Homeland security a tough sell in Seattle

By Ray Rivera
Seattle Times staff reporter

	AP Tom Ridge and local officials spoke at a Town Hall meeting yesterday.
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"How about, say, an hour a week?" Sesno prodded. The hand count dwindled further.

Sesno, a former White House correspondent for CNN, seemed taken aback. So did Patricia McGinnis, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Council for Excellence in Government, which sponsored the lively, 1-½-hour meeting.

At similar sessions in Boston, Houston, San Diego and elsewhere, she said, she had not seen such a tepid response. They wondered aloud: What was different about Seattle?

Sesno turned to the Rev. Stephen Sundborg, a Jesuit priest and president of Seattle University. "I think that Seattle, and the Puget Sound, is a very intelligent population," Sundborg said. "The reluctance to volunteer is an issue of credibility with homeland security. I think we're having a hard time sorting out the threats against the U.S. with the underlying problem of how we're viewed outside the U.S."

Survey A question of safety Would you volunteer an hour of your week to help out with homeland security? Yes No View Results

Such are the toils of Ridge, whose sprawling, year-old department is responsible for striking balances between civil protections and protecting against terrorists, between hardening the borders and making sure that commerce can flow freely.

The Seattle meeting was the last of seven Town Halls across the country sponsored by the Council.

The group, which works to attract talented people to public service and improve the connection between citizens and government, plans to use input from the discussions to issue a set of recommendations to the Homeland Security Department in May.

In a recent national survey, the council found that 47 percent of 1,633 people polled said the United States is safer today than it was before Sept. 11, 2001; 34 percent said it is "about as safe"; and 18 percent said it is "less safe." The results also showed that more than three-quarters of those surveyed expect the United States to be the target of a major terrorist attack at home or abroad in the next few months.

But yesterday, Ridge fielded questions from people more worried that the fight against terrorism was coming at too high a cost to civil liberties and creating too negative a perception outside the country — in particular, in the Muslim world.

"I think I speak for a lot of younger people when I say we're more afraid of getting hit by lightning than we are of terrorist attack," said one recent graduate, Paul Thomas. "We're more afraid of the Department of Homeland Security."

When Ridge got his chance to respond, the ever-unruffled former Pennsylvania governor said that if they "could see what comes across my desk every day, and of course you can't, you would know that the threat is very real."

Ridge and other panelists said Seattle — with the nation's largest ferry system, its busy shipping lanes, proximity to Canada and its dense population — is a high-profile potential target for terrorists.

"The bad news is on the big target, we're at the bull's-eye. ... If I were on the dark side, rather than the good side, I would look at Seattle as a target," said panelist A.D. Vickery, assistant chief of operations for the Seattle Fire Department.

Other panelists included McGinnis, Washington National Guard Commander Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg and Renton School District Superintendent Delores Gibbons.

Sesno kept the discussion animated, zipping across topics ranging from cyber security to emergency-response plans at schools.

Along the way, he lobbed questions at the numerous dignitaries in the audience, including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle.

Ballmer unveiled a pilot project by Microsoft that would allow school districts to quickly notify parents electronically in the event of an emergency.

McDermott criticized Ridge's department, saying that, more than two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, security problems and a lack of standards for screeners are still evident at the nation's airports.

Ridge, who formerly served in Congress with McDermott, said a bit sarcastically: "I'm so glad you're here. ... Thanks for the softballs." Then, in a serious tone, he added that security was an evolving process.

"We continually probe our systems, and when we find problems, we address them."

Ray Rivera: 206-464-2926 or rayrivera@seattletimes.com

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