"I would give the nation's homeland security efforts a grade of C overall," said Andrews, a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.  "Our military and intelligence forces are doing a great job fighting terror abroad but we can and must do more here at home."

The Congressman addressed some key concerns related to improving the nation's ability to prevent and respond to another terror attack on this country. He gave Fire, Police and EMS workers great marks for upgrading their ability to deal with a major terror attack but said that the federal government must do more to provide them with guidance and resources to help them in this effort. Andrews is primarily concerned that there is no clear chain of command to stop a terror attack as it unfolds.

"If a terrorist hijacks a tanker truck filled with harmful chemicals this afternoon and is headed to Washington, D.C. to detonate it and poison thousands, whose job is it to stop it? Is it the State Police or the National Guard or the FBI? The answer is unclear and that is scary," said Andrews.

Andrews has asked the General Accounting Office to assess the reporting lines in the event of an unfolding terror attack to answer this question and make sure that we have the ability to prevent such an attack from occurring.  His goal is to mandate clear reporting lines in the event of an emergency to make sure that an appropriate agency has the requisite authority to stop a terror attack as it unfolds.

As an example of what we need to do more of, Congressman Andrews also met with instructors and volunteers participating in the Cherry Hill Township Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) at the Cherry Hill Police Department to highlight this program designed to educate the community of what to do in the event of a terror attack. Cherry Hill Township, in conjunction with Voorhees Township and Camden County used a portion of a $977,000 federal grant to the State of New Jersey to pay for this program.

"This is an outstanding use of these federal funds and I commend both Mayors and the fire, police and EMS workers in these communities for developing this program," commented Andrews. "The CERT program will educate the community on important training in the event of a terror attack or other emergency and will empower the community to assist professional emergency managers and responders in the event of an emergency. We need more of this type of funding."

Andrews also highlighted the fact that to date, 6 communities in the First Congressional District (Collingswood, Magnolia, Maple Shade,Somerdale, Washington Twp and Waterford) have collectively received $345,975 through the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate (EP&R) of the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Fire Administration (USFA). This funding has helped these communities upgrade their equipment and training so that they are prepared to deal with a terrorist attack.

"This is excellent news for South Jersey and I anticipate that there will be more of these announcements over the course of the next few months, commented Andrews. "I will be working in Congress to make more federal funds available to local emergency management agencies so that these men and women have the resources and training to respond effectively in the event of emergencies. This is a top priority."

Finally, Rep. Andrews toured to Citgo Asphalt Refinery in Paulsboro to highlight the receipt of a $450,000 federal grant from the Transportation Safety Administration that Andrews worked to obtain. The funding will be used by Citgo for general security upgrades. Intelligence analyses frequently cite chemical plants and energy facilities as potential terrorist targets.

"This funding is crucial to ensure that our Nation's private companies that pose potential terror targets, have the resources to upgrade and harden their facilities to protect against a terror attack," said the Congressman.  "I am pleased to have supported this grant funding and look forward to working to bringing back more funding to bolster South Jersey's defense against a terrorist attack."

Rep. Andrews also joined with Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) at the future site of the Garden State Ethanol Plant in West Deptford to announce that they have secured $1 million in federal funding for the plant. Andrews used the visit as an opportunity to highlight the need for energy security in our Nation to improve our homeland security.

"The United States dependency on foreign oil to meet our energy needs is a potential threat to our Nation's security," said Andrews. Oil producing nations are able to manipulate the United States' foreign policy agenda as a result of this dependency. By investing in alternative sources of energy, we eliminate any ability that these countries possessed to shape or guide U.S. foreign policy."