WASHINGTON,D.C. – Authorities in the United Kingdom are investigating a possible terrorist attack after four bombs were detonated today in locations in the London underground and on a commuter bus. Only two weeks after suicide bombers attacked commuters during morning rush hour, killing 56 people and injuring hundreds, British authorities are again evacuating the metro system and investigating this second attack. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee made the following statement responding to today’s reports:

WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee and Co-Chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, today sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert S. Mueller to seek information on whether terrorists are using stolen personal information such as credit card records to fund or plan terrorist activities. Dennis Lormel, the former chief of the FBI’s terrorist financial review group, previously identified the connection between data breaches, identity fraud and terrorism stating, “I don’t think people have really gotten the message. We have known terrorists out there who are exploiting identity theft and identity fraud vulnerabilities.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, and Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), the top-ranking Democrat on the Committee on Homeland Security, today released an independent scientific analysis conducted by experts consulted by the Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) indicating that the radiation portal monitors being deployed at ports by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will likely be unable to detect kilogram quantities of highly enriched uranium (HEU), the radioactive material that could be used most easily by terrorists to construct a homemade nuclear weapon capable of killing tens of thouSands of Americans. The Congressmen’s request was motivated by reports that ABC News was able to transport a shipment of depleted uranium (whose radioactive properties are similar to HEU’s) undetected through the Port of Los Angeles on September 2, 2003, and subsequent assurances by DHS that its technology was sufficient to detect such shipments in the future.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior Democratic Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, today announced he would introduce comprehensive legislation to provide all federal employees, contractors and private sector workers who report homeland or national security flaws, threats to public health and safety, violations of laws or regulations, or waste, fraud and mismanagement with vastly improved whistleblower protections. An amendment version of this legislation, which failed on a party-line vote at yesterday’s markup of the Homeland Security Authorization Act, would extend the whistleblower protections provided by Congress (in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) to corporate employees reporting accounting fraud to the rest of the federal and private sector workforce.