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April 21, 2005
The Bush administration rightly stresses that homeland security should be a partnership among federal, state and local governments and the private sector. The court battle between CSX and the District of Columbia over the transportation of hazardous materials through Washington, however, clearly demonstrates the urgent need for a comprehensive national rail security approach. The Center for American Progress will present its view of what a national rail security strategy should accomplish and what is feasible not only in Washington, but elsewhere across the country. A distinguished panel that includes representation from varying vantage points – local and federal government and the private sector – will debate rail security and its security, regulatory and commercial implications.
Video & Resources
• P.J. Crowley: Video
• Kathleen Patterson: Video
• David Shuman: Video
• Stephen J. McHale: Video
• Fred Millar: Video
• Q&A Session: Video
• Transcript: Full text (PDF)
• Read Full Report (PDF)
Note: All video provided in Windows Media format.
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| Panelists |
 Philip J. (P.J.) Crowley is a Senior Fellow and Director of National Defense and Homeland Security at the Center for American Progress. During the Clinton administration, Crowley was Special Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs, serving as Senior Director of Public Affairs for the National Security Council. Prior to that, he was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. In all, Crowley was a spokesman for the United States government and United States military for 28 years, 11 of those years at the Pentagon and three at the White House. He served for 26 years in the United States Air Force, retiring at the rank of colonel in September 1999. He is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. During the Kosovo conflict, he was temporarily assigned to work with then NATO Secretary General Javier Solana. Prior to joining American Progress, he served as a national spokesman for the property/casualty insurance industry, focusing on strategic industry issues that included the impact of terrorism on commercial insurance in the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy and the effect of asbestos litigation on the broader economy. A native of Massachusetts, P.J. is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross. |
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 Stephen J. McHale is a partner at Patton Boggs LLP, focusing principally on homeland and industrial security matters, financial transaction reporting requirements, and federal regulatory matters involving international sanctions, customs, alcohol, firearms and explosives. Mr. McHale served as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from the time of its creation in 2002 until August 2004, playing a key role in the federalization of aviation security after the September 11 attacks; merger of TSA into the new Department of Homeland Security; and development of the Department’s critical infrastructure protection plans. Prior to taking up his position at TSA, Mr. McHale was a lawyer at the Department of Treasury for 12 years, where he served as Acting General Counsel throughout the 2001 transition of Administrations. He oversaw Treasury’s efforts to combat terrorist fundraising and seize terrorist assets in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Mr. McHale also served as Chief Counsel of ATF, where he oversaw a comprehensive review of the laws regulating explosives that became the foundation for the Safe Explosives Act of 2002. Mr. McHale began his legal career in 1980 as a law clerk to Judge John R. Hess on the District of Columbia Superior Court. Mr. McHale received numerous awards and commendations throughout his Federal service, including the Presidential Rank Award, Treasury Department’s Distinguished Service Medal, General Counsel’s Award for Excellence in Management, Federal Employee of the Year Award, Partnership for Public Service and TSA Honor Award. He holds a B.A. from Nottingham University, England, and a J.D. from The American University Law School. |
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 Fred Millar, Ph.D. is a consultant on homeland security, hazardous materials transportation, and chemical accident prevention. Most recently the Research Director for an international trade union, serving an organizing project in the Southwest, he was for 17 years the Toxics Director at Friends of the Earth. He is an international expert and lobbyist in nuclear waste transportation and chemical accident prevention, consultant to the major U.S. chemical and oil worker unions, networked with industry, government, and citizen groups. Dr. Millar initiated and lobbied for the Chemical Accident Prevention provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 under which thousands of chemical facilities have produced comprehensive Risk Management Plans including worst case release scenarios. For 15 years he has served on the District of Columbia Local Emergency Planning Committee. On terrorism-related issues, most recently he has testified in the DC Council and made presentations to the Transportation Security Administration/US Department of Homeland Security, Fairfax VA and Montgomery County MD Local Emergency Planning Committees and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Emergency Response Planners Committee. |
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 Kathleen Patterson is the Ward 3 Representative to the Council of the District of Columbia, a seat she has held since September 1994. She served as Chair of the Committee on Government Operations from 1997 through 2000, led the Committee on the Judiciary from 2001 through 2004, and now serves as Chair of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation. Most recently she shepherded the Terrorism Prevention in Hazardous Materials Transportation Emergency Act of 2005 through the Council to restrict the shipment of ultrahazardous cargo through the nation’s capital. The law has been challenged in federal court by CSX Transportation and the Bush Administration. Under her leadership, the Judiciary Committee focused attention on front-line public safety services. After September 11, 2001, the Committee focused on the District’s emergency response plan, and pressed for federal support for needs such as hazmat training, protective gear, and technology upgrades. Working with the Williams Administration, the Committee produced the landmark Omnibus Anti-Terrorism Act of 2002, giving the District government added tools to prepare for and respond to potential terrorist acts. Kathy’s other legislative accomplishments range from creating the new Office of Administrative Hearings scheduled to open its doors in 2003 to enactment of the “Safe Teenage Driving Amendment Act of 1999,” one of the nation’s most comprehensive graduated licensing systems for teen drivers. Kathy came to Washington, D.C., from Kansas City, Missouri, in January 1977 to become a Washington correspondent for the Kansas City Star. A California native, she holds a degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and a master’s in English-literature from Georgetown University. When she sought office in 1994, she was working as communications director for the American Public Welfare Association. |
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 David Shuman is a Managing Director at R.L. Banks & Associates, a multidisciplinary consulting firm. Mr. Shuman in his 26 years as a transportation consultant has assisted railroads, their government owners, ports, transit agencies and international lenders on six continents. Both an attorney and an economist, with advanced degrees from Boston University and Wharton, Mr. Shuman was Director of Transportation Policy Analysis with RLBA from 1979 to 1987, frequently served as an expert witness on transport finance and economics for clients including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Interstate Commerce Commission. He also was principal author of a study for the Association of American Railroads respecting tank cars, and served as an expert witness on equipment-related issues for both manufacturers and lessors of railcars. As Senior Associate in the rail and commercial freight practices of Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Mr. Shuman led or was a principal contributor to the development of marketing strategies for three major North American railroads. Mr. Shuman was also the Project Manager of a study for Boeing Aerospace and the U.S. Air Force involving the integration of strategic missile-equipped rail garrison trains into the commercial rail network. Mr. Shuman returned to RLBA in March of 1994, and, as Managing Director, has assisted the World Bank and the Government of Zambia in developing formal structures to improve the performance of the public utility sectors, analyzed developments in the North American railroad industry and recommended modifications to the antitrust laws for the Government of Canada and investigated transportation investment needs in the Balkans for U.S. Trade and Development Agency. He is currently an expert witness for the District of Columbia in the Federal litigation in which CSX is challenging the creation of an ultra-hazardous cargoes exclusionary zone in the city. |
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