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International News Title: 'Race Is On' To Keep Gadhafi's Weapons Stockpiles From Al Qaeda 09/04/11 11:03 AM ET Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee called on the United States to be “more involved” in ensuring that Moammar Gadhafi’s stockpiles of weapons did not fall into the hands of terrorist organizations. “I would like us to be more involved,” said Rogers who appeared on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “And I'm not talking about boots on the ground or big military. We need to use our special capabilities that really only the United States has to secure, account for those weapons and render them safe. And we need to do it now,” he added. “I will tell you al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations identified by the State are very interested in getting their hands on those missile systems, other weapons, even the chemical stockpile precursors,” cautioned Rogers. “All of that we know is happening. The race is on. This is a race we should win. We shouldn't debate if we need to have special capabilities on the ground there to take care of that particular problem.” Lieberman said that the U.S. was working closely with opposition forces to ensure the safety and security of Gadhafi’s weapon stockpiles. “We're working with them to try to secure both the mustard gas and the munitions that I worry would fall otherwise in the hand of enemies of the U.S., including terrorists,” he said. Sen. Lieberman and Rep. Rogers stressed that the next month was critical for the post-Gadhafi regime transition government. Rogers said it was important they focused on “establishment of governance and trying to avoid an insurgency.” Rogers suggested they needed to be “engaged in government development so they can take control and show the Libyan people that the rebels can govern.” Rogers also said the transition government would need to work with some elements from the former regime. They needed to avoid “the same kind of mistakes that were made in Iraq about dismissing all of their military and their intelligence apparatus. They need to co-opt some of that in the next few weeks,” he cautioned. The lawmakers also defended the federal government's progress in fighting terrorism saying that Americans were “safer” a decade after the attacks on Sept. 11th. “I believe we are safer, but there are still plenty of folks that get up every single morning with the sole intention of planning, conducting, financing an operation against the United States of America,” said Rogers. Lieberman agreed that while there was still work to do, the government had taken major steps since 9/11 to keep the country safer. “I think if you look back, the American people and the American government have a lot to feel proud about. We really transformed ourselves to meet the new threat of Islamist terrorism,” said Lieberman. “I don't think anybody on September 12, 2001, would have predicted in the following ten years there would not be another major terrorist attack on the homeland, and there has not been,” he added. “We’re still in a war … tragically it’s going to go on for a while, but we are a lot safer.” The lawmakers also responded to criticism that a decade after 9/11 the country still lacks a nationwide broadband network for first responders. “The truth is, interoperability of communications, the ability of first responders to talk to each other in a crisis are much better than they were ten years ago. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars of federal grants to states and localities making that possible,” Lieberman said. He added that he expects Congress to pass a bill soon to allocate the “D block spectrum” for this purpose. “What they don't have, and this is … legislation that I and others are co-sponsoring … and it ought to pass in this Congress, is enough of the spectrum. We want to give them the so-called ‘D-block’ spectrum, so that they can have the same ability to transmit video, maps, et cetera that most teenagers have on their cell phones,” he said. A report released Wednesday on the status of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations prompted renewed calls for Congress to allocate the “D-block” of spectrum to create an interoperable public safety network. CNN host Candy Crowley also asked the lawmakers about problems with cell phone service in the aftermath of the 5.8 magnitude earthquake which hit central Virginia two weeks ago. “The burden that we put on those systems today is exponentially larger than it even was ten years ago. So we are struggling to keep up with that,” admitted Rep. Rogers. Rogers also addressed the current state of al Qaeda, saying the organization was “down but not out.” They are down. We have hurt them, with the number two just getting taken out just recently. It had a tremendous impact,” he said.
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