Monday, July 31, 2006
Monday PM: The drumbeat on immigration and preparedness
With attention fixed, one way or another, on the Middle East, the administration's press events on immigration reform, border security and hurricane preparedness had something of a by-the-numbers feel to them today.
The president continued to tout the virtues of a comprehensive immigration reform package; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that two dozen more federal prosecutors would be deployed to the south western border to ramp up efforts against illegal immigration; and David Paulison said he wanted to make the country proud of FEMA again.
Paulison is well-respected among the nation's tight-knit emergency management community, and it's easy to see why.
"You can't hurt my feelings, you can't embarrass me, I'm way beyond that. So you can ask whatever you think you need to ask," he told reporters, adding that he would try to find time to watch the highly critical Spike Lee documentary about Katrina. "I'm taking this very seriously and I'm not taking it personally," he concluded about criticism of the agency.
FEMA have taken the bold step of arranging to "embed" journalists during any disaster response. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out if there is another "big one" this year.
On the immigration reform front, the Denver Post has joined the chorus saying that Congress (for which read House Republicans) "is effectively killing any chance to rewrite immigration laws this year."
True, the legislative calendar is crowded and there seems little prospect of a deal, but I remember all too clearly that I privately (and there is a blessing I'm unlikely to receive again now that I have this blog) came to the same conclusion several times about the intelligence reform bill -- and I was wrong.
Elsewhere, the Department of Homeland Security announced the appointment of Kathleen Kraninger to direct the Office of Screening Coordination (Quick trumpet toot: UPI reported this appointment Friday). Watch-listing and screening are tricky issues and -- the bureaucrats worst nightmare -- are apt to attract a lot of media attention. With the introduction of the new no-fly list (dubbed "Secure Flight") seemingly irretrievably mired and big decisions about the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative looming, Kraninger has her work cut out for her. Your humble correspondent will be following her progress with interest.
Finally, the National Security Whisleblowers' Coalition says that Russ Tice's grand jury appearance --originally scheduled for Wednesday -- has been postponed to an unspecified future date after his lawyer wrote to the Justice Department asking for more time to prepare.
There's still very little indication of the size or shape of this inquiry. Nor should we necessarily expect any soon. Having already exhausted my rather thin roster of Justice Department sources and come up empty, I have resorted to checking Murray Waas' blog several times a day, but even the man who beat news out of Patrick Fitzgerald's seemingly leak-proof investigation has been silent on this one so far.
Also on the Tice front, the Government Accountability Project says the whole investigation "may violate a congressional spending ban commonly known as the 'anti-gag statute,'" and place Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in jeopardy of the feared anti-deficiency laws. Hmmmm. Nice try, guys.
The president continued to tout the virtues of a comprehensive immigration reform package; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that two dozen more federal prosecutors would be deployed to the south western border to ramp up efforts against illegal immigration; and David Paulison said he wanted to make the country proud of FEMA again.
Paulison is well-respected among the nation's tight-knit emergency management community, and it's easy to see why.
"You can't hurt my feelings, you can't embarrass me, I'm way beyond that. So you can ask whatever you think you need to ask," he told reporters, adding that he would try to find time to watch the highly critical Spike Lee documentary about Katrina. "I'm taking this very seriously and I'm not taking it personally," he concluded about criticism of the agency.
FEMA have taken the bold step of arranging to "embed" journalists during any disaster response. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out if there is another "big one" this year.
On the immigration reform front, the Denver Post has joined the chorus saying that Congress (for which read House Republicans) "is effectively killing any chance to rewrite immigration laws this year."
True, the legislative calendar is crowded and there seems little prospect of a deal, but I remember all too clearly that I privately (and there is a blessing I'm unlikely to receive again now that I have this blog) came to the same conclusion several times about the intelligence reform bill -- and I was wrong.
Elsewhere, the Department of Homeland Security announced the appointment of Kathleen Kraninger to direct the Office of Screening Coordination (Quick trumpet toot: UPI reported this appointment Friday). Watch-listing and screening are tricky issues and -- the bureaucrats worst nightmare -- are apt to attract a lot of media attention. With the introduction of the new no-fly list (dubbed "Secure Flight") seemingly irretrievably mired and big decisions about the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative looming, Kraninger has her work cut out for her. Your humble correspondent will be following her progress with interest.
Finally, the National Security Whisleblowers' Coalition says that Russ Tice's grand jury appearance --originally scheduled for Wednesday -- has been postponed to an unspecified future date after his lawyer wrote to the Justice Department asking for more time to prepare.
There's still very little indication of the size or shape of this inquiry. Nor should we necessarily expect any soon. Having already exhausted my rather thin roster of Justice Department sources and come up empty, I have resorted to checking Murray Waas' blog several times a day, but even the man who beat news out of Patrick Fitzgerald's seemingly leak-proof investigation has been silent on this one so far.
Also on the Tice front, the Government Accountability Project says the whole investigation "may violate a congressional spending ban commonly known as the 'anti-gag statute,'" and place Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in jeopardy of the feared anti-deficiency laws. Hmmmm. Nice try, guys.
