November 4, 2003

     On Monday November 3, I held a Homeland Security Roundtable Discussion in Galena Park, Texas to bring federal and local officials together for some homeland security collaboration and problem solving.  Joining me and Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia was a wide variety of first responders including officials from the City of Houston, Harris County, the Port of Houston Authority, Jacinto City, and local medical services.  On the federal side, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Houston Division, and the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port provided information and assistance.

 

     Nationwide, over $2 billion has been spent in 2003 to train our police, fire fighters, and emergency medical services to respond to a terrorist attack.  Our goal for this meeting was to shed some light on what our tax dollars are being spend on in terms of homeland security, how much has been returned to our community, and what we can do to help improve security. 

 

     According to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’ office, the Department of Justice has identified 15 categories of vulnerability to terrorism.  The Houston-Galveston area is the only metropolitan area in America with all 15.  Protecting our families, communities, and economy from terrorists must be our first priority.

 

     Many were shocked to learn that Texas receives only $4.95 per person from Washington for homeland security first responders, 2nd worst in the nation.  Harris County in total has received $7.6 million so far, only about $2.20 for each Harris County resident.  That is a pretty small slice of $2.1 billion.  Unfortunately, the law creating the new Homeland Security Department mandated the distribution of 40% of first responder funding equally to all 50 states, regardless of size and actual threats.  To correct this serious mistake, I support changing the law to distribute our homeland security funding based on threats, not on an arbitrary formula, and Congress is planning on addressing this issue next year.

 

     At the Galena Park Community Center, we did not have elaborate ceremonies, presentations, or speeches.  We just had a two hour frank discussion of the security concerns for our community that built relationships between federal and local officials immediately started bearing fruit.  For example, while many jurisdictions in Harris County have received some funding, our unincorporated areas of Harris County are at a disadvantage because they cannot apply for the grants.  In response, the U.S. Attorney and I agreed to work together with the federal and state governments to allow Harris County Precinct 2 to receive federal terrorism preparedness dollars for unincorporated areas.

 

 

     Another positive result of our session was the beginning of a program to bring trained FBI agents to member meetings of the local Longshoremen and Seafarers to train maritime workers to recognize and report suspicious activity along the vital Houston Ship Channel.  Other areas where technical problems were uncovered include radio communications between local agencies, controlling access to the Port of Houston, and creating effective and redundant warning notification systems for East Harris County residents.  We all pledged to work together on these issues and any others to improve security for our community.

 

     While we had some success recently, the job of protecting our communities never stops.  With close cooperation on the local level, and some more help from Uncle Sam, we will improve our ability to prevent and respond to any potential attack on our community.

 

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