From Foresight, Vol. 9, No. 4
published 2003
From the local to the global, the ninth annual conference of the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center considered the changes wrought by the specter of terrorism. Sponsored jointly by the NewCities Foundation, the one-day conference, "Living in a Changed World," explored post-9/11 realities for state and local governments, touching on a range of issues that are expected to affect the lives of all Americans in the months and years to come.
In addition to its partnership with the NewCities Foundation, the Center’s conference again featured a partnership with Kentucky Educational Television (KET), which filmed the full conference for programming. As in the two preceding years, Kentucky Tonight’s Bill Goodman also moderated a panel discussion. Following a stirring performance of the national anthem by Board member Senator Alice Forgy Kerr, Dr. Betty Griffin, Chair of the Center’s Board, welcomed those in attendance to what proved to be a provocative day of commentary and discussion.
The States After 9/11. The morning program featured a presentation by representatives of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the National Governors Association (NGA) moderated by Ron Carson.
NCSL’s Molly Stauffer who works with the Task Force for Protecting Democracy was the first presenter. The Task Force is a 26-member national panel of state legislators and staff that includes Kentucky Representative Mike Weaver, who participated in the conference as a member of the KET panel. The task force, whose members represent 24 states, has adopted a mission of coordinating resources among the states; sharing information, expertise, and advice; and strengthening citizen participation. A full report on its work is available at NCSL’s Web site: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/press/freedom/letsroll_02report.pdf.
Stauffer also detailed federal appropriations to Kentucky for homeland security initiatives and suggested a number of possible actions for state governments to consider, including:
• create a homeland security committee that is em- powered to maintain confidential proceedings;
• permit state government employees to take time off to train in certain health disciplines;
• examine requirements for drivers’ licenses;
• assess the vulnerability of 911 systems; and,
• develop an emergency transportation plan.
The NGA’s Kevin Shanley reported to the conference audience on executive-level state activities that have come in response to 9/11. They include:
• coordinating efforts by all levels of government;
• receiving and disseminating timely intelligence information;
• developing interoperable communications between first responders;
• identifying and protecting critical infrastructure;
• enhancing bioterrorism preparedness;
• providing funding;
• protecting sensitive security information;
• securing borders, airports, and seaports;
• defining the role of the National Guard in homeland security; and,
• integrating Incident Command Systems.
Information about NGA activities on homeland security is available on the Web at: http://www.nga.org.
Thinking Locally. Following the presentations about state-level actions, the conference turned to featured speaker Anthony Williams, Mayor of Washington, D.C., who has roots in Paducah, Kentucky, his mother’s birthplace, and has experienced the impact of terrorism firsthand. He now serves on a presidential advisory panel on homeland security.
Picture: Mayor Anthony Williams.
Mayor Williams engaged in a dialogue with NewCities Foundation President Sylvia Lovely about what the nation’s capital learned from the experience of 9/11 and how community life has been altered. While acknowledging that mistakes were made, Mayor Williams said key lessons enabled the city to better respond to subsequent threats, the anthrax attacks and the more recent sniper attacks, perhaps saving lives as a result.
Because Washington had created a command center for state, local, and regional agencies to handle large-scale protests in the capital prior to 9/11, it was better prepared to respond to the crash of an airliner into the Pentagon, said Mayor Williams. The situation was complicated, however, by massive traffic jams created when an estimated 200,000 people left the city.
Among the most important lessons learned from 9/11, Mayor Williams asserted, is that of making information available to the public as soon as possible. The hour between the terrorist attack on the Pentagon and communication with the citizens of the district was, in his estimate, too long. "You’ve got to get out there as quickly as possible with whatever information you have," Williams said. "That’s what the public expects and deserves."
Mayor Williams also stressed the importance of the average citizen, the real "first responder" to any emergency. The better informed and prepared they are, he suggested, the more likely that an emergency will be managed as effectively as possible. To that end, the city has created a citizen police corps to promote involvement. Participants assist police with traffic control, surveillance, and even issue minor tickets.
