Congressional Hearings – Week of 7-20-14

There are just two weeks now before Congress starts their extended summer vacation. There are a number of hearings being held this week, but only one that may be remotely of specific interest to readers of this blog; and intel hearing of sorts.

On Wednesday the House Homeland Security Committee will be holding a hearing on "The Rising Terrorist Threat and the Unfulfilled 9/11 Recommendation." The witness list includes two former commissioners from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States; Jamie S. Gorelick and Thomas H. Kean Jr.. Perhaps one of them will remind the Committee that one of the unaddressed recommendations of the Commission was the reform of Congressional oversight of the Homeland Security Department; political power is still more important than counter terrorism.

The House is going to take another pass (according to the Majority Leader’s web site) at trying to pass HR 5035, the NIST Reauthorization Act of 2014, under suspension of the rules on Tuesday. This had been listed for last week, but was not offered for consideration on the floor. Apparently the leadership thinks that they have the concerns about NIST cooperation with NSA worked out.