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Homeland Security
Congresswoman Lowey has a long record of support for efforts to fight terrorism through a combination of a strong defense, expert diplomacy, assistance for first responders, and special attention to security measures here at home. She is working with Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and President Obama to make our nation and our region more secure.
Since September 11th, Lowey has helped secure more than $58 million in federal security funds for first responders in the 18th Congressional District. Lowey wrote portions of the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007, the law that implemented the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and provides critical funding for New York. Among its provisions, the law mandates 100% scanning of all maritime cargo before it enters the U.S., improves aviation security, and overhauls intelligence collection and information sharing between the Department of Homeland Security and first responders.
In the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, Lowey supported a measure providing the President with the authority to pursue military action to stamp out Al Qaeda and other international terrorist networks operating around the world. She supported passage of the landmark Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act, which will improve community response to bioterrorism, enhance community planning and interagency coordination, ensure the availability of vaccines and treatments for all Americans, protect our food and water supply, secure our borders, and enhance the capability of our intelligence agencies.
Congresswoman Lowey is also working to obtain federal funding for projects in Westchester and Rockland Counties that will enhance the security of our communities. For more information on Congresswoman Lowey's efforts to secure federal funding, please click here.
Federal Grant Funding Formula
One of Congresswoman Lowey’s biggest accomplishments has been to ensure that New York receives a more adequate share of homeland security dollars. As a senior member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Lowey successfully lobbied President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff to increase the New York region’s allocation for rail, transit, and port security grants. Lowey has also been the leader in Congress in ensuring the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funds designated high-threat, high-risk urban areas as intended. She has fought an expansion in the number of regions eligible for funding, which dilutes the amount that high-risk areas like New York may receive.
With the passage of Improving America’s Security Act, Lowey’s tireless efforts on this issue helped increase the percentage of federal dollars that are allocated on the basis of risk from 60% to more than 80%. When Congresswoman Lowey successfully amended the House USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization bill to change the funding formula, The New York Times called the Lowey amendment “the only acceptable approach that meets the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and the Homeland Security Department.”
Lowey offered a measure to increase funding in the Fiscal Year 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations Act by $750 million to offset drastic losses in grant funds in New York in 2006. Rep. Lowey also introduced legislation that would require bioterrorism grants allocated by the Department of Health and Human Services to be distributed under a risk-based formula. In response to concerns from local first responders about the high costs for overtime incurred during periods of heightened alerts, Congresswoman Lowey has introduced and fought for passage of legislation to create a separate source of federal funds for reimbursement of overtime expenses for first responders.
First Responder Communications
Congresswoman Lowey has been a leading advocate for improved interoperability for our first responder communications systems. After September 11th, she introduced the CONNECT First Responders Act, which would require the Department of Homeland Security to create an Office of Interoperability, execute a national communications strategy, and create a grant program to assist state and local governments in building networks. Each provision has been signed into law. Lowey’s grant program has funded more than $100 million in emergency communications projects.
Congresswoman Lowey has also worked to assist public safety agencies by requiring the federal government to issue standards for communications equipment and to implement the Project 25 conformity assessment program to test manufacturers’ claims that radios will work in the advertised manner.
Infrastructure and Hospital Preparedness
Rep. Lowey understands that hospitals and state and local health departments are a key component in the first responder system, and they are ramping up preparedness for a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. Although hospitals are well aware of their needs and are ready to work together, their budgets have been stretched to the limit due to a reduction in Medicare payments and the rising costs of caring for the uninsured, and studies have found that states are only modestly better prepared to deal with a bioterror incident than they were prior to September 11th.
Congresswoman Lowey secured $1 million for Westchester County to lead the region in the development of an overall bioterrorism response plan. Over the years, she has secured millions of dollars for area hospitals, including White Plains, Sound Shore Medical Center, and NY Presbyterian, to help them make critical improvements to their physical plants.
September 11th underscored the vulnerability of our nuclear power plants to a catastrophic terrorist attack. In the absence of strong federal leadership and oversight, profit-driven energy companies have been slow to respond to these threats, cutting security costs wherever and whenever possible.
Rep. Lowey strongly believes that the threat posed by the Indian Point nuclear plants is unacceptable because of the dense surrounding population and its proximity to New York City. Lowey is working to ensure that the plant be closed in an orderly manner. She secured $1 million for the National Academies of Science to study options for replacing the power generated by Indian Point. The report, which compared strategies for meeting power demand without Indian Point, indicated that it could be closed without jeopardizing energy output or raising energy costs with proper planning.
In addition, Lowey has cosponsored legislation to:
- Demand an Independent Safety Assessment of the design, construction, maintenance, and operational safety of Indian Point, as well as an evaluation of its radiological emergency plan by the Department of Homeland Security;
- Require that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) distribute funds collected as fines for safety violations to counties surrounding nuclear facilities, which are required to maintain radiological emergency plans;
- Authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish no-fly zones around nuclear facilities located near major metropolitan areas, including Indian Point;
- Deploy top-flight federal guard teams to all commercial nuclear power plants;
- Require that any nuclear plant receiving a renewed license meet the same standards that a new plant would be required to meet; and
- Mandate state and county certification of emergency plans as a precondition for the continued operation of all commercial nuclear power plants, in response to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s continued certification of the evacuation plans for the communities surrounding Indian Point despite lack of support by local and state officials and the first responders charged with carrying out the plans.
Lowey has supported aggressive measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring “dirty” bombs, which cold be used to launch a catastrophic attack on metropolitan areas. Lowey cosponsored both the Dirty Bomb Prevention Act and Radiological Materials Security Act, which would establish a task force to study and present recommendations on strengthening the security of sealed sources of radioactive materials and take steps to secure radiological material.
