The focal point of this effort is President Bush’s push for a new Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. This effort is on the “fast-track” and Congress is holding hearings on the massive legislative package.  The president wants Congress to pass the bill in time for h

m to sign it into law in a Rose Garden ceremony on the one-year anniversary of the attack.

Okay, you’re probably wondering why this agriculture lobbyist is using this column space to discuss terrorism legislation. Well, one of the agencies that would be moved over to this new anti-terrorism department is APHIS – the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

APHIS is currently part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its primary role is to protect America’s farming community from devastating pests and diseases. Do I have your attention yet?

Make no mistake. We at Florida Farm Bureau support the efforts to improve our country’s ability to prevent future terrorist attacks. However, the creation of this department raisesmany questions that need addressing.

How will the issues that APHIS deals with that are not related to protecting from terrorism be prioritized within the new department?

Will organizations such as ours have the same level of cooperation with this new department that we have with APHIS? Will the greater security keep us from some information?

APHIS currently works hand-in-hand with many other federal, state, and local organizations. Would this framework still be present in the new department?

How will domestic disease eradication, monitoring and surveillance programs be managed and executed?

Because of our many ports and the large number of foreign tourists here, Florida is extremely vulnerable as a point of entry for many foreign pests and diseases that can cause great harm to not just our nation’s food supply but our ecosystems as well.

APHIS’s mission under the USDA framework is to safeguard America’s animal and plant resources from these devastating pests and diseases. However, in the House bill to create this new department, the only mention of APHIS calls for the transfer of their personnel and funding from the USDA. That’s it.  There’s no mention of how APHIS will operate within this new department.  Thus, the above questions are appropriate and need to be addressed.

Florida Farm Bureau is currently working with the major national agricultural organizations to stress the need to keep APHIS’s primary role intact if it is transferred to this new Department of Homeland Security.

It might be a positive move to include our nation’s battle against terrorists and threats to our food supply in the same department. Fact is, terrorists and bugs are very similar.
They are hard to detect and, when you uncover them, all effort must be directed to their elimination.

Until we get more assurances that APHIS’s mission will not be sidetracked or jeopardized, we will continue to express our concerns to members of Florida’s congressional delegation.