MORE ADMINISTRATION NEGLIGENCE

Plan to protect transit systems shared
By LESLIE MILLER Associated Press Writer
Sep 21, 5:07 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A secret government plan to protect the nation's transportation systems from terrorist attacks will be shared with the people who run the systems, the Bush administration said Wednesday.

The plan was ordered by Congress because of concern that people who ride buses, trains and subways were taking a back seat to airline passengers when it came to security.

That didn't make much sense to Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, or the committee's leading Democrat, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
In a Sept. 15 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Collins and Lieberman said the people most affected by the plan ought to be able to read it.
"Key partners in transportation security, namely state, local and tribal governments and system owners and operators, are unable to access the document outlining their responsibilities and roles," they wrote.
Collins noted that the Homeland Security Department was allocated $18 billion for aviation security since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but only $250 million for transit security.
Polly Hanson, security chief for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, described the Homeland Security Department's approach to transit security as uncoordinated, underfunded and mired in red tape.

WMATA has gotten only one-tenth of the $150 million it needs to tighten transit security and is waiting for approval to spend federal grant money for the 2005 budget year, which ends in nine days, she said.

The first time a TSA inspector paid a visit to WMATA was on July 7 - the day of the London bombings, Hanson said. He came to learn about the transit system's security measures.
"It was not a good time," she said.