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Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee have asked the Homeland Security Department to explain how much time and resources it spends in reporting to congressional committees and responding to congressional inquires.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff released Wednesday, the lawmakers said they are concerned that Congress continues to impose "a disorganized and unreasonably burdensome" oversight structure on the department.

"We believe the current state of homeland security oversight and jurisdictional dysfunction in Congress may be adversely affecting the department's mission performance and impeding the enactment of meaningful homeland-security legislation," the GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter, which was spearheaded by House Homeland Security Committee ranking Republican Peter King of New York. "Unless Congress reforms its committee oversight structure, the department's senior officials will continue to spend far too much time appearing at repetitious hearings and briefings and answering endless congressional inquiries when they should be devoting their attention to the priority of securing the homeland."

The commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks observed in its 2004 report that the Homeland Security Department reports to 88 congressional committees and subcommittees. The GOP lawmakers said that number remains the same today.

The so-called 9/11 commission recommended that the House have a single, primary committee responsible for oversight of homeland security programs and polices. That recommendation was not implemented by Republicans when they controlled Congress and remains unfulfilled to date.

Republicans in the last Congress did, however, make the House Homeland Security Committee a permanent standing committee. The GOP lawmakers note in their letter that Democrats promised to implement all unfulfilled recommendations of the 9/11 commission, but have so far failed to consolidate congressional oversight.

King indicated he is already convinced that the oversight structure is harmful. "The current state of congressional oversight is hampering our homeland security efforts," King said in a statement. "These problems weaken our ability to protect our country and prevent another terrorist attack and we must do what is necessary to diminish the potentially harmful effects."

King added: "This is an opportunity for DHS to provide us with information on exactly how burdensome that oversight is. Congressional leadership must act now to consolidate homeland security jurisdiction and be prepared to devote the necessary time and resources needed to enact those changes."

Recognizing that they are asking Homeland Security for more reports, the GOP lawmakers said they believe most of the requested information is already compiled by the department and should be delivered with minimal effort.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., could not be reached for comment on the issue in time for this story.

COMMENTS

• At least five years prior to 9/11 congress did not have the votes to blend the agencies for the same reasons it can't get on the same page with whats happening in DHS today. Continued discussion and oversite is the only way we can to fix this plane while it's in flight. Wayne E Burke Posted June 20, 2007 7:26 AM
• If all this oversight by 88 committees of Congress is such a great thing, then why is DHS still so screwed up? You'd think that by now, all this Congressional attention would have cracked the whip and moved things right along! One other question, though. Where were all these Senators and Congressmen when DHS was created? How come nobody questioned the composition, mission, and funding of this organization beforehand? How come no one expressed any reservations about eliminating the U.S. Customs Service, America's oldest law enforcement agency (since 1789), and mixing it's pieces with the remnants of INS and other agencies with absolutely nothing in common to form CBP and ICE? Where was the Congressional oversight then, when it was needed the most and could have done a lot of good? The silence is deafening! Senior Special Agent Posted June 8, 2007 10:12 PM
• This is unbelievable. King was the CHAIRMAN of the committee. He is complaining about a system he left to the Democrats. He blames them for not cleaning up his mess fast enough! John Posted June 3, 2007 6:13 PM