Washington, D.C., has also created an emergency action guide that has been widely disseminated. Williams showed the crowd a pocket-sized guide that he carries with him at all times. Lovely praised it as a model worthy of broad adoption.
The Global Picture. International terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman, a frequent commentator on NPR, the Lehrer NewsHour, and other national news programs, provided a global perspective on terrorism, observing that "al Qaida has clearly been weakened but its capacity to inflict pain remains intact." Indeed, he suggested that the success of the war in Afghanistan and homeland security efforts to combat terrorism likely account for al Qaida’s shift to "softer," more accessible targets where westerners can be attacked. At the same time, it appears that the core leadership of the group remains intact, successors are in place, and, at least theoretically, a vast army of trained recruits lies in wait. Further, al Qaida is, in Hoffman’s assessment, "a remarkably nimble, flexible, and adaptive entity."
Picture: Michael Childress greets Bruce Hoffman at the speaker's podium.
Hoffman attributed the success of the terrorist organization to its relatively flat hierarchy, which gives rise to both top-down strategies as well as bottom-up or entrepreneurial terrorism. Further, he suggested that these terrorists function at levels ranging from the professionalism of the 9/11 and U.S.S. Cole attacks to what he termed "local walk-ins" and others who simply share sympathies with the group. Also, Hoffman said that the "immense patience and careful planning" characteristic of al Qaida operations have contributed to its success.
Instead of asking what will happen next, Hoffman suggested that we should consider what has not happened, from radiological or biological attacks to mass, simultaneous attacks with conventional weapons. Ultimately, he asked, "Why haven’t terrorists yet realized their ‘killing potential?’"
Forced to change in response to U.S. actions, Hoffman said, terrorists must adapt and find ways to stay ahead of counterterrorism efforts, and deprived of physical sanctuaries and bases for training, they are likely to emphasize "virtual" equivalencies. The lessons from the anthrax attacks, Hoffman suggested, may be that, in addition to conventional warfare, terrorists will embrace new tactics, such as discrete attacks, dirty nuclear attacks that create prolonged contamination, or, possibly, cyberterrorism, purely for the psychological damage they inflict. Increasingly difficult to categorize, terrorist organizations also may loosen and even spawn freelancers who sympathize with their ideology.
A key lesson from 9/11, Hoffman noted, is that these terrorists observe our society closely to effectively exploit our vulnerabilities.
The Kentucky Perspective. The conference concluded with what is becoming an annual tradition, a KET panel discussion featuring a diverse group of Kentuckians, representing statewide as well as local interests and a wide range of expertise. Topics discussed by the panel included: the potential demographic shifts that could be triggered by reactions to terrorism; ways in which the state is addressing concerns about bioterrorism and its implications for public health and moving to protect the safety of farm crops; and the possible impact on economic development, Internet security, and state and local budgets, among other things.
Members of the panel were: Dr. Bill Brundage, Commissioner for the New Economy; Dr. Nancy Cox, Associate Dean, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture; Dr. Rice Leach, Commissioner, Department of Public Health; Ms. Sylvia Lovely, President, NewCities Foundation; Dr. Michael Price, State Demographer, University of Louisville; Dr. Jim Ramsey, then State Budget Director and now President of the University of Louisville; General Jim Shane, Executive Director, Kentucky Commission on Military Affairs; Senator Dan Seum, Co-Chair, Interim Joint Committee on Seniors, Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection; Aldona Valicenti, Chief Information Officer, Governor’s Office for Technology; and Representative Mike Weaver, Co-Chair, Interim Joint Committee on Seniors, Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection.
The focus of the Center’s recent conference on homeland security and its implications for the future was especially timely given the results of a recent public opinion poll conducted for the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center which found that citizens of the Commonwealth rank communities that are safe and caring places as the most important goal for the state’s future in the wake of 9/11. While the goal has ranked in the top three in all three biennial surveys for the Center’s Visioning Kentucky’s Future project, the most recent poll results saw a decided shift away from larger goals, such as universal health care and the achievement of a system of educational excellence to a more immediate concern about security.