Schumer is not serious about rail security
From the “Never Let a Crisis Go To Waste” files: Sen. Chuck Schumer hit the Sunday talk show circuit to push for the TSA-ization of Amtrak. Because, you know, that’s working out so well.
The Mouth of the Empire State has proposed expansion of the no-fly list to encompass a new “no-ride list” (prompting legions of government-subsidized Amtrak opponents across the country to retort, “Hey, I’ve been on the list for years!”)
The grandstanding details:
A senator on Sunday called for a “no-ride list” for Amtrak trains after intelligence gleaned from the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound pointed to potential attacks on the nation’s train system.
Sen. Charles Schumer said he would push as well for added funding for rail security and commuter and passenger train track inspections and more monitoring of stations nationwide.
“Circumstances demand we make adjustments by increasing funding to enhance rail safety and monitoring on commuter rail transit and screening who gets on Amtrak passenger trains, so that we can provide a greater level of security to the public,” the New York Democrat said at a news conference.
U.S. officials last week said evidence found after the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan indicated the al Qaeda leader or his associates had engaged in discussions or planning for a possible attack on a train inside the United States on September 11, 2011.
Jihadi rail attacks have been a threat for more than a decade here and around the world, dating back to the 1997 NYC subway bombing plot and reaching all corners of Western civilization from Russia to Spain to London.
As I noted back in 2005, KSM’s interrogations yielded details of some of these ongoing bloody schemes. In March 2004, from Terror on the Trains and Al Qaeda’s Chechen Connection, Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino of the Investigative Project reported:
In the United States, the rail network has also been repeatedly targeted. On July 31, 1997, the NYPD launched a pre-dawn raid on an apartment in Brooklyn, New York, after receiving information that two men living in the apartment planned to bomb the New York City subway system. During the raid, police discovered nail-studded pipe bombs, one of which, in the words of a senior law enforcement official, was “all set and ready to go.” NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir remarked, “these individuals intended to take these bombs onto subway trains, set them off, and the probability is that they and many others would have been killed.”
The vulnerability of the New York City subway system again came into focus in September 2003, when Time magazine reported that Saudi Arabia had detained a terrorist with extensive knowledge of a plot to launch a poison gas attack on the subways. In April 2003, news broke that another captured terrorist, Al-Qaeda operations head Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had informed interrogators of an Al-Qaeda plan to target Washington D.C.’s metro.
The warnings from Mohammed and the detainee in Saudi Arabia roughly corroborated an October 2002 FBI statement that “information from debriefings of Al-Qaeda detainees as of mid-October indicates that the group has considered directly targeting U.S. passenger trains, possibly using operatives who have a Western appearance.” The statement also noted, “recently captured Al-Qaeda photographs of U.S. railroad engines, cars and crossings heighten the intelligence community’s concern of this threat.”
The information gleaned from the detainees, coupled with the foiled 1997 Brooklyn bombing plot, make clear the peril posed to the U.S. rail system. When this bleak picture is merged with the international threat assessment, it seems likely that the horrors of Madrid may be repeated in the not so distant future.
The GAO has issued rail security recommendations since at least 2004-2005.
What have opportunist Dems like Sen. Schumer — and what has the Obama administration — done on rail security since then?
My 2009 reminder:
Terror suspect Najibullah Zazi has done us all a favor. But is it enough to rouse a nation in permanent snooze button-mode?
The arrest of Zazi, a Colorado-based Afghan airport shuttle driver whom counter-terrorism officials believe may have been plotting bomb attacks on New York City mass transit trains, raised alerts on rail lines across the country. A joint FBI-Department of Homeland Security assessment issued Monday warned law enforcement agencies about the use of improvised explosive devices against passenger trains overseas. Zazi was allegedly trained in manufacturing liquid explosives with hydrogen peroxide – the same material used in the London subway attacks in 2005. FBI/DHS analysts have recommended random sweeps and patrols at rail stations and terminals as deterrents.
The bust reminded America that while the annual September 11 memorials are over, the jihadi threat looms. Yet, homeland security remains crippled by a 9/10 mentality.
Remember: The New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the New York Police Department a few years ago to try and stop random bag searches. The civil liberties absolutists are against random searches because they constitute “unreasonable” invasions of privacy. They’re against targeted searches because they amount to racial, religious, or ethnic “profiling.” And they’re against across-the-board searches because they lack “individualized suspicion.”
The ACLU homeland security strategy: Do Nothing.
The suit against NYPD’s random bag search policy ultimately failed, but litigation both real and threatened continues to tie the hands of homeland security and law enforcement officials. This summer, a judge cleared the way for a lawsuit against federal and Minneapolis airport officers by the infamous “flying imams.” They are the six Muslim clerics whose suspicious behavior –fanning out in the cabin before take-off, refusing to sit in their assigned seats, requesting seat-belt extenders, which they placed on the floor – led to their removal by a U.S. Airways crew in 2006.
