Brigitte L. Nacos
The 9/11 Commission Report states that of all the
recommendations the commission made, “strengthening congressional oversight may
be among the most difficult and the most important. So long as oversight is
governed by current congressional rules and resolutions, we believe the
American people will not get the security they want and need.” Recognizing that
the Congress’s oversight for intelligence and counterterrorism “is dysfunctional,”
the Commission recommended either the creation of one joint committee or at
least a single oversight committee in both congressional chambers. As the
Commission Report stated, “The leaders of the Department of Homeland Security
now appear before 88 committees and subcommittees of Congress.” While the
Republican majority did not act on this, Democrats promised before the election
that they would implement all recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. But according
to Jonathan
Weisman of the Washington Post, Democrats now reject this key 9/11
recommendation. If this turns out to be true, shame on Democrats in Congress.
If they break their campaign pledge on this important reform, they stick to an
oversight fragmentation that keeps too many committee and sub-committee chairs
in power at the expense of effectiveness.
Actually, for the sake of national security, congressional leaders must establish one joint congressional oversight committee for intelligence and counterterrorism along the lines of the old Joint Committee on Atomic Energy solution—not one committee in each chamber.
Preventing and responding to terrorism is a serious enough problem to subordinate turf battles inside the House and Senate and between the two chambers. When the next congress convenes in January, the Democrats have a golden opportunity to make important changes for the better—with the implementation of this crucial recommendation of the 9/11 Commission ranking very high on the priority list. According to the Post, “aides on the House and Senate appropriations, armed services and intelligence committees confirmed this week that a reorganization of congress would not be part of the package of homeland-security changes up for passage in the ‘first 100 hours’ of the Democratic Congress.”
If the information provided by committee staffers revealed indeed what the Democratic leadership decided, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid must reconsider and go ahead with this crucial reform.
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