Issues
HOMELAND SECURITY:
Seven years after the deadliest attack in our nation's history, Washington still hasn't done what's necessary to protect America.
We've been warned time and time again about the vulnerability of our homeland security: by Republicans and Democrats in Congress, by the 9/11 commission, by the FBI, by the CIA, by the Justice Department, by the Homeland Security department, by the Coast Guard, by the border patrol, and by mayors, firefighters, police officers, and emergency.
But Washington hasn't yet invested in real homeland security.
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There are over 100 chemical plants near communities of over one million residents. We know that the EPA and the Justice Department say they're vulnerable to attack. And a Georgia Pacific's former security chief has said that "Security at a 7-Eleven after midnight is better than at a plant with a 90-ton vessel of chlorine."
But the people who run Washington have opposed common sense regulations to improve security at our chemical and nuclear plants; giving in to demands from their chemical and nuclear industry campaign contributors. That's wrong.
The Department of Homeland Security's own investigators were able to carry explosives and weapons past security screeners at every airport they visited. But we've seen thousands of airport screeners cut. Airports don't have the funding they need to improve baggage screening. Washington can do better than this.
Half of our fire-fighters don't have the radios they need to communicate in a crisis. And the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that many cities have still not received first responder funds. Washington's also been cutting the COPS program that put 100,000 new police officers on the street. And the Administration�s calling for drastic cuts to critical resources for fire departments across the country.
We need to hold Washington accountable on homeland security. Even as we're told we can't afford more port security, more baggage security, more border patrol agents, more firefighters and more cops on the beat; we're told we can afford run-away spending on wasteful projects and wasteful tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
TWashington isn't living up to its obligation to protect the American people.
Here's what we should be doing:
We should invest at least $60 billion more over the next ten years to protect America. We should secure our ports and our borders by screening cargo for nuclear materials. We should make sure that we have enough border agents with the right technology to keep commerce flowing in while keeping terrorists out.
We should protect our transportation systems by making sure we screen airplane cargo just like we screen baggage; by ensuring our airports have enough trained staff to protect us; by investing more than $2 billion to improve security on our railroads, subways, bridges and tunnels.
We should protect our chemical and nuclear plants by requiring them to develop and implement real security plans.
We should protect our country against bioterrorism by making investments in our public health system to detect possible threats; by giving hospitals and emergency rooms the resources they need to contain an attack; and by making sure our public health system can develop and distribute enough vaccines for the people who need them.
Washington should do everything possible so that America's first responders have the tools to keep us safe. We should invest in more manpower, more equipment, and more training for those who are on the frontlines defending America every day. We should restore funding for the COPS program. We need to add 100,000 firefighters. And we need to ensure that our first responders have a dependable, interoperable communication system that works in the event of a catastrophic incident. We can not risk the communication lapses that occurred in the aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, and yet years after these events, we have not built the network that our nation�s first responders require.
We have a lot of catching up to do; we need to begin now. It's time to close the gaps in our homeland security. It's time to build an America that is safer and stronger.
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