Border Security Gaps Cited In TB Case
A congressional investigation into officials' inability to stop a tuberculosis patient from leaving the country found significant security gaps, heightening concern about vulnerability to potential cases of pandemic flu or smallpox.
A report on the May incident involving an Atlanta lawyer who caused an international health scare found that the Centers for Disease Control lacks a sound way to prevent someone infected with a biological agent from entering or leaving the United States.
The review by the House Homeland Security Committee's Democratic staff was to be released Monday, one day before the sixth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S.
Since the Sept. 11 strikes, the government has focused on all types of possible threats and sought to find ways to best detect and counter biological agents.
"How we address these gaps now will serve as a direct predictor of how well we will handle future events, especially those involving emerging, re-emerging, and pandemic infectious diseases," according to the report obtained by The Associated Press.
The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., added: "If we can't counter TB, how can we counter terrorism?"
The case involving Andrew Speaker involved a series of notification delays and a lack of streamlined reporting systems, according to the congressional report.
Speaker was able to fly out from Atlanta to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon despite warnings from public health officials.
Once he was in Europe, the CDC determined Speaker could not be transported back to the U.S. because the agency did not have the equipment to safely do so for a flight longer than eight hours.
The CDC asked the Transportation Security Administration to place Speaker on its "no-fly" list so he could not re-enter the country. But there was a four-hour delay between the request and the listing.
Speaker got back into the U.S. through Canada, despite instructions to Customs and Border Patrol officers not to allow him in. The 18-year veteran inspector who ignored the warning has retired.
"This was a real world incident and there was a breakdown at the intersection of homeland security and public health," Thompson said. "The government has numerous plans and policies in place to secure our communities, but they just didn't follow the playbook."
CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency continues to learn lessons from the incident and is completing its own review.
"Preparedness is a process and not an event, and people need to realize that we are light years ahead of where we were six years ago," Skinner said. Each instance, such as the one last May, is a way to test and exercise the government's systems, he said.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A report on the May incident involving an Atlanta lawyer who caused an international health scare found that the Centers for Disease Control lacks a sound way to prevent someone infected with a biological agent from entering or leaving the United States.
The review by the House Homeland Security Committee's Democratic staff was to be released Monday, one day before the sixth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S.
Since the Sept. 11 strikes, the government has focused on all types of possible threats and sought to find ways to best detect and counter biological agents.
"How we address these gaps now will serve as a direct predictor of how well we will handle future events, especially those involving emerging, re-emerging, and pandemic infectious diseases," according to the report obtained by The Associated Press.
The committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., added: "If we can't counter TB, how can we counter terrorism?"
The case involving Andrew Speaker involved a series of notification delays and a lack of streamlined reporting systems, according to the congressional report.
Speaker was able to fly out from Atlanta to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon despite warnings from public health officials.
Once he was in Europe, the CDC determined Speaker could not be transported back to the U.S. because the agency did not have the equipment to safely do so for a flight longer than eight hours.
The CDC asked the Transportation Security Administration to place Speaker on its "no-fly" list so he could not re-enter the country. But there was a four-hour delay between the request and the listing.
Speaker got back into the U.S. through Canada, despite instructions to Customs and Border Patrol officers not to allow him in. The 18-year veteran inspector who ignored the warning has retired.
"This was a real world incident and there was a breakdown at the intersection of homeland security and public health," Thompson said. "The government has numerous plans and policies in place to secure our communities, but they just didn't follow the playbook."
CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency continues to learn lessons from the incident and is completing its own review.
"Preparedness is a process and not an event, and people need to realize that we are light years ahead of where we were six years ago," Skinner said. Each instance, such as the one last May, is a way to test and exercise the government's systems, he said.
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Posted by erasmus6 at 09:51 PM : Sep 09, 2007
I went up to the falls a few months ago in Canada. I got to the Canadian side and was asked a "Truckload" of questions including whom did the car belong too and how long have we had it (2007 Toyota Camry) the process took almost 5 minutes before he would release us through.
On the way back into the States on the Canadian side the same thing. The US was more relaxed and pretty much waved us through.. I felt odd about the ease it was to get back into the US.
Have you ever visited Canada,if not,maybe you should for it really is a nice place.You will be suprised to find a full fledged democracy where freedom of speech and freedom of the press along with many others are enshirned in their
Constitution just the same as our Constitution.
Most people are very friendly to visitors and mostly have good things to say about us Americans but when you post insulting and hateful comments about you northern neighbor,
you can expect a backlash from these people.
To quote a very famous saying:At long last have you no sense of decency sir.Canada is certainly not your enemy but you act as if they are.
You are quite pathetic. Do you believe everything you read? Now I have no doubt that your country is stupid enough to allow Mexico to roam freely through your country that is why you have such a problem with illegal immigrants. But we are not that stupid. Canadians will NOT allow that to happen. You see, here, we are not living under a dictatorship, the people have a say.
He would have flown into a Canadian airport. The customs there would have had no reason to detain him or stop him unless the U.S. informed them of the situation and that there was a possiblilty that he could come through Canada to return home. This is an American citizen. How would Canada know that he would fly here? Maybe if the U.S. had of been more responsible they would have notified Canada to be on the look out but they didn''t.
Then when he left the airport and rented a car he would have drove to the border, in which he would have no contact with any Canadian border cop. He would have entered an American border crossing, at which time he encountered a moron who did have orders to stop him and didn''t.
For a number of years now, Canadian trucks travel to the U.S. and the U.S. trucks travel to Canada. They must all stop at the border, they can''''t just freely drive through. I would say that most Canadians don''''t have a problem with that. BUT most Canadians would have a problem with the Mexican trucks traveling into Canada. We have nothing against the Mexican people but we do not want illegal immigrants being able to come in.
Also we have had some problems with people driving trucks that are not fit to be on the road and the government is REALLY clamping the lid down on them. We have heard that the Mexican trucks are in bad shape so we don''''t want them here!
Posted by erasmus6 at 09:40 PM : Sep 09, 2007
Sweety-pie, you need to do your homework. go here, watch this also...
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=15497
Posted by erasmus6 at 06:32 PM : Sep 09, 2007
He had to get by the Canadian Border Cops to get in to the US Border Cops. (how you like them apples?)
Also you are the ones that have MAJOR problems with all the illegal immigrants getting in.
Posted by erasmus6 at 09:54 PM : Sep 09, 2007
Bushy_baby is responsible for that, Go here, watch this.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/300107Immigration.htm
Ask anybody with a dirt bike or snowmobile how hard it is to cross your border, especially in the winter across the lakes.
BTW, I am not tired of you, you are getting to be fun.
Also you are the ones that have MAJOR problems with all the illegal immigrants getting in.
You know what, I am getting really tired of you. It would be different if you knew what you were talking about, but you don''t. You talk nonsense. The problem is that when you say stuff, there are people that believe what you say. Now if what you said was true, I wouldn''t have a problem with that.
I have traveled both ways through the borders for many many years, as well as my family and I can tell you without a doubt that the Canadians are way more strict about who they let through than the U.S. Remember it was the U.S. that let Speaker in.