U.S. LAWMAKERS WARY OF TERRORIST ATTACKS TO SURFACE TRANSPORTATION
Members of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine said they want to tighten up security among the country’s rail and vessel operations, fearing a possible second wave of terrorist attacks.
“We’re not holding this hearing to scare Americans,” said Subcommittee Chairman Sen. John Breaux, D-La. at a hearing Tuesday “We need to look at both passenger and cargo transportation in the United States because our system is open, accessible, and operates in highly populated areas where severe damage can be caused in high-population centers.”
'Adm. James Underwood, director of the Transportation Department’s Office of Intelligence and Security, tried to assure the subcommittee that the agency has made it a priority to protect other transport infrastructures, such as railways, roads, transit systems, pipelines and waterways. “Much has been done, with some restrictions and precautions starting the day of the attack,” Underwood said.
“The private sector has been largely responsible for assuring its own infrastructure and business security practices,” Underwood said. “We have developed a trusted partnership with the transportation industry and state and local authorities that transcends economics and politics and acknowledges that our ultimate goal is to protect our country, its people and our freedom.”
On Sept. 17, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta created the National Infrastructure Security Committee to focus on intermodal transportation security issues, and on Sept. 24, he established a Maritime Direct Action Group to evaluate the need for enhanced port security measures.
However, several senators on the subcommittee were unnerved by Underwood’s statements that DOT saw no apparent terrorist threat against the intermodal sector.
“The response of no-specific threat doesn’t sit well with a lot of us,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. “What we need to say is that we’re preparing for everything.”
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, expressed similar concerns about the security of merchant vessels arriving in Hawaii’s harbors that may have been tampered with by terrorists overseas.
The subcommittee asked DOT representatives to provide a list of all the resources that it believes would be needed to combat terrorism, and the subcommittee would go from there.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., affirmed that it’s not the intention of Congress to create a “police state” as the result of increased surface transport security measures. “We need more security, but we also need efficiency,” he said.