U.S. Unprepared for Attack, Panelists Say

Even months after Sept. 11, America is still not fully equipped to deal with the problem of large-scale terrorism within its borders, a panel of experts in domestic preparedness told an ARCO Forum audience yesterday.

Government officials have struggled in the area of fighting terrorism because it is a subject with which America is largely unfamiliar, suggested the panel’s moderator, Ashton B. Carter.

Carter is the Ford Foundation professor of science and international affairs at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

The panelists largely agreed with Carter’s sentiments.

One factor that hinders emergency response is the current lack of integration between federal, state and local authorities, argued Arnold M. Howitt, who is executive director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at KSG.

“Right now there is a lot of jockeying between different agencies at different levels of government,” Howitt said. “At the moment, public health officials and police are simply not thinking about the same issues in the same way.”

Massachusetts Director of Security Richard Swenson suggested that similar challenges exist in organizing domestic preparedness within branches of government as well as across them. Swenson argued for more efficient and targeted allocation of limited government resources at the state level for terrorism response and prevention.

“In the event of a biological attack, we need to make sure that someone has stockpiled vaccines and someone is going to give the vaccinations,” said Swenson.

The situation is no better at the local level, said Anita Barry, who is the director of communicable disease control for the Boston Public Health Commission.

Barry said local officials still do not appreciate that they are in a unique position to detect and stymie acts of terror before they even occur.

“Surveillance begins at the level of the night watchman,” Barry said.

But the U.S. should not lose sight of the rule of law even as it addresses shortcomings in its response to terrorism, cautioned Juliette N. Kayyem, who is the executive director of KSG’s Executive Session on Domestic Preparedness.

Kayyem urged careful consideration of the legal implications of fighting terrorism as it would fight an actual war—especially given what she said was the expanded powers exercised by government during war.

Members of the audience said they believed the panel served an important need.

“We’re doing the thinking necessary so in a time of crisis, we can go right into a response mode,” said Campbell Murray, who is a first-year KSG student.