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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 12, 2004
NEW SCHUMER HOMELAND SECURITY REPORT CARD: 3 YEARS LATER,
FEDS’ EFFORTS STILL LEAVE NEW YORK DANGEROUSLY UNPROTECTED
Schumer reports some progress since last year but still a long
way to go – gives Feds a "C "overall – Grades
ranging from a "B-" for Air Security to an "F"
for Chemical Plant Security and how federal Homeland Security funds
are distributed
Gaping holes still remain in rail, subway, truck, and port
security, nuclear power plants, immigration, cyber-security
Senator worries that three years after 9/11, new innovations
by terrorists
coming faster than our responses to them
Three years after the attacks of September 11, US Senator Charles
Schumer will release a new analysis on Sunday showing that despite
some progress on improving homeland security in New York over the
last year, the overa result still leaves New York dangerously unprotected.
Schumer gave the federal government a "C"overall in homeland
security preparedness in New York, with grades ranging from a "B"
on Bioterrorism Response and a “B-“ on Air Security
to an "F" on Chemical Plant Security and how the Federal
government distributes Homeland Security funds.
"High alert, hard work, and heavy-duty help from Washington
got us through New York City’s Convention this summer without
an incident, but on any conventional day in New York the Feds are
still aren’t giving us enough support, enough attention or
enough money,” Schumer said. “The bottom line is that
we are far safer than we were three years ago today, but not nearly
as safe as we could be or should be.”
Before the attacks of September 11, the United States had no comprehensive
plan to defend its highways, railways, and waterways. Schumer's
analysis found that since the terrorist attacks, the federal government
has begun to address many security needs but has completed few of
them, and has often not provided the money needed to fully shore
up security. Governments across New York including New York City
and suburban and upstate towns, cities and counties have been hampered
by a lack of federal funding, and in most areas of homeland security
they confront a lack of focus and effort from the federal government.
"We’ve made progress in the air, but six months after
Madrid we’ve still barely out of the station on rail security.
We know terrorists have been targeting financial institutions with
truck bombs for years, but we’re still miles away from background
checks on all HAZMAT truck drivers. And my biggest fear of all is
that the terrorists are coming up with new ways to hit us far faster
than we faster than we’re coming up with ways to block them,”
Schumer said.
Among highlights of the report are:
Air Security: B-
After a slow start by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
and Federal Aviation Administration, efforts to improve passenger
screening overall have produced results. However, there are still
gaping holes in New York's, as well as our nation's, air security
system. It is far too easy to smuggle explosives onboard aircraft;
the number of TSA screeners has been reduced; No-fly lists are incomplete
and false identifications are common; reports have indicated that
only five percent of aircraft are covered by an air marshal team;
cargo screening measures are inadequate; and airlines remain ill-equipped
to defend against shoulder-fired missiles.
Train and Subway Security: D
The tragic bombings that took place earlier this year in Madrid
have intensified the need to drastically improve security measures
on the nation’s rails. Despite some improvement at New York’s
Penn Station, much more needs to be done to secure subways, commuter
and interstate rail service. Train stations screen little if any
passengers. There has not been a large scale assessment of the nation’s
rail and transit systems. In addition, Amtrak’s police force
is not as well trained as the TSA force employed at airports and
many of New York’s major train tunnels do not provide exits
and are not equipped to remove smoke in the event of a disaster.
Truck Security: D
Nine years after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
in Oklahoma City, sales of ammonium nitrate – the explosive
fertilizer most commonly used in truck bombs – continues without
restriction, and efforts to put inert tracers called “taggants”
into the chemicals have gone nowhere. In addition, there have been
several instances in the last year of gasoline truck disappearing.
While the federal government has begun running background checks
on some HAZMAT drivers, not all drivers yet undergo this scrutiny.
Port Security: D+
Our greatest vulnerability is at our ports. Every year, approximately
5,400 commercial ships make more than 60,000 US port calls, only
3 percent of which were under a U.S. flag, carrying 6 million containers.
The latest figures show that just 4 percent of the 6 million containers
that come through American ports are screened for contraband materials.
Though Congress has made available some funds for research and development,
it is not nearly enough to get the job done and most of it has not
even been spent. The Coast Guard estimates it will cost America’s
ports more than $7 billion to implement new security measures passed
in the Maritime Security Act. To date, Congress has provided just
over $500 million.
Cyber Security: C-
Last year, the Administration introduced its National Strategy to
Secure Cyberspace, however there has been little progress in securing
the nation’s networks as a result. Research efforts to stay
one step ahead of hackers and cyber terrorists remain underfunded.
Coordination with the private sector, remains insufficient. In 2003,
there was a 50% increase in attacks on confidential data, which
could be used for identity theft and financial fraud. In addition,
a December 2003 report done by the House Government Reform Subcommittee
on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and
the Census found that eight federal agencies including the DHS were
failing to secure their cyber-space, leaving sensitive information
exposed to hackers.
