Oversight

A weekly rundown of the latest efforts of lawmakers to scrutinize the actions of the executive branch.

• House Judiciary Committee (12/11/07) — Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting information on the status of a Justice Department inquiry into the alleged rape of a 22-year-old female Halliburton/KBR employee in Baghdad.

“This report of criminal misconduct directed against a U.S. citizen at the hands of employees of an American-based corporation working in Iraq … is deeply troubling,” Conyers wrote. “It also raises broader questions … about the Department’s role in enforcing laws protecting Americans who are working in Iraq.”

• Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs (12/10/07) — Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) Monday asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for additional information on its recent decision to waive environmental requirements before building a section of the Southwest border fence.

In a letter to Secretary Michael Chertoff, Lieberman asked for details on why DHS wants to waive 19 federal statutes to build the fence through two miles of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area along the Arizona-Mexico border.

“While developing additional layers of border security is a priority for our nation, it should not impede our ability to also continue to be good environmental stewards,” Lieberman wrote.

• House Committee on Homeland Security (12/06/07) — Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the final acceptance of, and payment on, Project 28, the first operational task order under the SBInet contract with the Boeing Corporation.

“I urge you to defer acceptance until you are certain that Project 28 performs as it was originally billed, i.e., an operational tool that will help the Border Patrol secure our nation’s borders. I am concerned that … this is not the case,” Thompson wrote.  

Thompson said in the letter he was concerned that “well-publicized technological problems plaguing the system” have not been addressed, and that Boeing representatives have been attempting to “spin” the troubles.