WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives have launched a drive to portray themselves as energetic, trustworthy and effective on homeland security.
On Jan. 29, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the new chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security in the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress, spelled out his plans for improving U.S. domestic security. He said two of his priority goals would be upgrading security on the U.S. mass-transit systems and applying aggressive oversight to the widely criticized monster bureaucracy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Thompson said he wanted to push through Congress a "Real Deal for Homeland Security" with bipartisan support. He said the issue belonged to neither Republicans nor Democrats alone but was essential to all Americans.
Thompson said railroad security remained "an unmet need of the country." The U.S. government only spent two cents per passenger on rail security each year in contrast to the nine dollars per passenger spent on air security. he said.
"At this point, mass-transit security is a state and local issue," he said. "The federal government needs to step in to provide that additional layer."
Thompson said his "Real Deal" aimed to reorganize the huge and unwieldy Department of Homeland Security that has been struggling to integrate its 22 agencies into a more cohesive whole. He said aggressive congressional oversight could help the DHS to reorganize and move forward in dealing with issues such as rail and border security.
"We need to do better," Thompson said. "Our committee will be aggressive in pursuing the vulnerabilities (of the system)."
Thompson said he did not believe U.S. railroad security policy should be applied on the same strict pattern as air security. He said he would support adding more surveillance cameras, dogs trained to detect explosives and security personnel at busy train and subway stations.
"Madrid, London and Mumbai are clear examples of the vulnerability in this country," Thompson said. Madrid's mass transit system was bombed by Islamist terrorists in March 2004 and 200 people were killed. More than 50 people were killed when four suicide bombers detonated their explosives on three London subway trains and a bus on June 2005 and the Indian city of Mumbai also suffered heavy casualties from Islamist bomb attacks in 2006.
"We have to come up with real security programs that can identify every potential vulnerability," Thompson said
Former DHS Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said the United States remained vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
"Terrorists remain absolutely determined to strike again," Ervin said. "Odds are always in the terrorists' favor."
Thompson said he wanted to see a thorough plan for U.S. border security prepared that offered multiple approaches to the problem before any significant new policies were implemented. Without such a strategy in place, he said, tactics like building a 700 mile security fence along part of the U.S.-Mexican border would not be able to "address the entire issue."
"A fence without a plan is a piece-meal approach," Thompson said.
The Mexican border security fence was approved by the Republican-controlled 109th Congress last fall.
Thompson said he supported the request U.S. President George W. Bush made for a temporary worker program in his State of the Union address last week.
"Those immigrants who want to stay (in the country) and are legal should be allowed to do so," he said.
Thompson said efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast after the destruction of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina needed to include work relief programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal 70 years ago.
"Katrina and Rita are examples of what happens when government fails," Thompson said. "A Civilian Conservation Corps is needed for the Gulf Coast...I look forward to bringing that solution to fruition."
Ervin said bipartisanship and rigorous oversight from Congress were important to ensure U.S. national security.
Thompson said that in order to effectively carry out his committee's goals, congressional deadlines must be set to ensure progress. He said that since Nov. 7, the House Committee on Homeland Security had met more times with Homeland Security Security Michael Chertoff than it did in the previous 10 months combined.
"There are a number of challenges before us," Thompson said. "Working together we can make America a better place."
