[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 139 (Wednesday, September 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S11745]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH: A TIME TO TAKE STOCK

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, this month is National Preparedness Month, 
and activities are underway that will help educate Americans on actions 
they can take to safeguard their family and their community. During 
this time, not only should we be inspired but we should also be mindful 
that this past August 29 marked the 2-year anniversary of the time in 
which Hurricane Katrina decimated parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. 
In addition, we are now in the midst of a record-setting hurricane 
season, with an unprecedented two hurricanes making landfall 
simultaneously from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on the same day. It 
is also the sixth anniversary of the attack by al-Qaida on our country.
  These catastrophic events underscored the need for our country, and 
each and every one of its citizens, to be prepared for disaster, 
regardless of its form. Much has been done since these terrible events 
to do so, but so much more needs to be done. As time separates us from 
those terrible events, we must not become complacent.
  During this month, we should use this time to reflect on how far we 
have come and how much further we need to go and what should be done to 
protect ourselves as individuals and as a country. While we may have 
incident, training, and contingency plans in place to help ensure that 
certain situations may be appropriately addressed, it is important for 
us to remember that acts of terror may not always be prevented, and 
nature continues to show its fury in many ways.
  As several reports have indicated, the threats to our homeland have 
not gone away; they have simply changed form. The July 17, 2007, 
National Intelligence Estimate, NIE, entitled ``The Terrorist Threat to 
the U.S. Homeland,'' confirmed that, although many plots to attack the 
United States after 9/11 have been disrupted, al-Qaida ``is and will 
remain the most serious terrorist threat to the Homeland'' and that its 
``plotting is likely to continue to focus on prominent political, 
economic, and infrastructure targets with the goal of producing mass 
casualties . . .'' Furthermore, and of greater concern, the NIE 
assessed that Hezbollah, which has, until now, only conducted anti-U.S. 
attacks outside the United States, ``may be more likely to consider 
attacking the Homeland over the next three years . . .''
  In addition to these threats, it is important to note that there are 
significant number of vulnerabilities at home. Even as memories of the 
massive August 14, 2003, North American power outage fade, the tragic 
August 1, 2007, bridge collapse in Minneapolis has provided yet another 
reminder that the Federal Government can no longer ignore our aging 
infrastructure. In the words of author Stephen Flynn, ``we depend on 
complex infrastructure built by the hard labor, capital, and ingenuity 
of our forbears, but . . . it is aging--and not very gracefully.'' In 
this regard, we must be focused on training, resources, and contingency 
plans to ensure that our Nation is prepared.
  Another point of concern is the impact severe acute respiratory 
syndrome, SARS, had on the health infrastructure in Ontario, Canada, 
that revealed a vulnerable system unable to cope with an epidemic that 
originated outside its borders. The World Health Organization, WHO, 
predicted that the deadly H5N1 avian influenza would likely be the 
source of the next global pandemic. In the United States, a new study 
published by researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research 
Center and the University of Washington has confirmed the first 
incidence of human-to-human transmission of H5N1 avian influenza, a 
beginning step in its becoming a human pandemic. The impact of such a 
pandemic would be enormous. A February 2006 study by the Lowy Institute 
for International Policy at the Australian National University 
concluded that, in a worst-case scenario, a global influenza pandemic 
would result in 142.2 million deaths and a $4.4 trillion loss in GDP. 
Given these studies and cases, it is imperative that United States be 
prepared for such a pandemic. We should not wait for another disaster 
to hit the United States--we must prepare now.
  I commend the Department of Homeland Security for conducting its 
National Preparedness Month campaign and am pleased that more than 
1,700 State- and local-level organizations will be participating in 
preparedness activities around the country. I urge all Americans to 
take responsibility for their own preparedness, for that of their 
families, their businesses, and their schools. As the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal 
Workforce, and the District of Columbia under the Homeland Security 
Committee, I am committed to making sure that the Federal, State and 
local governments are properly organized for the next natural or 
manmade disaster and to holding these agencies responsible when they 
are not. The passage of time since Katrina and 9/11 has done nothing to 
lessen the threat to the United States either from outside or within. 
It is not a matter of if such an event will occur but when it will 
occur. We must take the necessary precautions to be better able to deal 
with the disasters or incidents that will occur.

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