Homeland Security

Dear President Bush:

Yesterday’s arrest of a British citizen attempting to smuggle a shoulder-fired missile into the United States underscores the urgent need to outfit US commercial aircraft with anti-missile technology. For the sake of our national security, I implore you to immediately involve yourself in the effort to reduce the vulnerability of our nation’s commercial airliners.

Mr. President, I am writing today, not out of partisanship, but as someone who has seen the devastation of terrorism firsthand. I knew people who were killed on September 11 and I see the terrible grief of their loss etched on the faces of their family members whenever we meet. For these reasons, I am deeply disappointed by the Administration’s all too halting, slow and incomplete approach to protecting American commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.

Despite intelligence reports indicating a concerted effort to used shoulder-fired missiles against commercial airliners, the DHS is not planing to begin outfitting commercial airliners with anti-missile systems until the end of 2005. Since February, I have passionately advocated for legislation that would install anti-missile systems on planes immediately. At every turn, however, I have been stymied by false arguments that the technology does not yet work for commercial aircraft and that homeland security money would be better spent elsewhere. The military and El Al, however, already use this technology. In fact, this year alone, it has helped foil at least three shoulder-fired missile attacks on military cargo planes in Iraq. The Israeli government has also started equipping commercial planes with anti-missile systems.

Several of your top homeland security advisors, including the head of the Transportation Security Administration, believe that shoulder-fired missiles pose a clear and present danger to our national security. The costs of outfitting these planes is estimated to be $7 to $10 billion. Given the imminent danger of the shoulder fired missile threat, I believe using half of the $9.1 billion annual budget of the Missile Defense Agency to pay for a shoulder-fired missile defense program over the next two years is an appropriate and necessary step.

Mr. President, in the aftermath of 9/11, you stood up for New York and for our national security. I implore you to address the American people directly and let them know exactly what the Administration is planning to do on this issue. This is a time that calls for personal leadership, not hiding behind other officials who then claim they cannot get the necessary dollars for this initiative.

Sincerely,
Charles Schumer
U.S. Senate