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Surprise!

If you think S.F. is ready for a terrorist attack � even two years-plus after 9/11 � think again

A A A Comments By Peter Byrne Wednesday, Jan 21 2004

"[The U.S. Homeland Security Department is] disregarding 20 years of working to address all emergencies," he says. "They are inventing a whole new structure, abrogating things we thought were bedrock, by focusing on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction."

A high-ranking City Hall official, who asked not to be named, disagrees vehemently.

Paolo Vescia

Left to right, ex-S.F. Police Chief Alex Fagan, now the city's emergency services director; former emergency director Lucien Canton; and S.F. Fire Department official Robert Navarro.

Paolo Vescia

Law officers pursue a "terrorist" aboard an S.F. ferry.

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"There is a difference between terrorism and earthquake response. If you are [a first responder] in a hot zone, you are fucked. We need suits, heavy equipment, training -- much more than cots and blankets. We need a working command system, a governance structure."

And so far, San Francisco doesn't have those things, as the outspoken police Sgt. Linehan continues to point out, over and over.

"My ass may be exposed here, but I don't care," he says. "It's too important to be swept under the rug."

Arlene Singer says that several city officials were pretty upset after the grand jury report came out. "Some even called me up and swore at me," she remembers with a shrug. She hopes Mayor Newsom will turn things around.

Emergency management planners could begin, she suggests, by staging surprise disaster exercises, unlike the "Terrorist in the Water."

"In Baltimore, they simulated a large terrorist attack and didn't warn anybody," she says. "They had people stumbling into hospital emergency rooms with symptoms!

"We need to do more complex functional exercises here that will test the limits of the system and show our weaknesses so we can improve our vulnerable areas."