Homeland readiness necessary on all fronts

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, local and state governments across the nation have been scrambling to determine their preparedness should the unspeakable occur in their jurisdictions.

Following President Bush's lead in naming Tom Ridge as national homeland security director, Missouri Gov. Bob Holden has chosen retired Army colonel Timothy Daniel, a former strategist at the Pentagon and Army Corps of Engineers, to review the state's emergency response plans.

The state isn't starting from scratch.

When terrorists crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Missouri followed a plan. Gov. Holden headed immediately to the State Emergency Management Agency's command center near Jefferson City.

Within two hours the state's emergency management system was in operation.

Law officers and military personal were put on alert, security was stepped up at government buildings and nuclear plants, and the Health Department and American Red Cross prepared a response.

Missourians since have be told that the state's Health Department created a bioterrorism and emergency response unit two years ago and recently began making regular calls to sites statewide to detect any early health symptoms of biological or chemical agents.

Closer to home, Cape Girardeau officials have learned that being considered a model disaster-resistant city under its Project Impact program doesn't go far in being prepared for and responding to an attack by terrorists.

The city undertook Project Impact, a national effort sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in 1998.

But much of Cape Girardeau's $500,000 grant was spent on disaster prevention that included installation of sensors under bridges to gauge flash flooding, an emergency backup generator at the waste-water treatment plant and an emergency shut-off valve on its largest water-storage tank.

Those actions were considered priorities since the biggest threats to the city are flooding, tornadoes and a major earthquake along the New Madrid Fault -- and still are.

But the events of Sept. 11 changed everything and demand that Cape Girardeau's attention be turned to establishing a plan for handling terrorist attacks.

While emergency response plans are in place for other disasters, none specifically addresses terrorist attacks.

We can assume that any terrorist attack would be aimed at metropolitan cities or places of national significance, but those are not guarantees.

In this war against terrorism, anything is possible, and it is imperative that this nation, from the smallest city government to the federal level, be prepared for the unthinkable.