Appointment of Conferees on H.R. 4954, Security and Accountability for Every Port Act

APPOINTMENT OF CONFEREES ON H.R. 4954, SECURITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR EVERY PORT ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2006)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I thank him for his excellent work on this legislation.

I rise in support of the motion to instruct conferees offered by Mr. Thompson.

Mr. Speaker, the 9/11 Commission determined that the risk of maritime terrorism is at least as great if not greater than the risk of terrorism involving civilian aviation. We know that terrorists around the world want to obtain a nuclear bomb. We know that their plot includes an attempt to purchase a nuclear bomb in the former Soviet Union, to transport that nuclear bomb to a port around the world, to place that nuclear bomb in a container on a ship, and then to bring that container on that ship to a port in the United States where that nuclear bomb can be detonated by remote control before that nuclear bomb is ever taken off that ship.

The majority is happy that they are going to screen once they reach the port in the United States. By then it is too late. The bomb can be detonated while it still is on the ship. That is our nightmare scenario. And that is something that the majority Republican Party has refused to put in place as a protection against this ultimate al Qaeda attack upon our country.

They support screening after it reaches the United States. They support having a demonstration project around the world. But as late as 2 days ago in the Homeland Security Committee hearing, Secretary Chertoff once again repeated the Bush administration policy, the Republican policy, that they do not support the mandatory screening of all cargo for nuclear bombs overseas, which is the 9/11 Commission report finding, that that is where the protection should be put in place.

So that is our problem. What we will do is we will have a ship with a container in Africa, in Europe, in Asia, and one of those containers will have had a nuclear bomb slipped into it. And then that ship, because there is no scanning for nuclear bombs around the world, that ship then heads for a port in the United States.

We would not be talking about losing 3,000 people or 5,000 people. We would be talking about losing tens or hundreds of thousands of Americans in that nuclear explosion.

If we don't scan for a nuclear bomb overseas, we can't be sure. If we don't scan and seal these containers overseas, then the United States will have to once again reinstitute a policy of duck and cover here in America with Americans learning how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear bomb.

The bomb is not going to be delivered by an airplane or some submarine attack. Al Qaeda doesn't have that kind of capacity. This is the way in which the nuclear bomb is most likely to come into our country. It is an opening that is too big. It should be closed. The Republican majority just wants to use paperwork screening. It is almost like saying that they are going to check everyone of us at an airport in the United States, but having checked our paperwork they say, Get on the plane, you don't have to let us look at your bags. You don't have to show us your bags, take off your shoes, go right on the plane. Get on the plane. Thanks for showing us your paperwork.

We in America will never be happy with that, but that is what their policy is for nuclear bombs. Show us the paperwork. We are not going to actually check the inside of the container. We are not going to screen; we are not going to scan. We are going to screen your paperwork; we are not going to screen the container.

Can you imagine that as a policy for airlines in the United States? We are going to screen your paperwork before you get on the plane, but not screen you or your bags or computer to make sure that you are not going to blow up the plane. It just won't happen post-9/11.

Here is the huge opening. This is something that the Republican administration continues to listen too closely to the cargo industry and the shipping industry rather than to the real security interests of the American people.

I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for his leadership on these issues.

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