A Local Viewpoint for Federal Task Force

Sheriff Michael S. Carona, who was appointed last week to advise President Bush’s Homeland Security Task Force, said he intends to push for strong coordination between the federal and local fight against terrorism.

Carona, one of 14 officials across the nation selected to be advisors, said his experience in local law enforcement will give homeland security leaders in Washington a good perspective on how their policies are felt at the community level.

One of his top goals, he said, is to persuade the federal government to provide additional training to police and emergency services personnel so they can develop preventive programs as well as deal with acts of terrorism.

He said he wants to see a national strategy that can be implemented at the local level.

“If it’s so far out there, others can’t use it either,” said Carona, who attended his first meeting in Washington last week.

For example, he said, the county has a new 800-megahertz radio communications system, but it doesn’t connect with officials in other parts of the country and would not be useful during a nationwide emergency.

Carona said that, for a plan to work on a national scope, the federal government would have to share resources, including access to public health response teams in case of biological or chemical emergency.

“The beauty of the advisory council is to examine the best practices across America and recommend the best ones,” Carona said.

He said he opposes use of funding from local law enforcement and fire agencies to fight terrorism.

“You don’t take a cop off the street to fight terrorism,” Carona said. “This should be done with new dollars, not at the expense of programs that have been developed and work.”

He also said he wants the money invested in homeland security distributed evenly.