Local officials said Wednesday they’re worried the Washington area still isn’t prepared for a terrorist attack 10 years after Sept. 11, as demonstrated by the region’s woeful handling of a January snowstorm. “The reality is this region continues to fail to have the capability that other cities have had for years,” Falls Church Vice Mayor David F. Snyder said about alerting residents of an impending crisis.
Snyder
said
“disjointed decision making” led to “inconsistent, confusing and sometimes contradictory information” going public during the Jan. 26 evening snowstorm. Residents should be told “what has occurred, what we’re doing about it and here is what you’re to do,” he said.
The concerns were raised during a Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments briefing by the Department of Homeland Security on a new terror alert system.
The National Terrorism Advisory System, which replaces the color-coded alert system, was implemented in April. The system is designed to use both old and new media to provide details of threats to residents and local governments, said Chuck Marino, an adviser to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
“We hope to effectively communicate and provide details that will allow members of the public to not only keep themselves and their family safe, but also to assist authorities,” Marino said.
But local officials expressed skepticism.
“How do we get to the point where we can give a single message? We surely didn’t do that on Jan. 26,” asked D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson.
Merni Fitzgerald, Fairfax County’s director of public affairs, stressed that the message given to the public has to be consistent.
“We should be giving out the common message in all of our different venues,” she said. “We shouldn’t be tweeting one thing and putting something else on our hot line. We need to give out the same information to make it less confusing.”
Fitzgerald also pointed out that residents have ignored government warnings to not drive on roads during a crisis, getting in traffic jams trying to pick their children up from school.
“Preparedness is important because what that means is beforehand, before the emergency happens, you’ve already figured out where your child is going to be,” she said. “If they’re in the schools and they’re safe, then that’s the best place.”
