By Paul Wein
The Sunday morning meeting, which included a breakfast and meet and greet session with the Congressman, saw many other elected officials attend, such as newly elected District Attorney Kathleen Rice, and Nassau County Legislators Dan Denenberg (D-Merrick), and Kevan Abrahams (D- Hempstead). The audience also included many prominent members of the Five Towns Jewish community, such as Professor Asher J. Matathias, a political science professor at St. John's University, and Dr. Stan Nussbaum, past president of the Five Towns Jewish Council.
After introductions were made by Daniel L. Krimmer, president of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Nassau County and Rabbi Charles, A. Klein of the Merrick Jewish Center, Rep. King spent close to an hour discussing the role he plays as the Chair of the Homeland Security Committee, and the progress made on the war against terrorism.
"September 11 changed all of our lives," said King. "It showed just how vulnerable we are and how we didn't pay enough attention to terrorism. Now, it dominates our lives." King went on to say that one of his main priorities is to ensure that funding to fight terrorism is sent to the places that are the greatest threat. "Funding should be based on risk, and I have supported a bill that distributes the monies based on just that," he said. "It's a hard reality to face, but New York City is city with the biggest threat."
As for the war on terror, King did say that we have to upgrade our counter-terrorism technology, because we always have to stay one step ahead of the terrorists. "As we adapt, they adapt," he said. "We our upgrading our security on railroads and ports, and our military intelligence is much better than it was years ago."
Rep. King summed up his report by saying that we are dealing with a different kind of enemy, and are involved in a, "life and death struggle for our safety and security, which is why we need allocate money to the areas that need it most."
