The second anniversary of the terrorist attacks served a painful reminder about the grief-stricken families still mourning the loss of 3,000 loved ones killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The sheer shock of the attacks on American soil may be fading, but the reality is the United States remains vulnerable to terrorism.
For the last two years, the federal government has embarked on an ambitious effort to beef up national security and improve measures to secure public safety against biological, chemical and radiological attack.
Congress reorganized a 170,000-person workforce under one bureaucratic umbrella to make the federal government’s counterterrorism strategy more responsive, effective and accountable, gave new tools to law enforcement authorities to thwart terrorism with passage of the Patriot Act and increased spending for homeland security. The president launched a global war on terrorism to root out the Taliban in Afghanistan and bring freedom and stability to Iraq, a key region of the world which serves as a hotbed for terrorist networks. Obviously, sacrifices by Americans continue as members of the U.S. military, National Guard and Reserves fight terrorism overseas to keep it from reaching our borders. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their courage and sense of duty.
Iowans often ask if we are safer today post-Sept. 11. Certainly, all levels of government are working diligently to identify threats, improve communication and better coordinate and prepare for emergency response needs. But as freedom-loving Americans, we don’t live in a risk-free society. The government can’t guarantee we’ll never again have another act of terrorism strike America. Consider Israel and how its people live with the daily threat of a suicide bombing. It could happen right here in the United States.
Obviously, the government must do all that it can within its Constitutional boundaries to protect America’s security needs. Terrorists continue to seek ways to infiltrate American society. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I led a congressional hearing in September to examine the ease with which terrorists and their accomplices can scam their way into American life using false documentation.
An Arab man of Moroccan birth arrested in Cedar Rapids shortly after 9/11 testified before my committee how he bought and sold false identities prior to Sept. 11. Youssef Hmimssa used a fake French passport to enter the U.S., adopted the identity of a U.S. citizen by buying a birth certificate and Social Security card, eased into an assumed life in America and launched a document and credit card fraud operation. He awaits federal sentencing in Detroit.
According to a report by the General Accounting Office, undercover federal investigators put seven state departments of motor vehicles to the test, as well as the District of Columbia. Using false birth certificates, Social Security cards and fake out-of-state driver’s licenses, investigators found it rather simple to illegitimately obtain driver’s licenses.
Two years later, too many loopholes remain for Americans to slip into a false sense of security. Complacency is dangerous.
In another disturbing investigation, a reporting team from a major broadcast network recently exposed a shortcoming in security measures at U.S. ports of entry. The team shipped about 15 pounds of depleted uranium into Los Angeles from Jakarta, Indonesia to test security procedures. Although harmless, the uranium should have been inspected by U.S. border security screeners. Instead, it reached its final destination in central L.A. unopened.
After years of conducting rigorous congressional oversight to expose government mismanagement, I’ve learned a bureaucracy likes to hide behind a cloak of anonymity rather than face up to wrongdoing or criticism. The Justice and Homeland Security Departments seem more bent on going after the media on this one than plugging an obvious loophole in port security.
As a senior member of the U.S. Senate, I’ll keep looking for loopholes that would allow a potential terrorist to slip through and hatch a plan to harm U.S. citizens. Every day, the federal government continues working to improve its capabilities to fight terror and protect the homeland.
In September, the United States launched an integrated watch list containing more than 100,000 names to give local police, airport security screeners and visa-issuing authorities around-the-clock access to a new database containing the government’s best, most comprehensive information about terrorist suspects.
This is good news, but it's long overdue. I released a General Accounting Office report in April said that our country's multiple watch lists had major gaps and that state and local police did not have access to all the information they needed. The report also called for a single watch list, which I have been pressing for since September 11th.
I’m glad an all-inclusive list finally is available to help the folks serving on the front-lines to identify potential terrorist threats in their line of duty. However, I’ll be keeping tabs to ensure the appropriate authorities have unfettered access to the anti-terror watch-list and to see to it a system is in place to protect the good name of innocent people who may be wrongly included on the list.