Dillydallying danger

Dallas Morning News: There is no doubt that our nation is still vulnerable to terrorist attack. Much effort has been expended to make us safer, but Katrina showed us even a large-scale natural disaster can turn our country upside down.
Now comes news that the Department of Homeland Security has missed deadlines to outline ways to protect our railways, ships and airplanes from terrorist attacks.
A plan to safeguard ships and ports is six months overdue. A study to assess the cost of providing anti-terrorism training to federal law enforcement officers who fly commercially is more than three years late. A comprehensive plan to protect our roads, tunnels, power plants, bridges, pipelines and dams still does not exist.
This is unacceptable.
Low morale at the department doesn't help. In a recent government questionnaire, only 12 percent of the more than 10,000 employees who answered the survey said they felt strongly that they were "encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things."
Debriefings
But not all the blame rests on the department's shoulders. Homeland Security officials undoubtedly would be further along in their planning if they didn't have to spend so much time debriefing myriad congressional oversight committees and scrambling to complete lower-priority projects that, experts say, only distract the department from more promising security measures.
The threats are real. The solutions should be, too.