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