Democratic and Republican congressional aides say there is turmoil within the the House Homeland Security Committee's majority staff and that oversight work is being eclipsed by a focus on promoting contracting opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses.Sources who spoke only if they could remain anonymous said they are particularly concerned that the committee's new staff director, I. Lanier Avant, does not have the qualifications to lead the committee and faces a conflict of interest because he continues to serve as chief of staff in the congressional office of House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
They expressed concern that Avant must balance his duties on Thompson's personal staff, which includes attention to politics and fundraising, and managing the heavy responsibilities of running the committee, which he began doing last month.
Avant does not have a security clearance. Sources said that raises questions about his ability to make decisions on issues involving classified information.
Speaking candidly with CongressDaily, Avant said he does "the bulk of [Thompson's] political work." But the 30-year-old aide said he knows the line between his jobs.
| Wonderful. Just fricking wonderful. The Dems put a 30 yr old neophyte in charge of a key homeland security committee's work. |
But sources said the arrangement with Avant has made Thompson's agenda of reaching out and helping small, minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses secure homeland security contracts the overriding focus of the committee staff. Not enough attention has been paid to broader national security matters, the sources said.
Thompson created an electronic newsletter, Business Opportunities at DHS, which includes an e-mail address -- DHSBizOps@mail.house.gov -- that small and disadvantaged businesses can use to tell the committee if they feel they are being treated unfairly by the department. "Their Web site is selling themselves as people who give out contracts at DHS," one source said. "This is all misusing resources as far as I'm concerned."
The Democratic staff has been holding a series of nonpublic morning meetings in the committee's office with top executives from several companies. The staff also has organized public technology fairs and held its first so-called diversity roundtable last month.
| I've worked in small/disadvantaged businesses. They have their place, which nearly all the time is NOT at the center of cutting edge technology. RTWT if your blood pressure's pretty good beforehand. |