Transporation Security

June 25, 2004

Transporation Security

Since 9/11 everybody has been waiting for the other shoe to drop here in the U.S.

While two planes struck the World Trade Center that infamous morning, a third hit the Pentagon, and the black smoke from the resulting fire was clearly visible as we evacuated the congressional office buildings. A fourth plane crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside, brought down by brave passengers who realized that they had to take control of the aircraft or else die trying. It's generally understood that the hijackers had targeted the White House or the Capitol building, and in fact chose the date of the attack in order to catch Congress in session.

Then, a few weeks later, somebody (we still don't know who) sent anthrax to one of the Senate office buildings. It didn't kill anybody there, but four postal workers fell ill as a result of leakage from the envelopes as they passed through a local mail facility. Two of those workers died.

While our military is chasing down terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, we are doing what we can to strengthen security at home, as anybody who passes through an airport knows.

In Congress each office has its "go bag" containing biohazard masks to protect against gas and germs. We have frequent evacuation drills, and recently everybody had to leave our buildings because a private plane carrying the Governor of Kentucky strayed into the exclusion zone above Washington.

As Chairman of the Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee, I share considerable responsibility for strengthening transportation security and held a hearing on that topic on June 22.

Throughout the world, public transportation systems have been primary targets of terrorist attacks, causing thousands of deaths and injuries. On March 11, four separate bombs detonated on three commuter trains traveling toward Madrid, Spain, killing 198 people. A few days later the Spanish public rewarded the terrorists by turning out a pro-U.S. government and instead electing a president committed to putting distance between our two countries on Iraq policy.

There's a widespread assumption in Washington that Al Qaeda will attempt a high profile attack in the U.S. prior to our election. But then, everybody has been wondering why we haven't suffered any attacks here since 2001. Perhaps the FBI and the Department of Homeland Defense are actually succeeding.

Still, we need to succeed 100% of the time while the terrorists only need to succeed every once in a while. Transit systems are especially popular targets of terrorists worldwide. From 1991 to 2001, 42 percent of all terrorist incidents were carried out on rail systems or buses.

All modes of public transportation have been frequent targets because they are especially vulnerable. Transit systems have open access with frequent stops and transfer points and are thus difficult to protect. They also serve high concentrations of people in relatively crowded quarters, an environment with a high probability of death or injury.

We have done a great deal to protect the national aviation system, but we have only made a start in other areas. Specifically, in the 2002 and 2003 budget years the federal government invested $11 billion to safeguard aviation and its 1.8 million daily passengers, but public transportation, with over 14 million daily passengers, has received only $115 million in 2003 and 2004 specifically for transit security grants. We need to find cost-effective way to do more.