Why Senator Tom Coburn Is Wrong About Columbus

Pro 3XE Underwater Search and Recovery Vehicle cited in Senator Tom Coburn's report
Credit: http://www.atlantasmarine.com/product/videoray-pro-3-gto

Last week, Senator Tom Coburn released a report criticizing various municipalities and the Department of Homeland Security for spending taxpayer dollars frivolously on various pieces of equipment, training exercises, and conferences.  His report, titled “Safety at Any Price: Assessing the Impact of Homeland Security Spending in US Cities, mentioned several cities including Columbus, Ohio.  I grew up in the Buckeye state for a while. As such, I pay attention to any allegations against our capital city, particularly with respect to homeland security.   So, I read the report and was surprised by its allegations.

On his web site, Senator Coburn states,

"Columbus, OH’s Underwater Robot: Columbus, Ohio recently purchased an “underwater robot” using a $98,000 UASI grant. The robot is mounted with a video providing a full-color display to a vehicle on shore. Officials on the Columbus City Council went so far as to declare the purchase an “emergency,” not because of security needs, but because of “federal grant deadlines.” If the money was not spent quickly, it would have returned to the Treasury. (Pg. 27 & 28 )"

In the report, he goes on further to state,

"The Columbus dive team, however, is responsible only for underwater search and recovery missions – not for rescue missions that may happen during a terror attack.  One of the team’s higher profile missions in recent years was the recovery of a
$2 million “sunken treasure” in the Scioto River."

So, naturally I did my own "investigation" into this allegation made against Columbus and DHS. Here's what I found out:

1. Columbus's police department is solely responsible for search and recovery.  It's in the standard operation procedures.  That much is true.  What his report fails to acknowledge is that after a terror attack the most important job any first responder agency can have is the search for human remains and evidence.  That too is in their SOP.  It states, "Underwater search and recovery operations encompass underwater criminal investigations, the recovery of bodies and property, and other operations, which by their nature fall into the scope of duties and obligations of the Division of Police."  Additionally, the Scioto River is 218 miles long and goes through downtown Columbus.  It also lays along the "approach" for Columbus International Airport.  Any counter-terrorism expert worth his/her salary will tell you this would be a natural place for an attack to occur and for law enforcement to begin search and recovery operations.  Given that debris fields from most major attacks extend for miles, it would be prudent for any law enforcement agency to look for evidence and possible human remains along this river.  My favorite item to back this up came from the FBI dive team site.  Yup.  The FBI says, "Our underwater experts can find clues and map out crime scenes in exactly those places and more...They’ve got some fancy tools and technologies to help them do their jobs: “side-scan sonar” that can detect debris...miniature remote-controlled subs that send real-time color video to the surface for on-the-spot identification and that can make videotapes of underwater searches for future use.  We’ve called on our dive teams many times over the years since the first one was launched in 1982. For example:  When TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic in 1996, our New York team helped scour a 40-square mile patch of the ocean floor, recovering the remains of all 230 victims and 96 percent of the airplane....Our teams have even traveled overseas to support such investigations as the terrorist attack on the USS Cole."
2. Columbus, Ohio is/was a terrorist target.  Many people don't think of Columbus, Ohio as being of major interest to al Qaeda.  However, in 2004, we learned different.  Nuradin Abdi, a Somali native plotted with three of his friends to attack a Columbus mall. Abdi entered this country with the sole intent to target Americans, after illegally entering in 1999.  In 2002, he along with two friends discussed bombing a mall in Columbus.  Abdi was sentenced to 10 years and was deported back to Somalia in November 2012.  Here's a link to his indictment - http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/85.pdf.  Here's a map of downtown Columbus.  Note it's approximal distance to the airport and the Scioto River:
   View Larger Map
3. The Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) this grant is managed states its purpose is "to directly support expanding regional collaboration and is meant to assist participants in their creation of regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery."  Part of any response and recovery effort is search and recovery.  Seriously.  Anyone who took Emergency Management 101 knows that much.  The quicker you get to the bodies and the evidence the sooner you can figure who attacked you and more importantly, how.
4. The New York Police Department has the same robot.  How is it that I'm the only one who caught that?  That's right.  NYPD uses this robot on the missions I described and for bomb detection as well.  Why?  Because they have a river that flows through the heart of their city.  The only exception is the Scioto currently doesn't allow commercial ships due to the 2012 drought.
5. DHS did have a deadline that was approaching and the city council deemed funding was neccessary and determined it an emergency.  Why would call this an emergency?  Because of the ridiculous amount of time it takes for a city to make any purchases on their own.  The city simply didn't have $98k for an underwater robot.  What the report failed to mention was the city had done this numerous other times in an attempt to stockpile on homeland security equipment they felt they needed.  They purchased a similar robot for their fire department.  The exception is the fire department can't use their robot or their divers for recovery of evidence or remains.  This simply is not in their area of operations (AO).

So there you have it.  The truth about Columbus isn't what Senator Coburn made it out to be.  Senator Coburn is trying to bill himself as a good steward of taxpayer money.  While I appreciate his diligence, I am struggling with why he didn't go to these cities himself and ask the same questions I did.  Moreover, why isn't his staff asking these questions instead of producing hilarious cover art for his reports.