REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
PATTERSON TRANSPORTATION LECTURE
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS
APRIL 24, 2002
Thank you, Aaron, for that kind
introduction. Thank you also to Bob
Gallamore for the invitation to speak to you this evening.
This lecture
honors the late William A. Patterson, a central figure in the Nation's air
transport industry for more than four decades. Mr. Patterson was one of America’s true
transportation visionaries.
He also played an
instrumental role in developing Northwestern University into one of the world’s
most respected institutions of higher learning, and in the establishment and
strategic leadership of the Transportation Center.
It is indeed a distinct honor for me to
deliver this 21st annual Patterson Transportation Lecture.
As Secretary of Transportation, I look
forward to each trip to Chicago and Evanston, in large part because, as much as
any other American city, this region demonstrates the power of transportation
infrastructure decisions – decisions boldly made in the face of
great uncertainty, decisions that changed the face of the region and our
Nation.
From the construction of the Illinois &
Michigan Canal, to the transcontinental railroad, to the first "El's" in
Chicago, to the "get us out of the mud" roads and later the Interstates, to
Midway and then O'Hare and eventually Peotone airports, this region has
demonstrated the wisdom and the courage to develop transportation systems that
can renew and strengthen its economy, and improve the quality of life of the
people who live here.
Tonight, we confront a more dangerous world
than any of us imagined just a year ago.
As all of you know, last September, a determined and remorseless enemy,
unconstrained by law or morality, attacked one of America’s most cherished
freedoms, the freedom of mobility.
President Bush has directed us to build a
transportation security system that will provide a strong defense against such
external threats – most importantly, against terrorists,
but also against drugs, disease, and other dangerous elements.
But, the President fully recognizes that
global transportation systems transcend national boundaries, so he also expects
an efficient approach to transportation security, one that poses little or no
obstacle to legitimate trade and travel.
At the DOT, we have worked literally day and
night for the last seven and a half months to prevent terrorists and other
criminals from ever again using any facet of our transportation system as a
weapon against any American, anywhere.
As a part of that commitment, the Bush
Administration worked with Congress to pass the Aviation and Transportation
Security Act of 2001. This law
makes security for all modes of transportation, for the first time, a
responsibility of the federal government.
To carry out this critical new
responsibility, Congress created a separate agency within DOT called the
Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, and President Bush appointed one
of America’s leading law enforcement professionals, John W. Magaw, to head it
up.
Once fully operational later this year, the
TSA will have more employees than the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration
and the Border Patrol combined.
We will have overlapping, mutually
reinforcing layers of security, some readily visible to the public, like
screening stations, while other layers remain unseen, like intelligence,
undercover work and state-of-the-art technology tools.
We will maintain a core commitment to measure
performance relentlessly, building an organization that provides both
world-class security and world-class customer service to the traveling
public.
Much of the TSA’s activity so far has
occurred behind-the-scenes. From
the very beginning, our priority has been to do it fast –
and, just as importantly, to do it right.
Now, all the behind-the-scenes work will
begin to take center stage. For
example, two months ago, TSA took over responsibility for all airport screening
security personnel. We designated
Baltimore - Washington International Airport as the site for developing better
screening procedures.
We implemented a number of common-sense
changes to passenger screening, such as providing chairs and shoehorns for
passengers whose shoes we inspect, and hardwiring the X-ray equipment into an
outlet in the ceiling, so it does not get unplugged inadvertently.
These new procedures have resulted in
measurable success. We cut wait
times during peak hours from 20-plus minutes down to 10 or 15 minutes. We increased the number of passengers
passing through the checkpoints by 40 percent, and cut the maximum number of
people in line at peak times by a third.
Customer satisfaction has also risen to new levels.
We fully expect that when we roll-out these
new screening procedures here in Chicago, we will see similar success.
Also earlier today, TSA announced the
awarding of a contract for up to $105 million to Lockheed Martin Services to
provide classroom training for the new passenger screeners the agency will
hire. Under this contract, Lockheed
will conduct a program delivering a minimum of 40 hours of classroom training
for each screener, five times the amount they received under the old
system.
