Security experts call for improved public communications

The next president must develop a more effective and disciplined way of communicating to the public about what kind of threats the country faces and what individuals and families can do to be prepared for disasters, a panel of homeland security experts said Friday.

The Bush administration came under fire for instances when incomplete or confusing information was communicated to the public, such as when former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told people to buy duct tape to help prepare themselves for emergencies. The next president, regardless of which party wins, will be able to chart a new course for communicating with the public, according to experts at a panel discussion hosted by the Center for American Progress.

"I think that, by and large, the president needs to reassure the public that they are not going to see a repeat of what went on for the last eight years," said Jerome Hauer, chief executive officer of the Hauer Group and former HHS assistant secretary.

"The public is fatigued," he added. "They are tired of the sky-is-falling mind-set."

He said the next president needs to ensure that public warnings are based on solid information and that the federal government sends out messages out of an urgent need, not because it wants to distract the public. He said the Bush administration has done a good job in fostering civilian emergency response teams around the country. And he said the role of those teams should be expanded to include training in emergency medical skills, basic search and rescue and how to turn off gas valves.

Fran Townsend, who stepped down last year as the president's top homeland security adviser, admitted the Bush administration did not do as good a job communicating with the public as it could have. But she said the government should not try to control preparedness efforts at the state and local levels. Rather, the government can play a role in providing grant funding to help the programs, and setting goals to measure and improve the programs.

She noted, for example, that two of the most effective public interest campaigns ever developed are the "Click It or Ticket" slogan to encourage seat-belt use and the "Stop, Drop and Roll" fire safety slogan. "How do we teach people about fire prevention? We don't teach it from the federal government," she said. She also implored the next administration to not politicize homeland security issues. "Whoever gets elected, they absolutely have to make up their minds to divorce this from politics." Retired Air Force Col. P.J. Crowley, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, called on the next administration to make a strategic judgment about what kind of threats the country faces, and where preparedness efforts should be directed. He said the next administration should re-evaluate how much information is classified to improve information sharing with the public.