A report compiled by 13 Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee analyzing public statements and congressional testimony on Bush administration security goals since 2002 states that the Homeland Security Department has failed to fulfill 33 of its own pledges to better protect the nation. The report concludes that gaps remain in federal efforts to secure an array of areas, including ports, borders and chemical plants. There also are still delays in the department's sharing terror alerts and other intelligence with state and local officials, the review said. Among these failures:
_Compile a single, comprehensive list prioritizing protections for the nation's most critical and potentially vulnerable buildings, transportation systems and other infrastructure.
_Install monitors at borders and every international seaport and airport to screen for radiation material entering the country.
_Install surveillance cameras at all high-risk chemical plants.
_Create one effective network to share quickly security-related intelligence and alerts with state, local and private industry officials.
_Track foreign visitors through a computerized system that takes their fingerprints and photographs as they enter and exit the country
Now the effectiveness of the HSD, which consolidated 22 federal agencies (except for the FBI and CIA whose lack of a good working relationship is considered to be one of the biggest problems that lead to 9/11), has always been suspect, especially when the 9/11 commission reported the need for a national intelligence director and that many of its previous recommendations had not been put into place. Many others have contended that our ports are not secure, nuclear power and chemical plants not guarded, etc. Now it would be easy for me to be partisan and cynical and say that the Homeland Security Department has accomplished nothing and that the Bush adminstration has done nothing. I will not make such a claim. But I think much has not been done, and that the administration's and the Republican Congress' efforts in fighting terrorism have been too drawn toward military action (obviously) and increasing the ability to gather people's personal information (again, obviously) and not enough towards towards well, basic homeland security protections.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I also won't say they've accomplished nothing. But I'd like to know exactly what it is they've accomplished. I'd like to know what their priorities are, and I'd like to know how far they've gone towards meeting those priorities. Right now, we know hardly any of these things of their own admission, and it's only committees such as these that give us an idea of what's going on up there. That it's all Democrats can't be helped, as Republicans show little interest in figuring out how secure we are (unless it's the security of our border with Mexico.)
Well, obviously this administration doesn't quite have its priorities straight. Instead of investing in more humint, Bush has asked for (and received) billions of dollars for his ballistic missile shield.
And despite the fact that most Americans are far more afraid of commercial airliners being used as flying bombs again, the military (with this administrations cooperation) is still putting billions into weapons like the F-22, the JSF and the Seawolf. Of course this has to do with the system of cooperation to control their own budgets that the armed forces have cooked up, but you'd think that at a time like this the administration might be doing more to reign them in than it has been.
Post a Comment