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DHS Goals 2008 10 Jan 2008 #125
DHS Goals 2008
By Dr Dave McIntyre, Director, Integrative Center for Homeland Security, 10 January 2008
Last week we reviewed what Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff thinks went well in 2007. [1] This week we will talk about his goals for 2008 -- if you will give me Just a Minute for Homeland Security.
I’m Dave McIntyre, Director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M.
Secretary Chertoff was pretty pleased with his department’s performance in five areas in 2007: Keeping dangerous people out of the US; Keeping out dangerous things; Strengthening domestic infrastructure, especially through partnerships with private industry; Promoting emergency management; And internal management of the Department.
And he has identified four areas where he expects major progress next year.
First is border security and immigration. In 2008, DHS will continue to install more than 200 miles of pedestrian fence and 180 miles of vehicle fence along the border. They will finish doubling the size of the Border Patrol to 18,000 agents. And they will continue to push for federal legislation to overcome a rising tide of legal maneuvers that block DHS border efforts.
Second, DHS will renew its push for national standards for identification documents, like drivers licenses. Today more than 8,000 forms of identification are accepted at security checkpoints, and many of them are easy to fake. Chertoff wants states in particular to produce identification documents that look more alike and are more secure.
Third, Chertoff wants to press for much improved cyber security in both the government and the private sector. DHS has created a new National Cyber Security Division to promote cooperation on computer security between federal agencies. And it established a Computer Emergency Readiness Team to provide 24 hour watch and cyber alerts of vulnerabilities and incidents.
Fourth, with one year left in his term, the Secretary of Homeland Security wants to institutionalize operations in his own department, where 22 agencies brought together in 2003 still sometimes have a mind of their own.
But Secretary Chertoff also added an informal fifth point of focus for this year, and he argued it with considerable passion. And that is an effort to get Congress to consolidate its oversight. Eighty-six congressional committees still have jurisdiction over some aspect of DHS. Each focuses on its own specific interests. As a result, senior leadership at DHS testified before Congress 224 times last year – and average of four times each week. The department has submitted 7,800 written reports, and answered more than 13,000 questions for record in less than five years. Chertoff calls this “oversight run amok.”
But not everyone agrees. Intentions are good. Actions are better. And next week we will hear what critics have to say about Secretary Chertoff’s analysis and priorities.
This is Dave McIntyre, Director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M, inviting you to joining us again next week on Just a Minute, for Homeland Security.
[1] Michael Chertoff, 2007 Achievements and 2008 Priorities, A speech at the Woodrow Wilson Institute, Washington, DC, December 12, 2007. http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/speeches/sp_1197513975365.shtm