Committee is beginning to prepare.

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Sincerely,

Bennie G. Thompson
Ranking Member


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