Officials learn to handle terrorist attacks

Judy Odierna

Friday, April 25, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

Several officials representing a handful of Nevada cities spent Thursday preparing for the worst. They worked on what to do if their communities were targets of a terrorist attack.

The Mayoral Institute for Terrorism Incident Preparedness, a six-hour seminar sponsored by the Homeland Security Department, taught the group questions to ask and how to get the right answers during emergencies.

The seminar was fully funded by a training grant provided by the federal Office for Domestic Preparedness.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Sparks Mayor Tony Armstrong and Ray Martinez, mayor of Fort Collins, Colo., participated in the seminar held at the Golden Nugget. The seminar was led by staff from Texas A&M University.

Also attending were North Las Vegas Councilwoman Shari Buck, the city managers of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Sparks and officials from Henderson, Mesquite and Clark County.

"As local officials, we are the first responders," Goodman said at his weekly press conference Thursday. "We are the first ones that really have to step up."

The mayors used the seminar to discuss strategic and executive level issues and challenges and they learned about possible strategies and practices to use should there be a local incident, according to conference organizers. Some of the topics included getting information out to the public, incident response and recovery considerations and the medical and public health aspects that could arise due to a terrorist incident.

Martinez, who has also attended the weekly course in Maryland, said the exercises have also helped better prepare them for natural disasters.

"Ironically in March we (got some) practice with the snowstorm," he said.

Goodman said there needs to be more communication between federal and local governments to disseminate any intelligence that could indicate a threat to the area.

He lauded the cooperation and communication among New York City's local agencies after 9-11, as well as the leadership of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"He filled the shoes of what a mayor should be and was able to speak for everyone," Goodman said. "In a common disaster we need to know whose role is what."