Bush is Failing on Homeland Security
The Bush administration announced earlier this year that 6,000 airport screeners, 11 percent of the nation's screening force, would be laid off. A Transportation Safety Administration spokesperson claimed that the cuts would not affect overall security, but may add to the wait time for passengers. These labor cutbacks, unless coupled with some other measures to compensate to improve the system further, will result in an overall reduction in security. TSA Has Not Finished Background Checks on Half of its Screener Force. The Transportation Safety Administration admitted in June 2003 that it still had not completed background checks on 22,000 airport screeners, nearly half of its screener force. This raises concerns about the entire TSA vetting process.
A Government Accounting Office report released in March 2003 noted that even though US chemical facilities were attractive targets for terrorists, the ability of any facility to respond to an attack was unknown. GAO found that the chemical industry was not required by law to assess vulnerabilities or take action to secure their facilities, and that the federal government has not comprehensively assessed the chemical industry's vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks. GAO also found that because no agency monitors or documents the extent to which chemical facilities have implemented security measures, federal, state, and local entities lack comprehensive information on vulnerabilities.
The GAO reported that 123 chemical plants are located in urban areas where a toxic release could endanger over a million people in a worst case scenario. Another 600 facilities could endanger between 100,000 and one million people in the even of a release, and 2,300 facilities could harm up to 100,000 people. GAO also noted concern over the theft of chemicals from a facility, which could be used to create a weapon. The Bush Administration succumbed to industry pressure in overseeing plant security. The GAO found that the EPA would not use its regulatory power to police the chemical industry due to concerns of significant litigation risk. The Environmental Protection Agency recently tried to impose stricter security standards on chemical manufacturers, but it backed down after the industry balked. The Bush Administration had consistently cut the program to put more cops on street. Since 2001, Bush has slashed funding for the COPS program, which was designed to put more police on the streets and had added 114,000 to the force. In Bush's first two budgets he cut the program in half, then for FY04
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