Protecting Connecticut

Friday, May 5, 2006

By Scott Bates, CNP Online

????????, 2005

Connecticut is about to lose millions of dollars in desperately needed funds to strengthen our security. If current plans are approved, homeland security funds for Connecticut will be reduced by over 80% from just two years ago. The decisions being made in Washington today could cripple our ability to respond to every kind of crises from hurricanes to terrorist attacks tomorrow.

The political appointees at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are preparing to cut Connecticut from the list of areas that receive funds under the Urban Area Security Initiative. The reason? The Department believes that Connecticut is not a priority.

It’s true. That is the reasoning that comes from the very people who lost New Orleans on their watch because of the botched preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. Connecticut, they say, is not sufficiently vulnerable to terrorist attack. But how would they know?

Since its creation in 2002, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been mandated by law to produce what is called a “threat-vulnerability analysis”. The idea is simple. First, make a list of potential terrorist targets throughout America and rank them in order of vulnerability. That is how you decide what sites to protect with limited resources.

But four and a half years after the attacks of September 11th, the Department of Homeland Security has still not accomplished this most basic of all tasks necessary for the protection of our nation. If the Department of Homeland Security does not have a comprehensive list of the most vulnerable targets in America, how can they decide what to defend first? How can they decide how much to spend in each state? How can they possibly say that Connecticut should get cut off from the Urban Area Security Initiative?

In Connecticut for example, we have nuclear power plants, a nuclear submarine base, large ports and a major base for the Homeland Security Department’s most important force, the U.S. Coast Guard. Are these not potential targets of terrorist attack?

In Connecticut we will be called on to provide response and relief in a future crisis in New York or Boston. Our hospitals need to build surge capacity, our first responders need the training and equipment to be able to protect not just Connecticut but serve as a strategic ready reserve for our neighbors in Boston and our family members who work in New York.

President Bush reminds us often that we are a nation at war, and I believe he is right. That is why the Department of Homeland Security must finish its threat/vulnerability assessment now. That is why we must not be in the business of cutting funds for homeland security. President Bush needs to let us know that he is as serious about protecting Connecticut as he is about re-building Iraq.

Do we believe that our shores are once again impervious to attack? Do we believe that Al-Qaeda have given up? It is important for us to remember that the first attack on the World Trade Centers was in 1993. The next and more devastating blow was delivered eight years later. Osama Bin Ladin is evil, but he and his fellow terrorists are also cold, calculating and patient. They will be back, and we must be ready.

Four and a half years after the attacks of September 11th , Osama bin Ladin still survives, the Taliban re-group in Afghanistan and new terrorists are training for future strikes in what has become a live fire exercise in Iraq. The war on terror shows little signs of ending soon. We must be prepared for the long haul.

To win the war on terror we will need an effective and targeted offense against these terrorists. Just as surely, we will need a strong defense to protect America in what will most certainly be a struggle that will be with us for years to come. That means strengthening, not cutting, support for homeland security.

When the submarine base in Groton was threatened with closure, eastern Connecticut’s community, business and political leaders united for the purpose of saving the base. We joined together to save the base to keep our jobs. It is time that we reassembled “Team Connecticut” to ensure that we get the resources we need to be prepared to save ourselves and our neighbors from potential threats in an uncertain world.

Scott Bates is the former Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee. He is currently Vice-President of the Center for National Policy, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. He lives in Stonington, CT.