Jane Harman
Title:
Congresswoman
Organization:
U.S. House of Representatives
Born:
1945, New York, N.Y.
Education:
Bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College, J.D from Harvard Law School.
Career Turning Point:
Nomination of John Kennedy at 1960 Democratic Convention
Most Admired Person:
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Shirley Hufstedler.
Hobbies:
Tennis, running.
Personal:
Married, four children.
Congresswoman Jane Harman has a leading role as Washington officials react to recent attacks on the U.S. and plan a strategy to make the country safer
As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Redondo Beach, has been consumed in recent weeks with the country’s response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Part of that responsibility has included viewing first-hand the destruction wrought by terrorists in New York and the Pentagon. Harman, who last year regained the congressional seat she gave up in 1998 in an unsuccessful bid for governor, is the ranking Democrat on the newly formed Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Last week, Harman met with Los Angeles International Airport and Port of Los Angeles officials to discuss how those facilities are responding to heightened security demands.
Question:
You visited both the World Trade Center and Pentagon? What was that experience like?
Answer: It was brutal. It was bad enough at the Pentagon but in New York it was absolutely brutal. We went by boat to ground zero, which is the way most people go. You get to the dock and the immediate waterfront sights are still there. Then you walk a block in and all of a sudden this overwhelming smell of concrete dust just reaches you. It’s compressed in all the television images. It’s bigger and more horrible than you can know. All this dust is so thick and there are portable trailers all over labeled with things like “Morgue.”
Q: How much progress has been made since Sept. 11?
A: We are making a lot of headway. It’s not easy work. First of all, there is what I call the analog capability of our intelligence community to confront the digital threat. It’s a bunch of disaggregated stovepipe agencies with separate authority, separate budgets, separate leadership, separate personnel structures and separate technologies.
Q: How safe do you think Los Angeles International Airport is right now?
A: Well, I flew in today. It’s as safe as we can make it. I support the safety procedures that (airport) management and the city are taking. They are the best we can come up with at the moment. They are inconvenient, but they are, I think, an appropriate response. LAX has been a specific target of international terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden. No other airport that I’m aware of has been a specific target. (Algerian Ahmed Ressam, caught trying to enter the United States from Canada in 1999, was convicted of plotting to blow up LAX.)
Q: Do the problems in the travel industry change the equation for airport expansion?
A: We’re experiencing airport contraction in a brutal way. There’s a large loss of revenues and employment and personal freedom in terms of people’s ability to get on airplanes. But if we do the right things, people will be back. We will still need a regional plan. I would argue that a regional plan is a better way to protect safety than loading everyone into one possible target.
Q: The ports are doing initial inspections of cargo and cruise ships miles from shore and they have beefed up security in other ways. Is it enough?
A: I think the steps are good. This planning effort has to be from the bottom up. I have no intention of shutting down commerce at either our port or our airport. But I want to be absolutely sure that one of these containers doesn’t have biological or chemical agents, explosives or technology that terrorists could use to attack L.A. County.
Q: Right now, the Coast Guard, Customs and the Immigration and Naturalization Service are working extra hours. Is federal aid on its way to prevent these resources from being stretched thin?
A: Yes, there has to be. We have $40 billion in an aid package passed by Congress, a lot of which is going to counter-terrorism efforts. I wrote a letter to (President Bush) Sept. 13, asking that a portion of that money be spent on our airport and our ports for additional security measures. (Harman requested $35 million for Customs officers and Coast Guard staff and equipment for the Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports and $5 million for a security assessment.)
Q: How long will that take?
A: Well, we have no time. In real time, we need it now, so I think the distribution effort will begin now.
Q: What about all the people whose jobs are being affected. Can they expect any federal help?
A: I supported the airline relief package, but I didn’t think it was a perfect bill. It’s important to keep the airlines solvent, it’s important to set up a relief fund for the families of victims whose insurance can’t possibly cover what’s necessary, but I also think we have to address what happens to people who’ve lost their jobs.
Q: What is the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security?
A: The intelligence community is an ad hoc group of quasi-independent agencies. We oversee that budget. We have oversight over what the intelligence community is doing, and obviously this is the time to try to figure out how to get it right the next time. And the third thing we do is legislate. We figure out if some of the legal authorities need to be changed, and I think they do.
Q: What type of changes?
A: We need more language capability. French, Italian and Spanish won’t do anymore. And we need much more aggressive recruiting of human intelligence sources, because that, by everybody’s light, is the best way to get intelligence on these terrorist cells. You have to be inside to know what’s happening.
Q: You’ve said the work of this committee is going to be long and painstaking. How long?
A: There are three levels that are critical. One is the diplomatic level. Under the leadership of (Secretary of State) Colin Powell, we are building a global community. We’re making countries choose sides and we are reassessing our relationships with countries based on what choices they are making.
Two is military options. We are certainly working on an appropriate military response on our own behalf but also, as much as possible, involving our growing list of allies.
Third is, and this is my day job, we are focusing on the resources and legal authorities that our intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies need.
Q: With the country focused on terrorism, will other important issues be overlooked?
A: The leadership of Congress has agreed to fully fund the defense bill and to add money for the education bill. The education bill is the first thing I’ve heard about, other than legislation dealing with Sept. 11, that is going to be considered. But I think some other issues might creep back on the agenda.
