Eight years after Islamic death squads slammed a hijacked plane into the Pentagon, security experts are worried that government leaders and the public are losing their focus on protecting the D.C. region from disaster.
“I think there is a bit of a disruption here,” said Bill Pickle, former sergeant-at-arms of the Senate. “I still think that there is some complacency not just among the bureaucrats and the politicians, but I think complacency sets in the security agencies, too.”
Nine months into his administration, for instance, President Obama still hasn’t appointed directors of the Transportation Security Administration or the Customs and Border Patrol, Pickle said.
James Carafano, a security expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he could see an “upside” to official complacency.
“There’s a lot less silliness. People aren’t doing stupid, bumper-sticker things to show they have homeland security credentials,” Carafano said. “The downside, of course, is that we have to be really cautious about losing our focus on terrorism.”
Closer to home, the picture is blurry. On the one hand, most police and rescue agencies have finally synchronized their communications systems. On the other hand, there are still turf battles. Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Congress passed legislation urging the thirty-some police agencies in and around D.C. to work our agreements detailing a coordinated response to a disaster. Only a handful have been signed.
“The fact that we don’t have a coherent and well-understood plan on how we will handle various situations is troubling,” said Kris Baumann, chairman of the D.C. police union. “I have a real concern that not only the public but some in law enforcement to allow the lapse of time to dull the edge that we once had about terrorism and potential attacks.”
Despite the hundreds of millions of public dollars — including $58 million in fiscal 2009 alone — dumped into the region since Sept. 11 attacks, there have been embarrassing gaffes by the region’s public safety leaders.
» In 2008, the D.C. police department, hearing reports of a gunman approaching the Capitol, rushed to their safe to get assault rifles. The safe, it turned out, was broken and the weapons remained safe from the officers.
» Earlier this year, the Montgomery County fire department paid more than $250,000 to settle a lawsuit by whistleblower Lewis German, who had reported publicly that the department’s ultraexpensive fire suits had been gathering dust for years.
» Metro officials continue to ward off public anger over the agency’s handling of a deadly June crash.
» In 2008, the U.S. Park Service discovered dangerous amounts of arsenic in an upper Northwest park. No one at city hall was available to take the call, so the public found out about it 14 hours later.
The capital still lacks a comprehensive evacuation plan, for instance. Regional officials have gone to the drawing board several times since the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The money is always chasing the last big incident, rather than the next one,” said Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for the nonprofit advocacy group, Citizens Against Government Waste.
David Robertson is the executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government. He says that regional leaders deserve more credit than most analysts are granting.
“I can tell you that those folks have not grown complacent,” he said. “Are we better prepared? The answer I would give is yes. But there is always a caveat. It’s always an all-hazards approach.”
Cato Institute analyst Christopher Preble said that government leaders have to do a better job of communicating with the public. Civilians, after all, are on the front lines, Preble said.
“The fight against terrorism has been cast as a military problem. I think that was a mistake,” he said. “The key area where the government can play a role is in disseminating information, in a timely way.”
