Amy Klobuchar's Plan to Keep America Safe

Amy Klobuchar's Plan to Keep America Safe

As the Chief prosecutor for 1.1 million people in Minnesota's largest county I believe that protecting the public's safety is our government's first priority.

Just last week, we were reminded how very real the threats we continue to face are.

As a member of the law enforcement community, I want to commend the work of all of the agencies involved in shutting down the terrorist plot in London.

We are living in a new era of national security threats - with terrorists who engage on new battlefields across borders and on the internet. With meth dealers who travel across international borders and end up in Minnesota via Hwy 94, 90, and 35W. We need leaders who will work to address these 21st century threats with all of the tools at our disposal.

The protection of our security — both at home and abroad — is the most important responsibility of our government.

That's why I am so honored to day to announce the support of the two associations representing Minnesota's police officers and firefighters--those that are on the frontline every day keeping our families safe.

I'm honored to have the support of Minnesota's largest law enforcement organization. Thank you Bill Gillespie, Mark Wiegel and the other members of the MPPOA here today. One of the first things I did when I became County Attorney was to reach out to officers and deputies to work in partnership to fight crime. We put a fulltime prosecutor on police training, went around to all 40 some of our departments to figure out what we could do better, charged cases faster and made changes in our office. Police and prosecutors aren't going to agree on everything...but we built a partnership that's strong and makes a difference.

I want to also thank the firefighters who are here, especially Chris and Pat Flanagan and the other folks from St. Paul. I am proud to have the endorsement of the International Association of Firefighters. I first worked with firefighters when I decided to have our office open up an unsolved case that was 20 years old--an arson at an auto shop that resulted in the tragic death of two firefighters. With some amazing work from our investigator, Glen Miller...who later became international arson investigator of the year, and Pete Connors and Andy Lefeavor, the prosecutors on the case, we took it to the grand jury, solved it, and I was there in the courtroom with the parents and the brothers and the widow who finally saw the man who did this brought to justice.

These firefighters and police do courageous work. If we want to be safe, we need to support their work and give them the tools they need to do their jobs.

The people in power in Washington have not been doing it. Those guys have cut cop funding by $3 billion nationally in law enforcement grants at the same time our local communities are struggling with a major meth epidemic. In 2007, the Administration is planning to cut 79% more. The recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission have not been implemented and the Commission recently gave the Administration and this Congress Ds and Fs --failing grades--for what they've done.

Here's what I will do in the Senate:

First, we must give police and firefighters the tools they need to get the job done:

When a national disaster or a terrorist attack occurs, people will call their local police and firefighters, not some office in D.C. We must refund the cops program--putting more officers out on our streets. At a time when we're dealing with a major meth epidemic that's pummeling our rural communities, we shouldn't be cutting cops. We must also get the emergency and interoperable communications we need for police and fire. Last year, Minnesota lost nearly 60 percent of its homeland security funding--a cut of $18.8 million.

Second, we must be smarter about our homeland security. Major focuses in this area should be

INTELLIGENCE

• Five years after September 11th, we still don't have unified information sharing between intelligence agencies. We should insist that our security agencies have complete, accurate, and reliable data, in order to ensure that all of our security agencies are using up-to-date information.

PORTS

• Today, we screen every bag at airports. But only 6 percent of the 9 million containers that enter the United States every year are inspected. We must improve cargo security programs to ensure that cargo is not tampered with or diverted by terrorists.

BORDERS

• We need to implement a comprehensive screening system at the border that is interoperable with FBI databases to stop individuals who pose threats to our security. Let's stop playing politics with border security and get something done....by this I mean passing a bill for the fencing and security measures that has been debated in Congress for way too long.

PREVENTING CHEMICAL, NUCLEAR ATTACKS

• Most people don't know that there are 8 chemical facilities in Minnesota where a single leakage or incident could kill over 100,000 people and three facilities where incidents would affect more than 1 million people in a worst-case scenario. We need to increase security and work with local responders to prepare for incidents or attacks at the Monticello and Prairie Island 1 and 2 nuclear power plants and chemical facilities which remain as potentially explosive targets in our communities.

Finally, we must put competence over cronyism.

• As a result of cronyism and corruption, America has lost ground in our ability to protect our borders and respond to crisis.

• This Congress has abdicated oversight and the result is billions of dollars lost in government waste, dollars that should have been spent upgrading our infrastructure and equipping our first defenders.

• We need to cut the waste and mismanagement. The Department of Homeland Security has wasted more than $30 billion, including expenditures for a beer brewing kit and trainings at golf and tennis resorts.

• We need to strengthen the national response plan. I will work to make the National Response Plan more than just a piece of paper - ensuring that all Federal, state, and local governments know and train for their role in the plan - and importantly, building on the lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina.

• As I stand here to day with these brave firefighters and police officers I'm reminded that we are a nation that has always faced adversity with optimism, courage and, as Harry Truman once said, the unbeatable determination to get the job done. We can get this done. We simply have to have the will and determination to do it. We must refocus on the very real threats our nation continues to face--equip our police and firefighters and protect our borders by steering a new course with new leadership in Washington.

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