Security committee should stay, Cox says

Alicia Robinson

Rep. Chris Cox asked the House of Representatives on Thursday to make

its Homeland Security Committee, which he chairs, permanent.

The committee was established in 2002 to oversee national security

upgrades after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The

recommendation to set a permanent homeland security committee was

part of a report issued Thursday that suggested changes to the rules

that govern House committees.

Internal resistance to making the committee permanent is

anticipated from committee members who don’t want to diminish the

authority of other committees they chair, but Cox said he expects the

House to make the committee permanent when the new congressional

session begins in January.

Several Homeland Security Committee members, including the

chairmen of the House Armed Services and Appropriations committees

and new CIA Director Porter Goss support making the committee

permanent, Cox said.

“There will be, nonetheless, difficult negotiations over the

rearrangement of jurisdictions in the House, but we’ve got to keep

the object in focus, [and] that is making the country safer,” Cox

said. “The department of Homeland Security is already the

third-largest cabinet department. It requires strong congressional

oversight.”

The recommendation for a permanent Homeland Security Committee is

in line with what the 9/11 commission recommended, Cox said.

Newport Beach Police Chief Bob McDonnell supports the

recommendation, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

“In the eyes of the chief of police here, he believes that giving

control [of the Homeland Security department] to the committee that

Cox controls is a good thing and that there’s too many legs to the

process to be effective,” Shulman said. “From that standpoint, those

recommendations are good.”

Cox has played a big part in other recent homeland security

issues, as well. He had significant input on a bill introduced on

Sept. 24 to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, he said.

Legislation he wrote earlier to streamline the process of

distributing homeland security funds was included in the bill. That’s

a key provision of the bill, as is creating a national intelligence

director and a counterterrorism center and promoting

information-sharing between intelligence agencies, Cox said. But he

may face a battle to get the bill approved.

“There is broad bipartisan support for the 9/11 commission’s

recommendations,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are competing bills

in the Senate and the House to achieve those objectives, in slightly

different ways. As a result, it will require a good deal of

statesmanship to ensure that we get a good bill to the president.”