Nomination Hearing, For the Nomination of Michael P. Jackson to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security

340 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
Tel: (202) 224-4751 Web: http://hsgac.senate.gov
For Immediate Release Contact: Elissa Davidson
202-224-4751

March 7, 2005

Nomination Hearing

For the Nomination of
Michael P. Jackson to be
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security

Opening Remarks of Senator Susan M. Collins
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
March 7, 2005

* * *
Today, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will consider the nomination of Michael P. Jackson to be Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Let me begin by noting that I understand that our nominee shares his name with another individual who's attracting considerable media attention these days. To anyone thinking about cracking a joke along those lines, I offer two observations: one, our nominee had the name first; and, two, there cannot possibly be a joke he hasn't heard a hundred times before. I think he would find our avoiding the subject altogether to be a real thriller.

This month marks the second anniversary of DHS operations. We also at this time are witnessing the departure of many of the Department's first generation of officials. These pioneers of homeland security - Tom Ridge, James Loy, Asa Hutchinson, and others - stepped forward to serve their nation under extraordinarily difficult and uncertain circumstances. All Americans owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Now, a second generation is stepping forward. This transformation began last month with the confirmation of Secretary Michael Chertoff. As the unanimous votes both in this Committee and in the full Senate indicate, Secretary Chertoff's distinguished career in the law has prepared him well for this leadership position.

I believe that Mr. Jackson's distinguished and varied career prepares him well to be Secretary Chertoff's second-in-command. He was Deputy Secretary of Transportation on September 11th and thus was on the front lines of the war on terror from the very start. He was a leader in the creation of the Transportation Security Administration.

Prior to, and now after, that tour of duty, he gained valuable experience in the private sector that bears directly on some of Homeland Security's most pressing issues. From the American Trucking Association, toLockheed Martin, to his most recent position as Chief Operating Officer of AECOM (a-e-com) Technology Corporation, Mr. Jackson appears to be well-qualified this position.

There is no specific job description for this position, but the individual Mr. Jackson seeks to replace, Admiral James Loy, summed up the job qualifications this way in a recent interview: vision, action, perseverance, and thick skin.
Beyond an impressive employment record, Mr. Jackson brings with him something that will be invaluable to the Department: a reputation as a great manager. In fact, a book about post-9/11 America titled After, by Steven Brill, describes Mr. Jackson as, and I quote, "Whip smart when it came to budget and operational details, a real manager who everyone seemed to think was destined for bigger things."

It doesn't get any bigger than protecting our nation against terrorism and improving our ability to respond. The first generation of Department leaders did a remarkable job of laying the foundation, but much remains to be done. The task is made even more confounding by the fact that new threats and vulnerabilities continue to emerge even as we still strive to the address the old ones.

Since the stand up of the Department, this Committee has held several oversight hearings to explore the status of DHS and to chart its future. The expert testimony we heard made it clear that the melding of 22 federal agencies with more than 180,000 employees into one cohesive unit remains very much a work in progress.

Within the general status report are several troubling specifics. A lack of strategic planning continues to hamper our ability to direct resources to the right place at the right time. The configuration of the Department itself has yet to be refined for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. There is a need to define more clearly the authorities of the agencies within DHS and between the Department and other agencies and departments.

On a more specific level, I am very concerned about a number of issues. For example, our nation's seaports remain an obvious vulnerability and have not received the resources and priorities they warrant. The delay in implementing the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program is inexplicable and unacceptable. And the Administration's budget would reduce funding for our first responders to inadequate levels.

I am heartened, however, that Mr. Jackson shares many of these concerns. In a Heritage Foundation lecture titled, "Securing America's Airports and Waterways," Mr. Jackson described his vision for a fully integrated approach to security across our entire transportation network - air, land, and sea. The details of Mr. Jackson's plan go directly to the core of many deficiencies that have been described in our oversight hearings.

Most heartening is his bottom line. The turf battles and bureaucratic inertia that continue to afflict DHS internally and affect its relationships with other agencies at all levels of government cannot prevent us from answering the fundamental question with which he concluded his lecture: "What works? Nothing else makes a difference."

I look forward to discussing what works in great detail today with our nominee.

http://hsgac.senate.gov/_files/JacksonSMCopening.pdf