Impossible to Secure all Targets, Chertoff Says

Attempting to secure all potential terrorism targets would drive the United States toward bankruptcy, one of the aims of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 6).

Bin Laden in a 2004 video discussed “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy,” the New York Times reported.

“He understood that one tool he had in waging war against the United States was to drive us crazy, into bankruptcy, trying to defend ourselves against every conceivable threat,” Chertoff told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.  “We have to be realistic about what we expect and what we do.  We do have limits, and we do have choices to make.”

Billions of dollars are already needed to finish installing seaport radiation detection equipment, erect barriers at borders, secure railroads and deploy explosives detectors at airports.

Spending is also planned on inspecting all individually delivered cargo packages at airports. 

The Homeland Security Department in coming weeks is expected to unveil new security regulations for trains used to transport dangerous chemicals.  Rules could address the construction of railcars and how long they are allowed to stay at one location, the Times reported (see GSN, Aug. 16).

But there must be limits, Chertoff said.  For example, it is not presently possible to screen all U.S.-bound cargo at foreign ports with X-ray machines and radiation scanners.

Senator Frank Lautenberg (R-N.J.) had argued for such an effort.

“If we inspected one out of 20 people going into the White House for tours, or coming into this place, would we feel secure?” Lautenberg said.  “I don’t think so.”

Said Chertoff:  “I put my daughter in my car.  If I wanted my daughter to be 100 percent safe, I’d put a five-mile-an-hour speed cap on the car.”

However, “that’s more safety than we can afford,” he said.

Richard Falkenrath, New York City deputy police commissioner for counterterrorism, questioned the priority in federal spending.  The emphasis has been too much on screening cargo rather than on protecting ships or ferries from small boats laden with explosives, he said.  Homeland Security is also spending $9 on security for every airplane passenger, but only half a cent per mass transit passenger.

“There’s something wrong with this,” Falkenrath said.  “Terrorists are attacking the subway system worldwide” (Eric Lipton, New York Times, Sept. 13).

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