LEGISLATORS CONCERNED OVER COAST GUARD ROLE IN HOMELAND SECURITY
House leaders on Tuesday expressed concern that if the U.S. Coast Guard is compiled with 21 other agencies into President Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department, the agency will become strictly security-based and relinquish its role as a maritime safety administrator.
On Tuesday, the House Select Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing immediately after President Bush presented a 100-page proposal for the establishment of a Homeland Security Department.
Under Bush’s plan, the newly formed Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and Customs Service would play a central role in enforcing national security for trade and passengers entering America’s ports of entry and borders.
The “National Strategy for Homeland Security ” also calls for the use of “smart boxes” which would employ electronic seals to increase the security of international shipping containers, the improvement of intergovernmental law enforcement coordination, and the reformation of immigration services.
“There has got to be legislation that ensures that its non-security missions are preserved,” said Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., in reference to Bush’s plan. “There is no guarantee in this legislation.”
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta tried to assure Menendez and others on the committee. “There are a number of non-security missions of the Coast Guard, and they will remain intact,” Mineta said. “The Coast Guard’s other missions will continue to flourish in the new department.”
Menendez said he wanted guarantees that the Coast Guard would get sufficient funding to carry out its functions, adding that the Coast Guard has currently had to reduce operations due to a lack of money. “We need safeguards on the budgetary process,” he said.
Mineta said that any such budgetary decisions would likely fall into the hands of the department’s administrator.
Mineta said it is imperative that both the TSA and the Coast Guard are brought into the fold of the security department, otherwise “the DHS would be lacking in its ability to fulfill its mission,”'Mineta said.