Joe Lieberman: “I rise to herald two amendments to this important homeland security legislation that, I hope, will go a long way toward…”

“I rise to herald two amendments to this important homeland security legislation that, I hope, will go a long way toward improving the security of our nation's rail and mass transit systems. Yesterday, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing at which Secretary Chertoff, representatives from the New York and Los Angeles County police departments, and two security experts testified about the future direction of homeland security. The witnesses expressed an eclectic array of views. But on at least one point, they were all in agreement: radical Islamic terrorists have targeted railroads and mass transit systems in Europe, and the United States could very well be next. Terrorists have hit the subways, trains, and buses of London, Madrid, Mumbai, Tokyo, Moscow, and Israel. It is inconceivable that they have forgotten about us in the United States. In fact, ``Jane's Intelligence Review'' posted a story on its Web site at the end of last month, stating that ``Terrorist attacks on trains and metro rail systems in cities such as Mumbai, London, Madrid, and Moscow suggest a sustained interest by terrorists in exploiting the often open aspect of commuter rail infrastructure to execute mass casualty attacks.'' This is an enormous concern to nearly all of us in this body. Fourteen million people use rail and mass transit every day in this country.…”