On May 9, the House Homeland Security Committee, under the chairmanship of Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, commenced a hearing entitled “The Boston Bombings: A First Look.” Following Chairman McCaul’s opening remarks, the four witnesses who provided testimony were the Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman, former senator from the state of Connecticut, Mr. Edward F. Davis, III, commissioner of the Boston Police Department, the Honorable Kurt N. Schwartz, undersecretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and, Professor Erroll G. Southers, professor and associate director of Research Transition, DHS National Center for Risk & Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE)  in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.

In his comments, former Senator Lieberman noted that, “it is not too early to ask some direct questions that demand answers.” He also focused on the issue of addressing violent Islamic extremism (VIE) and how to combat it. “We must find ways to stop the spread of VIE and stop the radicalization process even if no crime has been committed. That is one of the primary policy challenges before us as we try to identify ways to prevent an attack like the one in Boston from ever happening again.”

Police Commissioner Davis thanked the vast number of people and agencies from local to federal who helped the Boston Police Department deal with the aftermath of the bombings. He praised the ongoing level of vigilance of law enforcement and the ongoing benefits of sharing information and experiences with other law enforcement agencies around the world. He also noted that, “Clearly, we can and must do more. I come before you today to ask for continued investments in infrastructure that would aid in our policing efforts.”

Undersecretary Schwartz reinforced Commissioner Davis’s comments, noting that, “From a high-level systemic view, several common themes and key factors stand out as we assess the massive, swift, and effective public safety response to the bombings. Foremost, there is a clear correlation between the effectiveness of response operations in and around Boston in the aftermath of the bombings and local, regional, and state investments in training, exercise programs, building and sustaining specialized capabilities, activating and maintaining an incident command system, activating and operating emergency operations centers and mobile command posts, as well as our longstanding focus on developing regional response capabilities and mutual aid agreements, and building preexisting strong personal and professional relationships amongst public safety leaders.”