During a lengthy congressional debate over the digital TV transition, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, tried to move up the transition date, arguing emergency responders need the spectrum as soon as possible. But congressional concerns over the timing of commercial auctions for part of the freed spectrum led to the later date. If the auctions were too soon, the spectrum might not sell for the $10 billion Congress has budgeted, opponents of an earlier deadline said.

Meanwhile, some emergency response agencies are working with each other to improve interoperability, but those efforts are happening only in “pockets” of the United States, said Steven Jones, executive director of the First Response Coalition, a group advocating for interoperable emergency communications.

“There’s no national strategy to coordinate all these efforts,” Jones said. “Nationally speaking, I don’t know that we’re better off than we were five years ago.”

Cargo scanning

Hobbled by high costs and slow machines, airlines and cargo ships scan only a fraction of the baggage they carry, leaving their passengers at risk of hidden explosives and other weapons, critics say.

Most of the 6 billion pounds of cargo shipped on passenger airlines every year is commercial cargo, not checked baggage, and most of those crates and cartons are never scanned, exposing passengers to risk, according to U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.

The problem is even greater on commercial shipping venues, with unscanned cargo rolling into the United States every year aboard 11.2 million trucks, 2.2 million rail cars and 51,000 cargo ships, according to the DHS.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which operates airport security systems, says it faces a dilemma of choosing between inexpensive but inaccurate machines and expensive, high-quality machines.

Airport workers now scan baggage with two types of systems. Explosive trace detection machines are affordable—they’re the size of a laser printer and cost a few thousand dollars—but rely on slow and error-prone human workers to collect test samples.

In contrast, explosive detection system machines can process up to 500 bags per hour but weigh as much as 17,000 pounds and cost up to $1 million. And airports must invest much more money to insert those machines into their existing baggage conveyor belts to speed the process.

Still, officials with the Bush administration insist they’ve made significant progress in fighting terrorism over the past five years. A "network" of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, improved terrorist databases and international cooperation have successfully thwarted multiple terrorist plots, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a speech Thursday.