Sen. Lieberman Holds a Hearing on Rail and Transit Security
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Holds a Hearing on Rail and Transit Security.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS HOLDS A HEARING ON RAIL AND TRANSIT SECURITY
SEN. JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN HOLDS A HEARING ON RAIL AND TRANSIT SECURITY
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS HOLDS A HEARING ON RAIL AND TRANSIT SECURITY
JUNE 22, 2011
SPEAKERS: SEN. JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, I-CONN. CHAIRMAN SEN. CARL LEVIN, D-MICH. SEN. DANIEL K. AKAKA, D-HAWAII SEN. THOMAS R. CARPER, D-DEL. SEN. MARK PRYOR, D-ARK. SEN. MARY L. LANDRIEU, D-LA. SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, D-MO. SEN. JON TESTER, D-MONT. SEN. MARK BEGICH, D-ALASKA
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, R-MAINE RANKING MEMBER SEN. TOM COBURN, R-OKLA. SEN. SCOTT P. BROWN, R-MASS. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ. SEN. ROB PORTMAN, R-OHIO SEN. RAND PAUL, R-KY. SEN. RON JOHNSON, R-WIS. SEN. JERRY MORAN, R-KAN.
WITNESSES: TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATOR JOHN PISTOLE
PETER BOYNTON, COMMISSIONER FOR THE CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND HOMELAND SECURITY
STEPHEN FLYNN, PRESIDENT OF THE CENTER FOR NATIONAL POLICY
[*] LIEBERMAN: Good morning. The hearing will come to order.
Thanks very much to our witnesses for being here, and thanks for coming a bit early -- earlier than we had planned to start the hearing.
Senator Collins and I may be called to the floor at 11. Knowing the Senate, we may not be called to the floor at 11. But another bill from our committee is pending.
Mr. Pistole, you'll be happy to hear that this is one to reform the process by which nominations are made and considered by the Senate.
Today we've come together to discuss the security of our rail and transit systems and strategies for the future to improve the defense of these systems, which are of course historically open, and, therefore, in the post-11 world, vulnerable.
This hearing is being held as part of a continuing series of hearings and investigations our committee has committed to do during this year as we approach the 10th commemoration of the attacks against America on 9/11.
But in this particular case, this hearing was also catalyzed, you might say, by the reports from the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which yielded documents apparently indicating that Osama bin Laden, at least, continued to urge members of Al Qaida to attack the rail sector of the United States, particularly on or about the 10th anniversary of September 11th. One of those apparently included a plan to derail a train. Some of the analysts that we've talked to have concluded that the most likely form of such an attack would be multiple operatives acting independently against separate targets as part of a coordinated attack on the same system and, of course, usually at peak travel times.
There's also been some reference to bin Laden suggesting that these kinds of attacks might most dramatically occur on rail lines over valleys or bridges.
In other words, this made again real the threat to our rail and transit systems, which we've lived with since 9/11 and, of course, we've seen carried out in other places, like Mumbai -- the first Mumbai attack -- Madrid, London, Moscow, and of course plans, which were thwarted to attack rail systems in -- right here in Washington, D.C., and in New York City.
In fact the Mineta Transportation Institute issued a report that concluded that since September 11th, 2001, worldwide -- this is a stunning number but maybe you want to talk about it -- 1,800 attacks have been carried out on surface transportation, mostly buses and trains, obviously not all of them major -- and thank God not successful -- causing, however, over 3,900 deaths. Compare that to the 75 attacks carried out on airplanes and in airports that have caused about 160 deaths -- 157 to be exact.
The other factor is that 14 million people use mass transit systems in America every day. In Connecticut, Metro North New Haven line is one of the busiest rail lines in our country.
