Homeland & Coast Guard

The Homeland Security secretary pledged Wednesday to show that “security and efficiency are not mutually exclusive.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the U.S. Coast Guard should train cruise ship passengers on emergency evacuation procedures before they head out to sea. 

Boxer, who is chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in a letter to Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp that after the accident of the Costa Concordia cruise liner in Italy, the U.S. Coast Guard should change its policies regarding American cruise ships.

Read the full story on The Hill's Transportation Blog.

Rep. Pete King said officials are investigating whether classified information was given to filmmakers making a movie about bin Laden.

The Obama administration is taking about three-quarters of National Guard troops off the U.S.-Mexico border next year as it transitions to a more aerial-based approach on the border.

The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security announced Tuesday that the 1,200 National Guard troops currently on the border will be reduced to about 300 between January and March next year.

The Senate is finishing up a defense bill the administration threatens to veto because of provisions regarding terror suspects.

The House on Tuesday afternoon approved legislation that would authorize the Coast Guard through 2014, and also sets a single, national standard for ballast water discharge that Democrats opposed. The bill was approved by voice vote after a motion to recommit the bill failed.

The bill is aimed at letting the Coast Guard maintain current personnel levels for the next three years. It provides $8.5 billion in 2012, $8.6 billion in 2013 and $8.7 billion in 2014.

A top U.S. general stationed in Afghanistan has been fired for recent criticisms of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, deputy commander of NATO's effort to train Afghan forces, was terminated for an interview he gave Thursday in which he hammered Karzai as "erratic" and inarticulate, according to a statement issued Saturday by Lt. Gen. John Allen, the commander of the war in Afghanistan.