National Homeland Security Agency?
The U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, chaired by
Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, has released its third and final report.
The report makes numerous recommendations on how to address emerging
threats. But the authors admit the recommendations are not readily
convertible into policy. The commission offered "solutions
that are best, not those that are necessarily feasible," said
Warren Rudman, on the day of the report’s release.
However, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Tex., told a recent defense conference
that he plans to introduce legislation with Sen. Pat Roberts to
implement one of the recommendations. The bill seeks to create a
new federal entity, the National Homeland Security Agency. The agency
would include sections of the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Customs
Service and the National Guard to better protect the country’s
internal infrastructure.
No Military Supplemental This Year?
Les Brownlee, staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
and Steve Cortese, staff director of the Senate Appropriations Committee,
recently were part of a panel discussing the presumed absence of
a supplemental appropriation bill for the military this year. "I
think it is refreshing to see that the administration will do a
detailed threat assessment and strategic review before coming to
the Hill to fund programs," Brownlee said. Cortese shared Brownlee’s
view. "The administration needs to identify their priorities
and then undertake the strategic review," said Cortese. Cortese
also gave a basic timeline: "The administration will send the
topline figure to us on March 28, and the budget must be received
by April 1," Cortese said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., agreed that the strategic review should
take precedent over emergency appropriations. "We ought to
take a look at the threats first, review them, take a look at what
our strategy is and [then] take a look at how we should structure
ourselves to carry out that strategy," Levin said. He also
emphasized that modernization of forces, possible base closures
and the implementation of a national missile defense program will
significantly alter budget priorities, so the strategic review will
be even more important. Hopefully, the review will "focus on
what are the new threats, and how do we modernize our forces, transform
our forces to meet those threats," he said.
Army Gets ‘Rare’ Senate Appropriations Support
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki enjoys unprecedented levels
of support from Capitol Hill for his "transformation"
initiative to modernize the Army, said Kraig Siracuse, professional
staff member of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense
subcommittee.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, is
"very supportive of this chief," Siracuse told the Association
of the U.S. Army’s winter symposium.
Last fiscal year, he noted, the committee increased the Army’s
budget for transformation programs by $500 million, without specifying
in great detail how the money should be spent. "That’s
a big pot of money. It’s a very rare thing for us in Congress,
especially in the appropriations committee, to put pots of money
without a lot of requirements," said Siracuse. "It’s
rare to have such great confidence in the chief."
Addressing questions from the audience about the future of defense
spending, Siracuse suggested that the most significant indicator
was in President Bush’s budget speech in February. The emphasis
was on increased spending for education, he said. "Your problem
right now is education vs. defense."
Bush also talked about a $5.7 billion boost for military pay and
benefits. But he has not explained where that money will come from,
said Siracuse. It is not clear whether the funds will result from
an increase in the top line or whether they will be drawn from existing
Pentagon accounts, such as modernization and procurement.
For that reason, Pentagon brass should start thinking about setting
priorities for future resource-allocation, said Siracuse. President
Bush talked about discarding Cold War relics, he said. "In
our committee, we are trying to determine what are the relics."
The Army, for example, needs to decide how it will constitute its
force so that it can sustain the current systems and invest for
the future. "We are concerned about the legacy force,"
he said. "It’s talked about a great deal, but how are
we paying for that, while we modernize?"
Another potential hurdle for those on Capitol Hill who support
plus-ups in defense spending is simple politics, said Siracuse.
It was easier during the Clinton administration for a Republican
Congress to add money to defense, "but it’s going to
be harder to do that now, for a Republican Congress to add money
to a Republican president’s budget."
If something is not in the president’s budget, he said, "I
think that it’s going to be hard to plus it up."
The committee, said Siracuse, also plans to look at issues such
as:
Sen. Snowe: Why She Left Armed Services
Out of every new Senate committee assignment in 2001, what ‘shocked’
me was to see Sen. Olympia Snowe leave the Armed Services Committee
for a spot on the Finance Committee," said William A. Daoulas,
a defense industry lobbyist. Snowe, R-Maine, who comes from the
shipyard-heavy state of Maine, was the chair of the sea power subcommittee.
Under Senate rules, Sen. Snowe is required to relinquish her seat
on the Armed Services Committee in order to accept a post on the
Finance Committee.
According to Sen. Snowe, "My decision was a difficult one,
because I have enjoyed my service on the Armed Services Committee.
I reached my decision only when it became clear that the number
of seats on the Armed Services Committee would be expanded and that
my colleague Sen. Collins would have the opportunity to secure a
seat on the committee. With Maine’s two senators in these
key committee positions, we are now strongly positioned to influence
a wide array of issues important to Maine and the nation.
"From my earliest days as a member of the minority in the
House of Representatives, I have worked diligently on behalf of
Maine’s defense jobs and a strong national defense. I will
continue to be a strong advocate for those priorities as Maine’s
senior senator."
Naval Unit Sends One of Their Own to Congress
Freshman Congressman Mark Kirk, R-Ill., (related story page 16-17),
was, until this past December, part of a reserve unit based at Andrews
Air Force Base that flies the EA-6B Prowler. The 16-aircraft Prowler
Squadron, whose members are known as the Star Warriors, have been
deployed on numerous missions in the last decade to attack and disable
the radar of the enemy. Kirk was the commanding officer for the
squadron’s intelligence effort at Aviano Air Force Base in
Italy, during Operation Northern Watch over Iraq. The Prowler aircraft,
made by Northrop Grumman, interrupts radar signals by jamming the
radar systems of enemy command and control. Though the stealth bomber
was thought at one time to be the primary radar-interruption device,
"the older Prowler has proved to be more reliable and effective,"
said Kirk.
The Star Warriors are pleased to be sending one of their members
to Congress, and they are not surprised that it is Lt. Cmdr. Kirk.
"He was a phenomenal officer, well above his contemporaries.
He will bring a lot to his new position because he will be able
to speak from his experience in the military," said Capt. Clay
Fearnow, Director of the Naval Reserves on the Center for Naval
Operations Staff.
Berman to Introduce Legislation on Export Controls
Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., is an active member of the House International
Relations Committee. He has long been involved in the export controls
debate and recently announced that he was drafting legislation to
switch the jurisdiction of commercial satellite licenses from the
State Department back to the Commerce Department. "There are
few times when Congress overreacts to things," he said jokingly.
"However, this is one of those times."