Not Ready

Tuesday, September 18, 2001; Page A30

AT 5 P.M. on the day Washington and New York City were attacked, Mayor Anthony Williams issued a statement that read in part, "The District government took immediate steps to manage the situation here in the city and to take reasonable precautions to safeguard residents and visitors." The mayor may wish to revisit those words. A review of last Tuesday's events suggests that the District was unprepared for the emergency and therefore unable to react and assist the public in a timely and effective fashion.

There are many lessons to be learned from last Tuesday. What is the use of an emergency broadcast system that is tested frequently on local radio stations when it doesn't get activated in a genuine emergency? And why go through the trouble of creating a backup communications system for top city leaders, then not distribute the satellite phones on which the system depends? Not only could city leaders not communicate with the public; they couldn't communicate among themselves. When the D.C. government's desk and cell phones crashed from overload, the mayor's chief of staff -- unable to reach the city administration -- ordered by e-mail an evacuation that the city administrator quickly had to countermand by e-mail. Likewise, the city's health department was unable to monitor the radio network used by hospitals, and therefore was out of the loop regarding bed availability. Last Tuesday also caught the Metropolitan Police Department without an antiterrorism strategy and with no established guidelines telling commanders and rank-in-file officers how and where to respond. The police didn't even know federal workers had been told to go home -- hence, clogged traffic. "We had to learn that from the media," said D.C. Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer.

Disarray was not confined to the District government. Congress never executed its evacuation plan; most members weren't even aware of its existence. Would it have mattered anyway? The plan's escape routes were outdated.

Fortunately, no one in a position of responsibility is ducking. Peter LaPorte, the city's Emergency Management Agency director observed, "We were lucky this time." Capitol Hill police spokesman Lt. Dan Nichols said it was incumbent on his department to "do a comprehensive review and make improvements." Bruce Baughman, a top Federal Emergency Management Agency official, said, "It's clear these [emergency response] things didn't happen Tuesday because we didn't have a plan. If this doesn't get people committed to it, I don't know what will."

Yesterday, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton told this page that she will attempt through legislation to integrate the District in federal emergency preparedness planning and operations. "The District can't protect itself or help protect the federal presence unless it is at the table" when planning takes place, she said. Mayor Williams also said in an interview that his administration worked over the weekend to speed the creation of an anti-terrorism plan, previously slated for spring 2002. He promised a higher level of preparedness in the event terrorists strike again. A vulnerable nation's capital needs nothing less.