Paying for security

Sen. Olympia Snowe got quite an earful when she toured Maine this month to check on anti-terrorism efforts. She found county and municipal officials and other civic leaders eager to keep on preparing for the worst. But they need instruction, equipment, better communications – and money.

Meeting with local leaders at eight community sessions around the state, she found them deeply concerned about possible future attacks, stressed out from their efforts since Sept. 11, and calling for federal help to keep going. They will be waiting some weeks, if not months, longer as the Departments of Commerce, State and Justice process state applications for funding. Sen. Susan Collins’ office, which has been monitoring the progress of these funds, says the states will be notified of their allocations “certainly by April and possibly much earlier.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s grant application

for assistance to firefighters is expected next week or early February.

The money is badly needed. For example, Bangor International Airport already has spent an additional $168,000 for increased police presence, plus further amounts for security screeners, gate security, administrative costs and a fingerprinting machine.

Officials said the airport’s annual costs would rise by more than $320,000 because of security demands and lower ticket sales. Eastern Maine Medical Center will need $500,000 to upgrade its Bangor complex to handle a major bioterrorism emergency.

At the Ellsworth round-table, Snowe heard about the threat to cruise ships visiting Bar Harbor, with no customs officials there much of the time. Commander Hank Haynes of the U.S. Coast Guard said he lacked resources for those and other possible terrorist attacks. He said that even with the help of reservists he could maintain a high-alert security level for only about three weeks at a time. He added, “If you run them too long, they’re no good to you even if they’re out there.”

Most communities need better coordination with the federal government, additional training for emergencies, and funding for such necessities as sending police and fire employees for training and paying for their replacements in their absence.

Sen. Snowe, reporting her findings to Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, said National Guard help promised in December by Attorney General John Ashcroft to patrol the U.S.-Canadian border is still not in place. Officials in Washington and Aroostook counties had told her that border patrol and customs agents were working shifts of 12 hours or more seven days a week. Twice, National Guard troops were deployed but then were recalled because of lack of funding.

She told Mr. Ridge that Augusta alone had spent more than $100,000 on homeland security since Sept. 11, and Cumberland County estimates that Portland and other communities have spent more than $1 million since the attacks. Overall state totals are not yet available of amounts already spent and needed for the future. Although Congress has appropriated $40 billion, the only federal funding Maine has received is a Maine National Guard allocation for airport security and an earlier $1.4 million grant from the Department of Justice.

The contradiction here is obvious: While the federal government expects the states to be ready instantly to deal with terrorism, federal agencies act as if the money for this readiness is no more crucial than community development funds for new street lights.

Is the nation in a state of emergency or is this only a bureaucratic exercise?