THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION’S PROGRESS IN ENHANCING HOMELAND SECURITY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE AND BORDER SECURITY OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 12, 2004 Serial No. 108–49 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Homeland Security ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 23–890 PDF WASHINGTON : 2005 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY CHRISTOPHER COX, California, Chairman JENNIFER DUNN, Washington JIM TURNER, Texas, Ranking Member C.W. BILL YOUNG, Florida BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi DON YOUNG, Alaska LORETTA SANCHEZ, California F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., Wisconsin EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts W.J. (BILLY) TAUZIN, Louisiana NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington DAVID DREIER, California BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts DUNCAN HUNTER, California JANE HARMAN, California HAROLD ROGERS, Kentucky BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland SHERWOOD BOEHLERT, New York LOUISE MCINTOSH SLAUGHTER, New York LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon CURT WELDON, Pennsylvania NITA M. LOWEY, New York CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut ROBERT E. ANDREWS, New Jersey PORTER J. GOSS, Florida ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of DAVE CAMP, Michigan Columbia LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART, Florida ZOE LOFGREN, California BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia KAREN MCCARTHY, Missouri ERNEST J. ISTOOK, JR., Oklahoma SHEILA JACKSON-LEE, Texas PETER T. KING, New York BILL PASCRELL, JR., North Carolina JOHN LINDER, Georgia DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, U.S. Virgin Islands JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana KEN LUCAS, Kentucky MAC THORNBERRY, Texas JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island JIM GIBBONS, Nevada KENDRICK B. MEEK, Florida KAY GRANGER, Texas PETE SESSIONS, Texas JOHN E. SWEENEY, New York JOHN GANNON, Chief of Staff STEPHEN DEVINE, Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel THOMAS DILENGE, Chief Counsel and Policy Director DAVID H. SCHANZER, Democrat Staff Director MARK T. MAGEE, Democrat Deputy Staff Director MICHAEL S. TWINCHEK, Chief Clerk SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE AND BORDER SECURITY DAVE CAMP, Michigan, Chairman KAY GRANGER, Texas, Vice Chairwoman LORETTA SANCHEZ, California, Ranking JENNIFER DUNN, Washington Member DON YOUNG, Alaska EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts DUNCAN HUNTER, California NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington LAMAR SMITH, Texas BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland ROBERT W. GOODLATTE, Virginia LOUISE MCINTOSH SLAUGHTER, New York ERNEST ISTOOK, Oklahoma PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon JOHN SHADEGG, Arizona SHEILA JACKSON-LEE, Texas MARK SOUDER, Indiana BILL PASCRELL, JR., New Jersey JOHN SWEENEY, New York JIM TURNER, TEXAS, Ex Officio CHRISTOPHER COX, California, Ex Officio (II) C O N T E N T S Page STATEMENTS The Honorable Dave Camp, a Representative in Congress From the State of Michigan, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Border Security ................................................................................................................. 1 The Honorable Christopher Cox, a Representative in Congress From the State of California, and Chairman, Select Committee on Homeland Security ................................................................................................................. 31 The Honorable Jim Turner, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Select Committee on Homeland Security .... 2 The Honorable Donna Christensen, a Representative in Congress From the U.S. Virgin Islands ............................................................................................... 39 The Honorable Peter A. DeFazio, a Representative in Congress From the State of Oregon ..................................................................................................... 32 The Honorable Norman D. Dicks, a Representative in Congress From the State of Washington ............................................................................................. 9 The Honorable Jennifer Dunn, a Representative in Congress From the State of Washington ....................................................................................................... 35 The Honorable Kay Granger, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas ................................................................................................................. 26 The Honorable Shiela Jackson-Lee, a Representative in Congress From the State of Texas, Prepared Statement ................................................................... 9 The Honorable Edward J. Markey, a Representative in Congress From the State of Massachusetts ........................................................................................ 1 The Honorable Bill Pascrell, Jr., a Representative in Congress From the State of North Carolina ....................................................................................... 22 WITNESS Mr. Steven J. McHale, Deputy Administrator, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security Oral Statement ..................................................................................................... 11 Prepared Statement ............................................................................................. 14 APPENDIX Questions Submitted for the Record Responses from Mr. Steven J. McHale: Questions Submitted from the Honorable Dave Camp ........................................ 43 Questions Submitted from the Honorable Christopher Cox ................................ 45 Questions Submitted from the Honorable Lamar Smith ..................................... 50 Questions Submitted from the Honorable Jim Turner ......................................... 51 (III) THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION’S PROGRESS IN ENHANCING HOMELAND SECURITY Wednesday, May 12, 2004 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFRASTRUCTURE AND BORDER SECURITY, SELECT COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:38 a.m., in Room 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Dave Camp [chair- man of the subcommittee] presiding. Present: Representatives Camp, Granger, Cox, Dunn, DeFazio, Markey, Dicks, Turner, Pascrell and Christensen. Mr. CAMP. [Presiding.] Good morning. The Subcommittee on In- frastructure and Border Security hearing will come to order. To- day’s hearing is on the Transportation Security Administration’s progress in enhancing homeland security. The subcommittee will hear from Mr. Stephen McHale, the dep- uty administrator for Transportation Security Administration. Mr. McHale, we appreciate you being here in place of the TSA Adminis- trator Stone, who is waiting confirmation by the Senate and there- fore, unable to testify. The chair would ask members to either waive opening state- ments or to give short statements and to submit their full opening statements for the record. The record will remain open for 10 days after the close of the hearing. Members are advised they will receive an additional three min- utes during the question time if they waive their opening state- ment. At this time, I will simply submit my statement for the record. And I would ask Mr. Markey, as Ms. Sanchez not is here today, if he has an opening statement that he would like to give. Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much. Today, we focus on TSA’s role in enhancing homeland security. I am going to focus my statement on three major flaws in the transportation sec- tor’s security posture. First, cargo security. While old ladies are still being forced to take their shoes off and infants have to be taken out of baby car- riers for screening prior to boarding flights, the Bush Administra- tion continues to oppose efforts to screen all cargo being placed on passenger aircraft, even though technology to do so exists. (1) 2 This is an unacceptable loophole that gives Americans a com- pletely false sense of security. I have introduced comprehensive aviation security legislation to remedy this problem. Second, rail shipments of hazardous materials. Each day, hun- dreds of thousands of shipments of hazardous materials, including materials like chlorine that kill thousands of people in a few short minutes, travel through densely populated areas and near critical infrastructure. Take, for example, this tank car full of chlorine, passing within view of this building and the Capitol Building. The U.S. Naval Research Lab had said that a successful attack on just one such tank car could cause 100,000 deaths in one half hour. An Ohio-based Al-Qa‘ida operative was even arrested for plot- ting to collapse a bridge in New York City or derail a train in D.C. And last month, just north of downtown Boston, a railroad tank car carrying 20,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid started to leak close to the Sullivan Station Rapid Transit and just yards away from Route I–93, causing major chaos to the morning commute; and thankfully, no casualties. Yet, there has been no national planning to reroute and better secure this dangerous shipment that could be used as weapons of mass destruction against us. I plan to introduce legislation to ad- dress this problem next week. And third, passenger rail security.