State, local officials seek federal help on homeland security

Local and state police and public health officials on Tuesday asked Congress to give them money and to change current law to help them protect communities from potential terrorist attacks. In two separate Senate hearings, representatives from police and mayoral offices, counties and the public health sector said they lack the resources and information to adequately do their jobs. "America is at war on two fronts, at home and abroad," Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley told the Senate Judiciary Administrative Oversight and the Courts Subcommittee. "If the two fronts were abroad, I have no doubt we would be rapidly sending resources to both fronts, but because one of the [fronts] is here at home, we aren't doing that." O'Malley testified in support of a bill, S. 1615, that would change current law to enable federal officials to share with local officials information gathered in intelligence work and from wiretaps and certain grand juries. Others who touted the bill included: New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik; Chuck Canterbury, the Fraternal Order of Police's national vice president; and John Greiner, president of the Utah Chief of Police Association. As an example of the problem current law poses, Kerik said that while the FBI knew about the anthrax letter sent to NBC studios in New York in late September, New York police were not told of the letter for more than a week after the FBI was contacted. "Public safety demands that it must be clear that there are no statutory barriers to sharing this type of information with state and local law enforcement authorities," he said. Subcommittee Chairman Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and cosponsor of S. 1615, vowed to move the bill as quickly as possible in early 2002. Meanwhile, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on the local role of homeland security, and almost a dozen officials--representing everyone from Arlington County, Va., to the U.S. Conference of Mayors--said the federal government is not providing adequate funding so state and local officials can train and maintain public officials to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. "Of the $10 billion federal terrorism budget, only 4.9 percent is allocated to state and local first-response activities ... to ensure that heightened security is maintained. We need ... targeted block-grant assistance," said Marc Morial, New Orleans mayor and president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "We are the domestic troops." Morial urged the Senate to pass a bill, S. 1737, that would authorize $3 billion in fiscal 2002 for target block grants to enable additional training, communications and rescue equipment, and security measures at airports, waterways, utility plants, transit stations and other infrastructure. Morial also urged better cooperation among federal, state and local agencies, and better exchanges of information.