Agencies respond to increased terrorist threat level

Federal agencies put action plans into effect Monday in response to an increased national threat level, but some officials said heightened security requirements create budget and personnel burdens for their agencies.

Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge announced Sunday that the national threat level had been raised from code yellow to code orange, or high, for the fourth time since Sept. 2001.

"All federal departments and agencies are implementing action plans in response to the increase in the threat level," Ridge said.

Such plans vary by agency. For example, the Transportation Security Administration implemented five new security steps at the nation's airports. The FBI ordered its 56 field offices to keep their command centers open 24 hours a day. The Federal Air Marshal Service increased the number of armed guards flying on domestic flights. The Pentagon increased air patrols and deployed anti-aircraft batteries around Washington. And the Coast Guard increased the number of air and sea patrols.

Federal officials said their agencies were meeting the heightened security requirements, but some cited budget and personnel concerns.

For example, the National Park Service spent $2 million on overtime pay and pier diem allowances when the national threat level was raised in September 2002, said spokesman David Barna. Most of that cost came from temporarily reassigning park rangers in the western United States to places that might be targets of attack, such as the Washington Monument. This time, the agency is limiting the number of rangers it reassigns to 100 or less, but still expects to spend about $1 million extra, Barna said.

"We're not being reimbursed for this from Homeland Security," Barna said. "We have to come up with an extra million and that's got to come from somewhere else in our budget."

Another federal official who asked not to be identified said increased threat levels "definitely" place a burden on agencies, and said his organization is evaluating how best to spend its resources. However, he emphasized that security is a top priority no matter what the cost.

"Let's worry about security first, and worry about the resources later," he said.

Some federal agencies find it easier to meet heightened security requirements than others.

For example, the Transportation Security Administration had already given federal security directors at the nation's airports discretion to take steps to deal with increased passenger and baggage flow for during the holiday season.

"We were already prepared to have people volunteer for overtime and extend shifts, so it didn't have as much of an impact as it would have otherwise," said TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.

In response to the new threat level, TSA has asked airports to conduct random vehicle inspections, coordinate with local law enforcement to increase patrols at and around the airports, deploy bomb-sniffing K-9 dog units to check bags, increase parking restrictions and make announcements reminding the public of the alert.

The agency has not issued any changes to its passenger or baggage screening process, but security directors have the option of requiring overtime and restricting or canceling leave for screeners during the holidays, Kayser said. He did not provide an estimate of how much extra money TSA spends when the national threat level is increased.

The FBI has ordered all of its 56 field offices to keep their command centers open 24 hours a day to follow up on tips, said spokesman Paul Bresson. Other than that, the FBI is maintaining normal operations.

"We're not doing anything differently; we're just doing more of it," Bresson said. "We have 24-hour command posts set up all over the country. We are working closely with all state and local agencies. And we're going to be following up on every tip."

Because some agencies have worked in close cooperation for more than a year now, they don't have to scramble to respond to increased threat alerts, said Lt. Col. Rod Garza, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command. He said NORAD has increased the number of air patrols over U.S. cities in response to the alert, but works with other federal agencies on a daily basis regardless of the threat level.

"We have taken certain measures," he said. "Anytime the level changes, we take the appropriate actions. However, when it comes to defending the homeland, we're defending it everyday."

The United States last raised the terrorism threat level to orange on May 20, after suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. That alert lasted 10 days before the threat level was returned to yellow. Other orange alerts occurred in 2002 around the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and in Feb. 2003 on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.