Wider Security Effort Urged

The Bush administration’s homeland security strategy is too narrowly focused on preventing a recurrence of the Sept. 11 attacks while paying little attention to new forms of terrorism, a prominent research group concluded Tuesday in one of the most sweeping assessments of the new policy to date.

The Brookings Institution warned that security measures have been geared toward airline hijackings and anthrax, while failing to address methods of destruction yet unseen in the United States, from lethal bioterrorism in the air ducts of major buildings to hazardous materials slipped in on uninspected cargo ships.

“It thus concentrates on the ‘last war’ rather than the possible next one,” a team of seven Brookings scholars concluded, referring to the administration’s $38-billion budget plan for homeland security. “The danger is that the nation will pursue a somewhat scattershot approach to countering terrorism without a broader strategic framework.”

Overall, the Washington-based think tank warned that the plan put forth by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge does more to guard such prime targets as subways and sports arenas than to protect the nation at large. Vulnerable sites are plentiful, and focusing on a few leaves others susceptible. That could result in billions spent on a plan that does not significantly reduce the risk of mass casualties or economic damage.

“Even if significant resources are dedicated to protect some sites, terrorists can shift their efforts toward less-protected ones,” the report said, adding: “Nonetheless, an effective homeland security strategy can substantially complicate the efforts of any terrorist group....Good homeland security is far from hopeless.”

The report called for expanded security measures, including:

* Better protection of the nation’s borders. While air security and immigration controls have increased since the attacks on New York and Virginia, tons of cargo stream into the nation’s ports daily without inspection.

* Upgraded databases to warn of known or suspected terrorists. Although intelligence and law enforcement agencies are working to share information, government technology has failed to move far enough or fast enough. Data should be available to universities, airlines and immigration services, and all branches of government.

* Broader domestic protection to stop terrorists who might already be in the country. The study advocated a substantial increase in FBI counter-terrorism staffing with better surveillance, including national identity cards or face-recognition technology.

* Greater efforts to prevent bio-terrorism using the ventilation systems of buildings, subways and stadiums.

Much of the report overlaps measures already under review by the Bush administration. At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended a request for more money this year to pay for better border security and public address systems.

The Brookings report faulted Bush’s $38-billion budget request as too low, concluding that it would take as much as $45 billion a year for the job--about 15% of defense aspending. To offset the cost, it suggested scaling back the proposed increase in defense spending or freezing some planned tax cuts.