“AlltheNewsIFeel LikePrinting.”
Committee Time‘
WashingtonDC VOL.I...No.1MARCH22,2007ZERODOLLARS
Scientist Begins Ne w Job At Cong ress
ThisFebruary,MatthewAllen,a nuclearengineerbytrainingandstaff physicistatSandiaNationalLaborato- ries,arrivedinWashingtonD.C.tobe- ginaoneyearassignmentasanASME CongressionalFellowattheHouse ofRepresentatives,HomelandSecurity (HS)Committee.TheHSCommit- teeischairedbytheHonorableBen- nieThompson,ademocratfromMissis- sippi.1TheHonorablePeteKing,aRe- publicanfromNewYork,leadsthemi- noritystaff.2 Chairman B.Thompson (D-MS)RankingMem. PeteKing (R-NY) Dr.Allenwillbeoneof19stafferson theminorityside–themajorityisalloted 38staffers. Marchhasbeenabusymonthforthe HSCommittee.Theyrecentlypassed H.R.844,the“PromotingAnti-terrorism CooperationthroughTechnologyand Science(PACTS)Act,”andH.R.1401, theRailBill–abillintendedtoimprove thesecurityofrail-basedtransportation. Mostrecentlythestaffhasbeenvery busydraftingthelanguagefortheFY08 DepartmentofHomelandSecurityAu- thorizationBill.TheAuthorizationbill, whichtypicallyauthorizeshundredsof billionsofdollarsforDHS,ispassedev- eryyearbytheHousebutrarelybythe Senate.Iffact,inthelastthreeandhalf years,CongresshasnotpassedanAu- thorizationBillforDHS.Actualmoney flowstotheDepartmentfromtheAppro- priationsCommittee.Thisdoesnotde- terthestaff(oneithersideoftheaisle) fromspendinglonghoursdrafting,edit- ing,debating,andre-draftinglanguage forthebasebillandamendments. TheHSCommitteeactuallyhassix subcommittees.Astheso-called“nu- clearfellow”Dr.Allenwillbework- ingdirectlywiththeminoritystaffon theSubcommitteeonEmergingThreats, Cybersecurity,andScienceandTechnol- ogy.TheETCSubcommittee(asitis affectionatelyknown)ischairedbythe HonorableJamesLangevin,aDemocrat fromRhodeIsland.Therankingmi- noritymemberistheHonorableMichael McCaul,RepublicanfromTexas. SubCom.Chair JamesLangevin (D-RI)
RankingMem. MichaelMcCaul (R-TX) TheETCSubcommitteeisthetech- nicalarmoftheHSCommitteeandhas jurisdictionoverchemical,biological, radiologicalandnuclearthreats;agroter- rorism;cybersecurity;otheremerging threats;theDomesticNuclearDetection Office(DNDO);theHomelandSecu- rityAppliedResearchProgramsAgency (HSARPA);andcross-cuttingscience andtechnologyinitiativesattheDepart- mentofHomelandSecurity.
ETC S
UBCOMMITTEEH
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EARINGS WITHDNDO
InthemonthofMarchtheETC Subcommitteeheldtwohearingsthat directlyrelatedto theoversightofthe DomesticNuclear DetectionOffice, (DNDO).Mr.Vayl Oxford,Director ofDNDO,wasthe primarywitnessin bothhearings.VaylOxford DirectorDNDO Thefirsthearing(heldonMarch 14)examinedstudiesfromtheGov- ernmentAccountabilityOffice(GAO). TheGAOissuedareporthighlighting concernswiththecost-benefitanalysis DNDOconductedtojustifytheacqui- sitionofnextgenerationradiationpor- talmonitors(RPMs).Cheifamongthese concernswasthepriceDNDOlistedfor currentgenerationRPMsandthepriceof nextgenerationAdvancedSpectroscopic Portals.Thesecondhearing(heldon March21)focusedonDNDO’sradiation portalmonitordeploymentstrategy. DNDO’splantogoforwardwith thedeploymentofhundredsofnew AdvancedSpectroscopicPortals(ASPs) figuredprominentlyatbothhearings. Thefinal(potentially$1Billion)con- tractforprocurementofASPsystems hasnotbeengranted.Testscurrentlyun- derwayattheNevadaTestSitearemeant tocomparecurrenttechnologywiththe newsystemsanddemonstratethecapa- bilityofthreecommercialcompaniesto meettherequiredgoalsofdetectionand identificationofradioactivematerials. 1MajorityWebpage 2MinorityWebpage VOL.I...No.1CommitteeTimesMARCH22,20072
Life on the Hill The First F our W eeks