Bioterrorism: B
Bioterror protection is perhaps the area of homeland security where
the most progress has been made. The federal government has helped
educate doctors and hospitals to detect early signs bioterror, and
vaccine storage and distribution systems are vastly improved. However,
insufficient funding has gone directly to local hospitals and public
health entities to implement the plans, and the distribution of
funds has been greatly delayed. According to health experts, hospitals
will need at least $10 billion to enhance bioterrorism preparedness
and fully ensure that they are ready in the event of an attack.
Vaccination programs have also failed: only 39,000 emergency workers
and first responders had been vaccinated for smallpox by March of
this year.
Defending the Water Supply: B-
The President has reported that diagrams of public water systems
were discovered in Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, and officials
seized water supply diagrams from suspected Al-Qaeda members in
Denver. New York City is doing an excellent job protecting its water
supply both in the city and in the water's source upstate. However,
this year the EPA provided only $113 million of the $500 million
needed to help municipal water systems develop security plans, and
there is no federal funding mechanism in place to assist the 55,000
public water systems nationwide for security upgrades.
Northern Border Security: B
As of May 15, 2004, there were 3,417 Customs and Border Protection
officers on the Northern Border. This is 1,428 positions short of
the USA PATRIOT Act’s required number of 4,845 officers. Rather
than making progress towards the goal of tripling agents, CBP has
been losing ground while operating under a hiring freeze since March
of 2004. Rochester alone was promised an additional 12-15 agents
in early summer, none of which were hired. There has, however, been
positive developments regarding the Peace Bridge in Buffalo. US
and Canada are in high level discussions about creating a new border
crossing model to be implemented- the shared border management model.
Immigration: D+
Effective immigration security is one of the nation’s greatest
tools to stop terrorists from coming to the US. DHS has announced
- and the 9/11 Commission endorsed - the inclusion of Visa Waiver
Program (VWP) citizens into US-VISIT, the entry-exit tracking system
previously in place for all other foreign visitors to the United
States. US-VISIT, however, is not expected to be fully deployed
throughout the US until 2010. In addition, although the nonpartisan
Government Accounting Office (GAO) recently reported that the DHS
is on schedule to deploy its fingerprinting technology at ports
of entry, the DHS has not developed biometric identifiers for multiple
immutable characteristics. The GAO also criticized the DHS and the
State Department for their communication failures regarding integration
of the new biometric technology. DHS also recently reported that
9 of 10 DHS officials assigned to screen visa applications in Saudi
Arabia do not speak or read Arabic and have no experience conducting
criminal investigations, undermining the government’s ability
properly identify suspected terrorists.
Nuclear Power Plant Security: C
The federal government has taken some steps toward addressing nuclear
power plant security, but they have still not gone far enough to
secure these facilities. New York National Guard personnel were
stationed at New York's nuclear power plants, and continue to be
posted at these facilities. At the Indian Point facility, two New
York Naval militia boats are stationed in the Hudson River to patrol
for water-borne attacks. In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) has worked with the FAA to prohibit planes from circling or
loitering above nuclear power plants and there are firm no-fly zones
over nuclear plants. The NRC has also begun a program to conduct
modern terrorist attack simulations that are larger in scale and
more aggressive than the previous exercises, but again, this plan
does not fully resume until November. Experts argue that the new
simulations are still inadequate and that NRC procedures have been
unnecessarily secretive in order to avoid scrutiny.
Chemical Plant Security: F
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are 110
hazardous material facilities where a release of chemicals could
threaten more than one million people - including dozens in Northern
New Jersey, not far from New York City. Despite these risks and
repeated calls for action over the course of the past year, security
at these plants remains lax and no federal security standards govern
these facilities.
First Responders: C
First responders provide a critical level of security to minimize
the effects of an attack and should be given the necessary resources
to perform their functions to the utmost. According to the Conference
of Mayors, every time the threat level is raised to “Code
Orange” cities incur a cost of $70 million per week. However,
funding cuts continue to shift the burden of these costs increasingly
on localities. In addition, there has not been a significant improvement
in communications for first responders, despite the widely acknowledged
truth that the lack of a coherent communication system for first
responders was a leading reason for the unprecedented death toll
of FDNY on 9/11.
Homeland Security Funding Priorities: F
While Washington marginally increased the amount of federal Homeland
Security funding from the year 2003 to the year 2004, much less
of this money - both in real dollars and percentage of the total
- went to New York State and New York City. In addition, the White
House, House and Senate have all requested less money for Homeland
Security in 2005.The percentage of all Homeland Security funds sent
to New York State fell by nearly half from 2003 to 2004, and the
percentage New York City received fell by more than half. In addition,
in FY04, under the Office of Domestic Preparedness Homeland Security
Grant program, New York received the 49th least amount of funding
per capita – only $5.47. Wyoming, on the other hand, led the
pack, receiving $38.31 per person.
Click here for a copy of the full Homeland Security
Report .
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