Washington state and its cities, ports, counties, hospitals and businesses have been allocated at least $462 million in federal funds for homeland security in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Nearly half the money – about $210 million – is being spent at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which handles more than 28 million passengers a year.
“We do live in a target-rich environment in the Northwest,” Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, commander of the Washington National Guard and the lead state official in charge of overseeing homeland security efforts, was quoted as saying Saturday in The News Tribune of Tacoma.
There are no intelligence reports that suggest a regional attack is imminent. But thousands of government workers have spent the past three years assessing where the state is most vulnerable and how to respond to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive attacks.
The effort has cost millions as local governments acquire patrol boats, satellite telephones, “moon suits” and other protective clothing for first responders – police, firefighters, hospital and utility workers, and public works crews.
The main sources for federal funds are the Office of Homeland Security, the Office for Domestic Preparedness and the Transportation Security Administration. The state also receives money for homeland security efforts from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.
Most of the money is earmarked for equipment, planning and training, not personnel. Much of the focus has been on improving security and communications among agencies, utilities, hospitals and private business.
“You can have all the staff in the world, but if you don’t have the right equipment, they won’t do you much good,” said T. Dave Chavez Jr., manager of the Seattle Police Department’s research grant unit. “We’re basically in a ramping-up period, and we’ll stay that way for about three or four years.”
Chavez was involved in planning Seattle’s purchase of two police boats and two fireboats to patrol area waters. They should be in place by mid-2005. He’s also working to improve communication links among emergency agencies in Pierce, King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties.
“We’re talking about the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing,” he said.
That was one of the lessons learned from the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. Communication gaps prevented New York’s fire and police departments from coordinating their efforts.
Although virtually every part of the state is getting some homeland-security money, most of it is going to the Puget Sound region.
Up north, The Bellingham Herald reports, the government has been beefing up security along the U.S.-Canada border. The buildup has created up to 200 federal jobs and added high-tech equipment and boats, planes and helicopters to catch people trying to enter the country illegally. The northern border’s first Air Marine Branch of the Homeland Security Department opened in Bellingham in August.
Federal homeland security grants also pay for disaster-planning exercises, which – like most of the preparedness efforts – serve more than one purpose.
“By building a plan to respond to a flu pandemic, we’re also building a response to anthrax, botulism, plague and smallpox,” spokesman Donn Moyer with the state Health Department told The News-Tribune.
“If you’re ready for an earthquake, you’re probably ready for a terrorist event, and vice versa,” said Eric Holdeman, director of King County’s Emergency Management Services.
For citizens, that means having food and water for three days, a radio, batteries, a flashlight and a safe room in the home.
Public awareness and education will be among the next steps of the homeland security campaign, which likely will begin next year.
“People who live here don’t think of themselves as being in the bull’s-eye as Washington, D.C., and New York City might be,” Holdeman said. Or they feel there’s no point in such preparations, “and that’s not true.”
Seattle is creating a neighborhood network of 400 teams so residents can help each other, said Susan Stoltzfus, the city’s coordinator for emergency information. That effort began long before the terrorist attack.
“It’s not the event that causes most of the damage,” Stoltzfus said. “It’s the panic. And the best antidote for panic is preparation and information.”
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