 National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C. Vol. 33, No. 20 * October 29, 2001 Table of Contents | Next story Ridge urges cooperation for security By Beverly Schlotterbeck
White House Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told members of NACo’s Homeland Security Task Force that over the next several weeks he will form a State and Local Government Advisory Committee. The committee will be modeled in some respects after the so-called “Big-7” organization, which includes members from the seven national associations, like NACo, representing state and local governments. Ridge, who coordinates the domestic terrorism preparedness activities of numerous federal agencies, spent 40 minutes with the task force and heard several presentations from its members about county needs. The task force, meeting for the first time, Oct. 26 in Washington, D.C., was formed by NACo President Javier Gonzales, and is intended to provide a link between counties and the federal agencies charged with domestic security. In his remarks to Ridge, Gonzales said NACo wants
Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta also addressed the 42-member task force, reporting on the security effort to-date for the nation’s airports and other transportation infrastructure. He especially urged NACo to support the current Airport Security bill that’s in the House (H.R. 3150), saying it gives the president more flexibility in deciding whether to use contract or federal employees to provide security. He also said the bill would establish a new transportation security agency within the Transportation Department that would embrace all transportation modes from ports to pipelines. In addition to Ridge and Mineta, other top federal officials and experts in emergency preparedness briefed task force members. They included Michael Brown, deputy director and general counsel, Federal Emergency Management Agency; Larry D. Thompson, deputy attorney general, U. S. Department of Justice; and Ruben Barrales, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Speaking on emergency preparedness issues were Patrick Libbey, president, National Association of County and City Health Officials; Chief Robert Full, Department of Emergency Services, Allegheny County, Pa.; Trina R. Hembree, executive director, National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and Elizabeth B. Armstrong, executive director, International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). The emotional highlight of the meeting came during presentations by Capt. Mark Penn, deputy coordinator, Emergency Services, Arlington County, Va. and Assistant Fire Chief James Short on the county’s emergency response to the attack on the Pentagon. Both men stressed the importance of preparation, mutual aid agreements, coordination and a unified command structure when faced with a major disaster. In conjunction with the meeting, NACo released the results of a recent survey on county emergency preparedness. Overall, the survey showed that major urban counties are well prepared to respond to domestic terrorism. All counties with a population greater than 1 million had terrorist response plans prior to Sept. 11. Eighty percent of those counties also have specific plans to deal with chemical warfare. In general, 94 percent of all counties surveyed have disaster plans in place that include all aspects of disaster mitigation and search and rescue operations. However, counties with populations below 10,000, the mostly rural areas of the country, reported the fewest number of terror response plans, with only 22 percent having specific emergency plans to deal with terrorist activities. Later in the day, task force members began considering a NACo policy agenda to support counties in security efforts and a plan to provide new homeland security-related programs and services to members. The group will meet Nov. 28 in Santa Fe County, N.M., and during the 2002 NACo Legislative Conference. (A complete report on NACo’s Homeland Security Task Force meeting will appear in the next issue of County News,) |
