Ever since the Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives, Congressman John Murtha has been a train wreck. Whether it was the attention paid to his role as unindicted co-conspirator in AbScam, his promise to use a back-door way to 'slow-bleed' the war effort in Iraq, his push to reinstate the draft, his threats to colleagues, or his breaking of House rules, Murtha seems unable to avoid embarrassing his conference.
Now it's reported that Congressman Murtha has informed the House Intelligence Committee that jurisdiction over the No-Fly List and the terror incident training program are to be transferred to the National Drug Intelligence Center--which is located in Murtha's district. If you're surprised that the Department of Justice would give the NDIC jurisdiction over programs that seem to have little to do with drug intelligence, you're in good company--the Justice Department was surprised as well:
To secure congressional funding for a pet project, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., made a surprising claim: The little-known National Drug Intelligence Center was about to take charge of the "vitally important" terrorist no-fly list.
Murtha's news, in a letter he sent to the House Intelligence Committee last month, came as a surprise to the nation's intelligence community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence already had recommended that the NDIC, in Murtha's hometown of Johnstown, Pa., be closed for poor performance. It also puzzled the Justice Department, NDIC's parent agency, where spokesman Dean Boyd said there are no "current" plans for such a transition...
Murtha's letter said the center "also anticipates undertaking a new and vitally important mission…with the National Counterterrorism Center-assuming responsibility for the terror no-fly list, the terror incident training program and [as] the post-disaster recovery site for the National Counterterrorism Center."
The Justice Department's Boyd said there are no "current" plans to move the terror incident program to the NDIC. Boyd said he could not comment on any plans dealing with post-disaster relocation.
The DoJ has been trying to shut down the NDIC for several years, but has been frustrated by Murtha's use of earmarks to keep the center open. In light of the opposition from the DoJ, one can only conclude that Murtha was either lying to the committee, or is planning to use another secret earmark to force the Justice Department to make work for the NDIC. Which would be worse?
