[Mb-civic] Securing Our Subways - Michael Chertoff - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Securing Our Subways

By Michael Chertoff
Friday, July 29, 2005; Page A23

In the past couple of weeks we have seen four major terrorist attacks on 
soft targets in civilian areas: two attacks on mass transit in London; 
an attack on a shopping mall in Netanya, Israel; and an attack on hotels 
and resorts in Egypt. The events are a tragic reminder of the dangers we 
face, the tactics of our enemies and the need for more preparedness.

Every act of terrorism is unforgivable, and any life taken by terrorists 
is an irreparable loss. This is why we have gone to great lengths as a 
nation since Sept. 11 to provide law enforcement and intelligence 
personnel with enhanced tools and information to better identify, track 
and apprehend terrorists before they are able to strike. We have also 
made significant progress since last year's bombings in Madrid in 
securing our mass transit systems.

State and local authorities have received more than $8 billion in 
Homeland Security Department grants that can be used for mass transit 
security, and President Bush has proposed an additional $2.4 billion in 
his 2006 budget. The federal government has chipped in more than $255 
million for state and local transit authorities to increase protection 
through hardening of assets, greater police presence during high alerts, 
additional detection and surveillance equipment, increased inspections, 
and expanded use of explosives-sniffing dog teams.

These expenditures reflect our commitment to protecting all of our 
infrastructure from terrorist attack. Of course, the way in which we do 
so depends on the nature of the system that we are protecting. Mass 
transit is an open, accessible and efficient system across a broad 
geographic area. By contrast, our aviation system is a closed system 
that can be tightly monitored at controlled checkpoints. An 
airport-style security system would be poorly suited to local mass 
transit systems because long delays would interrupt fluidity and 
convenience. We cannot destroy with draconian security measures the very 
thing we are trying to protect.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072801787.html

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