After September 11, Americans started seeing this country in different ways. Airplanes were no longer just convenient machines that connected us to different cities; instead they were seen as targets of terrorists, something to be fiercely protected and regulated. And more recently, after the attack on Madrid’s railway system, trains lost their benign reputation as a safe way to travel.
Stephen Flynn is a former Commander of the Coast Guard, and he has one more for us. He says the country’s ports are being been left off the map of Homeland Security. Too much of what comes in through the ports is unexamined, he says, and the economic and security risks posed by an attack are too big to ignore, but still, he says, all the money is being spent in cities and mountains and overseas rather than here on the waterfront.
Guests:
Stephen Flynn, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander, author of the forthcoming book, “America the Vulnerable: How Our Government is Failing to Protect us from Terror”
Anne Moise, Vice President of Port Security at the South Carolina State Ports Authority in Charleston, South Carolina.