Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Holds a Hearing On the Mumbai Attacks: A Wake-Up Call for America's Private Sector

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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Holds a Hearing On the Mumbai Attacks: A Wake-Up Call for America's Private Sector

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION HOLDS A HEARING ON THE MUMBAI ATTACKS: A WAKE-UP CALL FOR AMERICA'S PRIVATE SECTOR

MARCH 11, 2009

SPEAKERS: REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, D-TEXAS CHAIRWOMAN REP. PETER A. DEFAZIO, D-ORE. DEL. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, D-D.C. REP. YVETTE D. CLARKE, D-N.Y. REP. BENNIE THOMPSON, D-MISS. EX OFFICIO

REP. DAN LUNGREN, R-CALIF. RANKING MEMBER REP. GINNY BROWN-WAITE, R-FLA. REP. GUS BILIRAKIS, R-FLA. REP. PAUL BROUN, R-GA. REP. PETER T. KING, R-N.Y. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: JAMES SNYDER, DEPUTY ASSISTANT HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY, OFFICE OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

JAMES MCJUNKIN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION

RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT

BRAD BONNELL, DIRECTOR, GLOBAL SECURITY, INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP

WILLIAM RAISCH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE PREPAREDNESS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

CHRISTINE FAIR, SENIOR POLITICAL SCIENTIST, SOUTH ASIAN POLITICAL, MILITARY AFFAIRS, RAND

[*] JACKSON LEE: The subcommittee will come to order.

The subcommittee is meeting today to receive testimony on the Mumbai attacks, a wakeup call for America's private sector.

Our witnesses today will testify about the November attacks in Mumbai, the groups involved, and what we're doing here to secure American facilities of the type of attack in Mumbai.

I'm proud to convene today's hearing to engage our members and the witnesses on important issues that have arisen from the terrorist attack in Mumbai last November. I sincerely hope that we can learn from the tragic event and apply its lessons to what we're doing to secure the same types of assets in the United States that were targeted in India.

The last six weeks I've been both in Pakistan and in India, and stayed in the Taj in Mumbai. And so I have firsthand or had a firsthand look on the issues involving this hearing, but more importantly, the question of protecting our infrastructure, because (ph) someone might ask the question, why a hearing on Mumbai? This is not necessarily a hearing only on Mumbai, it is asking the serious question of how do we protect the nation's infrastructure, and to also ask the next question, how vulnerable is the 85 percent of the nation's infrastructure held in our private hands?

Responsibilities of this nation, responsibilities of this committee are in fact, to protect the homeland.

I do want to welcome our chairman of the full committee, Mr. Thompson and thank him for his leadership; and, of course, the ranking member of the full committee, and thank him as well, Mr. King, for his leadership.

As a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the security of critical infrastructure, 85 percent of which is owned by the private sector, it is imperative that we study these types of attacks, our government's outreach to its private sector partners, and whether the private sector is acting any information provided. That was a very important question in Mumbai. What kind of information was forwarded to those private owners? And what actions did they take? How did they coordinate with the government?

This requires us to have an understanding of the groups involved in the attack, and their international aspirations. I believe today's hearing will shed a great deal of light on these matters. And I'm looking forward to our witnesses' testimony and our discussions.

We look forward to collaborating in our work with our other subcommittees. The work we do in this committee dealing with critical infrastructure relates to the crisis on the Mexican border, that asks the question, will the spillover violence come onto our shores? While our question today, will attacks on infrastructure like hotels, hospitals, and schools in other parts of the world, will they spill onto the soil of the United States? We cannot be unprepared for the probability.

But first, I would like to welcome back the subcommittee's returning members and welcome the subcommittee's new members. In particular, let me welcome our new ranking member, Mr. Dent. We thank him very much for his leadership. And I look forward to working with him.

And we take note of acknowledging Mr. Cleaver, who's here as a new member. And we appreciate again, his participation.

The subcommittee deals in important, interesting, and demanding areas. And I'm looking forward to working out with all of you in a bipartisan mann...

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