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Prepare for assaults on Hawaii conferences

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 10, 2008

THE ISSUE

Representatives of Pacific Rim countries are completing a conference in Waikiki.

Hawaii's sixth annual Asia-Pacific Rim Homeland Security Summit & Exposition is completing four days of sharing information among many countries on how to best combat terrorism, surviving an assault on the gathering by a disgruntled congressman. As federal spending increasingly becomes a target, Hawaii should prepare for similar criticism that threatens to isolate Hawaii as a tourist destination and nothing more.

Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, told Newsweek magazine in August that retired Navy Adm. Jay M. Cohen, Homeland Security undersecretary for science, would be "scattering taxpayer dollars on a boondoggle in Hawaii." Dingell has questioned Cohen's shutting down of an animal disease center in New York and told the Washington Times this week that Cohen's "time would be better spent fixing the mess he has created here."

In a letter to Newsweek, Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, Hawaii's adjutant general, responded that the state-sponsored summit "has been a forum where government, military, business, industry and education leaders from Pacific and Asian nations have shared information, techniques and best practices on topics from terrorism to natural disasters."

Hawaii is "a natural gathering place" for such a forum, he added. As many as two dozen Pacific Rim countries have been represented at the yearly conference.

Cohen was among 20 Homeland Security officials who attended the summit at the Sheraton Waikiki at a cost of $44,000. "We are mandated to have a sharing relationship with our international partners, and this is probably the most cost-effective way to do it," Homeland Security spokesman John Verrico told the Times. The alternative would be to plan such a forum in Singapore that would have cost up to $1 million.

THE ISSUE

Representatives of Pacific Rim countries are completing a conference in Waikiki.

Hawaii's sixth annual Asia-Pacific Rim Homeland Security Summit & Exposition is completing four days of sharing information among many countries on how to best combat terrorism, surviving an assault on the gathering by a disgruntled congressman. As federal spending increasingly becomes a target, Hawaii should prepare for similar criticism that threatens to isolate Hawaii as a tourist destination and nothing more.

Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, told Newsweek magazine in August that retired Navy Adm. Jay M. Cohen, Homeland Security undersecretary for science, would be "scattering taxpayer dollars on a boondoggle in Hawaii." Dingell has questioned Cohen's shutting down of an animal disease center in New York and told the Washington Times this week that Cohen's "time would be better spent fixing the mess he has created here."

In a letter to Newsweek, Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, Hawaii's adjutant general, responded that the state-sponsored summit "has been a forum where government, military, business, industry and education leaders from Pacific and Asian nations have shared information, techniques and best practices on topics from terrorism to natural disasters."

Hawaii is "a natural gathering place" for such a forum, he added. As many as two dozen Pacific Rim countries have been represented at the yearly conference.

Cohen was among 20 Homeland Security officials who attended the summit at the Sheraton Waikiki at a cost of $44,000. "We are mandated to have a sharing relationship with our international partners, and this is probably the most cost-effective way to do it," Homeland Security spokesman John Verrico told the Times. The alternative would be to plan such a forum in Singapore that would have cost up to $1 million.


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