Key Dems seek to withhold funding for DHS satellite office

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Chairwoman Jane Harman, D-Calif., on Thursday asked other House chairmen to withhold funding for a new Homeland Security Department office designed to access space satellites in support of operations within the United States.

The department wants to open a national applications office that would coordinate how federal, state and local officials access satellite technology to support such operations as securing U.S. borders, assessing damage created by natural disasters and protecting critical infrastructure.

Officials hope to provide access to satellites to support state and local law enforcement operations but maintain it will not do so until policy and legal questions are resolved.

But Thompson and Harman wrote to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Price, D-N.C., and House Appropriations Intelligence Oversight Chairman Rush Holt, D-N.J., to oppose funding of the office.

Thompson and Harman said they "remain extremely concerned about the program," adding Homeland Security has not adequately explained what law enforcement purposes the office would serve.

"We are left to conclude that the only reason to stand up a new office would be to gather domestic intelligence outside the rigorous protections of the law and, ultimately, to share this intelligence with local law enforcement outside of constitutional parameters," they wrote.

"We therefore urge you to abstain from authorizing or appropriating funding for the NAO. At a minimum, all funds should be fenced."

Last year, Thompson and Harman urged the withholding of fiscal 2008 funding for the office, a move appropriators eventually adopted.