"While Congress acts to better coordinate the work of the federal agencies involved in homeland security, we also need to improve these agencies so they actually do their jobs better under the framework of a new department," Grassley said.
Grassley said the legislation will ensure protection of whistleblowers in the new federal agency. He also said that it's critical for the country to be sure that the visa issuing process is more secure in light of Sept. 11 and the ongoing terrorist threat.
The overall bill would create a cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security to plan, coordinate and implement activities relating to homeland security. Six areas are covered, including border and transportation protection, intelligence, critical infrastructure protection, emergency preparedness and response, immigration affairs, and science and technology.
Grassley's key provisions are described here.
- Whistleblower Protections
Grassley worked to make sure that Department of Homeland Security employees have the same Whistleblower Protection Act rights that are currently available to all other federal employees. The legislation ensures that whistleblowers have procedural remedies to make sure that those rights are protected.- Customs
Grassley and Sen. Max Baucus, of Montana insisted on a number of safeguards to ensure that the US Customs Service continues to facilitate international trade during its transition from the Department of Treasury to Homeland Security, which is vital to the health of the US economy.- Visa Issuance
Grassley worked to put Department of Homeland Security agents at every facility where visas are issued or explain why agents aren't needed at a particular post. This provision requires the new Secretary to report to Congress yearly about every visa issuance post that isn't staffed with a Department agent and give an explanation why there wasn't one.-Critical Infrastructure/FOIA
Grassley worked to include FOIA provisions that encourage the private sector to alert government officials about risks to our critical national infrastructures. This provision will strike the delicate balance between sunshine in government and the responsibility to collect and share sensitive information about infrastructure vulnerabilities.- Counternarcotics Officer
Grassley worked to require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to appoint a senior official to be responsible for ensuring the adequacy of resources for drug interdiction.- ATF
Grassley worked to have the ATF agents moved to the Department of Justice with the regulatory functions remaining at Treasury. This will ensure the firearms and explosives experts will work alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency at the Justice Department, and the revenue-collection experts and auditors will stay at Treasury Department.
Grassley is the incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction over the Customs Service. He is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the FBI and immigration issues. In 1989, he co-authored the Whistleblower Protection Act. He's been an outspoken advocate for whistleblowers in the government and private sector.
Grassley's floor statement on the Homeland Security legislation follows here:
Mr. President, I rise in support of the Homeland Security bill. I believe that today we are taking definitive action to put the government in a better position to prevent and respond to acts of terrorism. The creation of a Department to oversee homeland security has been a tremendous undertaking for the White House and Congress. It has forced all of us to face multiple challenges; including overcoming the various agencies' desire for self-preservation and the long-standing turf battles we are all too familiar with. Regardless of these difficulties, we have no choice but to strengthen our national security. A Department of Homeland Security is our best answer, and I've tried to do all that I could to enhance the effectiveness of the new department.
This new Department will have to improve and coordinate our intelligence analysis and sharing functions, as well as our law enforcement efforts. Our Nation needs to do everything possible to make sure the attacks of a year ago never happen on American soil again. The creation of the Department will help coordinate our homeland security efforts and better protect the United States from terrorist attack.
The new Department will also identify and destroy barriers to effective communication and cooperation between the many entities involved in America's national security. It will identify our security and intelligence shortcomings and resolve them appropriately. It should also guarantee that the various infrastructure protection agencies moving to it have a smooth and seamless transition, and that Whistleblower protections are given to each and every employee, without exception.
I was glad to have an opportunity to work with the sponsors of the bill to secure adequate whistleblower rights for Department employees. Because rights are worthless unless you have a process by which those rights can be addressed, I worked with the sponsors to ensure that whistleblowers have procedural remedies. The bill's whistleblower protection language grants the Department's employees the same Whistleblower Protection Act rights that are currently enjoyed by almost all other federal employees.
Another big part of the homeland security bill includes provisions to restructure the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The new department will be instrumental in securing our borders, but we'll have to steadily implement changes to improve the agency's service and enforcement functions. Improvements to this agency are long overdue, and cannot be ignored after this bill passes. Just because we have streamlined their management, the INS' performance will be scrutinized in the years to come. The INS will be accountable to the American people, and I look forward to seeing some changes in the way they do their business.
I'm pleased that I was able to work on an immigration reform measure that will strengthen the Secretary's visa issuance powers. This provision authorizes the DHS Secretary to put DHS agents at consular posts or requires a finding that DHS agents aren't needed, and it gives the DHS Secretary influence in State Department personnel matters relating to visa issuance. It also requires annual reports to the Congress on security issues at each consular post. These changes will help us avoid dangerous programs like visa express that let terrorists in without any real screening.
I am also pleased that the Homeland Security bill we are considering today incorporates a number of our recommendations to ensure that the international trade functions of the Customs Service are not subsumed by the need for strong law enforcement under the Department of Homeland Security. In order to achieve this, we included a number of procedural protections. However, even with these safeguards, I am somewhat concerned that an attitude could prevail over time in which the trade functions of the Customs Service become nothing more than a tool for the enforcement functions. I do not think this is an insignificant concern. Today, Customs operates under the umbrella of the Treasury Department, whose core mission it is to serve as a steward of the economy. Moving the 200 year old agency to Homeland Security could fundamentally alter the traditional mission and culture of the U.S. Customs service. As the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee I plan to exercise my oversight function diligently to make sure that this does not happen.
Another provision that I worked hard to secure, along with Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, is the transfer of ATF agents to the Justice Department. The firearms and explosives experts will work alongside the FBI and the DEA at Justice, and the revenue-collection experts and auditors will stay at the Treasury Department. This move will help coordinate criminal and antiterrorism investigative activities at the DOJ, but will keep the ATF's revenue-collection duties at Treasury where they belong. So I thank the leadership for making sure these important changes were made.
I also applaud the inclusion of language that I advocated requiring the new Secretary to appoint a senior official to be responsible for ensuring the adequacy of resources for drug interdiction. The smuggling, transportation, and financing organizations that facilitate illegal drug trafficking can just as easily smuggle terrorists or terror weapons into the United States. Many of the agencies being moved into the new Department were previously focused on the fight against narcotics. By coordinating counternarcotics policy and operations, this new official will ensure that our efforts to respond to future acts of terrorism will not come at the price of relaxing our efforts against the dehumanizing and painful effects of drug use on society and families.
I was also pleased to work with Senators Lott and Bennett on FOIA provisions that encourage the private sector to alert government officials about risks to our critical national infrastructures. While public disclosure laws such as FOIA are central to the policy of preserving openness in government, they sometimes serve to inhibit our ability to receive vitally important national security-related information from businesses that fear unwarranted loss of public confidence and use by competitors, criminals, and terrorists. This new language will strike the delicate balance between "sunshine" in government and the responsibility that we have to collect and share sensitive information about infrastructure vulnerabilities in an atmosphere of trust and confidence.
The ultimate goal here before us is to help our intelligence and law enforcement communities at being the best they can be at protecting our nation and the American people. But, we can't build a new house with broken blocks. If we don't fix the problems at the various agencies that will make up the new Department, we won't see real homeland security. A lot of work has been done and I feel that we are on the right track. I believe this plan is indeed the answer for effective homeland security, now and for the future. Let's move forward from here and get it done.