Sen. Lieberman Says Public Transit Is Not Safe Enough

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said yesterday that America's trains and buses are the most "vulnerable" forms of transportation for the kinds of terror attacks seen around the world, most recently in Moscow. Though the Department of Homeland security is introducing enhanced aviation security measures such as the "use of explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams, or pat downs," Lieberman says that more needs to be done to protect public transit. "The threat is real to non-aviation transportation. All you've got to do is look around the world," he told David Gregory on "Meet the Press."

Lieberman said that the government is working with both state and local officials to improve subway safety, but that it's not enough yet. "We, frankly, need to give it more than we're giving it now to protect the American people. I worry about this." New York has already been stepping up subway security in the wake of the Moscow attacks, deploying both uniformed and undercover officers to subway stations around the city.

Mayor Bloomberg said in a press release, "We will learn from the terrible tragedy in Moscow, as we do from every terrorist incident around the world, and we will continue to do everything possible to protect our transit system—and our entire City—from the threat of terrorism." Last week's Moscow metro bombings killed at least 40 people, and subway bombings in London, Madrid, and Mumbai have all happened within the past six years.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on April 5, 2010 12:58 PM

Comments [rss]

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

here's a great video that explains why we need to worry about terrorism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0&feature=player_embedded#

Ragingsemi

Pat downs? Really? NYC is becoming more and more of a police state. It makes me sick.

cxb

But remember: it's a POLICE STATE that is CRIME-RIDDEN and unsafe!

WE've got the WORST of both worlds!

ie, "Tax Hike Mike Mussolini didn't even get the trains to run on time!"

Guest

All I want is to feel safe from Chefs carrying two-inch pocket knives.

youngpro

lieberman = siphon for US dollars to israel

aka - 'yeah, we need more security. and i know just the firm in tel aviv that can handle it!'

Guest

"...I worry about this."

dear mr lieberman,

i advise you to stop worrying and relax before publicly speaking your thoughts, especially that you're a person in power. worries only make everything worse.

once you stop worrying and start relaxing, you can better protect the american people. rationally, too.

Madman

Luck Fieberman! The day you stop whoring for insurance companies, maybe you'll have something believable to say. In the meantime, you could say the temperature on the surface of the sun is hot and I wouldn't believe you. Maybe you and your buddy Bush can go on a hunting trip with Cheney?

Fadlo K. Shell

Well, it seems the Democrats got exactly what they deserved with this guy.

blink

Lieberman is synonymous with stepping in dog shit.

NannyState

I guess that's why he rides in LIMOS.

Darrell

Want to buy more pointless equipment like nuclear radiation detectors? I can't wait to see the bullshit expensive tech that will be trotted out in this new wave of "securing the homeland".

JenChungsBaby

Is Joe trying to win the Captain Obvious award?

rasputinsghost

the solution is to ban violent video games

eyekantspel

I'd settle for working cameras in the subway. Millions and millions of dollars spent already, and they don't work?? thanks MTA/TWU.

eyekantspel

Not sure that the camera problem is a TWU issue, but it wouldn't surprise me if union labor is at least partly to blame.

Professor_X

Just curious, how many of you out there are reacting negatively because Sen. Lieberman said it?

You know your favorite political blogs really don't like him very much. And consensus is the highest form of patriotism.

cxb

I wouldn't trust ANYTHING Lieberman says, and it's not b/c he's a jew.

Just like I wouldn't trust anything said by Bloomberg, and not b/c he's uh... a jew.

Or Schools Chancellor Klein... and not b/c he's a jew!

Or Dept Tool Ed Skyler... and not b/c he's a jew!

And...

[author suspects his joke about anti-semitism will go over the heads of some numbnuts... but secretly hopes some will agree with him that it can only be racism that Bloombag's team is comprised of more jewish males than all other races combined...]

cxb

Maybe we have a tendency to not trust liars whenever they speak.

And your point IS...?

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

assuming you've been a coma for the last 10 years......Lieberman was a vocal supportter of the war in Iraq. Lately he's been pushing the US to go to war with Iran.

If Liberman was sincerly worried about the 'American people' he woulndn't be pushing our country to get into wars 7K miles away with countries that are NO threat to us whatsoever.

"consensus is the highest form of patriotism" what does that even mean??

I would say critical thinking is the highest form of patriotism. For your own sakes, please try and be a patriot.

kafkask

True. My first reaction is to dismiss it completely because of him. My second is to come up with some trite remark about bombing Iran in order to make the subways safer.

But regardless, who's kidding who? I can think of a half dozen ways to bypass any security the MTA put into place. The tunnels are so easily accesible, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how to bypass a fucking turnstyle. Do they really think sticking cameras and policemen in subway stations would prevent anyone willing to die from blowing up a train?