Plan to Restore American Security in Honor of Pearl Harbor Day Plans to Enhance Intelligence, Improve Port Security
On September 11, 2001, America was again struck by a surprise attack from a hidden enemy, and again we paid a terrible price. This time, however, the President's response was very different. Where President Roosevelt sought answers, President Bush has sought to avoid blame, repeatedly stonewalling the 9/11 Commission and Congressional efforts to understand the intelligence mistakes that led up to September 11th. In fact, the Bush Administration has not even completed the National Intelligence Review mandated at the beginning of the Administration. Nor has the Bush Administration taken the necessary steps to improve homeland security by making our ports safer.
Plan to Restore American Security in Honor of Pearl Harbor Day Highlights Plans to Enhance Intelligence, Improve Port Security
Roosevelt and Bush: Different Responses to Attacks 0n America. On December 7, 1941, America was shocked by the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. And we paid a terrible price, with 2,388 brave Americans killed in an attack that we had not adequately anticipated. President Roosevelt responded immediately: Within days he issued an Executive Order mandating a full inquiry into what had gone wrong in order to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. There were numerous subsequent governmental inquiries into the attack to protect our security for the future.
On September 11, 2001, America was again struck by a surprise attack from a hidden enemy, and again we paid a terrible price. This time, however, the President's response was very different. Where President Roosevelt sought answers, President Bush has sought to avoid blame, repeatedly stonewalling the 9/11 Commission and Congressional efforts to understand the intelligence mistakes that led up to September 11th. In fact, the Bush Administration has not even completed the National Intelligence Review mandated at the beginning of the Administration. Nor has the Bush Administration taken the necessary steps to improve homeland security by making our ports safer.
As part of his broad plan to improve security, John Kerry would improve intelligence, improve port security, and treat those who served fairly.
Priorities
1) Improve Intelligence Capabilities John Kerry understands that intelligence information is the key to disrupting and dismantling terrorist organizations and that we need to improve our intelligence capabilities, both domestically and internationally, in order to win the war on global terrorism. Kerry believes that in order to improve security and ensure we have learned lessons from 9/11, the Bush Administration must immediately cooperate fully with the 9/11 Commission and Congressional Intelligence Committee investigations. These investigations are an effort to fix a problem, not place blame, and speedy completion of these independent reviews is essential to enhancing our national security.
Fixing the coordination and information flow problems in the intelligence and law enforcement communities. For example, we do not need multiple watch lists, but we do need to ensure that relevant agencies have access to critical intelligence in a timely fashion.
Reforming domestic intelligence capabilities by immediately making the Director of the CIA the Director of National Intelligence, with real control of national intelligence personnel and budgets. John Kerry will also complete the National Intelligence Review immediately.
Increase the number of linguists in critical languages in our intelligence agencies, and work with key foreign intelligence services to improve human intelligence collection abroad.
2) Improve Port Security John Kerry outlined steps he would take to improve port security as part of his comprehensive plan to improve homeland security. Currently, 95 percent of all non-North American U.S. trade moves by sea, concentrated mostly in a handful of ports. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has not adequately funded the law to improve the physical security of ports. John Kerry believes we need to make improvements in port security without hindering the efficiency of our port system. Kerry will improve port security by:
Developing standards for security at ports and other loading facilities for containers and assure facilities can meet basic standards.
Improving security in commerce by accelerating the timetable for the action plans agreed to in the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico "smart border" accords.
Implementing security measures for cross-border bridges.
Pursuing modest safety standards for privately held infrastructure and will help owners find economical ways to pay for increased security.
Container Security. Containers are the primary vehicle for international cargo commerce, but current there is no global system for tracking and security. Despite the very real threat of entry of weapons of mass destruction in any one of the millions of containers which come into this country every year, the Bush Administration has been very slow to respond to this threat. Affordable, existing technology could allow sensors to be placed on containers which could track their position, signal when and where they were entered, and whether they contained radioactive or dangerous chemicals. As President, John Kerry will move immediately to protect American ports and commerce by funding and instituting such a system.
3) Ensure Fairness for Veterans, Service Members and Military Families John Kerry has outlined a comprehensive plan to ensure that veterans, service members, and military families are treated fairly. Today Kerry announced a new proposal to keep soldiers fighting in Iraq safe.
Ensure That Troops Don't Have To Pay For Their Own Body Armor. One-fourth of the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq are still waiting for the latest body armor. The Department of Defense says it will be the end of January 2004 before all the troops have been outfitted. In the meantime, stories abound of family members and friends paying hundreds of dollars for the updated armor themselves and shipping it to Iraq.
John Kerry announced that he will introduce legislation on Tuesday requiring the Department of Defense to reimburse family members who paid money out of their own pockets to provide the personal body armor that the government failed to deliver. Let families send pictures and care packages to their loved ones serving our country. John Kerry will ensure that Department of Defense provides the body-armor and other equipment needed to keep our troops safe.
Priorities
A New Compact with America's Veterans This nation made a sacred covenant with those it drafted and those who enlisted, but the truth is that every day in America the treatment of too many veterans is breaking that covenant. So for John Kerry, the fight continues. He will deliver the health care and prescription drugs that veterans need. He will grant full concurrent receipt to disabled veterans and fairly compensate soldiers and their families for their valiant service. For John Kerry, this is about keeping America’s promise. It is about national obligation. And it is about love of country and the help and honor we owe to those who defend it.
