Bill would create panel to oversee federal homeland security efforts

Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Calif., introduced legislation Thursday aimed at increasing cooperation and collaboration within the federal government on homeland security issues. Horn's bill, H.R. 3378, would establish the Commission on Homeland Security to study the federal government's security efforts, including the efficiency of agencies' security missions and the sufficiency of federal personnel resources. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge would chair the proposed 21-member commission. The President, the House speaker, the House minority leader and the Senate majority and minority leaders would choose the other commission members. The commission would also study the effectiveness of interagency coordination. "Following the September 11th attacks, federal officials acknowledged that two of the terrorists should not have been in this country at all," Horn said in a press release. "Yet, poor communication among federal agencies allowed these terrorists to move freely about the country as they trained and prepared for their unspeakably evil mission." The lawmaker said he was concerned about the federal government's ability and willingness to share intelligence information with each other as well as with state and local agencies. "One might logically expect that the State Department, the FBI, the [Immigration and Naturalization Service], and the Customs Service would share intelligence," Horn said. "Although the FBI had placed two of the September 11th terrorists on a watch list, neither the State Department nor the INS had access to that information." Jurisdictional concerns and technology infrastructures that are not linked contribute to the lack of communication among agencies, Horn said. The proposed commission would examine the accuracy and reliability of federal personal identification information and systems.