News from Congresswoman Jane Harman

Congresswoman Jane harman - Press Release

July 8, 2004

HARMAN: TIME TO ABANDON COLOR-CODED THREAT SYSTEM AND FIX BROKEN INTELLIGENCE STRUCTURES

Washington, DC - Representative Jane Harman (D-36), Ranking Minority Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued the following statement today:

"Today's announcement by Secretary Ridge must be taken seriously because the threats against our country are real. But today's announcement also demonstrates that our system for collecting, analyzing, and reporting on these threats to the American people is seriously broken.

"Sometimes the color-coded threat level changes; other times it doesn't. Sometimes the warnings come from the FBI; other times they come from the Department of Homeland Security. Six weeks ago, we were told to "be on the lookout" for several terrorists in the U.S. But today, we heard nothing about those terrorists. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the way threats are being communicated to the American people.

"It is time to abandon the color-coded system. The color-coded threat system may have been a good idea when it was initiated. But it has not worked. American citizens are not better informed because of it. Law enforcement officials still do not receive adequate direction about what to do with the new threat reporting information, other than to 'remain vigilant.'

"We must urgently move to a system in which there is a single voice for all threat reporting. Our government must provide highly specific intelligence information to local law enforcement - not general directives.

"We also must complete the long-overdue national vulnerability assessment, so that we can understand the nation's weak-spots and direct resources to those weak-spots immediately.

"Three years after 9/11, we've still not fixed intelligence gaps. We need better collection, better analysis, better information-sharing, and more interoperable communications systems.

"And, shockingly, the White House's intelligence budget only provided a third of the counter-terrorism funding that our intelligence agencies said they needed to fight terrorism next year. We need to fully fund counter-terrorism now - not 6-9 months from now."

###