department of energy, the epa, the department of treasury, whatever may be, let's empower the inspector generals in the gao when they make recommendations that they have the same authority as ipab. do you think that's a good idea? >> no. >> why? >> ultimately, i believe that the congress has the responsibility to make these policy decisions, and having made them with the executive branch who has responsibility for implementing them, congress has to turn to the oversight. that's the standard of practice in the united states and by and large has been successful, and it's the practice i suggest you adhere to. .. >> the committee on homeland security subcommittee transportation security will come to order. the committee is meeting today to hear a different industry perspectives on authorizing the transportation security administration for fiscal years 2012 and 2013. i would like to welcome everyone here to this hearing and thank all of our witnesses for their patients. i apologize for us been called for votes when the hearing was supposed to start, but it is what it is. we look forward to your testimony and greatly appreciate the time and effort you put into your opening statements preparing for the hearing and i know the q&a is going to be worthwhile. the committee plans to develop a tsa authorization bill which is intended to enhance the streamline tsa transportation security initiative. a few weeks ago administrator pistol testified in front of the subcommittee to discuss his priorities, the purpose of today's hearing is to hear different industry perspectives on the ongoing challenges and securing transportation systems and what improvements could be made through the legislative process. tsa plays a critical role keeping america's travelers say, however, it is hinged on the cooperation for the public and private sector partners. we look forward to continuing this conversation hearing from some of the reverse course of public and private sector partners that tsa relies on to fulfill its mission of protecting our nation's transportation systems. as an example of the important collaboration between tsa and its partners has been the response to the human air cargo intact. since october, tsa is in working with private industry to develop and implement it short-term security directive to address certain vulnerabilities to read while challenges remain the open lines of communication between tsa and private industry is commendable and should be recognized as such. today's hearing is an opportunity as the partners including the rail, trucking, mass transit, pipeline and the aviation sector to voice their insight how tsa authorization bill can improve overall transportation security, enhance the effectiveness of the tsa transportation security initiative and address any efficiencies that still may exist. i look for to and open dialogue that will allow the industry partners that interact with tsa on a daily basis the ability to inform the committee and its continued development of the tsa authorization bill. the committee considered an authorization bill last congress as h.r. 2200 midranking member sheila jackson lee's leadership and i look forward to continuing to work with her on a bipartisan basis for this effort. with that, i now recognize the famous ranking member, sheila jackson lee for five minutes for her opening statement. >> mr. chairman, thank you. and again, let me thank you for the cooperation that we have promoted in this issue on this issue of transportation security to the witnesses here thank you very much for your presence and take note of the fact of members' schedules that were rescued from somewhat because the long list of votes and that may delay some members or cause them to have some additional scheduling concerns so let me thank you again. the chairman is right, we listen to administrator pistol and now the stakeholders the workers professionals, pilots and flight attendants are just a few of the many professionals who find it within their job description the response of the of securing the nation's railroads, skies and pipelines against terrorist attacks including chiefs of metropolitan rail systems. all as a front line. when we talk about security, we are talking about people and the critical question for me is our transportation workers trained and equipped to recognize and mitigate potential terrorist act. let me say just as i did in the first hearing on tsa authorization last month with administrator pistol we simply cannot forget the lessons learned from the past as we look to preventing future terrorist attacks. i think the chairman and i agree that there are many tools we happen to be unified in our support on canines. it's not present the table today. so we won't ask any questions, but what we are saying is that we need tools, professional persons used, persons who are professional who will use finding those threats that will impact the american people. as the congress and a nation we have taken many steps to shore up the former buddies and protocols and process sees that enabled the hijack of to penetrate the system and destroy thousands of lives. we've made great progress. we decided to move we try system that barry's security companies operating checkpoint security to its allies to system of professional screeners who can quickly adapt to threats based upon the latest intelligence to really implement mandatory screening for the czechs and the carter one passenger planes and we directed that doors be strengthened and we deployed more to secure the aircraft cabin on high-risk flights. frankly i am a supporter of increasing those air marshals on a flight internationally. however, mr. chairman, our work is not done it to the witnesses at work is not done. this year there's been five incidents where flight attendants have had to subdue a passenger to the security aircraft cabin and request to submit a list of the incidents for the record, mr. chairman. while these were not terrorist incidents that reveal how when portend a leader of security represent in fact all of us who fly to work as i tell my elementary school children as i visit our schools when i tell them that life like to work depend upon those frontline armored but not armored flight attendants among with our pilots once those stores are closed and the last congress when we passed a bipartisan authorization bill we've recognized this and include provisions to include the oversight of the air carrier's security programs and directed that the work with the industry to implement accessible advanced security training for flight attendants. let