Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Monday issued the following assessment of the nation’s homeland security since September 11, 2001.
“September 11, 2001, is, as Franklin Roosevelt once said of Pearl Harbor, ‘a day that will live in infamy.’ Like Pearl Harbor, the enormity of the tragedy of 9/11 ushered in a new era marked by the knowledge that we are at war with a different kind of enemy, and that our country, led by the federal government, must rally to meet that challenge. Unfortunately, the threat of a terrorist attack on Americans here at home is as real today as it was five years ago.
“Since 9/11, we have made historic organizational changes in our government to shore up our homeland defenses. I think we are clearly better off for having done that, although weak links, some of them critical, remain. Ultimately, and most importantly, what has been missing, and what we must have going forward is leadership. The security of the American people is our highest priority. We can and must secure America’s future and we must and will do it together.”