Terror Panel Fears Complacency

The United States has made progress in its efforts to beef up defenses against terrorism, a federal commission reported Monday as it warned against complacency in the absence of any attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

“The momentum appears to have waned,” the panel said in its fifth and final report, expressing concern that there may be a “perception of enhanced security that causes the nation to become complacent about the many critical actions still required.”

The commission, headed by former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore, called for a sustained effort to strengthen homeland security that would not be subject to the “ebb and flow” of other events, such as an influenza outbreak, the California wildfires or the capture of Saddam Hussein.

“The fact that we have captured Saddam Hussein doesn’t mean that we can rest on the homeland security front,” Gilmore said. “This is going to be a long battle.”

Established two years before the Sept. 11 attacks, the 17-member panel -- frequently called the Gilmore commission -- is formally known as the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The commission said that while the creation of the Department of Homeland Security has improved the nation’s readiness, much more needs to be done, including better coordination with local and state officials.

“Although the nation better understands the threats it faces ... the panel is concerned that the momentum, which accelerated full force following the Sept. 11 attacks, may have been interrupted, that scarce resources may not be prioritized and applied most effectively, that fragmentation continues to hamper efforts for better coordination across all levels of government and with the private sector,” said the report, which was prepared with the assistance of Santa Monica-based Rand Corp.

George Foresman, the commission’s vice chairman and deputy director of the Virginia Office of Commonwealth Preparedness, said one of the major challenges is: “Who’s looking at the big picture?”

The Department of Homeland Security came into existence in January, the product of a massive government reorganization aimed at strengthening anti-terror defenses.

But the commission found significant problems of coordination in the new department, which amalgamated 22 disparate government agencies, and recommended that the national strategy be directed by a White House entity -- perhaps the Homeland Security Council -- with “clear authority over the homeland security budgets and programs throughout the federal government.”

“You’ve got to have the imprimatur of the executive office of the president in order to get all these folks to the table and occasionally knock heads and get agreement on some of these things,” Foresman said.

In a potentially important recommendation for California, the commission urged that further study be done on the formula used for providing homeland security funds to local and state government, saying it should not be based on population alone.

California officials have been pushing to change one of the key formulas, which gives California less per capita for homeland security than Wyoming. Under the current formula, every state, regardless of size, gets a large chunk of the money; the remainder is distributed based on population. California officials say the funding should be based on such factors as which regions face the greater threats and have critical infrastructure.

The commission also noted that while it is critical to improve homeland security, it is equally important to preserve civil liberties.

“As more terrorist attacks occur,” the report said, “the pressure will rise to lessen civil liberties.... Governments must look ahead at the unintended consequences of policies in the quiet of the day instead of the crisis of the moment.”

Gilmore, a former national Republican Party chairman, said that the commission’s comments were not aimed at the Bush administration. Some of the administration’s domestic security policies -- including its use of the USA Patriot Act, legislation passed by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that gave law enforcement officials new authority to monitor and pursue suspected terrorists -- have been assailed as an abuse of government power by groups as diverse as the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Conservative Union.

“Freedom and security must coexist equally,” Gilmore said.

The commission called on the president to create an independent, bipartisan oversight board to review the effect of homeland security decisions on personal freedoms, especially in light of the government’s reliance on sophisticated technology that has vast potential to invade personal privacy.

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, a Democratic presidential contender who helped push for creation of the Department of Homeland Security, said in response to the commission report: “Despite the best efforts of the administration’s public relations department, this report, like so many before it, confirms what many of us in Congress have known for months: The nation is not as prepared for a terrorist attack as it should be.”