Press release from the Kery campaign, received via email.
==
For Immediate Release
July 18, 2004
America the Vulnerable
How Our Government is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism
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.
"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
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.
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." "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."
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."
* 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."
* 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."
* 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."
* 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."
* 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."
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."
* 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."
* 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."
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."
* 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." 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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