Turf wars likely to erupt over DHS reorganization proposal

When Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced on July 13 that he would reorganize his troubled department, lawmakers on Capitol Hill gave him high marks. But Chertoff could quickly find his proposal tangled up in House-Senate negotiations over DHS's fiscal 2006 budget and in a tug-of-war between turf-conscious committee chairmen.

The secretary has broad power under the 2002 law creating the department to implement most of his reorganization plans, but he needs congressional approval for a handful of the proposals. He has sent legislative language to the Hill authorizing him to establish a new department-wide policy officer; eliminate the Border and Transportation Security Directorate and the Emergency and Preparedness Directorate; and revise the Federal Emergency Management Agency's responsibilities.

Lawmakers are reviewing Chertoff's legislative language and plan to hold hearings and draft legislation soon, according to House and Senate aides. More than a handful of committees could potentially seek to review the proposals. "Everybody is going to want to get their fingerprints on this," one House Republican aide predicted.

The plan is likely to reignite battles between House and Senate committee chairmen who have been fighting to retain jurisdiction ever since the debate over the department's creation in 2002. These battles flared up again more recently when Congress designated Homeland Security committees in each chamber and passed legislation overhauling the intelligence community. "Unfortunately, it doesn't take that much to create little wars over committee jurisdiction," said Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he hoped that Chertoff's proposal would raise the jurisdictional issue again and thus highlight the lack of coherent congressional oversight over DHS. In its report last summer, the 9/11 commission had called for streamlining congressional jurisdiction over the department. Although the House and Senate finally agreed in January to designate one committee in each chamber with primary jurisdiction over DHS, several other panels also share authority.

The department has been heavily criticized for inefficiencies, bureaucratic squabbles, and misuse of federal dollars since it was created by merging 22 different agencies. Through his reorganization, Chertoff intends to concentrate DHS resources on threats that pose catastrophic consequences. He wants to consolidate and dissolve several offices and to create new positions and programs by October 1.

The day after Chertoff's announcement, the Senate approved its fiscal 2006 Homeland Security appropriations bill. The House passed its version in May. Chertoff's proposal could throw a wrench into budget negotiations to reconcile the two chambers' versions, because the bills include specific -- and disparate -- funding levels for the DHS directorates that are now on the chopping block. "I'm hopeful we can support [the changes], but there may be some we don't," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss.

Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are likely to have first dibs on Chertoff's legislative fixes, but other committee chairmen have begun to lay their claims as well.

Already, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Max Baucus, D-Mont., have reminded Chertoff in a letter that late last year, "it was determined that the Senate Finance Committee would preserve the oversight of revenue functions, commercial functions, and commercial operations that are now delegated to Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Likewise, a spokesman for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, said that his panel is "intent on looking at any legislative language needed for this reorganization." Last year, Barton fought adamantly against creating the permanent House Homeland Security Committee and for retaining his committee's power over cyber-security issues at DHS. The Barton aide added that Energy and Commerce is "definitely going to keep a watchful eye over cyber-security."

Chertoff needs Congress to help him dissolve the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, which oversees the customs and immigration enforcement agencies as well as the Transportation Security Administration and its federal screeners. Chertoff also wants to break up the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection wing, which has fought a losing battle with the FBI and CIA over the last two years for power over intelligence matters. Chertoff said the DHS assistant secretary for information analysis would become his chief intelligence officer, and that he would promote the department's cyber-security czar to an assistant secretary position.

The secretary faces some criticism for what he is not revamping. Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have issued a report complaining that Chertoff's reorganization proposal "failed to address the inability of TSA to serve as both an aviation security agency and a surface transportation security agency."

Republicans have also bashed the beleaguered TSA; and although Chertoff has not taken steps to overhaul the agency, Congress could deliver legislative reforms in the near future. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., who currently chairs the House Homeland Security Committee but has been nominated to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, has said that his committee will draft legislative reforms for TSA this year.