National Security and the Government Shutdown
Forget Russia, the most urgent national security crisis is the government shutdown.
[Updated January 23, 2019] It is inexcusable that U.S. national security is being jeopardized by the government shutdown. On Tuesday, the FBI detailed the increasingly dangerous situation of failing to fund U.S. intelligence agencies. A report by the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) explains how investigations on child trafficking, drug and gang crimes, and counter-terrorism, among others have been suspended due to lack of funding. Many of the investigations affected are multi-year operations that are likely to be abandoned entirely. The document can be downloaded in its entirety here.
The inability to pay Confidential Human Sources has had a detrimental effect on our counter-terrorism investigations and operations. We have lost several sources who have worked for months, and years, to penetrate groups and target subjects. These assets cannot be replaced.
FBIAA January 2019 Report
I honestly do not understand why there is not more outrage over this. I know that national security issues are not at the forefront of voter’s minds, but it is not hyperbolic to assert this has become a red-alert crisis. I do think the media in general bears significant responsibility for the lack of attention, focusing rolex datejust m279138rbr 0032 28mm damen diamond bezel jubilaeumsarmband instead on the fight over the State of the Union and speculating on the Special Counsel’s Russian investigation. These issues pale in comparison to the urgency of the current crisis.
Whether you do or do not support Trump’s proposed funding for a wall on the U.S. southern border, you should be concerned by the short and long term effects of a government shutdown on U.S. National Security. I do believe that most American’s, including supporters and non-supporters of the border wall, care about national security. It is precisely, for this reason, there should be an urgent push to fund the government while continuing to negotiate funds and priorities for border security.
There has been a lot of attention to the more than 800,000 workers who have already missed one paycheck. Unfortunately, empathy does not win policy debates especially when people feel like their security is at stake. The shutdown itself, however, is jeopardizing national security with implications that are likely to reverberate for many years.
As Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday emphasized, all 4000 known and suspected terrorists have been apprehended at AIRPORTS. Those on the front lines of airport security, TSA workers, have already missed their first paycheck. The mean salary for a TSA agent is $40,000 according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2016. Because they are still required to work unpaid, they cannot find alternative means of income to pay the bills that are due, which cannot be deferred until they eventually receive their back pay after the shutdown ends. Security measures in airports are currently laxer than any prior point after 9/11. Last Saturday, WSJ journalist, Juan Forero, observed that “getting to your gate at Miami airport’s international terminal is a piece of cake. You keep your shoes on, don’t need to take your laptop out, no taking off your belt, little screening.”
Preventing terrorist attacks is not merely a matter of catching them at the airport, but are most often stopped by our intelligence agencies. These employees too are being required to work without paychecks. This includes employees of Homeland Security, the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Prisons, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. They too, have yves saint laurent 813 fashion unisex t shirts bills to pay and have to figure out how to obtain additional income. Their dedication is not at issue, but financial stress and decreased resources available to conduct investigations while these departments are awaiting funding cannot but weaken the ability to maintain the quality work we as citizens so critically depend on. In the immediate to long term, the quality of those seeking employment in these agencies will most likely decrease as the possibility of the government holding their salaries hostage to policy disputes increases.
The shutdown’s effect on national security will not be immediately felt. The 9/11 terrorists spent over a year in the United States before they launched their attack. Supporters of the border wall often argue that even one terrorist crossing the border is one too many. Shouldn’t the decreased security measures at airports where known terrorists have been apprehended be even more worrisome? National Security concerns should not be sublimated to policy disputes and the difficulty of achieving negotiated compromises to resolve the conflicts. Not only should the shutdown immediately end, but measures also need to be taken now to prevent holding these agencies hostage to future disputes. It is incumbent on us to advocate for legislation that would continue to fund essential functions of government, including national security, food and drug safety, the distribution of food stamps and veterans benefits, etc. regardless whether a budget deal has been reached.
One possible approach that has not seen much traction is a proposal by Senator Rand Paul. I fundamentally disagree with Rand Paul on most issues, especially national security, but his proposed Government Shutdown Prevention Act in which “a one percent cut to then-current funding levels for any agency, program, and activity that Congress fails to fund by the start of the fiscal year, which is October 1,” maybe the way forward to end shutdowns as a negotiating tactic. Agencies would know, “even in the worst case scenario, they will always be operating with a full year of funding at no less than 96% of their then-current levels.” A stronger message needs to be sent to both parties that it is not acceptable that the livelihoods of federal workers and citizens’ health and safety should be taken hostage while politicians play brinkmanship to negotiating the budget.
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