A bill intended to carry out expert advice on countering biological
terrorism and other WMD threats is "almost assured of failure" in
Congress as a result of self-interested legislators, former Senator Bob
Graham (D-Fla.) told the Huffington Post last week (see GSN, May 10).
The House Homeland Security Committee backed the "WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2011" on Wednesday, but lawmakers' unwillingness to simplify their oversight of Homeland Security Department operations means the bill must also receive endorsement from the Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure, and intelligence committees. The Senate would then have its say.
The bill offers measures corresponding to recommendations from the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which referred to potential biological strikes as the most significant danger to the United States.
"As somebody once said, there is nothing as permanent as a subcommittee of a Senate committee," said Graham, who co-chaired the commission with former Senator Jim Talent (R-Mo.). "People build their careers around these committees of targeted influence."
"Congress has organized itself in a way to make it impossible for anything related to terrorism to be enacted," Graham told the Post shortly following the WMD bill's approval by the Homeland Security Committee.
Measures within the legislation include authorizing appointment of a special assistant to the president for biodefense; requiring a U.S. policy for countering biological threats and a funding plan incorporating an evaluation of preparatory shortcomings and funding problems; and mandating the development of a "national biosurveillance strategy" within the Homeland Security Department.
A second expert said "efforts now are being made to solve most key problems via interagency committees."
"From personal experience during the post 9/11 period, I can attest to the fact that this seldom works well -- if it works at all," said Donald Henderson, who led the international effort to eradicate smallpox. "It is like having an orchestra with no conductor, albeit with individual leads for each instrumental section."
Bush-era Homeland Security Council biodefense policy chief Robert Kadlec added: "We are not well served by decentralization."
"No one’s in charge" and officials "don't always work collegially" in carrying out joint duties, Kadlec said.
Graham warned the stakes are high.
"The greatest WMD threat facing the United States is not nuclear or chemical or radiological. It’s biological," he said. "As our most significant threat, it deserves to have a permanent, accountable, sufficient visibility so that this issue can be kept before the public."
"The current system is vulnerable," Graham warned.
The bill's primary congressional backer warned: "This is a darn big issue."
"There's probably no bigger issue in homeland security" than readying to avert, react to, defend from and recuperate after a WMD strike, Representative Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) added. The previous Congress failed to pass the bill and a repeat outcome is possible, even though the proposal has significant backing from GOP and Democratic lawmakers, according to the Post (Andrea Stone, Huffington Post, May 11).
http://www.nti.org/gsn/
The House Homeland Security Committee backed the "WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2011" on Wednesday, but lawmakers' unwillingness to simplify their oversight of Homeland Security Department operations means the bill must also receive endorsement from the Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure, and intelligence committees. The Senate would then have its say.
The bill offers measures corresponding to recommendations from the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, which referred to potential biological strikes as the most significant danger to the United States.
"As somebody once said, there is nothing as permanent as a subcommittee of a Senate committee," said Graham, who co-chaired the commission with former Senator Jim Talent (R-Mo.). "People build their careers around these committees of targeted influence."
"Congress has organized itself in a way to make it impossible for anything related to terrorism to be enacted," Graham told the Post shortly following the WMD bill's approval by the Homeland Security Committee.
Measures within the legislation include authorizing appointment of a special assistant to the president for biodefense; requiring a U.S. policy for countering biological threats and a funding plan incorporating an evaluation of preparatory shortcomings and funding problems; and mandating the development of a "national biosurveillance strategy" within the Homeland Security Department.
A second expert said "efforts now are being made to solve most key problems via interagency committees."
"From personal experience during the post 9/11 period, I can attest to the fact that this seldom works well -- if it works at all," said Donald Henderson, who led the international effort to eradicate smallpox. "It is like having an orchestra with no conductor, albeit with individual leads for each instrumental section."
Bush-era Homeland Security Council biodefense policy chief Robert Kadlec added: "We are not well served by decentralization."
"No one’s in charge" and officials "don't always work collegially" in carrying out joint duties, Kadlec said.
Graham warned the stakes are high.
"The greatest WMD threat facing the United States is not nuclear or chemical or radiological. It’s biological," he said. "As our most significant threat, it deserves to have a permanent, accountable, sufficient visibility so that this issue can be kept before the public."
"The current system is vulnerable," Graham warned.
The bill's primary congressional backer warned: "This is a darn big issue."
"There's probably no bigger issue in homeland security" than readying to avert, react to, defend from and recuperate after a WMD strike, Representative Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) added. The previous Congress failed to pass the bill and a repeat outcome is possible, even though the proposal has significant backing from GOP and Democratic lawmakers, according to the Post (Andrea Stone, Huffington Post, May 11).
http://www.nti.org/gsn/
