Kerry: America the Vulnerable; How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism
7/18/2004 3:58:00 PM
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To: National Desk
Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, Both of the Kerry-Edwards Campaign; Web: johnkerry.com
WASHINGTON, July 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- With the long awaited release of the 9/11 Commission report expected this week, the Bush administration's post 9/11 homeland security efforts will be front and center. A new book by Stephen Flynn, a former national security official in the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, coming out in stores this week offers a stunning indictment of the White House's failed efforts over the last three years to address major security vulnerabilities in America. This is at least the sixth book to be released this year detailing George Bush's lack of attention and focus on the nation's security.
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"Homeland security has entered our post-9/11 lexicon, but homeland insecurity remains the abiding reality."
"Despite all the rhetoric, after the initial flurry of activity to harden cockpit doors and confiscate nail clippers, there has been little appetite in Washington to move beyond government reorganization and color-coded alerts."
"The measures we have been cobbling together are hardly fit to deter amateur thieves, vandals, and hackers, never mind determined terrorists."
"Worse still, small improvements are often oversold as giant steps forward, lowering the guard of average citizens as they carry on their daily routine with an unwarranted sense of confidence."
"The reality is that our old national security dogs are having a difficult time learning new tricks."
-- Stephen Flynn, America The Vulnerable
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Core Failures of Post-9/11 Homeland Security Efforts
Homeland Security Spending Remains Small Relative to Overall Defense Spending. "While we receive a steady diet of somber warnings about potential terrorist attacks, the new federal outlays for homeland security in the two years after 9/11 command an investment equal to only 4 percent of the Pentagon's annual budget. (p.2)
Focus on Fighting Terrorism Abroad Inadequate To Address Terrorist Threat. "When it comes to confronting terrorism, the United States is going through its own version of the Phony War. Despite the periodic raising of the terror-alert level, our marching orders as citizens are to keep shopping and traveling. Instead of mobilizing a defense against enemies who are intent on targeting innocent civilians and critical infrastructure, the US government is placing its faith in familiar national security formulas. Washington is acting on the false premise that the terrorist threat can be contained by taking the battle to the enemy, in overseas efforts to isolate and topple rogue states, and by hunting down the al Qaeda leadership." ( p.38)
Agencies that Shoulder the Domestic Security Burden Lack the Staffing, Training or Equipment to do their Job. "The Coast Guard is charged with protecting 95,000 miles of shoreline and an 'Exclusive Economic Zone' that extends two hundred miles off- shore covering 3.36 million square miles, with a force about the same size as the New York police department, deployed on a fleet of vessels that are among the oldest of the thirty-seven navies around the world." "The number of customs inspectors assigned to policing the millions of tons of freight that entire our country each day has been relatively flat since the early 1990s, even though the volume of trade almost tripled during that same period and its law enforcement mission grew as well." "Law enforcement agencies like the FBI continue to face such basic problems as field agents who lack internet access and the means to receive e- mail attachments." (p. 42-44) "The one area to which the federal government has been most visibly dedicating its attention and resources since September 11 - aviation security - remains frighteningly incomplete." (p.49)
State and Local Fiscal Crises Undermine Efforts To Improve Emergency Preparedness. "Most states and cities are in their worst fiscal shape in fifty years, and few see any bright spots on the horizon....Clearly, when California is confronting multibillion-dollar deficits, and Oregon is shrinking the public school year and trimming vital health services for the elderly, they are in no position to find the resources to invest in training and new equipment for first responders, or to make new capital investments to protect critical infrastructure." (p.54)
-- First Responders Underresourced and Unable To Meet New Security Threats. "Outside of Washington, pink slips for police officers and firefighters are more common than new public investments in security. With state and local budget hemorrhaging red ink, mayors, county commissioners, and governors are simply in no position to fill the security void the federal government has been keen to thrust upon them." (p.2)
-- States Unprepared For Biological Attack. "With so many of our homeland security efforts, they come with too few resources to address the need. Surveillance systems should be up an running in all our major metropolitan areas....If a biological weapon is released in an urban area that is not being monitored, a contagious disease could spread into multiple states before the first alarm is sounded." (p.125)
-- Local Hospitals Unprepared for Potential Outbreak of Contagious Disease. "An August 2003 report on hospital preparedness, put out by the US general Account Office, found that most urban hospitals had a shortage of equipment, medical stockpiles, and quarantine and isolation facilities for even a small-scale response to a contagious disease outbreak....The American Hospital Association estimates that it would take an investment of $8 billion to bring all metropolitan hospitals up to a point where they could provide acute care in the event of a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack.... Our fire and police departments would almost certainly be overwhelmed as well." (p.126-127)
-- Inadequate Availability of Protective Gear. "There is also a shortage of protective gear and portable detection equipment...Most communities report that within six hours, they will run out of even the most basic emergency resources, such as life-saving equipment, personal protective suits, oxygen, and respirators." (p.128)
-- Inadequate Attention to and Resources for Training of First Responders. "Major field exercises are important tools to test the adequacy of contingency plans, equipment, command-and-control procedures, and training. In all but America's largest cities, there is a paucity of resources and expertise to conduct these large-scale exercises. Important specialized training is also in woefully short supply." (p.128)
Critical Infrastructure Vulnerable. "This tepid, piecemeal approach to container security is not exceptional. The situation is little better in the other vital sectors that support our daily lives, such as energy pipelines, power generation and distribution, information technology infrastructure, food and water supplies, public health, and toxic production and transport. In all these areas, no single government entity has an uncontested charter to call all the security shorts. Nor is there a standard by which to measure progress." (p.86)
-- Aviation Security Remains Incomplete. "The tons of air freight being loaded in the belly of most commercial airliners continues to fly the American skies virtually uninspected." (p.49)
-- Borders Remain Porous. "The result is a border region that has become more difficult to police and one which terrorists could readily exploit to get their operatives into the United States." (p.68)
Failure to Implement Security Standards for Industries Handling Sensitive & Dangerous Materials. "In 2002, federal inspectors found seven vials of the pathogens that cause bubonic plague and pneumonic plague in an unlocked refrigerator...When pneumonic plague becomes airborne it is almost 100-percent fatal. Its victims usually die within 48 hours. What is needed right away are federally mandated standards that require security plans for labs that hold these dangerous substances." (p.123)
-- Chemical Industry Has Resisted Stringent Security Requirements. "According to the EPA, there are 823 sites where the death or injury toll from a catastrophic disaster at a chemical plant could reach from 100,000 to more than 1 million people....There are no federal laws that establish minimum security standards at chemical facilities. After 9/11, Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey drafted legislation that would require chemical companies to identify the vulnerabilities in their operations and prepare security plans to address them....The chemical industry rallied nearly thirty trade associations from manufacturing and agricultural groups to oppose these new requirements." (p.119) Note: Bush supported weaker legislation backed by the industry and took nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from industry leaders.
Stephen Flynn served in the White House Military Office during the George H.W. Bush Administration and was director for Global Issues on the National Security Staff during the Clinton Administration.
"America the Vulnerable is a stunningly detailed account of the threat of terrorism to the American people. As one who has been involved with this subject for a number of years, I can honestly say that I have never seen such a starkly realistic and accurate account of the threat of terrorism to our very way of life." -Warren Rudman, former GOP Senator
"America the Vulnerable will grip you, intrigue you, frighten you, and inspire you. Steve Flynn is a genuine export on the terrorist threats facing America" -Norman Ornstein, Conservative Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
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Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc.
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