me be very clear the airlines need to pay for flight attendant security training and it needs to be part of their compensation package on the airline package please recognize the hands of passengers, you have the passengers in your hands. i continue to support these concepts and continue not to understand our position to improving aircraft cabin security as we reinforce the pile that door and provided for pilots to carry on and train. let us do something for flight attendants. but the small investment of time and training we can take the next step in the security by ensuring the crew is trained to meet today's threats and let's not forget that when we are in the air when there are no air marshals on board the flight crew that is the last line of defense. let's let them work together, air marshals and flight attendants and a bold public force. i think ten years later let us not forget the lessons learned as we look to addressing the evolving terrorist threats we in fact even have a discussion on the training on september 12th, 2001. how many lives are saved when the passengers on united flight 93 although of course they lost their lives sending it into the crowd in pennsylvania 585 miles per hour sacrificing themselves instead of allowing the terrorists to kill thousands more. i simply say let us not be penny wise and foolish when it comes to security. regarding mass transit and pipeline security, i have introduced h.r. 1900, the service transportation mess security act, which serves as transportation inspection office and service transportation advisory committee for stakeholder consultation on securing programs. i look forward to working with the chairman and his leadership on this issue, and i might say that h.r. 1900 also increases the number of canine teams for the transit security purposes but wherever i go, canines, but as a viable tool to be utilized in the security. let's be creative, let's move forward in training flight attendants and professionalism and using the tools that are helpful. given the threat to the transportation system as evidenced by information made public solving the demise of bin laden, we simply must bring this pay transportation efforts in line with aviation and i urge the ready to consider the bill and be part of the overall tsa authorization. finally mr. chairman i request a field hearing on the pipeline security and i know that we are in discussion and i think you very much for your interest and i hope that we will have one in washington as well. this is a serious matter, and it is reflected by recent incidents in montana. i believe we can work together on issues of transportation plan security of aviation and rail in all aspects it's important year from the stockholders who are here and again let me thank you very much for being part of american security and let's overcome some of our disagreements and follow-through on behalf of the american people securing the homeland. i yield back. thank you very much. >> i thank the gentlelady and would like to remind other members of the of opening statements they may be suspended for the record and at this time i would like to without objection as unanimous consent to answer to this statement from the association aircraft owners and pilots is a seizure in the air line pilots association, the national air carriers association chamber of commerce to the united states of america. during no objection, so ordered. we are pleased to have several distinguished witnesses -- >> if i may have a unanimous consent i would ask unanimous consent the gentleman from michigan in the full committee mr. clark be authorized for the purpose of the witnesses during the hearing today. >> so ordered. >> we have several distinguished witnesses before us and let me remind the witnesses that their entire statements will be submitted for the record. so, if you would like to summarize those we will get through the panel as quickly as possible and get to the questions. first, we have mr. tom farmer, currently serves as the assistant vp of the association of american railroads. i've enjoyed working with him during my team here and i'm proud to have you here. the floor is yours, mr. former. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman, ranking member jackson lee, members of the committee, on behalf of the association of american railroads, thank you very much for this opportunity to appear today. at the outset, i must emphasize that nothing is more important ilyse of their employees come safety and security of their employees, of their operations and the communities that the serve. as all of you know, the issue of the security guard attention to the significant attention. and with the reporting and al qaeda in the operation and pakistan ended with the demise of osama bin laden. with the efforts to railroad the target's knott however. indeed the extensive efforts that we as the industry have devoted to enhance since the 9/11 attacks have been promised free much of this reality. following 9/11 connect and on their own initiative, the real words made top-level security task force existing of more than 150 industry experts to conduct a thorough evaluation of risk and security and then network. the focus areas include critical infrastructure, the rail operations, hazardous materials, communications and control systems and military shipments. this effort produced the rail industry's risk analysis and security management plan. it is a comprehensive priority based action the industry developed to deal with new realities. this is adopted by the industry in december of 2001 within three months of the 9/11 attacks and remains the foundation of the efforts today updated on the experience and its usage and changing circumstances with the threat. the plan defines the progressively tighter security of low levels and details the actions be taken at each level and there are more than 50 per minute measures implemented as this plan. in addition, those areas the countermeasures cover focus upon its people, the effectiveness of the procedures and the technology. in addition to the regular exercise conducted with industrywide and by the industry railroads, we test the effectiveness of this plan on realistic terms of the provincial response scenarios. a particular area of what we do is the intelligence security information. they maintain for this purpose the transportation information sharing analysis center and the network. and these work in concert which provide effective means for timely notification of security threats come incidents and other emergencies to assure daily security