ByMATTHEWALLEN Thefirstfourweekshavebeenareal learningexperience.Inthepastmonth, I’vehadmyfirstexposuretobothhear- ingsandmarkups. AhearingisheldtoinformMem- bersofCongressofanythingwithintheir committee’sjurisdiction.Hearingsare opentothepublicandserveasthemain toolofoversight—typicallyinvolving testimonyfromfederalagencies.They arealsoanenormousamountofwork forCongressionalcommitteestaff.One ofthefirstthingsrequiredforahearing iswitnesses,typicallypickedbythema- joritystaffwithinputfromtheminority. Oncethewitnessesandthedateofthe hearingarefinalized,thestaffresearches thehearingtopicandproducesthehear- ingmemo.Mysubcommitteestaffdi- rector,Dr.DianeBerry,hasastanding promisetobuylunchforanyonethat canproduceahearingmemothat’sun- derfivepages—I’venevermadeit.To datemyshortestis10pages,butIam improving—mylastmemoincludedno equationsorextraneousmath. Backgroundinformationmustbeex- tensivelyresearchedbecausetheonusis onthestafftobepreparedforanyques- tionthatmightariseduringthehearing. Itisalsotheroleofthestafftoprovide questionstomembersforthemtoaskthe witnesses.It’sbeenalearningexperi- encetoobservethatrigorouslywritten hearingmemosandquestionsthestaff hasspentlargeamountsoftimedrafting,revising,anddebating,areoftenglee- fullyignoredbytheMembers.Atthe endofeveryhearing,wesubmitQues- tionsFortheRecord.Theseareques- tionsMembersaskthewitnessestolook intoandgetbacktothecommittee. ThismonthIalsowentthroughmy first“markup.”Amarkupisapublic eventwherethemajorityandminority partiescometogetheranddebateand amendabill—firstatthesubcommittee andthenatthefullcommitteelevel.The RailBill(actuallybegunlastCongress) wasmarkeduponMarch8thatthefull committeelevel.Aspartoftheminor- itystaff,weworkonamendmentstothe billintroducedbythemajority.Amend- mentsaredraftedatthecommitteelevel andthencirculatedtocommitteemem- bers.Eachsubcommitteedraftsamend- mentsintheirjurisdiction,typicallytobe supportedbytheirrankingsubcommit- teemember.Mysubcommitteeworked onfouramendments,whichwerethen supportedbyMr.McCaul.Allfour amendmentswerepassedunanimously, withbipartisansupport. Afteranamendmentispassedatthe markup,wemustsubmitreportlan- guagefortherecord.Reportlanguage (asIunderstandit)isessentiallythe meaningofalaworwhattheframershad inmindwhenthelawwasdrafted.Itis generallyonlyseenbylawyerswhore- ferbacktothereportlanguageofthisor thatlawduringlitigation. Inadditiontopreparingforhearings andmarkups,briefingsareadailyoc- currence.Briefingscanbesplitinto twolargecategories:solicitedandunso- licited.Solicitedbriefingsaregenerally heldbecausethestaffneedsmoreinfor-
mationtogoforwardwithdraftinglaws oramendments.Forexample,VaylOx- ford,thedirectorofDNDO,visitsour staffmorethanonceamonth.Iperson- allycallhisofficeatleasttwiceaweek. Wearealsobriefedbyotheroffices withinDHS,suchasJohnVitko’soffice withintheS&Tdirectorate,orMatthew Clark’sofficeinchargeofHomelandSe- curityCentersofExcellence. Andthentherearetheunsolicited briefings.Thesearegivenbycompanies, governmentagencies,orotherinstitu- tionsthatwanttosharewiththecommit- teethegreatthingsthey’redoingforthe nation.Theytendtorangefromveryin- terestingandinformational,toentertain- ingbutnotsoinformational,tonotin- terestingorinformationalandbasicallya totalwasteoftime.Inmyfirstweekour subcommitteewasbriefedby:thedirec- toroftheNavalResearchLab,thedirec- torofDNDO,thedirectorofLosAlamos NationalLab,andtheChem-Bio-Rad- NucAdvisertothePrimeMinisterof Australia.Thatwasafunweek! Andthentherearetheothers.There seemstobeaplethoraofcompanies andacademicinstitutionsthatfeelwith properfundingtheycoulddevelopasoft- warepackagethatcanmodelterrorism, disastermitigation,andsolveallthein- teroperabilityproblemsbetweenlawen- forcement,firstresponders,andintelli- genceagencies.Letmegetmycheck- book. Althoughthelegislativeprocessis veryexcitingandeducational,I’mre- allylookingforwardtoCongressional RecessinApril.
