Ridge praises capital region's partnership on security

The joint homeland security efforts of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia should serve as an example for other states looking to build their own homeland security plans, Secretary Tom Ridge said at a Tuesday security briefing.

The District and its surrounding states have fostered a "sense of mission, a sense of neighborliness and a sense of region," Ridge said outside a downtown D.C. fire station. He was on hand with D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and former Virginia Lt. Gov. John Hager to commemorate the one-year anniversary of a security summit that was intended to increase coordination in the nation's capital region. Hager is now the assistant to Gov. Mark Warner for commonwealth preparedness.

Hager said the effort has "evolved into a great example of coordination and community." Steele added: "This joint partnership ... has amounted to something greater than a federal program. It's regional cooperation, an incubator for the rest of the nation."

The program, dubbed "Commitments to Action," highlights eight focal points, from terrorism prevention and decision-making to infrastructure and communication. "Commitments" is part of a broader urban-area security initiative designed to enhance the effectiveness of "first responders" to emergencies and public-safety officials.

With funds granted through the initiative, homeland security officials in Virginia, Maryland and the District completed a risk, capabilities and needs assessment that developed into a security strategy for their urban region.

Williams said the region's "collective efforts" have led to a pilot program set to start in September that will allow the states to share criminal justice information. It is important to "form partnerships ... on the local level," he said.

"Terrorism doesn't have only local implications, it has regional implications," Ridge added. [These] mutual efforts are the best thing we can do until we as a nation across the board are as strong as we can be."

Ridge also addressed the recent warning that terrorists might try to use electronic devices to conceal explosives while using air travel. "We have very specific information on an international effort to secure information [on electronic devices]," he said. "It's one of those examples we get with information that's [reliable]."

Ridge said Homeland Security was made aware of terrorist experiments involving cameras and computers, though he added that there is "no evidence they've actually used them."

"This underscores that [terrorists] will be ... persistent in going over the added layers of security," he said of the latest warning.