Provide Mandatory Funding of Veterans Health Care The Bush Administration chronically under-funds VA health care. There are nearly 90,000 veterans waiting for healthcare appointments. Instead of adding sufficient resources to a system desperately in need of them, President Bush has frozen whole classes out of the VA system. By the Bush Administration’s own estimate, their policies will exclude approximately 500,000 veterans from the VA healthcare system by 2005. President Bush also proposed increasing fees and co-payments in an effort to shift the burden for care onto the backs of veterans and drive an additional million veterans from the system. John Kerry will end the game of playing politics with funding for veterans health care. He will insist on mandatory funding for veterans health care. In a Kerry Administration, veterans will get the appointments they need with VA doctors and the federal government will invest the resources necessary to make sure that no veteran has an unmet health care need.
Do Not Overstretch the Military George Bush Has Overstretched the U.S. Military. The Bush administration has compensated by using the National Guard and Reserve and more than 154,000 are on active duty. Reservists are overburdened and many may leave the military in large numbers because they can no longer make military service compatible with their lives.
John Kerry Will Reduce the Strain on the Military. He has called for a temporary increase of about 40,000 active-duty Army troops. This increase would be temporary but likely last the remainder of the decade. About 20,000 of the troops would be in such specialties as military police and civil affairs which are currently predominantly found in the reserves. The other 20,000 would be combat troops. Kerry’s proposal will be budget neutral because he will streamline some large weapons programs, putting more emphasis on electronics and advanced sensors and munitions and by reducing the total amount of money spent on missile defense.
Make the Veterans Administration Responsive Under George Bush, 280,000 veterans await their disability rating. In addition, some 108,000 other veterans are waiting to hear back on appeals of rating decisions. John Kerry will streamline the VA so that veterans hear back about their status and receive benefits they are eligible for in a timely manner, supporting legislation, appropriations, and other steps as needed so that such decisions are made promptly and fairly.
Properly Compensate Soldiers and Their Families for Their Service John Kerry believes that we need to treat our troops and their families with respect, dignity, and fairness in what they are paid, where they live, and where their children go to school. We need to make sure our troops are paid enough so that we address problems of retention and enlistment – and we should improve active duty housing for soldiers and their families. And as someone who has helped lead the fight on Gulf War Illness, John Kerry knows we have to be much more aggressive on health screenings for troops. They are required by law and they need to be given. John Kerry will also bolster the Family Assistance Centers and Programs on every military base so that they can provide information and services to families of deployed, wounded, and killed service members.
Full Accounting for Missing POW/MIAs John Kerry and Senator John McCain chaired the country's most thorough investigation into the fate of POW/MIAs in Southeast Asia. Kerry has personally pressed Vietnamese officials to cooperate in ongoing efforts to get answers for families. And he also sponsored POW/MIA Recognition Day. Kerry's Senate committee pressed for unparalleled declassification of documents, increased excavation work in Vietnam, and gathering of testimony from 144 witnesses. According to the Boston Globe, "the effort produced real answers for the some 120 families who had lived for decades without knowing whether a loved one was still alive in Southeast Asia."
Combating Homelessness Studies have estimated that as more than 30 percent of homeless men in America are veterans. John Kerry believes that a commitment to our veterans means guaranteeing dignity and fairness for them. In 2001 Kerry worked to help pass the Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act, an ambitious effort aimed at completely ending homelessness among veterans. Kerry will work to make sure that veterans have the support they need to find housing, jobs and social support they deserve.
Supporting Members of the National Guard and Reservists John Kerry will provide mortgage insurance to members of the National Guard and reserve called to active duty so that if service members have to take a cut in pay they don’t have to worry about losing their homes while in service to the nation.
More than one-third of military reservists and National Guard members suffer a pay cut when they’re called to defend our nation. Many of these reservists are professionals with families who depend upon that paycheck. Unlike many big businesses that can afford to provide supplemental income, most small businesses cannot afford to provide this benefit. John Kerry will provide help to small businesses through a tax credit to make difference in salary for a reservist called up to active duty.
John Kerry Will Ensure Military Reservists Have Health Care. He supports legislation to provide access to TRICARE for military reservists. This will improve the readiness of reservists called to active duty and provide for the care of their loved ones without the current disruptions that often occur when a reservist is called to active duty. For families that do not live near a TRICARE provider, have children or special medical needs, it may be impractical to use TRICARE provider. In these cases, Kerry supports allowing reservist families to keep their civilian insurance through paid for COBRA payments.
Protecting Family Members Who Lose a Loved One Last summer, the Bush administration opposed increasing the death gratuity paid to the families of those who die in battle from $6,000 to $12,000. John Kerry supports Increasing the death benefit and making the payment tax-free. He supports restructuring the compensation provided to surviving families by mandating $250,000 non-taxable life insurance plans for all service members and eliminating obligation to pay individual premiums for all soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines serving in harms’ way. He will fight to provide surviving spouses of service members killed-in-action with one year of military pay equal to what would have been earned and permitting surviving spouses and children of service members killed-in-action to remain in military housing for one year after the death of their spouse.
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/veterans/
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