The feds rejected the imams’ attempt to shake down the airline with a discrimination lawsuit. But three years later, law enforcement officers are still battling the flying extortionists. Political correctness remains the handmaiden of terrorism.
Over at the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder is committed to eliminating racial “disparities” in law enforcement. His anti-profiling allies at the ACLU and something called the “Rights Working Group” are working to end Bush administration counterterrorism initiatives “including FBI surveillance and questioning, special registration programs, border stops, immigration enforcement programs and the creation of ‘no fly lists.’” The ACLU and RWG have appealed to the United Nations to intervene through the “U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)” – which they say is empowered to require sovereign governments “to review national, state and local policies and amend or repeal laws deemed to be creating or perpetuating discrimination.”
Now, add anti-gun activism and stubborn union squabbling to the mix. As I reported two weeks ago, the Obama administration has quietly gutted the nation’s most highly-trained post-9/11 counterterrorism rail security team. According to multiple government sources who declined to be identified for fear of retribution, OSSSO’s East Coast and West Coast teams have not worked in a counterterrorism capacity since the summer. Their rifles were put under lock and key after Amtrak vice president for security strategy and special operations Bill Rooney and Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold, who played an instrumental role in creating OSSSO’s predecessor at Amtrak, the Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU), were pushed out by Team Obama.
Amtrak confirmed to me last week that the elite members of the specialized Office of Security Strategy and Special Operations (OSSSO) no longer carry long-arm weapons, which played a vital role in the unit’s show-of-force patrols. Government sources blame anti-gun hostility inside Amtrak for the move. Amtrak also confirmed to me that West Coast members of the rail security unit – most of who come from Special Forces, counter-terrorism, and other military service — have been denied police credentials. According to OSSSO sources on both coasts, the rival Amtrak Police Department, in conjunction with the local police union in California, have stymied the process over labor issues (OSSSO members are non-union).
“Amtrak fully expects to have a resolution in the near future,” I was told by the rail agency’s press office last week. In the meantime, according to a high-ranking homeland security source, Amtrak’s unionized police chief has taken over and makes counter-terrorism deployment decisions based on pay squabbles. The rail agency is still dealing with grievances filed by Amtrak police officers over compensation during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Says my rail security source: “The deciding factor is overtime, not security.”
Dickering while jihadis plot. Feel safer yet?
Last time I checked, Sen. Schumer had zilch to say about the dismantling and disarming of OSSSO. Last time I checked, Obama openly made lack of rail security a punchline.
Ultimately , targeted behavioral profiling by trained experts — the very kind that US customs agent Diana Dean employed to catch would-be LAX millenium bomber Ahmed Ressam — is the answer. So is a NO-ENTER list that actually works and stops jihadists from getting into our country in the first place.
What we don’t need is another massive, knee-jerk expansion of public union employees standing around taking scissors and groping grandmas, toddlers, and breast-feeding mothers to boost the homeland security cred of fair-weather War on Terror funders like Sen. Schumer.
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I love that!! Where do I get one?
Seems to me a terrorist wouldn’t want to actually ride an Amtrack train — who’s got the time? — but just derail or blow one up. In which case a no-ride list will mean exactly nothing. One thing’s for sure, he’ll meet 72 virgins on that train.
Opps. Make that “he’ll NEVER meet 72 virgins on that train.”
Ah, yes. Even the simple task of tampering with the fastening system or track, bridge or tunnel in a remote location, and voila! Catastrophe.
It’d cost a huge fortune to install sensors and monitor every inch of track.
Chuck has been watching too many WWII movies. You actually do not need a bomb to make a major statement on a train. All you have to do is remove a few spikes. This was the real way that trains were derailed in WWII.
I think that one is a custom model but you can buy a pink Glock just about anywhere. You need to talk to my gun consultant, Virginia Patriot. He’s got a nose for good deals.
Really like the article/analogy. Now, if only a few MORE million, of our citizenry…..would appreciate the irony.
What we don’t need is another massive, knee-jerk expansion of public union employees standing around taking scissors and groping grandmas, toddlers, and breast-feeding mothers to boost the homeland security cred of fair-weather War on Terror funders like Sen. Schumer.
But I bet that’s what we’ll get.
Can “Bite Me” Biden be added to the list?
Gingrich is announcing Wednesday that he is running for president. Guess who gets the first interview right after the announcement? Surprise! Sean Hannity! Any bets the Karl Rove will be the next guest immediately following?
I’ve just about had it with that guy. The only thing missing is the sobbing to win sympathy on the cheap.
That’s the way to derail a train since the very first train.
