Limited Federal Help For Transit

The federal government can provide only limited help to states and local governments to protect transit systems from terror attacks, and local officials must be largely responsible for the costs of improved subway, train and bus security, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

One week after the bombings on London's subway and bus systems, Chertoff said the U.S. government is bound to financially support the security of the nation's commercial airlines in part because the aviation system is almost exclusively a federal responsibility.

By contrast, he said, U.S. mass transit systems are largely owned and operated by state and local authorities. He also said the federal government must focus on attacks that could produce the most casualties.

"The truth of the matter is, a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people," Chertoff told Associated Press reporters and editors. "A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people. When you start to think about your priorities, you're going to think about making sure you don't have a catastrophic thing first."

Asked if this meant communities should be ready to provide the bulk of the protection for local transit systems, Chertoff said, "Yep."

State and local officials are grappling with how to pay for upgrades to protect commuters and other mass transit riders in their communities. Technology to protect mass transit systems in the nation's 30 largest metropolitan areas could cost an estimated $6 billion, according to industry representatives.

A Senate fight is looming this week among ranking Republicans who differ on how much to spend on mass transit security. A GOP-written bill financing the Homeland Security Department for next year would provide $100 million, but some Republicans want to boost that to $1.1 billion.

Chertoff drew a comparison between lifestyles and attitudes in the United States and Europe that he said play a part in preventing terror attacks.

"I'm not going to single out particular countries, but in continental Europe, there are generations where you have these second, third-generation persons, descendants of immigrants, who are not considered to be truly in the fabric of the country," he said.

"One of the great things about this country is there is a lot of social mobility," Chertoff added. "It's hard to imagine a country that is more welcoming and more willing to accept people in which people can rise. And I think that tends to reduce the amount of frustration."

He also acknowledged that "we're never going to have people who are disaffected, you know, we've had all kinds of people historically who do bad things and commit acts of terror." Still, Chertoff said, but that "our welcoming social fabric, our civil liberties and our sense of equality and openness is still one of the very powerful tools we have and something we want to be careful not to diminish."

The day after he announced sweeping changes at his 2-year-old department, Chertoff spoke for an hour on a wire array of issues, including:

Relaxing the public atmosphere as better technology is deployed. "We're going to be dealing with this issue for a very long time, and the idea that we're going to do it holding our breath, with clenched teeth, is not a very realistic or useful way to look at it," Chertoff said.

Potentially tweaking the nation's color-coded threat advisory system to target specific sectors, like the mass transit system that is currently on code orange, or high alert. He said Homeland Security wants to feel more comfortable before lowering the current alert to yellow, or elevated, adding that "there's still uncertainty" about the scope of the London attackers' group and targets.

Urging the public to report suspicious activity or packages — something that he did so in the last few years as a federal judge, before he was nominated to his current post.

"I remember it crossed my mind, I said, 'Boy, am I overreacting?' And my recognition of the fact that we all have this responsibility caused me to contact somebody, reach out to somebody and say that there's a package there," Chertoff said. And they checked it out, and it was nothing. ... So I understand that personal dynamic. We have to repeatedly remind people not to be sheepish or embarrassed about taking those steps."