FC: Democrats' new "bio" bill links police to SABRE, Amtrak systems
Declan McCullagh
declan at well.com
Fri Oct 26 05:52:22 PDT 2001
A more detailed summary of the Bioterrorism Protection Act is available
here --- final bill has not been written yet -- though the pages are not
sequential, so it's only for the brave:
http://vorlon.mit.edu/~declan/biobill/
Excerpts from that summary:
* "Evaluate need to vaccinate first responders against smallpox"
* "Utilize biometric techniques to identify suicide-biological-bombs"
* "Increase surveillance through development of sentinel strain. Create a
network of interconnected databases for near-real time integration of
threat indicator data"
* "Establish a perception management and economic market mitigation plan
and resources"
* "Ensure isolated, genetically diverse pools of seed and livestock to
replenish stocks destroyed in disease containment"
* "Assess and harden physical security of water-bottling facilites"
* "The handoff between intelligence and law enforcement agencies must be
made smoother"
* "Use GPS and wireless identification systems to monitor commercial
traffic in high-risk and border areas"
* "Ensure that private databases (SABRE, Amtrak reservations, etc.) are
able to interface with law enforcement information stores immediately"
-Declan
********
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47898,00.html
Dems Ready Bioterrorism Bill
By Declan McCullagh and Ben Polen
2:00 a.m. Oct. 26, 2001 PDT
WASHINGTON -- In an attempt to differentiate themselves from their GOP
counterparts, House Democrats are preparing legislation they say will
shield America from biological terrorism.
As anxieties about anthrax mushroomed on Capitol Hill -- with the
deadly bacteria discovered in five congressional office buildings so
far -- House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri) said
Thursday that new spending and police powers are necessary to protect
the public.
At a press conference held in the open air away from any of the
polluted buildings, Gephardt said his "Bioterrorism Protection Act"
would earmark $7 billion for homeland security -- including $1.4
billion on vaccines and antibiotics -- and provide police with instant
access to private databases such as the airline's SABRE system and
Amtrak reservations.
[...]
********
http://menendez.house.gov/speaks/viewrelease.cfm?id=337
HOMELAND SECURITY TASK FORCE CHAIRMAN MENENDEZ ANNOUNCES BIOTERRORISM
LEGISLATION
WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Vice Chair of the Democratic
Caucus and Chairman of the House Democratic Task Force on Homeland
Security, joined by Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt and Members of the
Task Force, today announced the Democratic proposal to protect communities
throughout America against future bioterrorist threats or attacks.
The Democratic Bill, the Bioterrorism Protection Act (BioPAct) of 2001,
seeks to eliminate biological threats, secure our borders on land and at
sea, protect our food and water, equip our communities with the resources
to prevent and respond to bioterrorism, and strengthen our Intelligence
through full coordination, using our most advanced technology to fight
bioterrorism.
Menendez made the following remarks:
"I'm Bob Menendez, the Chairman of the House Democratic Task Force on
Homeland Security, and I first want to thank the chairs and vice chairs of
the working groups that helped write this plan: Bill Pascrell, Sanford
Bishop, Bobby Scott, Jane Harman, Ike Skelton, Bob Borski, Lucille
Roybal-Allard, Ellen Tauscher, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Mike Honda, Jim Turner,
and Jerry Costello - and I want to thank the incredible work of over 80
Members of our Task Force on this bill. These aren't just Members of
Congress, they're husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, working to make
our country and their communities safe and secure. And I think they've done
a great job.
"What we've learned in the last few weeks is that no matter what we as a
people are confronted with, we will overcome and defeat our adversaries. No
attack, no threat, no evil will undermine our resolve and our strength.
America stands proud and firm - our country and our people have served as
an example to all of humanity. America has reacted to this unspeakable
inhumanity with resiliency & humanity - humanity in the face of evil.
