National Security and Public Safety
It is one of the core functions of the Federal government to protect the security of this country. John believes that we must seek to appropriately balance the needs of national security with the individual freedoms that are among the central beliefs of this nation. The Congressman believes that security officials must be given the resources and capabilities to ensure this nation’s security without unduly burdening Americans’ Constitutional rights.
There are many real challenges to our security. As former Chairman, and now Ranking Member, of the National Security Subcommittee in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Congressman Tierney has led several investigations of this nation’s security policies. In fact, while the Subcommittee under John’s chairmanship exercised many aspects of its broad mandate, Congressman Tierney focused the Subcommittee’s oversight efforts on three themes:
- Protecting us from acts of terrorism around the world with a focus on prosecuting a smarter approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan;
- Supporting our men and women in uniform by ensuring they get top-flight medical care, durable and needed equipment, and protection from harassment, domestic violence and sexual assault; and
- Making our national security agencies and their contractors think ahead, work better, and cost less.
In pursuit of these goals, John held 65 hearings as Chairman; hosted countless briefings; and dispatched numerous fact-finding trips, including personally leading four delegations to South Asia and the Middle East. John also commissioned well over 30 GAO investigations and conducted Subcommittee investigations that exposed millions of dollars of government waste, fraud, and abuse.
The Subcommittee also held several hearings examining the domestic security threats posed by drug cartels in Mexico and federal strategies to confront those challenges. The extreme violence we have seen in recent years along the Mexican border has exposed the tragic consequences of the drug trade, as well as the acute threat these enterprises pose to our own nation and to our neighbors. Congressman Tierney believes that, until the unspeakable violence along the border is reduced, the Subcommittee must continue its aggressive oversight in order to ensure that U.S. policy choices are effective in protecting our citizens living near the border and in the country generally.
In addition, while none of us like to take off our shoes, throw away our water bottles, and empty our pockets of change simply in order to board a plane, prudent conditions are necessary. We must continue to weigh new technologies and procedures against Americans’ legitimate privacy interests. Congressman Tierney believes that continued oversight is necessary to ensure that the proper balance between security and privacy is maintained.
Congressman Tierney also believes that we must do more to secure our nation’s critical infrastructure from attacks and natural disasters. For instance, he continues to press the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to ensure that necessary safety and aging issues are addressed before the license to operate the Seabrook nuclear power plant is extended.
Supporting Police Officers, Fire Fighters and First Responders
Congressman Tierney continues to fight for appropriate federal support for our first responders, particularly at a time of continued vulnerability and when they have repeatedly expressed concern about being short-staffed. He strongly believes we must ensure that those who combat crime, fight fires, and unfailingly respond to emergencies have the appropriate number of personnel to do their jobs and protect the public's safety.
Throughout his time in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Tierney has spearheaded and supported letters to the House Budget Committee and the House Appropriations Committee, recommending increased funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, a highly successful initiative established in the 1990's that provides resources for state and local law enforcement agencies to hire and train community policing professionals, acquire and deploy cutting-edge crime-fighting technologies and develop and test innovative policing strategies.
With news reports suggesting that calls to fire departments have doubled over the past twenty years, Congressman Tierney has also been working to ensure that annual spending measures appropriately prioritize firefighter grant programs and he has worked to boost the level of funding to assist fire departments in hiring more personnel through federal SAFER grant funding. Congressman Tierney supported the establishment of the SAFER grants and has been a strong and consistent champion of making sure grants were appropriately funded ever since. Many fire departments in Congressman Tierney’s district have had great success in obtaining SAFER grants to increase and train their force. Some local fire departments are at full staffing because of SAFER grants.
During the economic crisis, Congressman Tierney was among the key leaders in including funds in the Recovery Act to support our public safety personnel.
A strong military is essential to protecting American interests abroad. However, taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely and not wasted.
Out of concern that appropriate oversight was not being conducted by Congress on the hundreds of billions of dollars appropriated for our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congressman Tierney introduced bipartisan legislation to create a special congressional committee to investigate how defense contracts were being awarded. Modeled after the Truman Committee of the 1940’s, which was credited for saving billions in tax-payer dollars and for ferreting out defective weapons, Congressman Tierney’s legislation sought to reassure residents of Massachusetts’s 6th Congressional District and those across the country that their tax-dollars were not being misused or wasted. Congressman Tierney was not deterred by repeated efforts to block his bill, and he and then-Senator Jim Webb ultimately succeeded in including a version of their bill in the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law in January 2008. Their bill established the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which uncovered that as much as $60 billion may have been "lost to waste and fraud" due to a lack of effective competition, oversight, and enforcement in contingency contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When he chaired the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Congressman Tierney undertook several high profile investigations publicizing abusive spending by military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a report entitled, Warlord, Inc.: Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan. The report culminates a six-month investigation into payments made to Afghan warlords by U.S. contractors in Afghanistan. In fact, Congressman Tierney’s Warlord Inc. report was recently credited in the Pentagon’s Joint Staff’s after-action review of DOD counter corruption efforts in Afghanistan as spurring attention to and action on corruption.
This and other investigations conducted by the Subcommittee have helped to ensure that the Department of Defense acts to ensure that taxpayer money is not being wasted; that United States foreign policy fulfills our long-term interests; and that our wounded soldiers and their families get the care and respect they deserve.
In addition, Congressman Tierney believes that cost overruns in major federal programs which are proven unsuccessful, such as certain defense weapons systems, are a drain on the budget and should be reformed. He voted for, and President Obama signed into law, legislation to crack down on the Pentagon's cost overruns by enhancing oversight of the Pentagon's system of acquiring weapons, promoting greater use of competition in weapons acquisition, and requiring the Department of Defense to take steps to prevent conflict of interest in the acquisition process. Enactment of the legislation should save the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
Please click HERE to visit the National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations Subcommittee's website for a listing of all oversight investigations, including witness testimony and opening statements by Ranking Member Tierney.