Five years after 9/11, America must implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and develop a comprehensive homeland security system that will:

• Stop terrorists and their deadly weapons from entering the United States by land, sea or air;
• Ensure that key terrorist threat information is shared with everyone who needs it;
• Develop and deploy cutting-edge technology to meet our security challenges; and
• Train and equip first responders to mobilize quickly and effectively if a terrorist attack occurs

The Bush Administration and Congressional leadership have squandered both time and money in failing to develop a robust, comprehensive system for defending the American people from terrorist attacks.

• Despite investing billions in aviation security, the system crafted by the administration and Congress would not have detected the London airline bombing plot, even though the threat of liquid explosives has been known for 16 years.
• Even though a catastrophic flood in New Orleans has been ranked as one of the nation's highest threat scenarios for years, the administration was asleep at the wheel, failing to provide flood victims with the most basic post-disaster needs: food, water, and ice
• Chemical plants that house materials that could kill hundreds of thousands if released into densely populated areas remain exempt from Federal security regulations and Congress has even proposed to exempt these potentially deadly plants from state regulation.
• The administration has failed to take advantage of our nation's scientific excellence to develop technology for identifying dangerous weapons in cargo containers, creating vaccines for bioterrorism and pandemic flu, or establishing a security program for frequent air travelers.

POLICY PRESCRIPTIONS

The United States must protect itself against a wide variety of threats, particularly from terrorist attacks. This country is confronting an enemy that has clearly stated its intention to kill Americans and attack high-value targets in the United States, potentially with weapons of mass destruction. Counterterrorism efforts must include not only offensive measures to attack terrorist cells and disrupt their plots, but also defensive strategies to prevent terrorist attacks here at home. While marginal improvements have been made over the past five years, the Bush administration's homeland security efforts have been characterized by incompetence, mismanagement and neglect, resulting in a number of exploitable security gaps. The following steps must be taken.

Rejuvenate the Department of Homeland Security. The administration must attract the best security professionals in the country, provide the agency with the resources and status it deserves and give it the authority to close security gaps. Transportation networks must be secured by providing additional resources, advanced technology, and federal support. Liquid explosives, like those that were to be used in the foiled London plot, have been a known threat since 1987. Yet, despite billions spent on aviation security, this type of attack cannot be prevented with current screening systems. In addition, less than 10% of cargo shipped on passenger planes is screened for explosives.

Work with private sector officials to secure terrorist targets, set benchmarks for progress, and, if vulnerabilities still remain, use governmental authority to close the security gaps that threaten the American people. Eighty-five percent of our critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector. Overburdening it with heavy-handed security regulations would be detrimental to our economy, and yet doing nothing leaves the country vulnerable. Where necessary, Congress must pass legislation that imposes a basic level of security and use market-friendly incentives to encourage the private sector to increase security. Congress should reward companies that use safer technologies with tax incentives. Chemical plant security legislation should be enacted immediately.

Create new information-sharing architecture to ensure that every government and private sector official has access to the information he or she needs to stop the next terrorist attack. Five years after 9/11, the information sharing problem that prevented our government from uncovering the plot remains unsolved. State and local counterterrorism officials and owners and operators of potential terrorist targets still do not get the information they need from the federal government. Information sent to the federal government by state and local first preventers is not properly collected and analyzed. Creating a trusted network for distribution of information must be a top priority and can no longer be held hostage by governmental inertia.

Partner the federal government with state and local leaders to ensure that America is never again unprepared to deal with a natural disaster or terrorist attack. While emergency response is a state and local responsibility, the federal government must be prepared to take immediate action in the case of a catastrophic event, like Hurricane Katrina, that overwhelms local capabilities. Due to a misguided reorganization of emergency management responsibilities by the Bush administration, DHS did not provide this leadership during Katrina, resulting in a slow and ineffective response. State and local authorities also need assistance building their capacity to respond to terrorism and natural disasters. Funding should be allocated where it is needed the most, not where it is helpful politically. These reforms would ensure that areas such as Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska (population 7,300) no longer receive more than $200,000 in allocations for emergency radio equipment, decontamination tents, headlamps, night vision goggles, bullhorns, and rubber boots, while major cities are struggling for funds to support critical measures.

THE BUSH RECORD

As a result of Bush Administration mismanagement, the United States is woefully unprepared for another terrorist attack- a fact demonstrated to the American people by the federal government's abysmal response to Hurricane Katrina. A December 2005 report card by the 9/11 Commission contained seven D, F, and Incomplete grades, out of 14 homeland security areas.

The Department of Homeland Security is inept. The Bush Administration endorsed a good idea, forming a Department of Homeland Security, but created a monstrously ineffective bureaucracy that cannot deliver basic services, wastes money through failed procurements, and continuously disillusions its hardworking employees. The incompetence of the Department's leadership led to the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, squandered billions of reconstruction dollars, and left the American people more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

Ports are still vulnerable to a nuclear weapon being smuggled into the United States. Cargo containers from across the globe enter the United States every day and yet five years after 9/11 the Untied States still cannot ensure that they are free of materials to make weapons of mass destruction. The alphabet soup of port security programs the administration has launched (CTPAT, CSI, ATS) are simply too small to provide a level of security equivalent with the threat.

Land borders are porous. Thousands of people pour across America's land borders every day without any documentation. Security programs are starved for resources. The administration's plan to deploy advanced technology on the southern border had to be cancelled due to waste and incompetence.

National assets are not protected. The administration's program to compile a list of vital economic and symbolic assets is a national joke. The list contains such "vital" national sites as miniature golf courses, strip malls, and beauty parlors while neglecting obvious terrorist targets like the Las Vegas strip and the Statue of Liberty. In the meantime, assets are unsecured, and no accountability is in place for such an egregious failure.

Vulnerable chemical plants that can kill millions remain unsecured. The administration has failed to require private sector facilities to close security gaps that threaten millions of Americans. Congress refuses to enact chemical plant security legislation, even though an attack on such a plant could kill millions. Even though the administration and Congress have failed to take action, industry allies in Congress want to prevent state governments from enforcing sensible regulations to secure these vulnerable chemical plants.

Disaster preparedness and response has been gutted. The Katrina disaster demonstrates the administration's incompetence and lack of commitment to developing a capability for responding to both man-made and natural disasters. Even with advance notice, the White House and Department of Homeland Security failed to support state and local efforts, failed to establish an emergency communications capability, and failed to understand its responsibilities in a disaster. While America watched the devastation unfold, the Secretary of Homeland Security insisted that people were not trapped at the New Orleans Convention Center and, amazingly, that the levees had not broken.

First Responders still do not have the tools they need. First responders still cannot talk to one another in the midst of a crisis. Information is not adequately shared. Law enforcement officials across the country are not getting the information they need to prevent the next terrorist attack. Funding is still distributed in an ad hoc manner that leaves the most vulnerable cities, like New York and Las Vegas, unprepared.