"We call the Bioterrorism Protection Act "BioPAct" because we know that
every American needs to be a part of the fight, part of a pact to protect
our Homeland. And if we're asking the public to be 'vigilant', then they
need and deserve to be informed in full and given the chance to be a part
of a dialogue with the officials who work for them. This bill does that.
(more) "BioPAct is a pact between the American people and their government,
working together, called to national service, marshaling our vast
resources, to keep America safe from bioterrorism. The plan doesn't just
draw on government programs, but on the American spirit, intellect &
creativity, breaking new frontiers, setting an example the world can follow
in this new age.
"We're here to tell our fellow citizens that we can beat this foe - and we
can protect our Homeland.
"The BioPAct will proactively assess the new threats and risks we face, so
we make sure we target our funding where it's needed most. It will
eliminate biological threats at the source, by helping countries like
Russia and the other former Soviet states prevent their biological agents
from getting into our enemies' hands. We will secure our borders on land
and at sea by adding thousands of new border agents and by putting our most
advanced technology at work to screen out terrorists and the weapons they
might try to bring with them - whether they try to enter our nation at
airports, on ships, by foot, or in a car. And BioPAct will keep our food
and water supply safe and secure by putting a comprehensive new inspection
protocol in place.
"We will make sure our local communities have all the resources they need -
from greater hospital capacity, to police and firefighters trained in
counter-terrorism.
"We can prevent disease outbreaks through early and rapid detection; and
can save lives by making sure we have the vaccines and medicines to treat
people - and a plan in place to get them where they need to go on a
moment's notice. This bill does that. And BioPAct strengthens our
Intelligence by ensuring our many government agencies coordinate
information and planning. We need one comprehensive strategy - not a dozen
different ones.
"This bill is a commitment to do all this, and a lot more - because we know
there is nothing more important than keeping American families safe.
"This is the first in a series of proposals this Task Force and we
Democrats in the House are putting forward to address Homeland Security. My
colleagues and I look forward to working with the President and the
Republicans to get the job done - in fact we met with Director Ridge
yesterday, and I'm confident we can work together as one American team.
"And as part of that team effort, we also call on the President to use the
funding already allocated to fight terrorism to begin a national threat
assessment; to help local communities cover the unexpected overtime costs
they have already borne in response to the new threat environment since
September 11th; and to rapidly dedicate new resources to our Coast Guard,
our border security, and our postal service. We can and will protect our
Homeland.
"I'm now proud to introduce our Democratic Leader, Dick Gephardt, who had
the foresight early on to work with our Caucus Chairman, Martin Frost, to
create this Task Force - bringing so many Members together to work on an
issue that's on the mind of every American. He's been an inspiration to
this Congress and to our nation - Ladies and Gentlemen: Dick Gephardt -
"Thank you."
Executive Summary of the BioPAct:
HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS HOMELAND SECURITY TASK FORCE THE BIOTERRORISM
PROTECTION ACT (BioPAct) of 2001
A $7 Billion Pact with America
Public Health Infrastructure and Response to Bioterrorism ($3.5 billion)
Improving Community Emergency Response Capacity and Preparedness -- $1 billion
Increasing hospital capacity, educating medical personnel, increasing
nursing and clinical lab personnel, and providing training to first
responders.
Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Vaccines and Treatments for All Americans --
$1.4 billion
Increasing the national stockpile of anthrax antibiotics, developing and
acquiring additional doses of smallpox vaccines, researching and developing
new vaccines and antibiotics, training and equipping health professionals
to provide antibiotics and vaccines, and expediting FDA approval of new
products.
Enhancing Community Planning and Intergovernmental Coordination -- $600 million
Providing planning grants to local communities and health care providers to
develop emergency response plans that meet certain minimum federal
guidelines, requiring states to submit medical response plans to the
federal government, funding state trauma care systems, and strengthening
intergovernmental coordination.
