Tag Archives: United States House Committee on Homeland Security

This Does Not Make Me Feel Safe

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The Blaze posted an article (and video) today about testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee today.

This is the video (as posted on YouTube):

The testimony is as follows:

During a Tuesday hearing, Chaffetz recalled that Johnson had previously promised four men nabbed crossing the Southern border in early September would be deported. The individuals were thought to have ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an organization designated as a terrorist group by the State Department.

“Did you deport them?” the Utah representative asked Johnson.

“Uh, no. Not at this point,” Johnson answered.

“What is the disposition of those four people,” Chaffetz pressed.

“Two are detained, the two others were released by the judge — uh, not my preference — they were released by the judge and they fled to Canada and they are seeking asylum in Canada,” the homeland secretary responded, before placing blame on an immigration judge for releasing two of the four men.

Chaffetz then asked if the U.S. was aware of the location in Canada the two fled to.

“I’m not sure about their exact whereabouts, sir,” Johnson answered, later adding that he wanted the two brought back to the U.S.

“Mr. Secretary, this is the problem,” Chaffetz said. “You come, and you say — you tell the world that you’re going to deport these four people tied to — these are terrorists and you don’t. They get released.”

This testimony will not help me sleep at night.

Keeping Politics Out Of Our Military

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Unfortunately, we are a stage in our country where everything is political. I don’t know exactly how or when we got here or how to get our of here, but here is where we are. It was refreshing today on Fox News Sunday to hear Senator Kaine say that decisions about guns on military bases should be made by the military in order to avoid politics playing a part in the decision.

The Washington Times reported today:

“I trust the military leadership on this. I don’t live on a military base, and I don’t serve in the military,” the Virginia Democrat said on “Fox News Sunday.” “For those of us in Congress to say ‘here’s what they should do,’ I worry that it would be a little political rather than really about safety or security.”

The article also reported:

Rep. Steve Stockman, Texas Republican, is pushing “The Safe Military Bases Act,” which would allow base personnel to arm themselves.

Fellow Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, argued Sunday that, at the very least, senior military leadership on base ought to be able to carry weapons.

There are a few things to consider here. If senior military leadership had been armed, would the shooter have been brought down sooner? But there is something else to consider. Fort Hood is a gun-free zone. The shooter knew that when he opened fire he would be the only gunman in the room (at least for a short time). Had the shooter known that someone in the room might be armed, would he have taken the chance? The guards at the gate cannot reasonably be expected to search every vehicle or person who comes on base for a gun–the lines getting on to the base would be endless if that were attempted. Obviously, not everyone respects a gun-free zone, so I would suggest creating the possibility that someone in any given area of the base would be armed and prepared to shoot back in case of an attack. It is noteworthy that most of the mass killings we have seen have occurred in gun-free zones, where the killer knew that there would be no opposition. I think we need to create at least some potential opposition.

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Some Of Our Congressmen Are Paying Attention

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This video was posted at the Washington Examiner the last week of August:

The video shows House Homeland Security Committee chairman Pete King, R-N.Y. questioning Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the recent visit by Hani Nour Eldin to the White House where he met with high-ranking Obama administration and State Department officials. Mr. Eldin is a member of the recently elected Egyptian parliament. He is also a member of a group designated as a terrorist group by the United States government.

The article reports Ms. Napolitano’s answers to Rep. King’s questions about letting a known terrorist into the White House:

“I think we have to add more nuance to that,” she said when King mentioned that Eldin is part of a designated foreign terrorist organization. “We have to know what the group was. Is it now a political party that is running the government of a country that has strong ties to the United States?” She added that he went through three stages of vetting and “everyone who looked at this person felt confident that he was not a security risk to the White House or to the United States.”

My question after watching the video is, “Didn’t anyone bother to check his Facebook page?” I find the lack of research amazing.

As someone who is not prone to nuance, I think this is nuts. One of the things Mr. Eldin did while at the White House was ask for the release of another terrorists–the Blind Sheik. Enjoy the video.

 

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