Hearing of the Railroads Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee -- Railroad Security
Federal News Service May 5, 2004 Wednesday
HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE RAILROADS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: RAILROAD SECURITY
CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE JACK QUINN (R-NY)
WITNESSES PANEL I:
ALLAN RUTTER, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION; CHET LUNNER, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF MARITIME AND LAND SECURITY, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY;
LOCATION: 2167 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
BODY:
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REP. QUINN: Thank you, Ms. Holmes. It's always a pleasure to have you here with us on the subcommittee. We'll try to get a waiver to get you down here full time if we could.
Ms. Capito, opening statement?
REP. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): I'd just like to make some brief remarks.
REP. QUINN: Sure.
REP. CAPITO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to talk just briefly about H.R. 4143, which is the bill that I introduced to strengthen the criminal penalties in the rail statute, in case something were to ever happen. I believe that we really need to and very quickly need to ramp up the criminal penalties for something that would happen concerning the rail, either through the freight or passenger. So I'm interested to hear your comments on it, and I want to thank the chairman for having this committee meeting, and with that I yield back the time.
REP. QUINN: Thanks very much.
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REP. CAPITO: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My question-my first question is, we've learned a lot that the intelligence was not talking to one another as much as we would have hoped previous to 9/11. What kind of involvement with the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community does the rail system have at this point now? If there is an intelligence clue that something would be happening at a rail facility somewhere, what is your reaction at this point? And do you feel that you are equipped and that the intelligence community is including the rail community in the overall outlook in terms of what we might see in the future?
MR. LUNNER: Ma'am, I think there's a couple of areas where I'm confident I can assuage your concerns. Our Transportation Security Operations Center that I mentioned in my testimony, we have an actual daily contact with the rail people. The building is set up so that the watch standers, the people who are there 24/7 are right next to an intelligence pod that's built into the building, which is right next to an Air Marshals Mission Control Center, which is next to the National Capital Region Coordinating Center. So all of these links come together in that spot. We have a very robust daily contact with both the industry and the intelligence community so that those sorts of intelligence and information get cross-pollinated very well.
Of course, our departmental partners in that is the IA piece of IAIP. General Hughes who runs that has been in regular touch with us to make sure that it's operating professionally. In addition, the national JTTF, which is run by the FBI here, has taken a rail security expert from their field who was in the rail industry and deputized them to be the permanent member of that staff at the national level. So the connections in that regard are very robust.
REP. CAPITO: Thank you. When the threat level goes up a level, I am assuming you have a protocol in place that you follow from that point on? Is that a correct assumption?
MR. LUNNER: Yes, ma'am.
REP. CAPITO: Let me ask you. I live in West Virginia and the area that I live is known as Chemical Valley. We have quite a few chemical plants and there's always a heightened sense of foreboding about carting our chemical in and out of the valley on the rail. So, I guess I would ask since you can't do everything all the time every time, do you have a highly prioritized system in terms of moving hazardous materials, do you feel like you have a good grid and know where these things are so that, if something were to happen, you'd know exactly how to locate the hazardous material when it's moving?
MR. LUNNER: That's another area where we have very robust connections already in place to include the American Chemistry Council, which has its own, as you know, CHEMTREC Project and the AAR Op Center, the American Association of Railroads, from whom you'll hear later. In those situations, we are very capable of maintaining communications with exactly the people that you've outlined there.
REP. CAPITO: Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
REP. QUINN: Thank you.
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