Bush Seeks $11 Billion to Secure Borders
— -- President Bush is seeking $11 million to beef up security at America's borders. Friends and family mourn a female Marine whose plane crashed in Pakistan. The father of a Sept. 11 victim offers thanks to the Marine.
Bush Wants $11 Billion for Secure Borders
P O R T L A N D, Maine, Jan. 25 — President Bush said today he will askCongress to spend roughly $11 billion next year on securing thenation's borders to keep out terrorists who would try to attack theUnited States by air, land or sea.
He promised that U.S. officials will be on special lookout forforeign nationals who have overstayed student visas, "to make surethey're not part of some al Qaeda network that wants to hit theUnited States."
"We're looking, we're listening, we're following every singlelead," he said.
The president visited Portland today to announce plans toseek $10.7 billion in next year's budget for border security, anincrease of $2.1 billion over this year.
Bush toured the Coast Guard cutter Tahoma, which raced fromRhode Island to New York Harbor to conduct ship inspections andcontrol sea traffic after the Sept. 11 attacks.
He said the Coast Guard will get its largest budget increase inyears, praising its personnel as "a fine group of people who don'tget nearly as much appreciation from the American people as theyshould."
The Tahoma arrived just before midnight on Sept. 11 and remainedthere through Oct. 22, its crew often on 24-hour alert.
Today, it was docked proudly in the International MarineTerminal here and, as Bush stepped aboard, the ship's bell rangthree times and a booming voice announced: "United Statesarriving!" It was much the same when Transportation SecretaryNorman Mineta entered just behind Bush: "Transportationarriving!"
The president donned a blue USCGC Tahoma cap, and listened asCommander Gary M. Smialek described how the Tahoma "sped flankspeed to New York City" to patrol the closed harbor and securebridges near the Statue of Liberty and the Ground Zero perimeter."We didn't know what the threat was," Smialek said.
In the ship's mess hall, Bush thanked Coast Guard personnel forserving their country. He said of the military mission inAfghanistan, "We're winning but we got a lot to do."
After leaving Portland, Bush was heading to Camp David for theweekend. Twenty House and Senate Republicans were to join him therefor an overnight legislative strategy session — and to watchBlack Hawk Down, a new film about the U.S. military mission inSomalia that went awry, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
The border security funds are part of a $38 billion homelandsecurity package that Bush announced Thursday. The money will beused to create "a seamless air, land and sea border" that weedsout terrorist threats without clogging the free flow of goods andpeople between countries, the White House said.
Bush also will seek a $1.2 billion increase for the Immigrationand Naturalization Service, so more agents and inspectors can behired to focus on the border with Canada. Work on tightening thatborder already is under way; Bush's homeland security director TomRidge reached an agreement in December with Canadian ForeignAffairs Minister John Manley.
The INS also will able to launch a tracking system to monitorarrivals and departures by non-U.S. citizens.
The Coast Guard stands to receive $2.9 billion under Bush'sproposal for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, an increase of $282million. Ridge's office said the figure was in line with what theCoast Guard requested, based on its own cost estimates.
The funds would go mainly toward port security missions, afunction that once was a small portion of Coast Guard operationsbut now makes up nearly 60 percent of its daily duties. The guardcurrently is on a heightened state of alert, and must cover 361ports and 95,000 miles of coastline.
The Tahoma, based at New Bedford, Mass., is at sea roughly 185days a year, interdicting drug traffic and illegal migrants fromthe North Atlantic to the Caribbean. It was commissioned in April1988 and has a crew of 100 officers and enlisted personnel.
The president's budget plan also includes:
An increase of $619 million for the U.S. Customs Service, so itcan finish hiring 800 new inspectors and agents for border andseaport duties and purchase high-tech equipment to speedinspections of shipments.
A $14 million increase for the Agriculture QuarantineInspection program, to help with inspections at land bordercrossings and on flights into the U.S. mainland from far-flungstates and territories, such as Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
—The Associated Press
First Servicewoman Killed In Afghan Campaign Is Mourned
G A R Y, Ind., Jan. 25 — Mourners today filed past the flag-draped coffin of Marine Sgt. Jeannette Winters, the first U.S. servicewoman killed since Afghan bombing began in October.
Winters' casket was carried by eight Marines in a color guard into the downtown convention center about three hours before the funeral. Winters was to be buried at Calumet Park Cemetery in Merrillville with full military honors.
Inside the convention center, dozens filed past a stage adorned with flowers, a photo of Winters in her dress uniform, and a poster by elementary school students calling her a "protecting friend."
Winters, 25, was among seven Marines killed Jan. 9 when a KC-130 tanker plane crashed in Pakistan.
Fellow Marines are proud of Winters, who was based at Miramar base in San Diego, Calif., said her platoon commander, 1st Lt. Jeni Roehlich.
"She knew she was good at her job and she wanted to go," Roehlich said. "She was very proud to serve her country. She was proud to go over there and do her job."
The Rev. David Walton, a family friend who was Winters' high school coach, said all those who died in the crash were heroes.
"I hope all of us will remember deep down in our hearts the sacrifice they made," he said. "We had this true hero around us all the time and we didn't recognize it until now. She truly is a hero. She knew the risks and she did her job without any hesitation."
