House creates Select Committee on Homeland Security.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Security Beat

Instead of having homeland security issues handled within existing committees, the House of Representatives created a Select Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif. Cox has served as vice chairman of the Government Reform Committee, chairman of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military Commercial Concerns with the Peoples' Republic of China, and vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Cox also has held the elected chairmanship of the House Policy Committee, where he had oversight of U.S. policy toward Russia and North Korea, since 1994.

Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ind., said: "Overseeing the House implementation of the Homeland Security Department is...