Federal government to support local counter-terrorism plan

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Monday that the federal government would support a new effort by the governments of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia to coordinate their response to terrorist incidents and other emergencies. In a ceremony at National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, elected leaders from the Washington region pledged to share information, expand joint training exercises and develop common procedures for educating the public about terrorism. Washington-area leaders pledged to create guidelines for protecting critical infrastructure and to allow emergency workers to cross jurisdictional borders without risking liability. Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams, all Democrats, signed an 8-point "Commitments to Action." Ridge did not sign the agreement, but said the federal government did not need to sign the pact to support it. "I wouldn't read anything into the presence or absence of my signature on the joint statement," he said at the ceremony. "We all believe in it, and these [governors and the Washington mayor] are the men who have the responsibility to execute it." Federal agencies would have to change some practices if the agreement was enforced. For example, the pact calls on U.S. attorneys and the FBI to let local law enforcement agencies see intelligence gathered through investigations of terrorism. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is forming a team to help carry out the regional agreement, according to Ridge. Washington-area governments have focused on improving coordination since Sept. 11, when poor communication systems kept many localities from talking to one another for much of the day. The agreement will allow area governments to learn from such mistakes, according to Glendening. "It means we will be working together at a new level of cooperation to learn from the past to see what did not work well, such as communication, and what did work," he said.