Joe Lieberman

All but one of the 9/11 hijackers acquired some form of U.S. identification document, some by fraud.

I opposed the REAL ID Act because I thought ultimately it laid out a very prescriptive, unworkable, and expensive process.

It is absolutely true that no State by December 31 will have a REAL ID-compliant document.

We need secure identification to thwart potential terrorists.

The reality here is, and you said it yourself, this is an unacceptable situation.

I would urge the same.

One of the ideas under active consideration, as you well know, is to take the Federal Protective Service from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where it is now, and move it into the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) of…

When I came here, I made an analogy that we were a ship and it takes 38 miles at sea to turn an aircraft carrier. I think we are probably on mile six, but we certainly initiated the turn.

I think Senator Voinovich mentioned that perhaps starting from scratch was the way to go about it.

So right now, effectively, no one is really doing it as comprehensively as it should be done?

Do the private security companies have a contractual obligation to certify their employees?

I take it you do feel that the cuts in funding for the Federal Protective Service are part of the problem here, but by no means the whole problem, that this is an agency in crisis.

I will say to you that it was our judgment in terms of funding--you are right. Last year, we were able to hold the Federal Protective Service basically harmless on its funding.

I think this is urgent enough that you should provide that to this Committee within the next couple of weeks.

This has to not only be your urgent responsibility to change a status quo which is unacceptable, and you acknowledge it is unacceptable, but that there has to be involvement from the highest levels of the Department.

Yes. But as you came on and reviewed what was there, you saw some problems, and one, I take it, is very important, though not particularly sensational, but it sounds like there were 11 fiefdoms, not one uniformly administered national…

Federal buildings are, unfortunately, natural targets for anybody who wants to cause us harm because of their symbolic value and meaning.

There has been inattention at the highest levels of the Department of Homeland Security to the requirements for protecting Federal facilities.

Thanks for your partnership in this.

The answer GAO gives us today is simply that FPS is not doing its job.

That is about the broadest indictment of an agency of the Federal Government that I have heard and it is not pleasant to hear it.

I think, based on what you've just said, essentially the effect of it is to give these war criminals... the greater legal protections of the Federal courts.

Why would you, in light of all that, say that the administration prefers to bring these people before Article III Federal courts instead of military commissions?

The unique circumstances of this war on terrorism against the people who attacked us on September 11 may have led us down, including the Supreme Court, some roads that are not only to me ultimately unjust, but inconsistent with the long…

Why would anyone prefer to try people apprehended for violations of the law of war in an Article III Federal court?