U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral John Currier says the U.S. Coast Guard does not need to issue an apology for Friday’s Potomac River scare because the agency was simply executing a planned training exercise. (0:27)
By Julianne LaJeunesse, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
Reports of fired shots on the Potomac River were enough to scare civilians and news agencies in Washington, D.C. on the eighth anniversary of September 11, 2009.
Reports of the shots came just before 10 am Friday morning, and by noon, the U.S. Coast Guard released a statement explaining that the incident was actually a training exercise that did not consist of fired shots.
In the statement, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral John Currier said that while the agency was sensitive to the anniversary of September 11, 2001, an apology for planned training exercises was unnecessary.
“I am not issuing an apology because, althought it is unfortunate that it escalated to this level, what you’re seeing here is the result of a normal training exercise,” Currier said.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today that when it comes to keeping the nation safe, he tends not to question law enforcement- even on September 11th.
Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio.) believes that America is at a high national security risk. Voinovich cited that due to high energy costs and relationships with foreign governments America is reliant on countries that wish the Unted States harm. In addition, Voinovich commented that according to the Stanford University Modeling Forum the odds of a foreign oil disruption happening over the next ten years are slightly higher than 80 percent. If global production were reduced by more than 2.1 percent that would have a serious effect on oil prices and our economy. This would be more so than Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (0:49)
