Senators seek to address threat of improvised bombs to U.S.

Two key senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at helping the government prevent improvised explosive devices from being used in terrorist attacks inside the United States, saying not enough has been done to counter the threat of such bombings.

So-called IEDs have been used repeatedly to attack U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and have been set off by terrorists in Europe.

"The most likely terror threat around the world and here in the U.S. is IEDs," said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, a key architect of the 2007 Bombing Prevention Act. "The FBI and DHS tell us that the threat from these devices is not only real, but growing."

Her co-sponsor, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., added: "An IED is relatively easy and inexpensive to make and can cause mass casualties, even to armored military personnel. They are a global threat, and the American public, here at home, is not immune."

Even though the U.S. intelligence community has identified the bomb as one of the most likely terrorist threats to the United States, the government has not devoted sufficient resources or attention to the threat, according to a fact sheet distributed by the senators.

Their bill is intended to strengthen the Homeland Security Department's office of bombing prevention. It would authorize $10 million for the office this fiscal year, with $25 million a year in fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010.

"Among other things, the act designates [the office] as the department's lead agent for combating terrorist explosive attacks and directs it to promote counter-IED security planning, information sharing, and training programs," according to the fact sheet.

The bill also would require the White House to issue a national strategy for bombing prevention. In addition, the department would have to conduct research and development of counter-explosives equipment and seek to transfer military technology to federal, state and local governments.

"Given the military's experience with IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan and the more than $15 billion that it has devoted to developing counter-explosive technology, it is imperative to accelerate the identification, modification, and commercialization of military technologies for domestic use by all levels of government," the fact sheet says.

The bill also would require the Homeland Security Department to maintain a national database on the capabilities of bomb squads, explosives detection canine teams and tactical teams around the country. The department would also have to maintain a secure information sharing system on bombing tactics.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a speech last month that the department's TRIPwire information sharing system already has 2,500 users, including 365 state and local agencies and 35 private organizations. Chertoff said the department has provided $1.7 billion in various homeland security grant programs to local communities, ports and other government agencies to help increase their capacity to deal with IEDs.