More on TDEx: Raymond On The Case

We had a little bit of news yesterday about the growing TDEx scandal, and just a few minutes ago I received a press release from Representative Richard Raymond's office concerning some legislative action. Rep. David Swinford, the chair of State Affairs, accepted Raymond's HB 4108 as an amendment to a general Homeland Security bill, HB 13. The transfer of TDEx to the DPS is at the very least going to the floor, and if Perry and Dewhurst's inability to control the Lege as of late is any indication, it will probably pass.

What a development like this should tell you is that the TDEx thing isn't going away. A unilaterally administered terrorist watch list is a bad deal any way you slice it, and delays to produce documents by the Office of Homeland Security, which is under Perry's purview, signal there's something amiss. From the press release:

Rep. Raymond noted that during the past 16 months there were apparently some security breaches and there was also loss of data. "We are waiting to hear back from the Governor's Office of Homeland Security, in order to find out exactly how often there were security breaches, what happened to the data that was lost, who were the non-enforcement individuals that have had access to the data base, how many people are on the Governor's Terrorist Watch List and what is the criteria for being put on that list," said Rep. Raymond.

"We need to find out how many non-law enforcement government employees in Gov. Perry's Office and non-law enforcement, non-government employees had access to this information, who they were and what type of information they accessed," said Rep. Raymond.

Rep. Raymond and other legislators have requested this information from Steve McCraw, Director of Texas Homeland Security. They are still awaiting for a response to these requests, which were made last Friday, during a hearing of the House Committee on State Affairs.

"I want to know the purpose of the Governor's Terrorist Watch list. We need some further explanation why this watch list is in the millions and I would like to know all the types of information they are gathering on the people who are being put on the list," said Rep. Raymond.

This is some solid leadership on an issue that from a political standpoint has to be discussed, and from a governance standpoint has to be explored. Some questions should be answered in a hearing this afternoon, so stick around.