Protecting the Homeland (Newt Gingrich and Tom Foley)

Even though the House of Representatives has now passed an historic intelligence Reform bill, additional steps still need to be taken to make America more safe and secure in the future. Permanency is good news, but it's not enough. This committee will need stature and clout — real jurisdiction — to provide rigorous oversight over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).[snip]

Mr. Hastert recently told the House Republican Conference that he would establish a permanent homeland-security committee in the 109th Congress, which opens in January. He could have let the Select Committee expire and opted for easier fixes, such as establishing a new subcommittee for an existing standing committee. This would have pleased a number of chairmen who strongly argued the case against permanency, but Mr. Hastert saw that the harder road for the House was the right one for a safer America. With the executive branch organized around DHS as the focus of the nation's counter-terrorism efforts, it is difficult to imagine why the Congress would want to perpetuate a piecemeal approach to homeland-security issues, with literally dozens of committees and subcommittees engaged in oversight of DHS. We are encouraged that the speaker rejected this course.

It is certain we will have made no progress if the new committee isn't given broad legislative and oversight jurisdiction over DHS programs and activities, especially those focused on the department's core counterterrorism mission. That will require carving out a portion of a few standing committees' existing jurisdiction, certain to be a contentious task. In our view, however, it would be better to have no committee at all, than to create a hollow committee too weak to guide DHS effectively and that simply adds to the congressional bureaucracy. This job must be done right, or not at all.

"more safe?"
I guess English grammar are not Newt & Tommy's strong suit. LOL
how about "safer"...LOL

And we don't need another "investigation" or "committee"
what we do need are troops on the borders! Hellooooooooo

And until the W administration and Congress start enforcing the immigration laws in this country and securing the ports and borders there is no "Homeland Security!"
Point, Game, Set, Match!

There is much talk in all of this bill business about "sharing intelligence". This new bill, S. 2845 (I know it's a little dated), is supposed to solve that "problem".
The shame of it all is that there are already systems in place to do that. Part of that system is The Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC). Part of that agency's job is to "Enhance interaction, information sharing, and synergy among U.S. officials involved in the war against terrorism." Further, this report, The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Efforts to Improve the Sharing of Intelligence and Other Information talks about the things that could be done within the already existing Counterterrorism Division (CTD) as well to promote information sharing.

This article shows how some of the millions of dollars are already being spent on counter terrorism...DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
$38 million to improve the FBI’s intelligence capability, including a new Office of Intelligence to coordinate intelligence requirements and collection, additional language translators, and additional surveillance staff;
$60 million for counterterrorism investigations;
$55 million to combat cybercrime; and
$52 million to protect the United States from foreign government intelligence operations and espionage.
(BTW, that Office of Intelligence is within, of all places, the Energy Dept.)
There is a vast array of programs already in place to handle terrorism, much more than what I've listed here. All I see is the deck chairs being moved around. Instead of fixing any existing problems we see the usual response of government...never ending expansion.
Someday, with the best of intentions, it's going to step on us all while the blind continue bumbling along...

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