John W. Olver: “it is 33 months past now since 9/11 and it is time for this Congress to coldly examine our progress in reducing the…”

“it is 33 months past now since 9/11 and it is time for this Congress to coldly examine our progress in reducing the threat of terrorist attack. Even though we are spending a lot more money 33 months after 9/11, only a minimal percentage of cargo on passenger flights are screened for explosives. We do not require chemical plant vulnerability assessment and security plans as we do require for nuclear plants. We will have 20 percent fewer sky marshals in the air than 2 years ago. Thirteen million Americans use passenger rail systems each day, yet we have not taken appropriate steps to strengthen rail security. We have only hired two-thirds of the people that the PATRIOT Act mandated for protecting the northern border. We have invested only one-tenth of what is needed to protect our ports, and our first responders still lack the valuable tools they need to save lives. The agencies entrusted with protecting our great Nation seem to be in bureaucratic chaos. Just a couple weeks ago, Attorney General John Ashcroft of the Department of Justice surprised the Department of Homeland Security by announcing that a terrorist attack is likely during the next few months. It turns out they had not communicated with the Department of Homeland Security, and in fact did not have any particular new evidence for such an assertion. Problems like this keep coming up and they will simply not work themselves out.…”