Bill Keating

It is important and you have done a great job and I appreciate that personally, and I am speaking as a Member of Congress as well.

It is clear that the evidence is there.

Do you see any, you know, in terms of Asia, in terms of Japan, South Korea, China, are they worried at all?

I am just trying to think of a real good reason why this is so strategically important to them.

While the question of noncompliance by Russia must squarely and seriously be dealt with, it is critical that the United States for the time being continue to observe the treaty.

If Russia is found noncompliant with the treaty, the United States, in conjunction with our allies, should use all of the tools at our disposal to pressure the Russians into ending these offending activities.

Twenty-eight years after the INF Treaty was signed, it remains one of the most important nuclear treaties that the United States has ever signed with Russia.

If it is not up to speed here, my conclusion would be that it is not up to speed anywhere.

But the real issue I had, too, the specific one, drilling down, is even when you have airports willing to take that cost and you have existing personnel, why are there still roadblocks allowing more--especially on the international…

I must say that JFK is one of the best, most secure airports.

Should it be a concern? Should it be something we look at in Congress to make sure we are funding?

If they had more viable first responder coordination back and forth, there is not one other factor that they could identify that would have saved more lives in that process of reacting to that.

I want to thank you for taking the time to be here, and we will continue in this committee to try to be helpful on both fronts, to try and deal with expediting people in and out, but also making people more secure.

It is a very tough balance to get people through and to keep us secure.

It won't happen, even if it might be helpful.

Every week I fly between my home in Massachusetts and my office in the District of Columbia, and I am well aware that our airports face unique and challenging times.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this important hearing.

To me, when you are talking about cameras, that is not just within the terminal but should be outside around the perimeter.

I think one strategy is to maximize our other abilities to try and thwart terrorist acts.

I think all of your agencies have done an extraordinary job in thwarting so many potential terrorist threats.

During our discussion, you said you are conducting a 'top-to-bottom' review of all airports.

I must tell you, I am optimistic, given your background in the Coast Guard, understanding perimeter issues the way you do, that we are going to meet with some success.

That means 97 percent of our Nation's airports weren't reviewed for security risk despite the fact that we have had time and time again... breaches that have occurred.

If a 15- or 16-year-old can penetrate our security--in one instance not even go detected after they reviewed it--then we are vulnerable.

I am curious what issues that you can detail that they might have had qualms about, issues that weren't addressed.