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News Archive 2006
Domestic Security Since 9/11 Is Barely Better, Schumer Says
The New York Times
September 5, 2006
Editorial
Domestic security remains mediocre at best, and in some ways has barely improved, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Senator Charles E. Schumer said yesterday.
Over all, Mr. Schumer gave efforts to make the nation safer from attack a grade of C-, about the same as the
marks he assigned in similar exercises
in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Of the 12 areas he
examined in a report, he said a few remained
particularly bad: security for
mass transit, shipping ports and chemical
plants; the use of devices that can
detect explosives and other weapons;
and grants to law enforcement authorities
and firefighters.
"A promise was made to the American
people that after 9/11, every step
would be taken," Mr. Schumer said,
standing near the rim of the enormous
pit at the World Trade Center site. "Unfortunately,
too much of that promise
remains unfulfilled."
Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the
Department of Homeland Security,
said, "We have, ultimately, finite resources"
that are used to focus on the
most serious threats. For instance, he
said, "if we were to inspect every container
that comes into our country,
ports would shut down."
He called the senator's report "halfbaked,"
saying that "it seems to rely
upon the premise that government can
prevent all threats for all people for
all time."
Mr. Schumer said that raising the defense
against terrorism to acceptable
levels would probably mean doubling
the department's budget, now about $32
billion a year. The federal government
has spent $300 billion on the war in Iraq,
he said, so "$30 billion on homeland security
doesn't seem like a lot to ask."
As the fifth anniversary of the attacks
approached, Senator Schumer asserted
that the Bush administration and Congressional
leaders have still not shown
the will to spend enough, and that the
Department of Homeland Security has
been poorly run and has reneged on
commitments, partly as a result of lack
of money.
Most of the material in Mr. Schumer's
14-page report is not new; it was culled
from sources like the 9/11 Commission,
the Rand Corporation, the Council on
Foreign Relations and various government
agencies. But of the dozens of
specifics it cites, many - like the lack
of tamperproof seals on shipping containers,
or background checks of truck
drivers admitted to the ports - have received
little attention.
Mr. Schumer gave his highest grades
to nuclear plant security, B+, and aviation
security, B-. He said airline safety
had improved significantly, citing
changes like secure cockpit doors, more
marshals on flights and upgraded passenger
and baggage screening.
But he separated that category from
efforts to develop and deploy machinery
that can find weapons by peering
into baggage or detect minute traces of
dangerous chemicals or germs - for
which he said the government had
earned an F.
He gave another failing grade to mass
transit security - a particular concern
to metropolitan New York - saying
that the government spends $9 per passenger
on airline security but only 1
cent per mass transit rider.
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