Terrorism Could Hurl D.C. Area Into Turmoil

U.S. Capitol Police have spent tens of millions of dollars on a state-of-the art command center with equipment that tracks wind currents and airplane paths. Chief Terrance W. Gainer commands a department of about three officers for every member of Congress, snipers and a heavily armed SWAT team.

Hospitals have added isolation rooms for patients with highly contagious diseases and trained health care workers in treating them. D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward 3) led an effort last year to require railroads to route hazardous materials around Washington.

Local governments have made emergency preparations that outline where they would shelter evacuees and where they would create vaccination sites. The D.C. government has produced a 211-page emergency response plan.

But most of the focus is on the immediate aftermath of a disaster, said Dan Tangherlini, the District's transportation director. "What happens on day two and day three and day four?" he asked.

Washington also has had some recent tests -- contrived and real -- of its emergency management system. And in the eyes of many, including Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the region failed.

"The tests we've had do not inspire confidence," Norton said.

On June 9, 2004, city officials and others questioned the effectiveness of Washington's air defense system after a plane carrying the Kentucky governor on his way to former president Ronald Reagan's funeral breached Washington's no-fly zone, leading to the panicked evacuation of the U.S. Capitol. A government review found a communication failure between federal flight controllers and Washington air defense officials.

In May, the Capitol was frantically evacuated again when two men in a Cessna accidentally flew into Washington's restricted air space. The incident revealed another glitch in security planning.

D.C. police officials had no idea that fighter jets and a helicopter were deployed over Washington to intercept the errant plane, even though they had an official in the nation's Homeland Security command center and the ability to monitor what was taking place at their own headquarters.

Perhaps most telling was an incident in March, in which there was a false positive anthrax test at the Pentagon's remote mail facility and a similar alarm at Defense Department sites in Fairfax County. A report to Congress indicated that 900 Defense Department workers were treated with antibiotics without local health officials being consulted. The report also indicated poor communication between federal officials and some of the 20 jurisdictions that comprise the region. Vague chains of command also were faulted.

"What you had was the homeland security equivalent of the fog of war," Philip Schaenman, president of the private company hired by Virginia to review the incident, told Congress in April.

Staying Put

After the fireworks on the Fourth of July, the District launched the first test of Washington's downtown emergency evacuation plan that was developed in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.