U.S. totally unprepared for disaster, Senate committee told

U.S. totally unprepared for disaster, Senate committee told

Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 26, 2005 06:03 PM

A U.S. Senate subcommittee heard stinging criticism Wednesday of the nation's lack of readiness to respond to terrorist attacks or natural disasters, but administration officials who would be most responsible for correcting the problems didn't attend.

The federal government's "utterly inadequate" response to Hurricane Katrina "calls for dramatic changes," former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton testified.

Katrina made clear that "we have not heeded the lessons of 9/11," said the Washington state Republican, who served on the commission that investigated U.S. weaknesses in detecting, stopping and responding to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who chaired the hearing, also bemoaned the nation's slowness in solving problems certain to arise in extreme emergencies.

"A moderately sophisticated terrorist attack could easily replicate the type and amount of damage caused by this natural disaster," Kyl said.

But with an attack, he warned, "the response would be even more difficult to coordinate because we would have little or no warning about the type of attack, or when, or where it would occur."

The hearing by the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security emphasized that the government must take preparedness much more seriously.

Kyl said in opening remarks it was "highly regrettable" that no representatives of the departments of Homeland Security and Defense attended. Afterward, he said so much material was presented that it is appropriate for the departments to be able to review it before testifying in further hearings early next year, if not sooner.

In prepared remarks, witnesses cited the inability of police, firefighters and other first-responders to communicate with one another as a major flaw in preparedness.

Gorton noted that the 9/11 Commission recommended in July that Congress set aside specific broadcast frequencies to allow cross-communication among agencies.

He said the House and Senate "are finally moving forward" on doing so, but the bill sets April 7, 2009, as the transition date.

Waiting nearly eight years after the 9/11 attacks "is far too long," Gorton said, adding that it could be accomplished within the next 18 months to two years.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, testified that the government has made considerable progress in protecting against terrorism, but serious weaknesses remain in such sectors as regulation of private aircraft, guarding against chemical and biological weapons, ensuring that borders are secure, and gathering intelligence.

In one scenario especially relevant to Arizonans, O'Hanlon said an attack against the Hoover or Glen Canyon dams on the Colorado River "could be catastrophic." Hoover Dam is on the Arizona-Nevada border, and the Glen Canyon Dam is in Arizona, just below the Utah border.

O'Hanlon said that not only would nearby small towns be inundated rapidly and have high fatality rates, but large parts of major downriver cities, such as Las Vegas, would be destroyed. Further, the Southwest would suffer extended economic disruption with the loss of crucial water and electric supplies.

Kyl said the hearing showed that despite progress in some areas, "we're still very unprepared to meet certain kinds of threats. We just have a lot of work to do."

The hearings could hasten action by giving agencies "a little clearer direction," Kyl said.