Leaders Sign Pact on Coordination
by Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge yesterday urged officials in the District, Virginia and Maryland to increase preparations for a possible major terrorist attack in or near the nation’s capital, pressing them to conduct joint exercises, strengthen emergency aid pacts and beef up public involvement.
“Clearly, today there is nothing more important,” Ridge said, addressing state and local leaders who had gathered for an extraordinary domestic security summit at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in the District convened by the Office of Homeland Security.
Ridge’s call for action came as D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner and Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening signed an eight-point agreement committing their governments to improve regional coordination during emergencies, a system that federal officials say they hope will become a national model.
The Bush administration has proposed spending $3.5 billion to build a national response system to terrorism. The program, slated to fund planning, training, exercises and equipment for state and local first responders, marks a dramatic shift in emergency preparedness -- with the federal government insisting on closer coordination between state and local officials. The states will pull together comprehensive plans, while local jurisdictions still will manage responses to disasters and their aftermaths.
The protocol for the national capital region, for instance, lays out goals for closing critical communications and command gaps that paralyzed the initial state and local responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and lingered during October’s anthrax crisis.
The regional agreement pledges the governments to work to coordinate decisions, public statements and emergency measures in case of a region-wide disaster. It promotes increased intelligence-sharing among federal prosecutors and investigators and local law enforcement officials, and directs governments to work with the private sector to set safeguards for critical utilities, communications and transportation industries.
“At the end of the day, the strategic partnerships that are formed in response to the threat of international terrorism will not only make us a stronger country and stronger communities,” Ridge said, but “make [our communities] better and safer and healthier.”
The document is especially critical for the Washington area because the region’s 5 million residents and federal government operations are spread out among a mosaic of jurisdictions. Three federal branches of government, two states and the District report to separate authorities and keep separate police forces, for example, but share responsibility for key installations such as roads and bridges.
“We all recognize that we’re in probably the most complex governmental operating environment in the world, certainly in the country,” said Williams (D), whose government was caught flat-footed when federal agencies evacuated their workers Sept. 11 without notice, causing massive downtown traffic jams. “If we can make it work here, we can make it work anywhere.”
Federal, state and District officials said that much planning has advanced quietly in the 11 months since the attacks, and that much more is continuing. Regional leaders plan a series of drills, including a field exercise this month in the District involving area police, fire and emergency response teams and a simulated war game in October involving Maryland, Virginia and District agency chiefs.
Local planners are exploring adding a national capital component next May to a planned federal domestic preparedness exercise known as TOPOFF II, a sequel to a 2000 Denver exercise involving the hypothetical release of bubonic plague germs and a related drill in the District involving a radioactive “dirty bomb.”
Governors, local official and private business leaders attending yesterday’s summit called it a first step.
Warner (D) said federal legislation may be needed to help emergency workers operate outside their home jurisdictions without risk of incurring legal liability. He said the federal government also could help secure vulnerable private data networks in Northern Virginia through which an estimated 50 percent of global Internet traffic moves, and set technical standards for emergency communications equipment.
Glendening (D) asked for more federal money. “This is going to be very, very expensive,” he said, noting that Maryland is spending $26 million more each year to secure its port, airport and highways.
Montgomery County Executive Douglas N. Duncan (D) and Fairfax County Supervisor Gerald E. Connolly (D-Providence) asked government leaders to include emergency measures already initiated by the region.
George Vradenburg, speaking for the Greater Washington Board of Trade, asked Ridge and elected leaders to include the private sector in the planning process.