S. HRG. 110–36 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION Department of Homeland Security Nondepartmental witnesses Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 33–920 PDF WASHINGTON : 2007 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont TED STEVENS, Alaska TOM HARKIN, Iowa ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri PATTY MURRAY, Washington MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JACK REED, Rhode Island SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado BEN NELSON, Nebraska LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee TERRENCE E. SAUVAIN, Staff Director BRUCE EVANS, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland TED STEVENS, Alaska HERB KOHL, Wisconsin ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania PATTY MURRAY, Washington PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey LARRY CRAIG, Idaho BEN NELSON, Nebraska LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee Professional Staff CHARLES KIEFFER CHIP WALGREN DRENAN E. DUDLEY TAD GALLION CHRISTA THOMPSON REBECCA DAVIES (Minority) CAROL CRIBBS (Minority) MARK VAN DE WATER (Minority) (II) CONTENTS THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2007 Page Department of Homeland Security ......................................................................... 1 Nondepartmental Witnesses ................................................................................... 185 (III) DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008 THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2007 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 2:35 p.m., in room SD–192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Robert C. Byrd (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Byrd, Leahy, Murray, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Nelson, Cochran, Stevens, Shelby, Craig, and Alexander. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL CHERTOFF, SECRETARY OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Senator BYRD. Welcome, Secretary Chertoff. You’ve been here long enough to know what the problems are, and you should be able to answer the tough questions. This is the first hearing of the Homeland Security Subcommittee during the 110th Congress. The Department of Homeland Security has had the benefit of oversight from two excellent Subcommittee chairmen during the Department’s 4-year history. Senator Thad Cochran, and Senator Judd Gregg. It would be difficult, Mr. Chair- man, to live up to the standard that you and Senator Gregg have set. But, I look forward to the challenge. Mr. Secretary, thank you for appearing here today. You manage a department that employs over 192,000 dedicated men and women. These workers serve on the front lines. The front lines, securing our ports and waterways, securing our borders, en- forcing our immigration laws, protecting the 600 million flyers who use our airports each year, and responding to disasters. I commend them for their dedication, and their service to preserving our free- doms and securing our homeland. Two years ago, Senator Craig and I, with support from Chairman Gregg offered an amendment to begin the process of hiring and training a significant number of border patrol agents, and immigra- tion investigators. Despite opposition from the White House, the funds for enhanced border security were enacted into law. Since 2004, on a bipartisan basis, we have increased the number of border patrol agents by 4,000, the number of immigration enforcement personnel by 1,373, and the number of detention beds by 9,150. (1) 2 So, Mr. Secretary, I’m pleased that the President’s budget for fis- cal year 2008 includes significant additional resources for improv- ing security at our borders. Regrettably, the President’s budget did not commit significant re- sources to other known vulnerabilities in this country. The admin- istration continues to attempt to secure the Nation on the cheap. In every State of the Union address since the attacks on 9/11, the President has raised the specter of another attack. In January he said, ‘‘Every success against a terrorist is a re- minder of the shoreless ambitions of this enemy. In the 6 years since our Nation was attacked, I wish I could report to you that the dangers have ended. They have not.’’ Yet, when you dig through the details and decipher the book-cooking in the Presi- dent’s budget, and truly understand the consequences of the budg- et, the increase that is proposed for Homeland Security is only 1 percent, 1 percent. The administration has a huge credibility gap when it comes to Homeland Security. In August, after the arrests in Britain of po- tential terrorists who plotted to blow up commercial airliners over the Atlantic Ocean, you elevated the threat-risk level in the avia- tion sector to ‘‘orange,’’ or high, orange. And it remains there today, orange. Yet, the President’s budget that is before the subcommittee, pro- poses to cut funding for purchasing and installing explosives-detec- tion equipment at airports by 17 percent. According to your own Department’s nationwide plan review, 61 percent of the States, and 69 percent of the urban areas, do not have adequate plans to respond to a catastrophic event. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, certainly proved that we are not pre- pared to respond to such an event, or a mass evacuation. Yet, the President’s budget proposes to cut first responder grants by $1.2 billion—B-I-L-L-I-O-N—$1.2 billion, and to freeze funding for emergency management performance grants. In recent years there have been deadly attacks on trains in Lon- don, Madrid, Moscow, Tokyo, and Mumbai, India. Hundreds of in- nocent people have lost their lives. The Department has responded with unenforceable policy directives, two small pilot projects, the results of which have not been applied nationally, and a budget that proposes to fund the mass transit and rail security program at the inadequate 2007 level of $175 million. I also figure that the Department is far too reliant on what I would call paper security. The Department is reliant on standards that are not enforced, and on reports prepared by contractors that are never executed. Five years since 9/11, the majority of cargo con- tainers that are loaded onto passenger aircraft are not N-O-T not inspected. We rely on a paper process for determining the threat potential of 3,800 freight forwarders, who have access to air cargo in 10,000 facilities. Congress has added funding for 300 air cargo inspectors, none of whom are being used to actually inspect cargo. Now, with regard to inspecting the 11 million cargo containers that are shipped into this country, we physically inspect only 5 to 7 percent. How, how, how can you ride herd on an aggressive and regular basis over more than 6,100 trading partners in nearly 60 countries who ship cargo into this country with only 157 supply- 3 chain security specialists? And yet, the President does not seek ad- ditional security specialists for fiscal year 2008. Mr. Secretary, you have taken on the task of managing a Depart- ment within an organization that was flawed at its inception. I said so then. Flawed at its inception. In its short 4-year history, the De- partment has been reorganized nine times. I know you’re committed to securing the homeland. But I do not understand why this administration insists on hamstringing the Department with a status quo budget. Can you explain that? Can anyone? I doubt it. Mr. Secretary, you have a tough job. Following any opening re- marks that Senator Cochran might have, we look forward to your testimony. Senator Cochran. STATEMENT OF SENATOR THAD COCHRAN Senator COCHRAN. Mr. Chairman, I’m pleased to join you in wel- coming the distinguished Secretary of Homeland Security to our Committee. We appreciate his leadership of the Department, and his assistance in describing the Department’s priorities as we begin the year’s appropriations process. The discretionary appropriations request included in the budget submitted for the Department is $32.4 billion, which is an increase of just over 1 percent from the current year’s level. Mr. Secretary, I compliment you for not including the presump- tion that aviation security fees will be approved by the Congress. I also want to compliment you for the Department’s response to the U.K. airline bombing plot last August. The Transportation Security Administration deserves commendation for creating a flexible pro- gram to meet threats to aviation. In the past 2 years, you have managed a substantial increase in funding for border security, and you have overseen the ending of the practice of catch-and-release on the Southwest border. I’m also pleased to see that you are on-track to meet the aggressive hiring targets that were funded during the past 2 years for Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. PREPARED STATEMENT The people of my State appreciate very much the Department’s efforts to respond to the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.