Airport Security
Congresswoman Lowey has been a leader in ensuring adequate screening of passengers, airport personnel, and baggage. After the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced plans in 2003 to slash 6,000 federal airport screeners, Lowey successfully urged TSA to reverse its decision to cut over 700 screener positions at the New York City metropolitan airports.
In May 2008, TSA began a pilot program to test the effectiveness of requiring security screening for all airport employees with access to secure and sterile areas. This program is based on language authored by Lowey in the FY08 Omnibus Appropriations bill. She also reintroduced the Guaranteeing Airport Physical Screening Standards Act to require all airport employees nationwide with access to secure areas of airports to pass through security.
The House of Representatives also passed legislation authored by Lowey to bolster the accountability and integrity of covert security tests by prohibiting advance notification of covert tests by the Department of Homeland Security at airport screening checkpoints.
Flight attendants are uniquely capable of disrupting a potentially devastating terrorist attack and protecting passengers during encies, as evidenced during the January 2009 US Airways plane landing in the Hudson River. Unfortunately, security training for flight attendants can vary markedly in quality and content from carrier to carrier.
That’s why Congresswoman Lowey worked to include portions of her Flight Attendant Certification Act in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bills enacted in 2004. These measures mandate vital security training and certification for flight attendants and ensure that all cabin crew at all airlines receive a consistent, high level of safety and security training.
Federal Air Marshal Program
Since September 11, thousands of federal air marshals—undercover agents deployed on U.S. airlines and authorized to use deadly force – have helped ensure the safety of our skies. Unfortunately, in late July 2003 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), citing budget constraints, decided to discontinue air marshal coverage on all flights requiring overnight stays, including cross-country and high-risk international flights. DHS also attempted to slash funding for the federal air marshal program by $104 million, even as the agency struggled to meet existing program needs. In response, Lowey wrote a letter to then TSA Administrator, Admiral James Loy, urging him to restore air marshal coverage. Within 24 hours of its decision, the TSA reinstated federal air marshal coverage on domestic and international flights.
Air Cargo and Shoulder-fired Missiles
Although TSA rigorously screens passengers and baggage, cargo stowed in the hulls of passenger planes is rarely inspected. Terrorist interception of or tampering with cargo, even that from legitimate businesses, remains a serious possibility. Lowey has cosponsored legislation requiring TSA to establish a system to inspect and secure all cargo on passenger aircraft, which accounts for 22% of all air cargo.
Terrorist acquisition and use of shoulder-fired missiles against commercial airlines is another serious concern. In early November 2002, three men with links to Al Qaeda attempted to buy shoulder-fired missiles from undercover FBI agents in Hong Kong. Terrorist attempts to shoot down an Israeli airliner departing from Mombassa, Kenya, in late November 2002 suggested such an attack was not merely hypothetical. For this reason, Lowey supports requiring the installation of anti-missile technologies on all passenger jets and deploying National Guard and Coast Guard units to patrol areas surrounding airports.
Rail and Public Transportation Security
As evidenced by the horrific attacks in Madrid, London and Mumbai, terrorists seek to exploit security weaknesses in our mass transit systems. Congress must do what it takes to protect and secure our transportation networks. Lowey cosponsored and voted for legislation to:
- Create the first ever risk-based grant program to provide for the security of railroad carriers and public transportation systems;
- Require a national rail and public transportation security plan, clarifying roles and responsibilities of federal, state and local agencies; and
- Strengthen intelligence sharing related to transportation security; and improve safety and security for tunnels in the Northeast corridor, including improvements to six tunnels in New York City.
In addition, Lowey believes the federal government must do more to close the enormous gap in spending on aviation security and spending on rail and public transportation security. That is why she successfully lobbied the Administration in 2008 to increase the New York region’s allocation for rail security grant funding to $175 million.
Approximately 95% of U.S. international trade, or $728.2 billion in international products, enters and leaves the nation’s 361 sea and river ports annually. Security experts have cautioned that terrorists could slip a weapon of mass destruction (WMD), such as a chemical, biological, or nuclear bomb, or conventional explosives into cargo containers. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has moved slowly to secure domestic and international ports. A small percentage of the 5 million containers entering U.S. ports is checked by customs or law enforcement officials. Under the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act, which Lowey helped write, 100% of all cargo destined for the U.S. will be scanned.
Lowey has worked hard to strengthen security at ports in New York, New Jersey, and across the country, and successfully lobbied the Administration in 2008 to increase the New York region’s allocation for port security grant funding to more than $45 million. She has strongly supported the creation of an international cargo tracking system to map container and vessel movements and more extensive patrolling of coastal waters. Lowey is the cosponsor of legislation calling for the development of improved nuclear and radiological detection equipment and has helped secure funding for the Securing the Cities program to build a ring around the New York City region to prevent illicit nuclear material from entering the city. She also supports full funding of the Coast Guard to ensure swift completion of port vulnerability assessments.
As a Member of the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Lowey supports increased funding to improve our border security, to hire and train more border patrol agents, and to implement an entry-exit system to track the arrival and departure of non-U.S. citizens in this country.
In December 2005, Lowey voted for a border security proposal that included a comprehensive national strategy for securing the Northern and Southern borders, surveillance technology, increased security at ports of entry, additional detention bed space, and further resources to hire and train border agents. Lowey has supported legislation that has more than doubled the size of the Border Patrol since 2001.
Congresswoman Lowey believes we urgently need comprehensive immigration reform. She has worked hard to strike a balance in reforming the immigration process in the United States to ensure that individuals who wish to harm Americans are barred from entering this country, while also ensuring that the legal immigration process, on which this country was built, is strengthened.