Homeland Security Lists Successes at Five Years

To observe the five-year anniversary of its creation, the U.S. Homeland Security Department yesterday issued an extensive list of its accomplishments in protecting the country from terrorism (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2007).

A five-page fact sheet covers achievements in several areas, including protecting the nation from dangerous individuals and materials, safeguarding critical infrastructure and developing a culture of preparedness.  Among the noted successes are:

—Deployment of more than 1,000 radiation detectors at U.S. entry points, ensuring that 97 percent of cargo containers are scanned at seaports and that combined scanning rates at the northern and southern borders is above 90 percent (see GSN, March 5);

—Boosting security at ports, waterways and coasts, through Coast Guard escorts of vessels carrying hazardous materials, efforts to reduce the threat posed by small vessels and other measures (see GSN, Sept. 6, 2007);

—Expansion of the Biowatch disease agent detection system, by the planned increase of automated sensor deployment in the next fiscal year from two to 12 jurisdictions (see GSN, Feb. 8, 2007); and

—Establishment of national security standards for chemical plants (see related GSN story, today).

“The department has experienced a number of significant tests in its short history [and] is intensely focused on the next major task:  ensuring a smooth transition from one administration to the next,” the agency said (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, March 6).

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and President George W. Bush yesterday lauded the administration’s antiterrorism efforts but warned that the threat against the United States persists, the Washington Post reported.

“We have significantly reduced the risk of a major attack in the short term,” Chertoff said.

“One of the reasons we’re seeing more attacks in Europe is because they think it’s easier,” he added.

“We have made our borders more secure,” Bush said, also noting efforts to halt illicit transfers of biological, chemical, nuclear and radiological materials into U.S. cities.

However, al-Qaeda remains a threat and similarly minded extremists are “continuing to refine themselves and improve themselves.  If we don’t do more than we’re doing, if we stop, eventually the risk is going to start to increase,” Chertoff said (Hsu/Branigin, Washington Post I, March 7).

Homeland Security, a conglomeration of 22 agencies placed under one roof five years ago, still faces a host of problems, the Post reported yesterday.

The operation of the department remains unwieldy, particularly when it is forced to develop expensive new programs in the wake of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or controversies such as the scuttled plan to have a Dubai firm take over operations at six U.S. ports (see GSN, March 6, 2006).

“DHS is like a speedboat and it keeps turning … constantly shifting gears,” said Stewart Verdery Jr., former assistant homeland security secretary for border and transportation security.

The department has also faced technical problems with costly security programs.  Homeland Security might need $22 billion and another 16 years for deployment of more sophisticated baggage-screening systems at airports and faces questions about its $1.2 billion plan for deployment of next-generation radiation detectors, the Post reported (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post II, March 6).

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