Ridge urges state, local governments to unite on security

State and local governments need to be sure that they engage the private sector in homeland security efforts by uniting technological expertise, human capital and knowledge to work toward common goals, government and private-sector officials said Monday.

These entities cannot "operate in a vacuum," Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC).

Ridge urged council representatives to take advantage of the 45-day comment period in effect on the newly unveiled national alert system that consists of tiered levels of alerts based on the risk level of an attack.

Private-sector participation is going to be necessary to fulfill President Bush's homeland security initiatives, which include involving preparedness plans in the areas of emergency response, information sharing and information technology, border and airport security, and bioterrorism.

Shaun Donnelly, deputy assistant secretary of State with the agency's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, cited the "smart borders" agreement reached last week between the United States and Mexico as a way federal officials hope to use technology to reach these homeland security goals.

"We've got to use the technology out there" to improve border security while allowing normal commerce flows, Donnelly said. "It's about making sensible decisions to balance all our interests."

There are government-wide efforts being conducted to identify the nation's critical infrastructures that will need to be protected, said Lewis Podolske, director of economic consequence management in the Office of Homeland Security. He said the private sector's help increasingly will be needed as the government looks to gather, analyze and disseminate more information on potential threats and how to combat them.

One of the most important actions regions can take is to partner with telecom companies to boost their rural telecommunications infrastructure, said Jesse White, federal co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

But in aiding governments to strengthen their infrastructures, the private sector also has to ensure its vulnerabilities are fortified, said George Vradenburg, strategic adviser to AOL Time Warner.

"Damage to one link [of a business sector] can ripple through to multiple sectors," Vradenburg said. "Our economy is vulnerable...Our enemy's strength feeds off our own assets."

As globalization and the U.S. economy's dependence on all sectors increases, so do the chances for greater fallout should one sector be hit by a terrorist attack, Vradenburg said. "We invented this networked world ... Let's put it to use in defending ourselves and strengthening our communities."

Vradenburg cited several reasons why private industry should boost its involvement in homeland security efforts: many critical infrastructures are owned by industry, not government; bioterrorism and disease surveillance and patient-locator systems will need to be deployed; new technological capabilities need to be demonstrated to the government by trained professionals; nonprofits must be involved in disaster planning; and economic recoverability issues need to be part of overall defense planning.

"At the end of the day, we have too much at stake not to draw upon all our resources," Vradenburg said.