Statement of Senator Dianne Feinstein on Judiciary
Subcommittee
Hearing Examining New
Terrorism Report
November
14, 2002
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Washington,
DC - Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jon
Kyl (R-AZ) today convened a hearing of the Judiciary Subcommittee
on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information that examined
a new report on terrorism that suggests that America remains "dangerously
unprepared to prevent and respond to a catastrophic terrorist attack
on U.S. soil." The following is the prepared text of her Senator Feinstein's
statement:
"It is my pleasure to welcome everyone to this hearing of the Subcommittee
on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information on the October
2002 Hart-Rudman Terrorism Task Force Report. This will likely be
the last hearing the subcommittee will have this Congress, and probably
the last hearing I chair for the next two years. I want to thank my
Ranking Member, Senator Kyl for his hard work and assistance over
the 107th Congress. I also want to thank the members of
the subcommittee. This subcommittee has held 13 hearings this Congress-making
it the most active subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee.
A number of the hearings resulted in legislation-some of which has been enacted or may still be enacted this Congress. I would mention the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act, and the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Act in particular.
With regard to the border security bill, several hearings in this
subcommittee as well as in the Immigration Subcommittee-on which Senator
Kyl and I also sit-delved into how to strengthen our borders, without
unduly inhibiting legitimate commerce and travel. As a result Senators
Kyl, Kennedy, Brownback, and I were able to put together legislation
covering the entire gamut of immigration issues, from visa reform
and increasing the number of INS border inspectors, to increasing
their pay, improving their training, and updating information sharing
with other nations. This legislation was signed into law last May.
We also had a very revealing hearing on bioterrorism. The New York
Times ran a front-page article about the hearing, reporting the FBI's
testimony that, one month into its investigation of the 2001 anthrax
attacks, it could not answer basic questions about laboratories in
the United States handling anthrax bacteria.
Partly as a result, Senator Kyl and I were able to get provisions
in the bioterrorism bill establishing strict new security requirements
for labs that handle dangerous pathogens. Those provisions became
law in June. Many of our subcommittee hearings were on the need for
more coordination and consolidation of the agencies that combat terrorism-an
issue very much on the minds of members of Congress this week. For
example, back in April 2001, we held a hearing on the report of the
U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, more popularly
known as the Hart-Rudman report.
At that hearing, we heard testimony from our distinguished former
colleague, Senator Warren Rudman and Gary Hart. I am delighted to
see Senator Rudman back before the committee today. While some may
complain about commission reports gathering dust on the shelves, there
can be no question about the influence of the original Hart-Rudman
report. That report proposed a new Homeland Security Department that
would combine four federal agencies-FEMA, the Coast Guard, Customs,
and Border Patrol. Many experts dismissed the idea of creating such
a department as too ambitious and politically unrealistic. And now
Congress seems close to passing historic legislation that would combine
some 22 federal agencies with about 200,000 federal employees.
The original Hart-Rudman report was a wake-up call for the nation, one that we heard to late. In the report, the commission warned that '[A]ttacks against American citizens on American soil, possibly causing heavy casualties, are likely over the next quarter century.' Less than six months later, a group of al Qaeda terrorists had killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Now, Senators Hart and Rudman have joined up with a distinguished
group of former government officials and private-sector leaders to
research and write a new report. Members of this new 17-member Hart-Rudman
Task Force include two former secretaries of state, two former chairmen
of the Joints Chief of Staff, and two Nobel laureates. The task force
report is chilling to read. And its conclusion is even more disturbing.
It reads: 'A year after September 11th, America remains
dangerously unprepared to prevent and respond to a catastrophic terrorist
attack on U.S. soil. In all likelihood, the next attack will result
in even greater casualties and widespread disruption to American lives
and the economy.'
To reduce this vulnerability, the task force makes a number of useful recommendations, focusing particularly on how we can protect relatively neglected areas of our economic infrastructure-such as seaports, power plants, oil refineries, railroads, and urban centers.
The task force's conclusion is especially worrying because it seems more and more likely that American will face a catastrophic terrorist attack. For example, according to U.S. intelligence officials quoted today in the Washington Post, the volume of threat information has risen alarmingly over the past week, possibly indicating that terrorist groups are planning a new wave of attacks on Western targets.