Dick McCloskey, whose 25-year-old daughter, Katie McCloskey, died in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, spoke Thursday by phone with Winters' brother, Marine Sgt. Matthew Winters Jr.
"I just wanted [the Winters family] to know how much we as a family appreciate her sacrifice in trying to track down the people who killed our daughter," McCloskey said.
Referring to Winters' father, McCloskey said: "It's very emotional and I'm sure he feels the same way. I just want to sympathize with him for their loss. It's very much like our loss."
—The Associated Press
Flight Attendants Seek More Thorough Checks
W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 25 — At least once a day, Atlantic SoutheastAirlines flight attendant Brandie Cartwright searches the cabin tomake sure there are no weapons or bombs.
She says she doesn't have enough time to do the job, nor enoughtraining to know what to look for.
"It's a scary thing to think I'm the one that's responsible,"Cartwright said. "Trained professionals should be doing thisinstead of flight attendants."
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a TransportationDepartment task force recommended regular searches of airplanecabins and additional training for employees doing the checks. Thetask force also said the pilots and flight attendants should not beasked to search the cabins.
Most major airlines have ground crews or other employees conductthe cabin searches. On several commuter airlines, however, that jobhas fallen to the flight attendants.
Their union, the Association of Flight Attendants, contendedThursday that the searches are not being done properly. To drawattention to the issue, flight attendants at Atlantic Southeast,Atlantic Coast Airlines, Air Wisconsin and three US Airwaysregional carriers, Allegheny, Piedmont and PSA, began distributingliterature at airports to protest what they say is a lack oftraining and time to do the job.
"In order for this not to be a joke or a security sham, youhave to give us the training and you have to give us sufficienttime to do it," said union president Patricia Friend.
Atlantic Southeast spokesman Kent Landers said the airline madeits flight attendants responsible for the checks because they'rethe most qualified to do them.
"ASA flight attendants are uniquely qualified to observeunusual circumstances in the cabin of the airplanes and are highlytrained professionals who know appropriate procedures," Landerssaid.
Friend said the union has brought its concerns to officials atseveral regional airlines, but the problems have not be resolved.
"The flight attendants are concerned," Friend said. "We thinkthe passengers should be concerned as well."
Atlantic Coast Airlines spokesman Rick DeLisi said all itsemployees are helping with security following the Sept. 11 attacks.
"That includes not only flight attendants but pilots, membersof our ramp service team, customer service team and all others whocome in contact with our aircraft and passengers every day,"DeLisi said.
Deborah McElroy, president of the Regional Airline Association,contended that flight attendants are trained before being asked toconduct security searches, and they are given enough time to do thejob correctly.
"Passengers can be assured that air carriers have measures inplace to ensure the security of the aircraft for passengers andcrew," McElroy said.
—The Associated Press
Sept. 11 Murder Overshadowed by Catastrophe
N E W Y O R K, Jan. 25 — Polish immigrant Henryk Siwiak's life was takenSept. 11, but not by terrorism.
Siwiak, 46, died alone on a street corner far from the WorldTrade Center in what is now a historical footnote: His was the onlyhomicide recorded in the city that day outside of the terroristattack.
More than four months later, with no one under arrest, Siwiak'sfamily worries that authorities may not have the time or the willto solve a mystery so overshadowed by history.
"I think the police have many, many cases and maybe they'llnever call me," said his sister, Lucyna Siwiak.
Laid out in front of her on a kitchen table in her Queensapartment was a copy of her brother's death certificate:"Construction worker … Body found on sidewalk …. Front of 199Decatur Street … Gunshot wound to the chest."
Police say they have taken the case seriously, but with nowitnesses and no clear motive, they know little more about theslaying today.
Siwiak, born in Krakow, came to the United States last year withdreams of building a new life, Lucyna said. Laid off from hisrailroad inspector job in Poland, he joined his sister in Queens.He worked odd jobs to send money home to his wife, a high schoolbiology teacher, and their two children.
"He had many, many plans in life," Lucyna said. "He wanted tobuild a new house in Poland. He wanted to send his daughter to agood university."
Siwiak supplemented English classes by watching television. Buthe struggled with his new language. That, combined with a cheerfulnature, made him vulnerable, his sister said.
"We told him New York could be a dangerous place," she said,"but he didn't believe it."
On Sept. 11, Siwiak was looking for work in lower Manhattan whenhe learned about the attack. He called his family in Poland to sayhe was safe. It was the last time they heard from him.
Late that night, Siwiak donned a camouflage jacket, borrowed asubway map from his landlord and set out for a job cleaning asupermarket in unfamiliar territory: the tough Bedford-Stuyvesantsection of Brooklyn.
Police believe he may have gotten off at the wrong subway stopand wandered around lost. What happened next — and why — isunclear.
His assailant fired several rounds but hit Siwiak only once.There were no clear signs of a robbery. The victim's wallet, withcash, was found on his body.
Lucyna speculates her brother was killed because, with his darkhair and Army-style jacket, the killer thought he was an Arabmilitant.
"I think maybe it was a mistake," she said. "There were manyangry people."
Police dismiss that theory but say they have little to go on.—The Associated Press