Allyson Schwartz Quotes

And let us be frank, the security threats that emanate from our ports come from foreign cargo.

Seven million ship cargo containers come into the United States every year. Five to seven percent only are inspected - five to seven percent.

Today, barely 5 percent of all containers coming into the United States through our ports are scanned.

Terrorists can utilize any vulnerability in the system and that would include outbound shipments.

Since September 11th Congress has created the Department of Homeland Security, more than doubled the homeland security budget and implemented a bipartisan overhaul of our intelligence systems.

Although more than 500 million maritime containers move around the world each year, accounting for 90 per cent of international trade, only 2 per cent are inspected. Strengthening customs and immigration systems is essential.

The issue that Mr. Trump is talking about and which, really, frankly, I expect the media should be talking about is protecting the American homeland from national security risks and terrorists.

For the vast majority of places in America, there is no way you can build a security system such as we have here because of the high priority this rates in terms of terrorist interests.

Counterterrorism isn't really about the nunchakus, the guns and gadgets. It's about psychology.

The lack of substantial resources and staffing along the Northern U.S. border poses a real security threat.

We know that the most fundamental responsibility of our Federal Government is to ensure the safety of its people and to protect and ensure our National security. And clearly port security has been left in limbo.

Our ports and our borders are the most unprotected fronts in the war on terror.

In case anyone needs reminding, it was the relentless drive of the tourism industry and kowtowing State Department bureaucrats that led to the Bush-era Visa Express Program, which relaxed visa policies, eliminated in-person consulate interviews and opened the door to the 9/11 hijackers.

We all must recognize that homeland security funds should be allocated by threat and no other reason.

Although Customs and Border Protection analyzes cargo and other information to target specific shipments for closer inspection, it still physically inspects only a small fraction of the containers under its purview.

In a brave new world, a post-September 11 world, anyone is going to make certain mistakes. The mistakes that have been made on homeland security, on protecting our Nation from another terrorist attack, are mistakes of omission. We are simply not doing enough.

Consular offices make no attempt to determine whether the person obtaining the card is legally in the United States. In fact, the only people who need these cards are illegal immigrants, criminals and terrorists. Consular cards also are easily forged.

We have terrorists coming into the country both through our Northern and Southern borders.

I believe it is essential that we close the security gaps that put our nation at risk, and I will continue to fight for the funding that will secure high-risk targets, such as our ports and borders.

In the aftermath of September 11th, it is critical to secure our borders.

Mr. Chairman, on September 11, we were attacked by terrorists who took advantage of weaknesses in our border security. After infiltrating our country, the terrorists were able to conceal their real identities, and thereby plot their attacks without fear of being apprehended.

Four years after 9/11 it is scandalous that police and firefighters in large cities still cannot communicate reliably in a major crisis. It is scandalous that airline passengers are still not screened against all names on a terrorist watch list. It is scandalous that we still allocate scarce homeland security dollars on the basis of pork barrel spending, not risk.

If they [terrorists] are going to send an atomic bomb into this country, they’re going to wrap it in marijuana and send it in with the millions of pounds of marijuana that comes across the border.

We are much safer in the United States, but not yet safe.

Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, they have the primary responsibility of ensuring that our ports are secure.