Hearing Summary – The State of Aviation Security: Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

January 21, 2010 at 9:32 am | Posted in Aviation Law | Leave a comment

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation:

For Immediate Release
01/20/10
Contact: Jena Longo – Democratic Deputy Communications Director 202.224.7824

Hearing Summary – The State of Aviation Security: Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a full committee hearing today on The State of Aviation Security: Is Our Current System Capable of Meeting the Threat?

**LINK TO CHAIRMAN ROCKEFELLER’S REMARKS ON AVIATION SECURITY HERE**

**LINK TO ARCHIVED WEBCAST HERE**

Witness List:

The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The Honorable Michael Leiter, Director, National Counterterrorism Center

The Honorable Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Vice Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

The Honorable Tom Kean, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

Key Quotations from Today’s Hearing:

“The threat to America is real and we have to get it absolutely right, 100 percent of the time. A man with a bomb was able to board a plane headed for America – so it is obvious and clear our system failed. We have a responsibility to be brutally honest about where we have fallen short. We have to do better. And that basic fact will drive much of this Committee’s work in the year ahead. We have to do better at protecting our families, safeguarding our communities, and securing our nation. That is at the top of our agenda this year: Bringing the attention, the resources, and the leadership needed to improve our citizen’s safety and security.”
Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

“While we address the circumstances behind this specific incident, we must also recognize the evolving threats posed by terrorists, and take action to ensure that our defenses continue to evolve in order to defeat them. We live in a world of ever-changing risks, and we must move as aggressively as possible both to find and fix security flaws and anticipate future vulnerabilities in all sectors. President Obama has clearly communicated the urgency of this task, and the American people rightfully expect swift action. DHS and our federal partners are moving quickly to provide just that.”
The Honorable Janet Napolitano, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

“Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should not have stepped on that plane. The counterterrorism system failed and we told the President we are determined to do better. We are taking a fresh and penetrating look at strengthening both human and technical performance and do what we have to do in all areas. Director of National Intelligence Blair and I have specifically been tasked by the President to improve and manage this work.”
The Honorable Michael Leiter, Director, National Counterterrorism Center

“We need to do a better job of judging sources of potential attacks properly. As the President’s review has shown, we had a ‘strategic sense’ that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was becoming a threat, but ‘we didn’t know they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here.’ This at once shows the need for improved collection and better analysis. We collect a tremendous amount of intelligence and we need the very best people not only sorting through it for tactical details, but in a strategic sense asking where the next attack will come from.”
The Honorable Lee Hamilton, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Vice Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

“The balance between security and liberty will always be a part of the struggle against terrorism. America must not sacrifice one for the other and must be in the business of protecting freedom and liberty as well as fighting terrorism. Following the 9/11 Commission recommendations, the Bush Administration created a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to advise the executive branch and oversee government efforts to defend civil liberties. We continue to believe that the Board provides critical functions and we urge President Obama to reconstitute it, quickly appoint its Members, and allow them full access to the information and the authority to perform to perform this essential function.”
The Honorable Tom Kean, Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center and Former Chairman of The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission)

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