It's Up to the Voters to Fix U.S. Security

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

By Tim Roemer, The Philadelphia Inquirer

August 23, 2006

Tim Roemer is a former Indiana congressman who served on the 9/11 Commission

The initial response to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, was unprecedented - in many ways, unbelievable. The world expressed its support for the United States. The American people united behind President Bush, and the Congress created a bipartisan commission to address what went wrong and how to fix it.

As a member of the 9/11 Commission, I was able not only to see firsthand the problems facing our homeland security, but also to help to propose a comprehensive set of common-sense solutions. As a result of that bipartisan effort, the nation came to understand the scope of the attacks on New York and Washington, and the government began taking action to ensure that we would never again be caught unprepared.

We submitted our report to Congress and the American people, confident that the resolve to safeguard our nation would ensure swift implementation of our recommendations. The public put its trust in the 9/11 Commission, and we put our trust in Congress to take action. For a while, it did, passing roughly half of our recommendations.

The success story seems to have stopped there. Now, almost two years after the commission formally concluded its inquiry, our job is still not finished. Congress and the administration have failed to fix many of the glaring deficiencies in our homeland security. Here are just three disturbing cases:

Our ports and our borders are still not secure. Almost five years after 9/11, only 2 percent of the container traffic coming into the United States is inspected. A report released in March by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that it was extraordinarily easy to smuggle highly radioactive cesium, the ingredient of choice for dirty bombs, across our border with Canada.
Our law-enforcement officers do not have the tools or the leadership they need. The FBI still cannot provide every agent with a secure e-mail address, much less access to the relevant counter-terror databases. Already, the FBI has wasted $200 million on failed information systems. But the problem is not just administrative. The FBI has had six counterterrorism chiefs in five years. That kind of leadership turnover is self-defeating.
Our first-responders are incredibly unprepared for another major attack on an American city, as Hurricane Katrina revealed. Nearly a year after those wrenching scenes at the Superdome, New Orleans is still a city on life-support, and there is little evidence that the federal government is prepared to respond to a repeat scenario. Further, Congress has decided that it will not provide the required radio frequency first- responders need until 2009.

The recently disrupted British terror plot was a clear warning. America's security must not be a victim of partisanship. Congress must take its oversight responsibility seriously. And Americans must determine whether incumbents and challengers will accept their charge to "protect and defend" our country.

Let me be clear: This is not a partisan get-out- the-vote campaign. This is a call for politicians from both sides of the aisle to step up to their responsibilities. Making sure that Congress will secure our frontiers, equip our public servants with the necessary tools, and perform oversight over every aspect of homeland security is perhaps the most pressing issue of this electoral cycle.

On Sept. 11, the courageous passengers on United Flight 93 that crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa., realized they had to act to protect all of us - even though it would cost them their lives. "Let's roll," they said, and they acted.

Right now, we need every American to stand up and act to secure our country by taking electoral responsibility seriously. Study the record of candidates, reflect on their contributions to homeland security, and act.

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