Bomb Squads Are Left Lacking

Sund said D.C. police are fortunate because "we can reach out to some of our partners" in the region for help if there is a large-scale car or truck bombing. He and other local bomb-squad officials emphasized their excellent relationships with counterparts at federal agencies.

Some first responders, however, are wary about relying too much on federal experts.

"It's not that we don't work with them," said Arlington Fire Chief James H. Schwartz, the head of the region's fire chief committee, which oversees local bomb squads. He praised the U.S. Capitol Police squad as "very, very robust" but added that its core mission is to protect the Capitol.

"I don't envision them responding to Fairfax," Schwartz said.

Mike Love, who oversees the bomb squad in Montgomery's fire department, said the military could be tied up with other commitments. "You continue to pump resources into the Middle East, we don't necessarily know what we have back here" at military bases, he said.

Sgt. Thomas Sharkey, head of Metro's bomb squad, said that in case of a threat, he would contact the FBI, which trains and certifies all the state and local squads.

"One phone call and I would have all of their resources available for my needs, which would obviously put us at a Type 1 level," he said. But complications could arise if several suspected bombs are discovered at once, he said.

"If two different jurisdictions are handling multiple, simultaneous incidents at the same time, then what happens?" he asked.

Mike Heimbach, who heads the counterterrorism division at the FBI's Washington field office, said he is "pretty comfortable" that the region could handle such simultaneous attacks because of the cooperation between federal, state and local agencies. But, he said, the local bomb squads believe they need better tools because the area is such a likely target.

"Let's face it: The nation's capital being high on al-Qaeda's radar, we should have the best of the best," he said.

The $8 million request to upgrade the bomb squads is part of the D.C. area's yearly application for a major Homeland Security anti-terrorism grant. The region has asked for a total of $140 million.

According to one official briefed on the process, Homeland Security is expected to announce this month that the region will get about $56 million. It's not clear how much would go to the bomb squads.