Bennie Thompson's chief-of-staff defends Homeland Security oversight attempts

The Center for Public Integrity - Is Congress Failing on Homeland Security Oversight?

“We spent the better part of the last two plus years fighting for more jurisdiction,” Lanier Avant, the staff director of the House Homeland Security Committee, explained recently. At the end of 2008, Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the panel’s chair, submitted a proposal to expand the committee’s legislative jurisdiction. “The truth is that when we sat down with committee chairmen, and staff directors — there were about 15, 16 of us in a room on a December night for probably four or five hours — if you look around the room and look at other committee chairmen, you say well, this is what I want to take from you, it really doesn’t happen like that,” Avant said.

Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson Calls to End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

In a joint letter to President Barack Obama, House Homeland Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson calls for the end of Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" homosexual policy in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Although we are confident that you will remain true to your campaign promise to end Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell, our LGBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)] service members and our country´s national security will continue to suffer if initial action is delayed until 2010 or 2011...This bilateral strategy would allow our openly gay and lesbian service members to continue serving our country and demonstrate our nation´s lasting commitment to justice and equality for all...we stand ready to assist you in repealing this dishonorable and debilitating law as soon as possible, and in restoring justice and equality in our Armed Forces.

Bennie Thompson on Extremism Report

Democrats joined Republicans on a key House panel Tuesday in voting for a formal inquiry into the development and distribution of a contentious Homeland Security Department report that described military veterans as possible recruits for extremists. Bennie Thompson:

"When this DHS-produced assessment first surfaced in April, like many Americans, I had issues with its content. Certainly its definition of 'right-wing extremism,' which did not clarify that extremist violence was the department's true focus, raised considerable concern. So did the suggestion that returning war veterans posed a potential threat to the homeland. I am interested in getting all of the facts that went into this report. I would expect the department to provide without prejudice whatever information is available."

Roundup: Childers, Thompson, Harper

Northeast Mississippi Down Syndrome Society visits with Travis Childers and Gregg Harper:

As for our personal meetings, we met first with Congressman Gregg Harper of MS. We were asked by the staff from NDSS to go by there to speak with him although he is outside of our region since no one else had scheduled an appointment with him. He has a son with Fragile X and is very supportive of any Bills that would help in any way. Next up was a meeting with Congressman Travis Childers of MS First District. We were extremely impressed by his interest in what we were there for and what we had to say. He mentioned several friends of his who live with Ds and even shared some personal stories about his past experiences with them. He was very knowledgeable of Ds and pledged his support to our cause. This meeting was by far the best meeting we had all day as far as content covered and reception by the congressman.

Homeland Security Chief Avoids Mention of 9/11, Terrorism in Remarks to Congress - Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson does, too:

As Janet Napolitano heads to Capitol Hill for the first time as homeland security secretary, she is leaving behind the tough terrorism talk of her predecessors.

She is the first security chief to leave out the words "terror" and "vulnerability" from remarks prepared for delivery to the House Homeland Security Committee, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

Napolitano, a former Arizona governor, instead charts a course in very different terms than Chertoff, who used law enforcement and military jargon -- "intelligence," "analysis," "mission" -- to describe the agency's objectives.

In her prepared remarks, Napolitano mentions "technology," "border" and "protect" most often and talks about holding department employees accountable and spending taxpayer money wisely, although she makes clear that the department's responsibility is protecting the nation against terrorism.

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee doesn't mention terrorism or 9/11 in his prepared remarks for Wednesday's hearing. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., says the priorities are securing borders, responding to natural disasters, ensuring transportation safety, protecting infrastructure and administering grants.

The committee's top Republican said he was struck by Napolitano's prepared remarks.

"This can't be the evil we don't speak about," said Peter King of New York. "Any testimony on homeland security should be centered around the threat of terrorism and what we're doing to combat it."

Harper on President's Agenda:

Harper said that deficit cutting rings hollow, especially after the president just signed the federal stimulus plan. "What we've done thus far doesn't indicate that that's the case," said Harper. "So if we're talking about reducing deficit spending, then we should have never passed a $1.2 trillion federal stimulus bill that was loaded with all kinds of wasteful federal spending." Harper said he supports Obama's plan to increase troops in Afghanistan, but that he can't support most of the president's domestic agenda.

Congressional Update

Bennie Thompson warns of Chinese hackers: "Sophisticated hackers could really wreak havoc on our financial systems if they were successful," House Homeland Security Committee chairman Bennie Thompson said. The threat is "primarily from China."

NRCC targets Travis Childers: The ads target a number of junior Democrats — such as Reps. Travis Childers of Mississippi, Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio and Suzanne Kosmas of Florida — and will run for about a week, according to the NRCC spokesman.

Gene Taylor says don't panic: U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor said Wednesday that South Mississippians shouldn’t panic over a proposed federal private property buyout plan that’s moving toward Congress for funding. Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, said that the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Plan has some excellent aspects, such as restoration of the barrier islands. And even though the plan has shrunk somewhat in scope since its origin, it is “still a very, very ambitious project,” he added. Taylor said he has told officials in the corps’ top echelon that any property buyouts must be voluntary on the part of the sellers, and any mandatory buyout by the government will not fly. “Given the sensitivities, there was a very high level of concern. They got the message,” he said. When the corps brought its buyout proposal to public meetings in the past, some property owners and public officials feared from comments they heard that citizens may be forced to sell their land to the government. “At least one person at the corps misspoke,” Taylor said. “I want to make it abundantly clear. This is strictly voluntary.”

Bennie Thompson critical of Boeing: "Boeing missed a number of deadlines," House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said in an interview. "They have to prove to me they've gotten better along the way."

Gregg Harper joins Republican Census taskforce: U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) joined Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other ranking Republicans in highlighting the creation of a Census Task Force created by Boehner and the Republican Conference.

Gregg Haprer criticizes White House over Census: "How would you feel if this was [President Bush's senior political adviser] Karl Rove and the Bush White House that was handling this census? It's the same thing," an indignant Rep. Gregg Harper, Mississippi Republican, said just hours before Mr. Gregg withdrew.

Gene Taylor joins six other Democrats to vote "no" on the the Stimulus Conference Package: The spending cuts and the scaling back of tax provisions weren't enough to persuade Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., to reverse his opposition to the package. Taylor, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, told RTTNews that his opposition came from the prospect of adding so dramatically to the national debt. "It's still borrowed money," he said. "It's an enormous amount of borrowed money, with no plan whatsoever to pay it back." He added, "I would hope that there would be more Democrats who are against it." He voted no.

Letter to the Editor: Harper ignores Reagan spending - U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, in his guest column on Feb. 7 ("Republicans voting against 'wasteful' bill a source of pride"), spoke of the turn-around of the nation's economy during the Reagan administration. Rep. Harper said: "You can not turn the economy around by spending money you do not have." However, that is exactly what the Reagan administration did, as it spent $2 trillion it did not have, doubling the national debt, and leaving the mess for our children and grandchildren to worry about. It wasn't so much the tax cuts that turned the economy around during the Reagan years as it was the brilliant idea of putting a big bunch of spending on somebody else's credit card. - James Lynch, Brandon

Kingfish on Homeland Security

Jackson Jambalaya's Kingfish has this post on the Third District candidates and Homeland Security: The 3rd Congressional District Candidates on Terrorism and National Security