Hearing of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security - Homeland Security and the 9/11 Commission

Federal News Service September 14, 2004 Tuesday

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

SUBJECT: HOMELAND SECURITY AND 9/11 COMMISSION

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS COX (R-CA)

WITNESS: TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

BODY:

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REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D-MA): Can I feel the chair? (Laughter.)

Welcome, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Secretary, could a Beslan occur in Boston or Birmingham or Baltimore?

SEC. RIDGE: From what I know now-and we still don't have all the information relative to how several dozen terrorists gained control of the school-but based on preliminary information, I'd say that it's very unlikely. But there are still probably some lessons to be learned, and right now much of the information we received is just through open-source reporting. But I think in this business you never say never. We do need to take a look at what transpired, how-so many people managed to get their way, I think surreptitiously, how so many explosive devices appeared to have already been in place, how so many weapons may have already been inside the school. It's not as if the school was rushed by a platoon of terrorists. There's something else at work here, congressman, and until I know and all of us know completely what happened, I think it would be very difficult to draw conclusions. Having said that, I think I know where your line of questioning is going, and improving security around our educational system regardless of Beslan is something we need to do, and have done and will continue to do.

REP. MARKEY: Are you in the process --

SEC. RIDGE: Yes --

REP. MARKEY: -- of doing an examination of the lessons of this Russian catastrophe?

SEC. RIDGE: Yes, we are, the intelligence community is, the FBI is. Again, much of the initial information we received was frankly just through their TV commentary and press reports. We're getting more information from the government, but I don't think anyone would conclude that we have complete information yet, congressman. But we try to learn from any of these incidents overseas involving a terrorist attack, to see if there are lessons we could apply here.

REP. MARKEY: Obviously we spend a lot of time talking here about chemical facilities and nuclear facilities, about the New York city and Washington, D.C. being potential targets. Clearly what's happened here is that the playing field has been broadened by these terrorists, and then they realize the impact that they can have upon a country. And obviously on September 11th there were 19 terrorists who were suicidal-very potentially well armed. And if that kind of an incident occurred in a school in a community in our country, it would be the most horrific event that we had ever witnessed, and I think it's very important for us to take all the steps that are necessary, and to articulate to the American people what a plan would be to make sure that we would not have a Beslan which happened in our country.

SEC. RIDGE: Congressman, the horror associated with that incident speaks to the nature of the evil that we're trying to combat. The notion that children in school-and their parents and their teachers, innocents all-would be subjected to the horror of the day is unspeakable in our minds, it's unspeakable and unconscionable. So we agree on that.

I think we also note, in response to smaller scale but violence in our schools in the '90s, there are a lot of schools that began unfortunately taking security precautions after Columbine and a series of shootings that occurred in our schools. A lot of our schools generally reduced the number of places you can enter and exit. Many of them now have uniformed-and some have ununiformed police officers patrolling the halls. Unfortunately, some have metal detectors. So we already have a level of security. We have a Ready for Kids program that is going to be part of our national preparedness campaign we're rolling out, working with the secretary of Education. But we also have to --

REP. MARKEY: Could I ask you just one more quick question?

SEC. RIDGE: Sure, I'm sorry.

REP. MARKEY: It's on a different subject, and it has to do with the direct flights from Moscow to the United States. A Washington Post report on September 3rd indicated that TSA requires that all cargo loaded onto Delta and Aeroflot planes must also be screened for explosives. As you know, almost none of the cargo that is carried on U.S. passenger planes is inspected for explosives or other dangerous materials, which is a huge security loophole which puts airline passengers and crew members at risk. Other than the flights from Russia to the United States, are there any other incidents where TSA is currently conducting full screening of all cargo onboard?

REP. COX: The gentleman's time is expired, but, Mr. Secretary, you may answer the question.

SEC. RIDGE: I think in answer to your question, Congressman, that is an emergency directive. Whether or not it remains a permanent part of the security infrastructure remains to be seen. But given the circumstances around the loss of those two flights, and what we believe to be the reasons, we decided temporarily we need to go over, bolster their security measures until such time as we are satisfied that they had frankly ramped up to the level of security that they have professed to have achieved long before that incident occurred.

REP. MARKEY: So you may actually discontinue the inspection of cargo on those flights?

SEC. RIDGE: As we try to manage the risk with regard to that and other flights, we continue to take a look at additional ways to screen cargo. There is a possibility that that could be discontinued, that is correct.

REP. MARKEY: I think it would be a big mistake not to screen those planes flying into the United States without ensuring that all potential explosives have been searched for on those planes. I don't think that we should run the risk.

SEC. RIDGE: Well, you and I have had some very good discussions with regard to air cargo, and I don't want to leave you with the impression that the Russian incident is being ignored. We continue to require certain levels of inspection from foreign carriers coming in. We are continuing to explore explosive technology. First of all we want to worry about our domestic cargo to start with, potential application overseas down the road. There are a lot of initiatives that we've undertaken, but I can't tell you with absolute certainty today that for all time and for all purposes those four or five flights daily to the United States are going to have that technical requirement. We don't know yet. It depends on circumstances.

REP. MARKEY: Again, I think it's a mistake.

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