On Friday morning, September 15, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff spoke before an audience at Philadelphia's Union League. Secretary Chertoff addressed accomplishments in homeland security five years after September 11, 2001 and department efforts to keep Americans safe in this age of terrorism.

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from The Philadelphia Inquirer

Editorial | Five Years After — Safer, but not secure

It's been a week of report cards and self-examination, all focused on a key question: Is America safer since Sept. 11, 2001?

Politicians this election year look to reassure voters, who rank homeland security among their top concerns. Critics, meanwhile, seize upon remaining weaknesses to frighten the nervous public.

In truth, President Bush was correct Monday when he said: "Today we are safer, but we are not yet safe."

The nation has overhauled airport security, beefed up cargo screening, integrated intelligence-gathering, and insisted on private-sector planning.

But clearly, there's more work to do to: secure ports, mass transit and industrial targets; prevent a nuclear attack; coordinate first-responder communication; and improve intelligence-gathering. The 41-point must-do list of former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean's 9/11 Commission is far from finished.

The trick is finding a sustainable balance — one that targets the highest risks, respects civil liberties, and maintains fiscal discipline.

"We need to be mature about the fact we can't eliminate every risk," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the World Affairs Council yesterday in Philadelphia. He's dead on. The country must plan prudently, remembering Osama bin Laden's pledge to use fear to bankrupt the country.

So far, Congress hasn't been fiscally disciplined or well prioritized. Homeland security bills, like disaster relief, typically turn into Christmas trees. Many chemical plants remain vulnerable, even though former Sen. Jon Corzine (D., N.J.) introduced a bill months after the 2001 attack.

The fledgling DHS, just 31/2 years old, didn't help its cause by floundering after Hurricane Katrina. Former department inspector general Clark Kent Ervin calls it the "most dysfunctional agency in all of government." The 180,000-employee department must improve as it grows up.

The nation is counting on these two bodies — Congress and the department — to shape a security strategy that blends prevention, protection and response.

Chertoff rightly wants to base more spending on risk assessments, as the 9/11 Commission recommended.

Congress should stop insisting on something for every incumbent's home district. At the same time, the four highest-threat cities — New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles — need to recognize that the Omahas of the nation may, indeed, have little known communication, transportation or food-supply systems critical to the nation's commerce. They, too, deserve some share of urban-security grants.

On Thursday, the Senate overcame an amendment frenzy to improve port and rail security. Before session's end, Congress is poised to safeguard chemical plants. Progress is possible, but only if leaders stop the kind of political sniping typified Tuesday by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.): "Let's see if they vote against this." Partisan threats won't improve safety.

Security is an ongoing challenge as threats evolve. America needs a clear — and shared — protective mission.

Commentary

Working to avert another 9/11
In the last five years, much as been done to make the nation safer. But there is more to do.
By Michael Chertoff

This week, our nation paused to reflect on the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We paused to remember the unimaginable evil of 19 men armed with box cutters and plane tickets. We paused to remember the victims of the attack: innocent men and women who perished on airplanes and in burning buildings, heroic first responders who gave their own lives trying to save them, and thousands more across our country who lost a loved one or a friend on that tragic day.

But Americans also paused to ask an important question of their government: Are we safer since 9/11?

The answer is yes.

Over the last five years, our nation has acted deliberately and decisively to reduce the risk that we will ever face another 9/11. While we recognize that no government can protect every person against every threat in every place at every moment, we have made significant, measurable progress since 9/11 to prevent another catastrophic attack against our nation.

To keep terrorists from entering our country, we've integrated our antiterrorism and fingerprint databases, implemented new fingerprint-based screening at our ports of entry, and deployed thousands of additional Border Patrol agents and new technology to our borders.

To protect cargo, we've pushed our perimeter of security outward — deploying U.S. inspectors to dozens of overseas ports to screen cargo before it leaves for the United States. At home, we've deployed hundreds of radiation portal monitors to critical seaports to scan arriving cargo for nuclear or radiological emissions.

To protect critical infrastructure, we've conducted thousands of vulnerability assessments and reviewed thousands of security plans with the private sector. We've built more than a dozen layers of security into our aviation system, including hardened cockpit doors, federal air marshals, and transportation security officers. And to protect rail and mass transit, we've deployed biosensors to major mass-transit systems, invested in new technology, and added new canine and multi-agency law enforcement teams.

We've also transformed our intelligence community so information flows horizontally across the federal government and vertically among state, local, and private-sector partners, and the international community. And to mount a swift, effective response in the event of an attack or major disaster, we've retooled the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reviewed state and local emergency plans, conducted joint training and exercises, and worked ahead of disasters to build a "culture of preparedness" for individuals and businesses.

We have made tremendous progress since 9/11. But we must continue to build our defenses in several key areas — strengthening port security, protecting chemical facilities, distributing secure identification credentials, improving communications interoperability, and analyzing traveler information to prevent known and unknown terrorists from boarding aircraft. All of these measures are necessary and important to our security, and we must resist any temptation to delay their implementation or weaken their effectiveness.

Moreover, we must continue to target our resources to where risks are greatest. This means that high-threat cities will continue to receive the lion's share of federal funding, including Philadelphia, which has received almost $80 million in Urban Area Security Grants since 9/11 and more than $40 million for the protection of ports and transportation systems.

Only by continuing to assess threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences across our nation, and having the flexibility to direct our resources in a risk-based manner, can we provide the best possible protection for Americans and our nation.

Americans understand that we cannot pursue the illusion of perfect security obtained at any price. We want security that is strong, but consistent with our freedoms and civil liberties, and security that doesn't bankrupt our country or destroy the systems we are trying to protect.

Five years after 9/11, our nation has not suffered another terrorist attack. But it is not because terrorists haven't tried. We are safer today precisely because of the steps we've taken to protect our nation. Our goal five years from now is that the only attack we have to remember in this country remains the Sept. 11 attack. And all of us at the Department of Homeland Security and across the federal government will work tirelessly every single day and night to achieve that goal.

Michael Chertoff is secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. He will be speaking at 8:30 this morning to the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia (www.wacphila.org) at the Union League.