As the state’s Homeland Security Planning Conference heads into its fourth and final day, the many speakers have reiterated a few central points: Terrorism can take many forms and can happen anywhere; effectively preventing or responding to this amorphous threat requires cooperation at all levels of government; the public must not become complacent. The conference, co-sponsored by Gov. King and the Maine National Guard, will conclude with the formulation of a vision statement for Maine’s security future.

The overall plan, then, seems to be to deter terrorism with a protective shield of generalities.

Homeland security is important. That was made horrifyingly clear on Sept. 11 and eight months of official dithering have done nothing to diminish its importance. But you don’t have to pack 80 local, state and federal officials in a National Guard Armory for four days to figure out that real progress on a few key issues must not be stalled just because there is no way to stop some disaffected college kid from planting pipe bombs in mailboxes.

Maine’s few key issues are two major airports, three cargo ports, a handful of power plants, a couple of dozen municipal water supplies and a 611-mile border with Canada. Other than added inconvenience and delay, there is no appreciable improvement in airport security anywhere in the country – grievous lapses hardly make the news anymore. The vulnerability of the nation’s cargo ports has been noted – repeatedly. Even at the peak of post-Sept. 11 anxiety, Maine could not see fit to provide extra security at its closed but still potentially dangerous nuclear power plant and water works still can’t get an extra night watchman. As the conferees met, it was learned that the International Boundary Commission, the federal agency actually charged with clearing the U.S.-Canada border of brush so surveillance can see, remains, as it has for decades, without the money to do the job. The call for seamless cooperation between law-enforcement, emergency and health workers at all levels comes as Maine enters its second decade of arguing about regional dispatching.

The governor and many legislators have chided the federal government relentlessly for being slow and stingy in helping with the cost of homeland security. This chiding might have more impact if the governor had put his urgent $10-million security plan in the budget he presented to the Legislature early this year instead of in a bond question that won’t go to voters until November. The Legislature could have helped, too, by not cutting the governor’s $10 million bond for comprehensive improvements to a paltry $540,000 for courthouse metal detectors. Similarly, the governor’s pressing need to turn State House security over to better-trained state police was given up without a fight once the talk turned to money.

For the vast majority of Americans, including Mainers, homeland security is a concrete issue that deserves real action – quick identification of the most likely targets and immediate steps to prevent attack or to deal with the consequences. Instead, it is being treated as just another intellectual exercise for government theoreticians – like urban sprawl or tax reform, an issue fit only for wise musings and sage observations. The public is not becoming complacent, merely accustomed.