The Week Ahead: House Committee on Homeland Security

Washington, D.C. (Friday, March 25, 2011) – Today, ¬U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, announced the following Committee events for next week:

Wednesday, March 30
10:00 am  Full Committee Hearing 
Peter T. King (NY), Chairman

“Public Safety Communications: Are the Needs of Our First Responders Being Met?”

311 Cannon House Office Building

INVITED WITNESSES INCLUDE:
Mr. William D. Carrow 
President
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO)
International

Mr. Chief Jack Parow 
President and Chairman of the Board
International Association of Fire Chiefs

Mr. Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald 
1st Vice President
National Sheriffs’ Association

Chairman King on the hearing:
“Nearly 10 years after 9/11, and more than six years after the 9/11 Commission recommended improving communications for America’s public safety, our law enforcement officers, firefighters and other first responders still do not have the interoperable communications they need.  While we have seen some improvements since 2001, we still have a long way to go toward ensuring that the communications needs of our first responders are being met.  Public safety has long advocated for a national interoperable public safety wireless broadband network, yet the federal government’s piecemeal approach to spectrum allocation has not provided public safety with sufficient spectrum to construct such a network.  This hearing will provide an opportunity for public safety officials to directly tell the Committee what their communications needs are.”

Thursday, March 31
10:00 am Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management 
Michael T. McCaul (TX), Chairman

“The U.S. Homeland Security Role in the Mexican War Against Drug Cartels”

311 Cannon House Office Building

INVITED WITNESSES INCLUDE:
Panel 1
Mr. Luis Alvarez 
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Homeland Security Investigations
Office of International Affairs
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security

Mr. Brian Nichols 
Deputy Assistant Secretary
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Department of State

Mr. Frank Mora 
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Western Hemisphere Affairs
Department of Defense

Mr. Grayling Williams 
Director
Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security

Panel 2
Mr. Jon Adler 
President
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association

Dr. David Shirk 
Professor
University of San Diego
Author of “Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2010.”

Mr. John Bailey 
Professor
Georgetown University
Author of “Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative: Policy Twins or Distant Cousins?”

Chairman McCaul on the hearing:
"After more than 35,000 killings in the past five years, increased spillover crime into the United States and the murder of a US federal agent, it is time for the United States to take decisive steps to end a rampant war that is just south of our border.  The solution goes well beyond securing our borders. Our hearing will examine the Mexican war against drug cartels and what the United States is doing to help Mexico win the war in Mexico.  Allowing the cartels to take over our neighbor and third largest trading partner, creating a safe haven for terrorists who we know are attempting to enter the United States through our porous border, is not an option."

Long-Term Outlook

Tuesday, April 5
10:00 am Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security 
Candice S. Miller (MI), Chairman

“Using Resources Effectively to Secure Our Border at Ports of Entry – Stopping the Illicit Flow of Money, Guns and Drugs”

311 Cannon House Office Building

INVITED WITNESSES INCLUDE:
To be announced