Since terrorist attacks shocked the country on Sept. 11 2001,
the Bush administration has made domestic security a top priority,
spending billions of dollars and merging several security
organizations to form a Homeland Security Department.
Programs such as the newly implemented United States Visitor and
Immigrant Status Indicator Technology system, designed to keep out
terrorists and illegal immigrants, are proof for Bush
administration representatives that homeland security is
improving.
“We must continue to give homeland security every tool
they need to defend us,” the President said in his state of
the union address.
Airport and airline security remain one area where the Homeland
Security department focuses its attentions. Approximately $10
billion has been spent on screening airline passengers and baggage
since Sept. 11 2001.
The most recent screening plan, known in short as US-VISIT, was
implemented for the first time Jan. 5 at 115 airports and 14
seaports across the nation.
The system involves a four step procedure which records the
fingerprints and a picture of each visitor to the United
States.
The information is then run through government databases and
federal watch lists. If anything is detected, the visitor would be
required to go through further questioning.
The screening will not apply to U.S. citizens and permanent
residents, as well as travellers from 27 countries who do not need
visas to enter the country on a temporary basis.
Keisuke Otsu, a graduate student in economics, said he was not
bothered by the system when he returned from holidays in Japan on
Jan. 5.
“The whole process was very quick, and this way next time
I enter I don’t have to go through it again,” he
said.
Jaime Guajardo, a citizen of Chile and a TA in the department of
economics, agreed the process was quick but said it took longer
overall to get out of the airport.
“Usually, it only takes half an hour to get out, but this
time it took almost an hour and a half,” he said, adding that
he did not feel US-VISIT was an excessive measure.
Other than stricter airport security measures, the Bush
Administration has reformed homeland security by gathering several
national agencies under one common department known as the Homeland
Security Department.
Previously, homeland security was merely an advisory unit within
the White House with no constitutional powers, said James Desveaux,
assistant political science professor and assistant director of the
Center for American Politics and Public Policy.
The new administrative unit now encompasses several groups
including Immigration and Naturalization Services and the U.S.
Coast Guard.
While this reorganization may have provided homeland security
officials with more elbow room, it came at a great expense, which
Baim said he believes was perhaps unnecessary.
“Personally, I think a great deal of resources have been
squandered on a mere shuffling of the deck,” he said.
“More measures for state and local governments should have
been taken.”
In a party report released last Friday, minority Democrats on
the House Homeland Security Committee said the Bush administration
has not done enough to protect the nation against the threat of
terrorism.
The document, titled “America at Risk: The State of
Homeland Security,” was put together from information
gathered from the Pentagon, congressional investigators and other
sources. It summarizes dangers to U.S. cities, borders, ports and
airways which still have not adequately been dealt with by the
Department of Homeland Security.
Among other claims, the report suggests that despite the fact
that significant amounts of money has been spent on airport
security, there are still numerous reports of dangerous items
clearing security.
Regardless, the issue of homeland security seems truly to belong
the incumbent president going into elections in November, Baum
said.
“The majority of people have confidence in how the
president is doing on the issue (of homeland security),” Baum
said.
“Despite this report, I don’t think Democrats will
gain any traction on the issue, unless there is another
9/11,” he added.
With reports from Bruin wire services.