Panel laments ‘reactive’ approach to homeland security

The United States remains highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks despite unprecedented efforts to tighten homeland security over the past year, according to a panel chaired by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman.

The panel found that billions of dollars in new security funding has failed to fix weaknesses in information sharing and transportation security, or to improve the ability of thousands of state and local "first responders" to deal with terrorist attacks. It also observed that the federal government has taken a "reactive" approach to homeland security, moving quickly to shore up security lapses revealed on Sept. 11, but doing little to counter future threats.

"The federal government is dedicating an extraordinary amount of energy and resources in response to the specific character of the Sept.11 attacks," said the panel's report, which was sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank based in New York. "A reactive mindset is inevitably wasteful in terms of resources and can distract agencies from anticipating more probable future scenarios and undertaking protective measures."

The panel singled out transportation security as an area where federal resources have been misplaced. While the government's focus on aviation security was "understandable" given the events of Sept. 11, "the vulnerabilities are greater and the stakes are higher in the sea and land modes than in commercial aviation," the report said. The panel's project director was Stephen Flynn, a transportation security expert and Council on Foreign Relations fellow.

The panel offered several suggestions for upgrading homeland security, including approving the creation of a new Homeland Security Department, as President Bush has proposed. To improve information sharing between federal, state and local law enforcement officials, it urged the State Department to share its terrorist watch lists with 650,000 state and local police officials.

The panel also called on the National Guard to assume a greater role in homeland security. Congress should create new units to work with local first responders, the panel's report recommended, and triple the number of elite Guard civil support teams trained to respond to attacks with weapons of mass destruction.

The panel recommended that federal agencies immediately release funds to help states and cities buy protective gear and provide terrorism training to first responders. In February, President Bush proposed giving $3.5 billion to first responders and shifting all federal first responder training programs to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the initiative has stalled in the Senate, where many members believe FEMA should share responsibility for first responder training with the Justice Department, which has run its own training programs since 1997.

States have received $1.2 billion in federal grants from the Health and Human Services Department to help the public health system respond to bioterrorist attacks.