Maine on alert to terror threat Baldacci downplays potential risk

AUGUSTA – Responding to national security officials’ having increased the terrorism alert level from yellow to orange, Gov. John E. Baldacci on Monday downplayed the potential danger in Maine, which shares a porous 611-mile border with Canada.

“All of this activity since 9-11 has caught us in a situation where we’re supposed to be moving forward, but we’re always looking over our shoulders as a people,” the governor said. “We’re prepared – as much as you can be prepared for anything – we are. At the same time, I want people to understand that they can’t let terrorism win, and the way they do that is when they stop doing what they like to do.”

Maj. Gen. Joseph Tinkham, adjutant general of the Maine Army and Air National Guard and the state’s commissioner of emergency management, emphasized there is no specific threat in Maine coinciding with the elevation of terrorist threats – the second time the “condition orange” level has been reached since Sept. 11, 2001. Red is the highest degree of alert, but security officials have yet to recommend the maximum readiness level.

Portland International Jetport holds the dubious distinction of being a point of departure for two al-Qaida terrorists who were among those involved in the World Trade Center disaster. Speculation persists that Maine was a possible entry point for terrorists slipping into the United States from Canada. Tinkham said, as far as he knows, those reports never have been verified. Although border crossings have been reinforced in Maine since the terrorist attacks, Tinkham acknowledged a level of vulnerability remains due to the remote locations of many unguarded entry points.

“There’s a lot of border out there and if someone really wanted to come across the border, I don’t think there’s much that we could do to stop that,” he said. “We also have a tremendously long coastline that you have to enter by sea, which is a little trickier. But we’ve really got some border issues. We always will have some border issues as long as we want to live in a free and open society. I don’t think we can really seal the border per se.”

Because of the potential risk of a terrorist attack, Dr. Dora Mills, head of the state’s Bureau of Health, maintains 3,100 smallpox vaccine doses at a secure location within the Bangor Air National Guard base. Nearly 50 public health workers will be vaccinated within two weeks and Mills said Monday up to 3,000 more health care workers will be vaccinated in March and April.

“We are also in the midst of training these health care workers on how to detect smallpox and treat people with smallpox,” she said.

Whether facing a terrorist threat or natural disaster, Mills said Maine families would be wise to maintain a home emergency kit that could provide sustenance for up to five days. A gallon of water per person per day is recommended and the state’s chief health officer said a stock of nonperishable foods that require no preparation should be kept on hand.

Detailed information on preparing a home emergency kit can be obtained at the American Red Cross Web site: http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/keepsafe/unexpected.

While stressing that neighbors shouldn’t start spying on their neighbors, Tinkham also said Mainers should be on the alert and report any suspicious behavior to local and county law enforcement agents.

He said he couldn’t define suspicious behavior but, “You sort of know it if you see it and if you’re uncomfortable with an activity that you notice in a vacant house down the street perhaps, then taking a moment to call the local police station and just letting them know what was seen is something that the average citizen could do.

“Short of that, we don’t feel like we need to be out there spying on our neighbors and we’re not trying to profile anyone,” Tinkham said.