Yes, but nowadays, it’s possible, even likely on heavily used railways, to detect a break in the rail line. Which would give any trains fair warning…
Of course, you can do that, and then when the crew come out to repair it, ambush them…
Schumer should not be allowed on trains, TSA should not be allowed on trains or train stations. Biden and Nappy can onjy ride the same train to check out the safety of the trains. Good luck Joe.
We’ll get that expanded until we all decide that being herded through the gauntlet of the full-body scan machines is less of a hassle. Then the union employees can just stand around and stare at the x-ray screens for their jollies….and be ready for giving special treatment for the few who can’t go through the scanners or are too stubborn to assimilate and comply.
Query: How many THOUSANDS of “man-days*” of work, must be wasted (at airports)…..before we un-elect those who “put” Americans through the TSA procedures? (* Or “women-days”…..for the other gender…)
At some point, we MUST ‘trust’ someone…
I’d sooner ride a horse…
VP….with a Browning ’92 in the scabbard.
Any useful information we got from the bin Laden Be Dead raid has been wasted by big mouths such as Li’l Chucky Shumer, Hildabeast, Pinata and such.
A pink Glock is better than no Glock I suppose. But then it would be a safe gun: no husband, brother, son or male cousin is going to ask to borrow a pink Glock.
See Ruger came out with a 1911?
And if you wear all those colors at the same time, your children will find a nice new home for you.
AN: Wonder if Ruger will come-out with a similar model, in .38 super?
It’s clear that’s all this is. People have questioned for years the lack of security on Amtrak…among many other questions. Schmuckie never bothered then because the left had the airports to unionize.
Did he clear this with Joe? Now THERE’s an instance where TSA would have to look for a poo bomb.
More and more continuing proof that liberalism is a mental disease.
The Mouth-breather of the Empire State has been heading up the no-brains list for years.
***
HI HAWKEYE54–#101. I seem to remember reading that a sensing current is conducted down each rail. And that removing a rail section–or cutting the rail–will cause a track alarm that instantly notifies the railroad control systems.
***
The railroads went high tech (for the times) in the late 1800′s. Remote switch and signal reporting / control systems, etc. Done first with battery systems, then radio systems, now with computerized systems. All those funny looking boxes and huts along the tracks you see as you drive along the right of ways.
***
John Bibb
***
Isn’t that when public union “workers” work from home?
I seem to remember a few years ago that a disgruntled supposed rail worker was blamed on a de-railment in the Arizona desert. Seems that the rail was taken apart and a jumper wire was inserted to cover it up until the passenger train hit it. No serious injuries but I don’t recall anyone being indicted. Somebody knew what they were doing and the desert is a pretty lonesome area.
What’s to keep some jihadi from removing several rail spikes on a track in a city carrying tankers of sulfuric acid? or other hazardous loads?
Schmuckie, as usual is a nitwit.
I think Schumer should be on a “NO SPEND” list, along with the rest of congress.
But who’d pass that law?
I seriously think you have hit on a great campaign idea. People identify with the TSA No Fly List.
Call out the spenders in Congress on a no spend list, say why they are there with their voting record, and differentiate them from the fiscal conservatives like Rubio, King, etc.
There’s a simple way to end all of this nonsense – the TSAA (Transportation Security Agency Agency). These people will be the ones protecting the highest levels of the TSA and the people who give the TSA directives and orders.
Here’s how this works:
John Pistole, TSA Chief goes to work. He drives to the office building, and before he is allowed to enter the parking lot to park his car; he has to get out, have his car searched, and go through both the naked machine and an enhanced pat-down. Then he is allowed to park his car.
Note that what happens to him will happen to everyone who works at or visits the building.
At the main entrance and every other entrance to the building there is another naked machine and another enhanced pat-down. Following that, he goes inside.
He needs to take an elevator to his office. In front of the elevator there is another naked machine and another enhanced pat-down. Following that, he gets in the elevator.
At the floor to his office, he leaves the elevator. He heads down to his office, but before he can go inside his own office, there’s another naked machine and another enhanced pat-down. He finally makes it inside his office.
Once inside his office, he decides that he needs to go to the bathroom. Fortunately, he has a private bathroom just off his office – however, to go into his own private bathroom he needs to go through another naked machine and another enhanced pat-down.
Now he wants to go back to his office after going to the bathroom. Guess what happens????
As an explanation he’s told: “We’re not allowed to profile”.
Doing to him what he’s doing to the rest of us and it would end in less than a minute.
Hi JHSII #123: Sounds good to me, but you left out the part about the intensive body cavity search (Step 3) that follows the extensive pat down. AND, the procedure would need to be followed when he LEAVES the building as well….heh.
Schumer also said we would take steps to secure the New York area ports…Still waiting there Chucky!