Panel agrees not to shift Geological Survey work to DHS office

The House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee approved a measure Wednesday that would prevent science and environmental work performed by the U.S. Geological Survey from being transferred to a new Homeland Security Department office designed to coordinate the use of satellites for certain domestic activities.

"We don't want to get the science mixed up with law enforcement," Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norman Dicks, D-Wash., said in an interview after his panel marked up the fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment spending bill. "I just want to keep them separate."

Dicks added language to the bill that would prevent the science and environmental functions of the Interior Department's Civil Applications Committee from being transferred to a Homeland Security office designed to coordinate the use of military and intelligence satellites for law enforcement and security operations inside the United States.

The move is the latest in a long-running effort by Dicks and other lawmakers to curtail or stop the operations of the Homeland Security unit, called the National Applications Office.

Last week, Dicks and House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Chairwoman Jane Harman, D-Calif., introduced a stand-alone bill to cut off all funding for the NAO, an initiative launched by the Bush administration.

Dicks said he wants the traditional missions of the Civil Applications Committee to continue inside Interior. That would include using satellites to support scientific research, track weather patterns and monitor natural disasters.

"They would be doing all the things they have been doing," he said. "We want to keep it the way it is."

On Monday, the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee marked up the fiscal 2010 Homeland Security spending bill with language that would rescind all previous funding for the NAO. The provision also would prevent the office from commencing operations until a series of legal and policy concerns are satisfied, a congressional aide said.

Some lawmakers, such as Harman, have expressed concern that opening an office that uses secret military satellites for domestic security missions could violate the law.

Nonetheless, the fiscal 2010 spending bill allocates money to the office, albeit less than the Obama administration requested. The congressional aide said the funding would allow the Homeland Security Department to conduct administrative tasks associated with opening the NAO.

After having successfully attached his language to the Interior spending bill, Dicks said he will not offer an amendment to cut off all funding for the NAO when the full House Appropriations Committee marks up the fiscal 2010 Homeland Security spending bill on Friday.