H.R. 1178

[NCRblues]

In the April issue of Government Security News...

           Could the nation's Civil Air Patrol help DHS as well as state and local governments carry out their homeland security responsibilities by offering aerial reconnaissance or communications assistance for border security, search and rescue support, or other time-sensitive transportation assistance in times of emergency?

That's a question that Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA) would like the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to tackle.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 56,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the Air Force with saving 91 lives in fiscal year 2008, according to the CAP's Web site.

The measure Rep. Dent introduced on Feb. 25, H.R. 1178, would direct the Comptroller General (who heads the GAO) to conduct a study during the next six months to determine the "feasibility and cost-effectiveness" of using Civil Air Patrol assets for purposes such as collective response to an act of terrorism, natural disaster or man-made event; damage assessment and situational awareness; assisting in evacuations; and assisting in various training exercises.

Within three months of the completion of this GAO study, the Secretary of DHS, Janet Napolitano, would be required to submit to the relevant House and Senate committees her own "review and analysis" of the GAO's conclusions.

Rep. Dent's legislation is particularly keen for the GAO to determine "whether the current mechanisms for Federal agencies and States to request support from the Civil Air Patrol are sufficient or whether new agreements between relevant Federal agencies and the Civil Air Patrol are necessary."

H.R. 1178 currently has nine co-sponsors in the House, and was referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. A spokesman for the GAO under conditions of anonymity stated "the general feeling in the GAO about civil air patrol is very positive, they perform a  great service to this country and we would like to see it expand". The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee is expected to move the bill onto the house floor by the end of the month largely unchanged.

[sardak]

Three pages of discussion of HR 1178 here:
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=7396.0

Which also includes discussion of HR 1627.

Mike