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New requirements for beefing up border security will require "a very substantial investment" on the part of the government, a senior Homeland Security Department official said Friday.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, said homeland security requirements within the intelligence reform bill approved by Congress this week are authorized but not yet funded.

"It's a very huge investment," Hutchinson said at a forum hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act requires DHS to hire thousands of new security agents and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into aviation security.

For example, the bill increases the number of full-time border patrol agents by 10,000 over five years and the number of full-time Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators by 4,000 over five years. It also orders an increase in the number of beds available for immigration detainees by 40,000 in the same time period.

Additionally, the bill authorizes nearly $2 billion in new funding for the Transportation Security Administration for aviation security.

Hutchinson said the department must work with Congress to determine where the funding will come from. He noted that Congress authorized the requirements to be phased in over several years, which he said was "the right way to do it."

He also discussed a provision of the bill that requires DHS to develop national standards for driver licenses, saying that the department intends to work with the states to develop standards rather than making unilateral decisions.

"There are going to be some tough questions that will have to be answered," he said.

Hutchinson said he will advocate for strong security requirements to be part of issuing driver licenses, adding that the government needs to evaluate to what extent biometrics should be used.

"It is important," he said, "that documents that we rely upon for identification have integrity."

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• Asa Hutchinson: "There are going to be some tough questions that will have to be answered." For once, I am in agreement with Hutchinson. Tough question # 1 is why Hutchinson was ever appointed to his position as Undersecretary in the first place, and tough question # 2 is why he hasn't been fired yet. The same two questions also apply to ICE Assistant Secretary Michael Garcia. You hit it right on the head, Mr. Hutchinson. Indeed, there are some tough questions that have to be answered. GovExec.com reader Posted December 13, 2004 1:21 PM

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