More homeland security funding urged by panel

Jace Radke

Friday, April 16, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

Helicopters, fire engines and hazardous materials suits were on display Thursday outside Sam Boyd Stadium as Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, and homeland security officials discussed how far the state has come since Sept. 11, 2001.

"We want to let the people of Nevada know that there are people working to keep them safe," Reid said during a panel discussion inside stadium offices after touring the equipment outside. "Since Sept. 11 many things have changed, but the main change has been in the attitude of the American people.

"We now accept screening at airports and being checked as we enter buildings."

The panel, that included Clark County Sheriff Bill Young, Nevada State Homeland Security Advisor Jerry Bussell and Clark County Fire Chief Earl Greene among others, discussed the need for more federal funding and a joint communication system for the state's first responders.

Young said he will continue to fight for more funding for Las Vegas and Southern Nevada.

"We need to remind the people in Washington that during New Year's we were hearing 'Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas,' so as far as I'm concerned we should be fourth when it comes to funding," Young said.

Nevada has been awarded about $26.5 million in federal homeland security funds for fiscal year 2004, and the state's homeland security commission is to divide those funds during three days of meetings in May. In addition Clark County is set to receive a $10.5 million grant as part of the Urban Area Security Initiative.

During Thursday's forum officials mentioned the recent blackout at the Bellagio as an example of a piece of critical infrastructure failing.

Bussell said that he has seen no indications or evidence that the outage was in any way related to terrorism.

Nevertheless, Bussell said, "In this case the critical infrastructure was power, and when you see these kinds of things happen it's a reminder that there are vulnerabilities out there. That's why we have taken and are taking the precautions necessary to access our vulnerabilities and to protect ourselves."

Bussell said measures are in place to protect the infrastructure in the state deemed to be possible terrorist targets. But, citing the need for security, he would not go into specifics about what those measures include.