Screeners will also receive 60 hours of
on-the-job training, and we will administer a tough final examination as a
requirement for graduation.
We have already started to rollout this new
federal aviation security organization, airport-by-airport,
terminal-by-terminal, and we will continue to do so with careful dispatch,
always mindful of our deadlines and resource constraints.
In fact, at the peak of this summer, we
expect to manage some phase of the transition process at over 100 airports
simultaneously. And, before the end
of this year, we will have the Federal security screening workforce in place at
all 429 commercial airports.
And, although much of the media attention has
focused on our aviation security efforts, the Department of Transportation has
also been developing heightened security procedures and awareness across every
mode of transportation, including rail, highways, transit, maritime and
pipeline.
Transportation security across the board is
better today than it was yesterday; and, it will be better yet tomorrow.
At the same time, we have not lost sight of
the fact that the demand for both passenger and freight transportation continues
to grow steadily, and that it already strains the capacity of much of our
existing infrastructure.
Of course, the Chicago region has experienced
the impact of these trends. For
example, the freight volumes moving through the region ranks as the third
highest in the world, with the region’s 24 rail yards serving as a freight hub
for the Nation. As another example,
the FAA already rates O’Hare as the second busiest airport in the country, and
it forecasts steady growth over the next decade.
Americans have built an extensive and
productive transportation system based on the strength of individual modes –
air, marine, highway, and rail.
Now, we must address the challenge of
blending these separate constituencies into a single, national, intermodal
transportation system... one which integrates the individual modes in a manner
that is at once economically efficient, equitable, and environmentally
sound.
Eleven years ago, I had the privilege of
serving as the chair of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the Public
Works and Transportation Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, where I
helped author the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or
ISTEA.
This landmark federal legislation recognized
the constraints and consequences of traditional modal policies, emphasizing
instead an intermodal approach based on flexibility, innovation, and greater
public involvement.
Congress reaffirmed and expanded these
intermodal principles in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century, or TEA-21. TEA-21
revolutionized transportation funding and authorized record levels of investment
for surface transportation.
Looking to the not-too-distant future, the Bush Administration has begun the process of developing the successor to TEA-21. I expect key elements of the Administration’s reauthorization proposal will build upon the reforms of the past.
But, we have an opportunity to do more. I have directed DOT to achieve several goals in the reauthorization process:
The new legislation must continue to assure
adequate and predictable funding for investment in the Nation’s surface
transportation system.
It must preserve funding flexibility to allow
the broadest application of funds to the best transportation solutions
identified by our state and local partners.
We must build on the intermodal approaches of
ISTEA and TEA-21.
We must expand and improve the programs of
innovative financing, so as to encourage private sector investment in the
transportation system, and look for other inventive means to augment existing
revenue streams.
We must re-emphasize the security of the
nation’s surface transportation system, and we must continue to focus on making
improvements to its safety. None of
us should consider it acceptable, for example, that we suffer 41,000 deaths and
over 3 million injuries annually on America’s highways.
We must continue to develop and deploy
innovative technology, with the ultimate goal of making “intelligent
transportation system” an unnecessarily redundant phrase.
Finally, we must look for ways to simplify
federal transportation programs, focusing on the management and performance of
the system as a whole.
We have a critical opportunity to work together in crafting legislation to reauthorize America’s surface transportation programs. We want your ideas – and the best time for your involvement is right now.
President Bush has given us a clear goal –
every American has the right to expect a safe, accessible, affordable and
reliable transportation system. He
has asked outstanding individuals to join in fulfilling that mission, and many
of you here have answered that call.
The Transportation Center at Northwestern University can continue to play a very important role by identifying emerging technologies and studying how they might benefit transportation and logistic services in the future.
In times past, when challenging and complex situations faced the United States, our best minds have responded with advanced technology to meet our national needs. Now, more than ever, we must draw upon your expertise to meet the transportation challenges facing our Nation.
Thank you all. Travel safely. And God bless America.
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