Romney urges stepped-up antiterrorism efforts

Wants to enlist citizens in 'intelligence networks'

By Bryan Bender, Globe Correspondent, 9/17/2003

WASHINGTON -- Saying that Massachusetts is becoming too complacent about the terrorist threat, Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday that he hopes to enlist average citizens to help prevent attacks and called for a new "intelligence network" at the state and local level to sift though crime reports and other statistics that might help uncover terrorist plots.

"We've fallen into complacency," Romney said during a Washington conference sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government. "We need to engage the citizens as part of a prevention effort."

The governor yesterday alluded to a new proposal he will be pushing to give state officials the training and the mandate to analyze intelligence data the same way the federal government does. He said such local "intelligence networks" can identify threats and then feed critical information up the chain of command to Washington.

"One of his primary concerns is that we focus on prevention and the role of the state and local governments in the intelligence-gathering network," said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's communications director. "The communication flow is very good coming down from the feds to the states. But what are we going to do with intelligence-gathering at the local level and how are we going to involve citizens in that area?"

Massachusetts Public Safety Secretary Ed Flynn said the details of Romney's plan have not been worked out. But he said lessons have been learned in Britain and Israel -- both with longer experience combatting domestic terrorism -- that inroads can often be made against terrorists by stepping up criminal investigations of credit card fraud, identity theft, drug trafficking, and other crimes commonly committed by terrorists to support themselves.

"It is my firm belief that local and state law enforcement has a great deal to offer our federal partners in the realm of gathering information that could be turned into useful intelligence," Flynn said. "But we lack intelligence analysis capacity. Potentially a lot of information can be gathered about terrorist cells through the investigation of more conventional crimes. The problem is there are no clearinghouses for the police to look at this."

Romney, who cochairs the National Governor's Association's Homeland Security Task Force and oversaw the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, said citizens must be constantly aware of the threat of terrorism. But he acknowledged that two years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the temptation is high to wish away the specter of terror.

"It's very difficult to think of a constant threat," he said during a panel discussion. "It's alien to most of us to think of people who would blow themselves up."

Romney's Washington appearance, if not his comments, brought some criticism from the State House yesterday.

State Senator Marc Pacheco, a Democrat from Taunton and chairman of the Senate Post Audit Committee, chided the governor for failing to appear before three days of committee hearings last week on security issues.

"We couldn't get him to come to his own state to talk about this issue," he said. "It is unfortunate because we reached out and tried to get him to participate in a meaningful way." Flynn did, however, appear before the panel.

Pacheco said the hearings exposed a series of deficiencies in Massachusetts' ability to respond in the event of a terrorist attack. They include health facilities woefully underprepared for a major biological attack, vulnerable public infrastructure, and a lack of good communications and other equipment for first responders. "We had dozens testify they have less staff -- such as 1,000 less firemen than before September 11 -- in the public safety area," he said.

He called on the Bush administration to provide more federal funding to states.

Romney yesterday said that Massachusetts is engaged in a top-to-bottom assessment of homeland-security needs across all 351 cities towns, and when finished will seek additional federal help.

The governor and Pacheco agree on one thing: The public must be more involved.

"It's been a while since September 11 and there is a need to be vigilant," Pacheco said. "I agree with the governor there."