Security

The House on Friday morning approved the rule for H.R. 2838, a bill that would reauthorize the Coast Guard through 2014. Members approved the rule in a 245-166 vote.

In earlier debate, Democrats objected to language in the bill that would set a single, nationwide standard for ballast water discharge for commercial oceangoing vessels.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano should be replaced as the head of the agency charged with protecting the country against terrorism, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said this week.

Appearing on the Fox Business channel for an interview with Lou Dobbs, Mica criticized Napolitano's recent announcement that most children under 12 years old would no longer be subjected to pat-downs at airport security.

Mica, who has frequently criticized the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and pushed to privatize airport security, said the announcement telegraphed U.S. anti-terrorism techniques.

"I think it's time for Napolitano to go," he said in the interview with Dobbs. "She doesn't have a clue."

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A passenger at Kansas City's International Airport has been charged after faking a bomb threat on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11.

No charges will be filed against passengers on a Detroit flight that made an emergency landing after they were locked in a bathroom on Sept. 11.

Airline delays were down over the summer.

A Southwest Airlines maintenance contractor has been fined by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

Jitters on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced a flight to make an emergency landing in Denver.

Security was boosted on Amtrak trains as well.

More D.C. residents are ditching their cars.

Researchers argue that it's drivers, not cars, that waste fuel.

The State Department is warning U.S. citizens traveling abroad about the threat from al Qaeda and its affiliates.

An amendment to the intelligence authorization bill that would place a higher priority on making sure railways are secure was approved Friday by the House.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. John Carney (D-Del.), was approved on a 221-189 vote that was scheduled after the measure failed on a voice vote Thursday.

Carney said it was important to direct the intelligence agencies to step up their efforts to secure railways in the wake of the discovery that terrorist Osama bin Laden was plotting attacks on them before he was killed by U.S. forces.

“Today’s legislation will ensure that the U.S. government places a priority on ensuring the safety of rail passengers around the country by working to prevent a terrorist attack on our rail system,” Carney said in a statement after the roll call vote Friday.

Osama bin Laden's threat to the rail system has raised concern, but nobody wants X-rays and pat downs.

Senators criticized Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano for not raising the country’s threat level in wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing.

Data recovered in the raid will likely add names to U.S. terrorist lists, the attorney general said.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating the length of time it took officials at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport to report a bomb threat from a drunk man pretending to be Osama bin Laden days before the terrorist leader was killed.

Airports are considering what the Southwest Airlines merger with AirTran means for them.

Consumers are dealing with pain at the pump by buying smaller cars.

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its findings in an investigation into an Iowa train crash.