Copyright 2006 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.
BY CRISTAL CODY
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Local and state governments need to partner with the business community to prepare for emergencies because the country is not prepared to handle major disasters even nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday.
“What we have today through the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA is not jelling really well. Our country and every community needs to look at the private sector as a partner ... for resources they may have that could help a community before and after any event,” James Lee Witt, head of FEMA during President Clinton’s tenure, said during the final day of a two-day regional conference in Fayetteville.
The conference was sponsored by the Arkansas Infra-Gard and the University of Arkansas’ Information Technology Research Institute.
About 150 people attended, including FBI agents and employees of such Arkansas-based companies as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville and Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale.
Arkansas InfraGard chapter is part of the national InfraGard, an FBI program that started in 1996 to share information on criminal and security matters with private businesses, universities, law enforcement agencies and others. The partnerships work to prevent crimes against such components of the nation’s critical infrastructures as agriculture, banking and transportation.
“The private sector owns 85 percent of the critical infrastructure in this country,” said Witt, chairman and chief executive of James Lee Witt Associates LLC, which provides disaster recovery management services across the globe. “I’ve seen a lot of corporations that have better police forces than some communities. If something happens today in a state or community, you are the front-line defense and you have to be prepared for at least five days. I don’t think we’re as prepared today as we should be.” The conference also included sessions on the growing phenomenon of suicide bombers.
Amir Lechner, director of aviation assesment for Air Security International in New York and an Israeli native and former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, said Israel has seen 406 unsuccessful attacks and 135 successful attacks so far. The attacks focus on malls, restaurants, buses and other places where people congregate.
Bangladesh is the latest country to join the list of nations that have experienced suicide attacks.
“It’s not a Middle Eastern phenomenon anymore,” Lechner said. “You see it in Southeast Asia and other countries. Everything that is American is going to be targeted.”