Nevada officials await new fed security chief

Mathis Winkler

Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2001 | 9:43 a.m.

Nevada officials say it's too early to tell how the head of the country's new homeland security and terrorism office will work with state and local governments.

After all, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge won't leave his current job until Friday to become the first director of the Office of Homeland Security.

President Bush established the Cabinet-level position in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and wants Ridge to coordinate efforts by government agencies to protect Americans against terrorism.

"I was taken a bit by surprise" when Bush announced his decision to set up the new office, said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who sits on a new House subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security.

Gibbons added that he fully supported the president's move and said he expected his subcommittee to work closely with Ridge.

Spokesmen for Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., also said they didn't know how the new office would work with the state.

But national security experts, who are also waiting to find out more about the new office, said they expected Ridge to focus on working with federal agencies in the capital for now.

"My guess is it's going to be more in Washington," said Jay Spiegel, the executive director of the Reserve Officers Association, an organization chartered by Congress to support and promote a military policy that provides adequate national security.

Spiegel said he expected Ridge to be more of a coordinator of counter-terrorism efforts by 40-plus federal agencies.

"What he just really can help do is get the intelligence agencies to talk better," Spiegel said.

A previous office charged with protecting U.S. territory from attacks during World War II enlisted millions of volunteers across the country to do its work.

The Office of Civilian Defense, headed by former New York Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia, set up 11,000 local committees to coordinate blackouts, scrap drives and anti-submarine watches by boat owners.

In Henderson, which was considered a potential target for air attacks because of its production of basic magnesium, planners laid out streets with lots of curves to prevent Japanese pilots from easily finding and bombing the production plant.

But while Attorney General John Ashcroft launched a "national neighborhood watch" by releasing pictures of the 19 suspected hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, some said it's unlikely that civilians will play a large role in Ridge's office.

"Obviously all Americans are on a heightened sense of alert and awareness," said Jonathan Strand, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "But I don't think we'll have the same kind of mass outpouring."

Instead, Ridge is more likely to work with a relatively small staff.

"Probably this new agency would not be an agency in and of itself, but bring together the work of others," said Tony Blinken, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

And while the new terrorism czar won't need a large bureaucracy, he will have to have the ability to request funding for things he deems necessary to protect the country, said Jay Farrar, vice president of external affairs at the center.