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The Fight Over Homeland Security Budget Cuts and the Real ID Act

By Jeralyn, Section Legislation
Posted on Thu Mar 03, 2011 at 06:12:44 PM EST
Tags: tsa, body scanners, Real ID Act (all tags)
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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is decrying the Republican cuts to the Homeland Security Budget. She testified before the House Homeland Security Committee today and said the cuts would add to delays for airline passengers. I'm not buying it. And, I think the cuts are a good thing. Who wants more of this?

The House budget "cuts technology investments and security improvements on the Southwest and Northern borders," Napolitano said.
"It cuts aviation security measures. It cuts funding to sustain the progress that has been made in enforcing the nation's immigration laws. It cuts critical cyber security tools and operations. It cuts intelligence personnel. It cuts Coast Guard funding to support our war efforts abroad. And it cuts grants that support counterterrorism and disaster-response capabilities at the local level," she added.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg joined in the fear-mongering: [More...]

We've seen increase risk of homegrown terrorism -- the Fort Hood massacre (in Texas), the Times Square bombing attempt and the New York City subway plot.

What exactly is Napolitano seeking? According to Reuters:

DHS had hoped to buy 500 full-body scanners but will only be able to purchase about 250 and only half the number of explosive detection machines, 415 of 811, it sought to acquire this fiscal year, according to Napolitano.

If we don't get new machines, we don't need screeners to operate them. And not one of the instances Lautenberg mentioned had a thing to do with commercial air travel.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of money in the budget for border control. When asked about cuts to border security:

Secretary Napolitano assured the Chairman that most of the cuts related to construction and building maintenance and that the President would continue his “historic” border security efforts with 21,370 border patrol agents, 21,186 CBP officers, and $242 million in border surveillance technology. She went