9/11 Bill Contains Little-Known Provisions
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is starting off her first week in power with H.R. 1, a hefty bill designed to implement the 9/11 commission recommendations that she says remain undone. The measure has some highly publicized–and controversial–recommendations, including one plan calling for 100 percent of roughly 2 billion tons of cargo carried on commercial flights each year to be screened by security officials by 2009. Only about 10 to 15 percent of such cargo is inspected today, and airlines have expressed concerns the measure could endanger an arrangement that generated $13 billion in profits for them in 2005.
But not every proposal in the bill is familiar to lobbyists who frequently traffic the halls of Capitol Hill. Here's our take on some smaller points in the 279-page bill that could substantially change the way homeland security looks today:
l TSA unionization: Ever since the Transportation Security Administration was created in a hurry in the days right after 9/11, the country's airport screeners–a force that today includes about 43,000 people–have been unable to formally unionize. The House bill gives all TSA employees collective bargaining rights, as well as some protection if they become whistle-blowers. "TSA has the highest injury and attrition rates in the federal government," John Gage, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a government union, said Monday. "The new legislation will improve security by stabilizing the workforce and improving morale."
l Redress for watch listers: Democrats want to create a formal Office of Appeals and Redress that will handle the dozens of cases each year of people who believe they are incorrectly on the TSA's no-fly or special selectee list, which earns them extra screening when they fly. The Government Accountability Office reported earlier this year that 31 names were removed from terrorist watch lists in 2005 alone because of errors.
l Funds for Muslim schoolchildren: 9/11 commission member Tim Roemer praised Democrats on Monday for introducing a bill that would ensure "progress on winning hearts and minds around the world." Democrats plan to create an International Arab and Muslim Youth Opportunity Fund that would invest in public education in Arab and Muslim countries. No word in the bill on how much such an effort would cost.
l An independent civil liberties watchdog board: The president currently has a civil liberties panel within his office that he appoints to keep an eye on homeland security efforts. Democrats would create a four-person independent civil liberties board staffed with nominees who earn the Senate's approval. No more than three members could be from the same party.
l More money for fusion centers: Democrats would make many ideas in a report they released this fall on state and local intelligence gathering into law with the 9/11 commission bill. Democrats want to create special grant and training programs that will help law enforcement officials set up fusion centers, hubs where they are able to synthesize intelligence gathered by cops on the ground for signs of terrorism activities. Special liaisons posted in Washington would gather intelligence tips from state and local agencies and serve as a point of contact for them within the director of national intelligence's office. (More information on fusion centers is in our story "Spies Among Us.")
l Terrorism grants for the risky: The House bill picks up on an issue that has stoked disagreement between the House and the Senate for years by enshrining a bill originally passed into law in 2005 by the House Homeland Security Committee. That measure would have lowered the share of homeland security grants guaranteed to each state to just 0.25 percent of the total funding pot–with 0.45 percent guaranteed for border states. That would have left 90 percent of the roughly $2 billion in annual homeland security grants to be divvied up according to risk. The Senate favored higher minimal percentages in 2005 and is likely to take that tack again.
l Much more security for sea cargo: On Monday, Bennie Thompson, the incoming head of the House's Homeland Security Committee, vowed to "speed up" an already planned pilot program in which DHS will screen 100 percent of cargo headed to the United States out of three foreign ports. (Our recent story has more on that program and other port security efforts.) Once H.R. 1 passes, Democrats will give DHS three years to ensure that 100 percent of cargo headed to the United States from large foreign ports is screened before it's loaded onto ships. DHS will have five years to bring smaller ports up to that standard. Smart seals, which set off alarms if a container is tampered with at sea, will be required on cargo containers as soon as the technology becomes available.