For the past four years, politicians have fought over – and, in some cases, attempted to eliminate – funding for Johnstown’s National Drug Intelligence Center.
That battle appears to be over, at least for the time being.
President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2010, which was released Thursday, allocates about $44 million for the Washington Street center.
And in another sign of good news for the center’s future, the document for the first time gives NDIC a specific niche in the Department of Justice’s spending plan.
“This budget request will help establish the Department of Justice as NDIC’s permanent funding source,” Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said Thursday.
Since 2005, former President George W. Bush had made annual attempts to shutter the intelligence center. The proposed budgets issued by Bush’s White House had allocated only enough cash to close NDIC and redistribute its relevant duties among other agencies.
But NDIC backers – including U.S. Rep. John Murtha, the Johnstown Democrat who brought the newly created center to this area in the early 1990s – lobbied successfully to allocate funding for the facility each year.
The funding fight was based partly on principle and partly on politics.
Critics argued that NDIC is wasteful and duplicates work done by other offices. But advocates said the center plays a critical role in coordinating the nation’s battle against the trafficking and abuse of illegal drugs.
The dispute fell along party lines, and Murtha reiterated Thursday that he believes he was targeted because of his opposition to the war in Iraq.
“It’s unfortunate that for the past few years the Bush administration used the NDIC as a political chip because I disagreed with their Iraq policy,” the congressman said in a written statement.
Murtha had predicted that, with a new Democratic administration in the White House, the struggle would end. But he also attributes the budgetary shift to NDIC staff members, saying he is “proud of their accomplishments and the work that they are doing.”
“Both Congress and the Obama administration recognize that the NDIC is invaluable to our drug intelligence and counter-drug operations,” Murtha said.
“Their highly respected expertise and skills are particularly important today given the current situation along the Mexican border.”
Congress still must approve Obama’s budget.
The $44 million currently allocated for NDIC, which has 239 employees, would be equal to the money Murtha helped secure for the center for fiscal 2009.
But it also is significant that the money is formally included in the Justice Department’s budget request.
Throughout its history, NDIC has been administered by Justice officials but funded through an item inserted into the Department of Defense budget. The proposed change for fiscal 2010 would place NDIC funding and operations under one roof – possibly for years to come.
The rhetoric concerning NDIC has changed drastically. In 2006, a Justice Department spokesman said the the center’s resources “should be realigned to support priority counter-terrorism and national-security initiatives.”
On Thursday, Boyd said NDIC “provides coordinated and consolidated organizational drug intelligence to policy-makers from law-enforcement and national-security agencies.”
Local News
Budget preserves NDIC: Would be funded by Justice Dept.
- Local News
-
-
Somerset County teacher accused of using insulting names
School board members and administrators say they’re still investigating whether a teacher called her eighth- and ninth-grade algebra students names like “retard,” “idiot” and “moron.”
-
Seward tax preparer set to plead in federal court
A Westmoreland County tax preparer is scheduled to plead guilty or no contest to charges that he filed fraudulent income tax returns for his customers and asked some of them to lie to Internal Revenue Service investigators.
-
Police probing financial irregularities at Indiana County parish
State police say they’re investigating financial “irregularities” at a Catholic parish with five worship sites in Indiana County, after the local diocese reported the problems to police.
-
Blogging with heart
I was feeling overwhelmed yesterday, so today, I’m organizing my work. I have talked to probably a couple dozen people for Heart Month stories and I have pages and pages of notes.
-
Video: Young bear, wolf play together
It’s like something out of a children's book: A bear cub meets a wolf cub and they become the best of friends. Even though they are different species and ferocious predators, the unlikely couple stays pals for life.
-
Two Cambria district judge offices to be cut
Two of Cambria County’s 10 magisterial districts could be eliminated as President Judge Timothy Creany looks at realigning boundaries to cut costs while taking into consideration caseloads of the district judges and population changes.
-
Westmont couple inseparable, even in death
People who knew James and Marjorie Landis of Westmont said the two were nearly always together.
-
Company buys valuables from people ready to unload
Jan Hagerich’s buffalo nickel was “healthy” – which was unhealthy for her finances.
-
Special Olympics return to region
More than 300 athletes eager to show off their skills, along with 135 coaches, will be coming to the region to take part in the 2012 Special Olympics Pennsylvania Winter Games.
-
Special Olympics Schedule
Here is a list of events related to the Pennsylvania Special Olympics Winter Games through Tuesday at venues across the region:
Saturday
• Laurel Highlands Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics; Quemahoning Reservoir near Boswell; registration at 9:30 a.m.; plunge at 1 p.m. - More Local News Headlines
-
Somerset County teacher accused of using insulting names
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Video of Ga. Man Who Killed Girl Released
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
Nevada Highway Patrol, City Settle Beating Case
White House Attacks Romney on Birth Control
Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows
Mo. Teen Gets Life Sentence for Killing Girl, 9
Lower-hassle Screening to Be Tested at Airports
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Helmet Camera Captures Calif. Fire Rescue
Worker Tells 911: Powell 'exploded the House'
Triple Win: Santorum Takes Minn., Mo., Colo.
Injured Marine Inspired by Homecoming
No Rape Charges Against Son of NYPD Commissioner
Egypt's Ruling Generals Play Risky Game With US
Former Komen Exec Defends Funding Cut
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Jury Selection for Ex-UVa Athlete Enters 2nd Day
