Dyersburg's Bobby Williamson, who heads the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, and U.S. Congressman Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis share common ground on one political issue. Both men want a major overhaul of Homeland Security undertaken on the federal and state levels, and they want it to happen soon, before another terrorist attack on U.S. soil generates a flurry of panicked policy decisions in Washington and Nashville.Their mutual concerns were underscored on Thursday when a series of four explosions rocked the London subway system in England and tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour. The terrorist attacks claimed the lives of at least 37 people and more than 700 were wounded.
"Something like this will happen in the U.S. There will be another successful terrorist attack in America just like there was in England yesterday," Williamson said. "We don't need to be making policies when everyone is in a panic. That is how the wrong decisions are made. We need to develop a strategy for securing our homeland right now, while we still have time."
Ford couldn't agree more. "What we are doing right now is wholly inadequate," he told the State Gazette in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
Frustrated by what he perceives as a lack of focus in Washington on the issue of Homeland Security, Ford has been pushing hard for Tennessee to develop a comprehensive model he would be able to promote on a national stage.
In May, Ford hosted a first-of-its-kind meeting on Homeland Security in the FedEx Center auditorium on the University of Memphis campus. Over 200 men and women representing law enforcement, the medical community, city and county governments and fire departments across Tennessee attended. The conference provided them an opportunity to air their grievances on the subject of terrorism preparedness from the national to the local levels and to give Ford practical suggestions for a bill he had authored in the House of Representatives that would force the Department of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive, long-term strategy. Williamson served as a panel member during the daylong conference representing chiefs of police across the state.
At that conference, retired Maj. Gen. Jerry Humble USMC, who had directed the Governor's Office of Homeland Security since January 2003, announced that he was leaving the position. A permanent replacement has yet to be announced by Gov. Phil Bredesen.
Williamson and Ford commended Humble and his staff for their efforts in developing the district concept that is used in Tennessee. The state's cities and counties are organized into a dozen contiguous regions where the various police, fire and medical departments assume specific districtwide duties. Dyer County is in Northwest Tennessee District 9. The district includes Dyer, Lake, Obion, Henry, Weakley, Benton, Crockett, Gibson and Carroll counties. The Dyersburg Fire Department has been designated as the Level 3 hazardous materials response unit for the district, and the Dyersburg Police Department maintains a well-trained Special Response Team for districtwide service.
Williamson expressed concern, however, at the unequal gains between the different districts. Ford blamed that problem largely upon the fact that there is no discernible metric to guide government leaders as they seek grants for training and equipment. At present, the districts are largely on their own as they try to determine what would be best in their areas.
Ford complained that a coherent strategy for Homeland Security should actually be coming from the federal government along with the financial resources to accomplish goals, but that is not happening at present. Because there are huge disparities between states and local governments as to financial resources, there has been a natural hesitancy within many districts to move ahead without guidance from above.
Pointing to the very successful Quadrennial Defense Review used by the Department of Defense where the military brings in outside specialists to assess its capabilities, progress and future needs, Ford wants the Department of Homeland Security to have a similar review process. But for that to occur it must first have a long-term plan that can be assessed, and he claims that is simply not in place at present.
"It has been almost four years since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, and the Department of Homeland Security has yet to develop a coherent plan or strategy to execute its mission," Ford stated. "Rather than acting haphazardly and hoping that cities and states spend their money effectively, we need to develop a plan of what we want to have happen and where we want to be in four or five years."
Ford went on to say that he believed Gen. Humble and the governor's office had a good concept, but it was dependent upon a large number of federal dollars coming into the state.
Ford said, "We will continue to go after the federal dollars but we need a plan for how to best spend the money to benefit the districts. We need to set a base standard for Homeland Security. In other words, here is how many hospital beds or Haz-Mat suits you need for a town your size. If local governments want to go beyond that standard, great, but here is the minimum you should have for a city of this or that size."
Instead, the federal government is trying to "read the minds of the terrorists," Ford stated. Both the House and the Senate versions of spending bills related to Homeland Security allocate funds to states and cities where there is a greater perceived threat of a terrorist attack.
"I understand the need to prioritize, but it is hard for me to come home and tell my constituents their lives are less important than someone in New York City," Ford said. "We shouldn't have to scrape money together to protect ourselves while we're giving huge tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our nation."
District heads in Tennessee are left in the difficult position of having to read the minds of their leaders in Washington, and the signals they are getting are mixed at best.
"Many of them got back to me after the Memphis meeting and shared with me that they didn't understand how their areas would fare either under the House or Senate bills," Ford explained. Thus, many tended to take a wait-and-see attitude rather than being proactive. The needs of local crime prevention simply outweighed the more distant possibility of terrorism.
The state's police chiefs want more than just goals and grants. They are seeking a major shift in direction for Homeland Security nationwide, moving it from a military to a law enforcement model.
Williamson said his group is lobbying Bredesen to appoint a person to the state office of Homeland Security who has a background in law enforcement.
"Some guy wants to pick up a gun and go shoot somebody in our town," Williamson said. "Or, he wants to make a bomb to blow up somebody's house. The Dyersburg Police Department wants to catch that man before he commits either of those crimes and put him in jail. That is called crime prevention. It is what law enforcement officers are trained to do. Stopping terrorists is about crime prevention. That is why we want the governor to appoint someone with a law enforcement background to that post -- someone the chiefs of police and sheriffs in the state have confidence in and can work closely with on a day-to-day basis. We don't want to be cleaning up after a terrorist incident. We want to stop it before it happens."
Ford said he had heard nothing from the governor's office regarding his selection for the state Homeland Security chief. "The governor and I have not had a discussion on this matter. I believe the analysis provided by the police association is on point. We need someone who is respected by law enforcement across the state and who has vision and management skills."
Once Bredesen appoints a new department head, Ford said he would begin to work with that person toward a more cohesive Homeland Security plan. He said his priorities would be as follows:
* Develop a standard that lays out clearly what is expected from the districts;
* Improve information gathering and sharing between Washington, Nashville and local agencies;
* Determine the long-term costs and develop a financing plan to achieve the goals;
* Equip the districts with the manpower and tools they need to complete their missions; and
* Work toward establishing a statewide medical corps modeled along the same lines as the National Guard to handle an emergency.
Ford represents the 9th District in the House of Representatives and is running for the Senate seat that is being vacated by the retirement of Bill Frist, R-Tenn, the Senate Majority Leader.
From: The Dyersburg State Gazette