awareness and expand the understanding of terrorist attacks. one of the key initiatives in these two bodies and our version of the american public association a daily brief caught the transit and intelligence awareness daily. this is a very concise overview of the most significant matters of the day in the areas of suspicious activity reporting, terrorism analyst, general security awareness and cybersecurity. the information provided by this can be used by railroads to augment channing awareness briefing for employees and shared with local federal authorities and partnerships. the top priority working closely with tsa and evans to the effectiveness and security and i would like to highlight this year the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks the time is right for a thorough review of the security strategy programs how can we be more effective in a sustainable way? the object is agreed they set the framework for how we measure the effectiveness of our policies, programs and initiatives. tsa freed real division was credit to me for this purpose next month. second, the information sharing between the railroad and the government agencies we work with the provide a wealth of security information every day to the various government entities but we give to bill bac that helps perform the security mission effectively. we have submitted to the tsa and the dhs intelligence requirements to close the gap. one that is focused on, looking for in-depth analysis of the prepared reactions terrorists take and successful attacks they tried and failed attempt. looking for insight and the adversary how they function to enable better informed effective security measures. and the believe security and efficiency if there were more standardization and the tsa inspection activities especially the interpretation of the security regulations and a month field offices and from the parties set by the tsa headquarters are causing adverse but unavoidable impact on operations. we believe the tsa regional inspectors have been appointed on amtrak to offer a viable and sustainable solution to these concerns. thank you for this privilege and i'm very happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you mr. fervor for your testimony. we appreciate you being here and tell your time is valuable. i appreciate that. our second witness is martin rojas of the american trucking is this edition of the chair recognizes mr. rojas for your opening statement. >> thank you very much. chairman rogers, ranking member jackson lee and members of the committee, think for the abridged and to testify on the authorization of the transportation security administration. the trucking industry is a federal component of the economy earning more than 80% of domestic freight revenue. it's important to note the trucking industry is comprised primarily of small businesses with 97% of trucking companies operating 20 trucks or less. in addition, 18% of all u.s. communities depend solely on the trucks to deliver supply the commodities. because the trucking is a link in the economy that is critical to the government requirements, improved security without curtailing the ability to deliver america's great efficiently and safely as the committee is aware of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, government agencies have been planted various security initiatives impacting the transportation sector as a whole. in today's multi modal transportation system, this means a requirement on one specific mode cannon directly impact the operation. the trucking industry consider the trucks and commercial drivers operate in maritime facilities airports facilities across the nation's international borders. to mitigate the risks to future terrorist attacks and ensure both the national security and economic security with the dissent stand by the tsa assistant secretary john pistol. in early june mr. kissell testified that we must reduce the vulnerabilities in the transportation system by establishing risk-based purchase and by using sound intelligence and making decisions and carrying out our operations. the trucking industry favors such an approach. as this committee considers how to improve the security of the country's transportation system, we suggest the following for observations. first, mandating more security requirements does not necessarily improve the security of the transportation system. as an industry already heavily regulated by safety and security requirements, more regulations will only increase the compliance on trucking companies rather be in improve security. for multiple back rent checks and security plans to overlapping security training and in routt security, the trucking industry has always been saturated by such requirements. second, 80 day encourages improving government industry information sharing. trucking companies have embraced several initiatives by law enforcement agencies and the intelligence community to exchange and better understand the mutual information needs to improve the nation's security. today, members are involved in the various programs including the director of national intelligence, the fbi's infrared guerard program and its domestic security alliance council was always the homeland security information network. we believe that enhancing information sharing efforts at the federal, state inlet local level will improve the security posture of the trucking industry. third, government agencies must continue to improve coordination of the respect of security regulations. ata recognizes higher risk operating environments must address the specific risks associated with such operations. because of that during environments in which the trucking companies operate, applying a one-size-fits-all approach isn't practical for the trucking industry. however, federal agencies must improve interagency coordination to establish mechanisms that recognize the basic common requirements or protocols and other security programs. complying with multiple security requirements by various government agencies is simply not a suitable -- simply not suitable for motor carriers. last week, the ata believes that the leader roel must be finalized and the program's application process must be improved. tsa and the u.s. coast guard must finalize the tort rules and ensure the prophecies and the system to prevent counterfeiting and used the false identity information to obtain. ata still believes that it should function as a single security threat assessment and credential that satisfies the background check requirements of the multiple programs. in this regard i