Gorton on security: 'It's time for a bit of profiling'
SEATTLE -- Former 9/11 Commission member Sen Slade Gorton is praising President Barack Obama's renewed urgency in protecting the U.S. from terrorists.
However, the former Republican Senator from Washington state says he wants the president to go further.
"It's time for a bit of profiling," said the Sen. Gorton.
Gorton said his 77-year-old wife gets secondary security screening every time she flies because she has an artificial hip -- a measure he sees as a waste of time and money.
"We know that the great majority of these people are young, Muslim, males from about a dozen countries in the Middle East and Africa. And its time to say all such people are going to go through secondary screening before they get on an airplane," said Gorton.
When asked to respond to critics who call such profiling racist, Gorton dismissed the concerns.
"The point is if we're taking defensive mechanisms that can be effective 90 percent of the time rather than 20 percent of the time, we ought to do so," said Gorton.
Still, Gorton said he couldn't disagree with a single thing the president said in his address to the nationon Thursday.
This is a marked difference from the days directly following the failed Christmas Day airline bombing when Gorton said the White House needed more urgency and that he hoped the recent attempt would be a wake up call.
"American citizens should believe that the president is reacting properly at this point," he said on Thursday. "Things don't change overnight by any means, but the president it seems to me is now paying the proper degree of attention to a very, very real challenge to our security."
However, the former Republican Senator from Washington state says he wants the president to go further.
"It's time for a bit of profiling," said the Sen. Gorton.
Gorton said his 77-year-old wife gets secondary security screening every time she flies because she has an artificial hip -- a measure he sees as a waste of time and money.
"We know that the great majority of these people are young, Muslim, males from about a dozen countries in the Middle East and Africa. And its time to say all such people are going to go through secondary screening before they get on an airplane," said Gorton.
When asked to respond to critics who call such profiling racist, Gorton dismissed the concerns.
"The point is if we're taking defensive mechanisms that can be effective 90 percent of the time rather than 20 percent of the time, we ought to do so," said Gorton.
Still, Gorton said he couldn't disagree with a single thing the president said in his address to the nationon Thursday.
This is a marked difference from the days directly following the failed Christmas Day airline bombing when Gorton said the White House needed more urgency and that he hoped the recent attempt would be a wake up call.
"American citizens should believe that the president is reacting properly at this point," he said on Thursday. "Things don't change overnight by any means, but the president it seems to me is now paying the proper degree of attention to a very, very real challenge to our security."