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Guest Commentary: September 22, 2001
The Role of the Terrorism Subcommittee in the House
The Honorable Saxby Chambliss
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In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks made against this country, the role of the Terrorism Subcommittee in the House has become increasingly important.
In response to growing concern about terrorist threats against this country, the speaker formed this group at the beginning of the 107th Congress to evaluate and respond to terrorist activities. Last week, the working group was given full subcommittee status in order to give us the authority necessary to carry out our expanded duties. These include subpoeana power and the ability to hold open hearings.
The Subcommittee continues to receive briefings from the White House, the FBI and the CIA. We are working with these groups to facilitate the flow of information to other members of Congress. Several public hearings have already been scheduled for the upcoming weeks to evaluate what changes made need to be made in our intelligence communities, and to the way we gather and disseminate information among the various counter-terrorist groups within federal agencies.
What we do know is that we must streamline our information gathering process within Congress and the various federal agencies. We must create a better working relationship between the groups involved so that information reaches the right person in order to prevent future attacks such as those that occurred last week. We also have to make sure that we give these agencies the tools they need to survey, track and trace those suspected of terrorist activities.
One of the key elements to this process is going to be bi-partisanship. Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) and I have been working very closely together and there is a real feel of unity among the members of the subcommittee, and among the members of Congress as a whole. And in order for us to make progress and address the difficult questions we are now facing, we must all continue to work together across the political divides.
As our nation embarks upon an effort to fight terrorism at home and across the globe, the General Accounting Office has confirmed what we have been saying for the past couple of years:
The federal government needs to be better organized and prepared to deal with the range of terrorist threats which face our nation.
We need a comprehensive national strategy that establishes milestones to measure our nation's preparedness.
We need better coordination and communication among federal departments and agencies.
We need to have better oversight of the billions of taxpayers funds that are spent on counter-terrorism programs.
And we need to ensure that America's true heroes, the first responders, have the capabilities, equipment, and training to do their jobs as professionally and as effectively as possible.
Note: Rep. Chambliss is chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism & Homeland Security. The above commentary has been adapted from comments made by Rep. Chambliss at a Capitol Hill press conference, September 20, 2001.
 How to contact Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia)
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