And last month, CIA Director George Tenet testified before the Joint Intelligence Committee inquiry that 'al-Qaeda is in an execution phase and intends to strike us both here and overseas' and he also said that the terrorist threat is as bad today as it was in the summer of 2001. However, while the terrorist threat remains extremely serious, I would disagree with those who argue that we have done nothing since September 11 to reduce our vulnerability to a major terrorist attack.
In fact, since September 11, the 107th Congress has passed major anti-terrorism legislation in the areas of law enforcement, intelligence, aviation security, and-as I mentioned previously-border security and bioterrorism. Moreover, many of us in Congress have been trying to pass additional legislation to protect our country from terrorist attack. Indeed, some of this legislation exactly tracks the recommendations in the task force's report.
Let me give some examples, starting with port security. The task force's report rightly places great stress on the need for comprehensive, immediate action to better secure our ports. Our seaports remain a huge gaping hole in our national security. Terrorism experts who have studied the issue believe that if terrorists try to bring weapons of mass destruction into this country, those weapons will almost certainly come in shipping containers. Only 1 to 2 percent of the 21,000 shipping containers that enter the nation's 361 ports each day are even inspected.
To solve this problem, last summer I introduced the Comprehensive Seaport and Container Security Act of 2002 with Senators Kyl, Hutchison, and Snowe. This legislation would thoroughly address the issue of port security from the point of cargo is loaded in a foreign country to its arrival on land in the U.S. In particular, it would establish a risk profiling plan for the Customs Service to focus their limited inspection capabilities on high-risk cargo and containers, and it would push U.S. security beyond our nation's borders to monitor and inspect cargo and containers before they arrive near America's shores.
My staff worked with the conference committee dealing with the Hollings seaport security bill to try to include this legislation in the final conference legislation. Unfortunately, the conference legislation ended up with only a handful of weak security provisions-many of which bucked responsibility for security to committees or to the federal agency regulatory process.
The conference legislation is simply insufficient to protect our ports. As the Hart-Rudman task force recognized, we need a comprehensive and immediate solution. The task force also pointed out that local law enforcement is often out of the loop on terrorism and recommend that local law enforcement be given access to federal watch lists of suspected terrorists.
I also agree with that recommendation. Last summer, I introduced the Homeland Security Information Sharing Act, which would ensure greater sharing of terrorism information with local law enforcement, including watch list information. Similar legislation passed the House 422 to 2 but the Senate has not yet taken action on the bill yet. Some of the September 11 hijackers were able to escape possible capture in part because our intelligence agencies never informed local law enforcement that they were in this country. It makes sense to use the 650,000 state and local enforcement agents as additional eyes and ears to help stop terrorism.
In addition, the task force also recommends training and equipping 2,700 National Guard units for emergency response. Senators Bond, Leahy, and I filed an amendment to the homeland security bill that would do just that. Modeled after legislation creating the successful National Guard counterdrug program, the amendment would permit each governor-with oversight and funding from the Secretary of Defense-to create a homeland security activities plan for his or her state.
This amendment has been endorsed by the Adjutant Generals Association of the U.S., the National Guard Association of the U.S., and the National Governors' Association. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get the Republican leadership to include it in their version of the homeland security bill.
The task force recommends that we increase federal spending to help state and local governments buy equipment and improve training for responding to a terrorist attack.
The Senate Environment Committee has reported legislation that would authorize $3.5 billion for this purpose. This legislation , sponsored by Senator Jeffords and Bob Smith, is based on legislation introduced by Senator Clinton, myself, and eight other senators. It remains in limbo and, of course, funding to carry out the bill has yet to work its way through the appropriations process. I mention these different bills to make clear that many of us in Congress are very aware of how vulnerable our country is to terrorist attack and we are trying to correct that. However, we clearly have much additional work to do to keep our country safe.
I look forward to hearing more about the task force's report. I also hope that the witnesses will work with the subcommittee to pass needed legislation to safeguard our nation from terrorist attack. I would now like to turn to the ranking member of this subcommittee, Senator Kyl, to see if he would like to make a few remarks."
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