Enhancing Surveillance, Improving Communications, and Strengthening
Technology Infrastructure -- $500 million
Improving state and local surveillance, training health care personnel in
the detection of illnesses related to biological attacks, upgrading
laboratories, ensuring a 24-hour public health system is available to local
providers, improving and expanding CDC surveillance capabilities, building
local technology and communication systems, enhancing communications among
agencies, and requiring state and federal agencies to share with first
responders important information about the potential dangers of an
emergency site. Protecting Our Food And Water ($800 million)
Keeping Our Food Safe -- $725 million
Protecting crops and livestock through increased surveillance and research,
strengthening both physical and information security at key agricultural
facilities, increasing inspections of imported food shipments with
additional inspectors, increasing the inspections of domestic production
plants, coordinating and testing federal emergency response plans, and
helping states track foodborne agents.
Keeping Our Water Supply Safe -- $75 million
Reviewing emergency preparedness and vulnerabilities of water systems,
providing resources to address deficiencies in security, developing
improved monitoring systems to track water quality, improving security of
information systems, improving security of water-bottling facilities, and
implementing background checks for quality testers at treatment plants and
bottling facilities.
Enhancing Law Enforcement's Ability to Protect the Nation ($870 million)
Providing the right tools to law enforcement agencies -- $275 million
Expanding federal authority over biological agents and toxins; establishing
new criminal offenses involving the possession and unsafe handling of
biological agents; developing and deploying new screening hardware,
software, computer infrastructure, and training to support biometric
technology; creating new COPS grants to local communities for
counter-terrorism training and equipment; giving grants to local
governments for strategic planning and intergovernmental coordination
related to terrorism preparedness and response; providing funds to
eliminate the backlog of convicted offender DNA samples yet to be entered
in the FBI database.
Securing Our Borders at Land and Sea -- $345 million
Increasing the size of the United States Border Patrol Force and the number
of INS and Customs Inspectors at ports of entry; implementing biometric
scanning techniques at border checkpoints; funding development and
deployment of scanning technology capable of detecting explosive devices,
biological and chemical contaminants; mandating better INS tracking of
visas and integrating visa monitoring with federal watch lists; providing
Coast Guard with enhanced training and equipment.
Addressing Threats to Mail Delivery Services -- $250 million
Developing and deploying faster scanning technologies, implementing
improved mail tracking abilities to track suspicious packages to their
source, and investigating procedures to treat mail and mitigate threats
posed by contaminated mail.
Strengthening Our Intelligence Through Full Coordination ($1.1 billion)
Improving Organization and Coordination of Intelligence Community -- $270
million
Conducting a threat assessment to identify vulnerabilities and provide a
basis for a national strategy for homeland security; removing barriers to
efficient information sharing between intelligence collection and
information use by law enforcement and first responders; conducting a
public education campaign to alert Americans to the threat and appropriate
responses for biological weapons.
Improving Intelligence Capabilities -- $850 million
Deploying biological and chemical detectors for site analysis, continual
surveillance of fixed sites, and improved identification of foreign
biological agent possession; increasing language translation skills and
improving usage of language resources across agencies; increasing human
intelligence assets.
The Military: Preparing, Responding & Assisting Communities ($720 million)
Initial Crisis Response and First Responder Support -- $420 million
Increasing military domestic crisis response teams, creating and training
additional Civil Support Teams, and training and equipping military and
civilian emergency responders with interoperable communications equipment.
Interagency Crisis and Consequence Management Exercises -- $100 million
Implementing a uniform government-wide evaluation system to ensure
proficiency and achievement of military domestic crisis response,
increasing training of military personnel for response to weapons of mass
destruction incidents, and increasing resources for military involvement in
consequence and crisis management exercises.
Research and Development -- $100 million
Accelerating technology development in chemical and biological research
(prevention and treatment), advanced sensors, and other promising technologies.
Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) -- $100 million
Securing the supply of biological and chemical weapons-grade material from
the former Soviet Union, improving Russian and former Soviet Union border
and export controls, and increasing support for the Material Protection,
Control and Accounting Program.
###
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- End forwarded message -----
More information about the cypherpunks-legacy
mailing list