Rep. Jim Turner

im Turner, the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, takes his role as Democratic standard-bearer on the issue seriously. A sober Texan from the party's moderate-to-conservative wing, Turner has worked with his committee colleagues to craft the party's only detailed position paper on homeland security, "Making America Safer: Closing the Security Gap." They have also prepared a report detailing "Ten Requirements for a Call for the Government to Create an Effective Terrorist Screening Center." As the minority party, Democrats "have the unique responsibility in exercising vigorous oversight" of the Homeland Security Department, Turner said, "because you know that you may be the only honest broker."

A longtime member of the House Armed Services Committee and former ranking member of its Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities Subcommittee, the 57-year-old Turner is focused on the twin jobs of holding the new department accountable to Congress and working with Chairman Christopher Cox, R-Calif., to give their panel credibility as a permanent player in the homeland-security debate.

The department is struggling to carry out its many and varied missions, according to Turner. "We're not ready to the degree we should be," he said. "We've got to be thinking more into the future. What will the threat be five, 10 years from now?" To bolster the panel's case for permanent status, Turner said the committee should adopt the Armed Services Committee model and write an annual authorizing bill for the Homeland Security Department. But the University of Texas graduate concedes that the job of lobbying for the committee falls to Cox, with whom he enjoys "an excellent working relationship."

At the same time, Turner recognizes that the committee gives Democrats-traditionally considered weaker than Republicans on defense and security matters-"a powerful tool … to be able to articulate a vision for how we can win the war on terrorism."