By Ed Somers
December 17, 2001

In a Senate hearing on December 11, three months to the day since the tragic attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, Conference President New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial unveiled a new "National Action Plan for Safety and Security in America's Cities."

The National Action Plan represents the work of the Mayors Emergency, Safety and Security Summit held on October 23-25, in Washington, DC with participation by more than 200 mayors, police chiefs, fire chiefs, emergency managers, and public health officials. (See usmayors.org for a copy of the plan) The hearing before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee was chaired by Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT) and focused on the local role in homeland security.

Mayor Morial stressed in the hearing that, "Mayors have always attached a high priority to preparing our cities for the possibility of disasters, and in the wake of September 11 and the anthrax mailings, efforts to strengthen emergency management plans have been redoubled, and there have been significant additional deployments of local public safety resources." The mayor then outlined the three areas of the plan related to safety and security: Emergency Preparedness, Transportation Security, and Federal-Local Law Enforcement.

Emergency Preparedness

"Mayors have long been concerned by the multiplicity of federal agencies which have responsibility for helping cities prepare for and respond to a possible attack," Morial said.

"We are extremely encouraged by our initial conversations with Director Ridge, who clearly understands the importance of the intergovernmental partnership and need for better coordination. To strengthen his efforts, we strongly believe that a cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security should be authorized and given budgetary authority over federal programs related to homeland protection," Morial stressed. Senator. Lieberman has introduced legislation on this need.

Mayor Morial then discussed the issue of reimbursement of security costs saying, "To ensure that heightened security can be maintained, and that traditional public safety needs do not suffer, we have called for a new flexible Homeland Security Block Grant to be used for additional deployment expenses, training, communications and rescue equipment, and the protection of public infrastructure."

Morial added, "I am extremely pleased that such legislation (S 1737) was introduced by Senator Clinton, along with Senators Feinstein, Mikulski, Durbin and Schumer to authorize $3 billion for a targeted block grant, and I urge the Senate to pass this bill."

The mayor then said that "Congress took a major step backwards when it recently approved a $122 million cut in the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant" and urged that this funding be restored.

In the area of public health, Morial called for more resources for: 24/7 disease surveillance; on- the-scene investigations; local bioterrorism preparedness planning; increased inter-agency communications; and surge capacity ™ as well as for adequate regional stockpiles of vaccines and deployment of a rapid response testing network.

Transportation Security

Morial first outlined the priority of aviation security, saying "I cannot stress enough the importance of meeting the timetables established in the aviation security legislation, especially as they relate to baggage screening." Morial added that "I want to urge Congress to appropriate the funding authorized in the bill for reimbursement of increased local airport security costs." The mayor then covered priorities related to transit security, passenger and freight rail security, and port security.

On the issue of port security, Morial said "protecting our international seaport borders should be the responsibility of a partnership of federal, state and local governments, seaports and private industry."

Morial also urged Congress to stop the proposed liquidation of Amtrak.

Federal-Local Law Enforcement

"With over 650,000 local officers, local police forces must be fully integrated into our national homeland defense planning. We must create a new communications system between federal and local public safety officials with a 24/7 threat assessment capability," Morial said.

The mayor commended Homeland Security Director Ridge, Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI Director Mueller for recent actions on this issue, but added that, "any institutional barriers to greater intelligence sharing should be addressed."

Morial urged the Senators to support passage of the Federal-Local Information Sharing Partnership Act (S 1615) which would allow the federal government to increase intelligence sharing with local and state governments.

In closing, Morial stressed that many other important issues are included in the National Action Plan including Border Security, Water and Wastewater Security, Communications Inter-Operability and Highway Safety.

In addition to Mayor Morial, witnesses included National Association of Counties President Javier Gonzales and New York City Emergency Management Director Richard Sheirer.