Fighting terror will take global effort, Ridge says
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police, firefighters, Civil Defense workers and other local security providers continue to be on the front lines of a global war on terrorism, but they need the help of a worldwide network of government and business leaders to succeed, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told more than 500 delegates attending an Asia-Pacific summit yesterday in Hawai'i.
"We need to show terrorism for what it is: a global scourge. No single country can be truly safe without the cooperation of all the others," said Ridge, speaking by a sometimes shaky video phone connection from Washington, D.C.
RIDGE
While Ridge and other speakers emphasized the need for international cooperation, he praised local workers, many of whom were in the audience.
"Rather than give up, give in or give way, these first responders continue to give all they can," Ridge said. "The homeland is only secure when the hometown is secure."
Ridge, however, was lukewarm when asked by several Hawai'i representatives if he would establish federal regional security offices here or promote the state as an Asia-Pacific training center, one of the state's goals in organizing the inaugural Asia-Pacific Homeland Security Summit & Exposition.
"We've heard your suggestion and potentially that could happen," he said. "Let's wait and see."
State Adjutant General Robert F. Lee said later that he remains optimistic that Hawai'i can play a regional role in the fight on terrorism.
"We sort of put the secretary on the spot a little bit, but I think with this summit and other things we're doing, we're establishing a baseline that allows us to position ourselves to do more things on a regional scale," Lee said.
Lee said the state plans to organize more events that will bring first responders from around the Asia-Pacific region to Hawai'i for training.
"That will make it hard for him (Ridge) not to pinpoint and utilize our strengths," he said.
Later in the day, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey warned delegates to prepare for a long war against terrorism that will be substantially different from previous wars.
"The wars of the future will no longer begin with flags flying or tanks crossing borders. They'll begin instead with stealth or the use of a weapon of mass destruction," he said.
For the past 30 years, America was in a long "beach party" mode, responding time and again to acts of aggression with passive measures, said Woolsey, now vice president of the Security firm Booz Allen Hamilton.
Whether it was Iran, Beirut, Somalia or Yemen, "whenever we were attacked we sent in the lawyers and not the aircraft carrier. ... So put yourself in the position of the terrorist and what would you conclude at the end of the 20th Century? America is a rich, spoiled, feckless nation that would not fight back," he said.
All that changed on Sept. 11, Woolsey said.
The summit concludes today with an address of Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, and sessions on bioterrorism, the role of think tanks, the use of technology and the need to balance security with the free movement of people.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
