Napolitano: Public Needed to Fight Terror

(AP)  Updated 5:20 pm ET

The U.S. government needs to do more to educate and engage the public, so that everyday Americans can be part of a multi-layered strategy to prevent terrorism, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

"For too long, we've treated the public as a liability to be protected rather than asset in our nation's collective security," Napolitano said Wednesday during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. "This approach, unfortunately, has allowed confusion, anxiety and fear to linger."

Napolitano said the country's counter-terrorism efforts should include the public, that "you are the ones who know if something is not right in your communities, such as a suspicious package, or unusual activities."

She said the government also needed to work with the private sector, to make sure critical infrastructure in that sector, like commercial facilities and chemical plants are secure.

Local law enforcement is another layer of the strategy, as is the federal government, and international allies, Napolitano said.

"The challenge is not just using federal power to protect the country, but also enlisting a much broader societal response to the threat that terrorism poses," she said.

She said the goal was to "get to a point where we are in a constant state of preparedness, not a constant state of fear."

Napolitano emphasized the need to share information between different federal agencies, and between federal and local law enforcement; to pay attention to threats in places like the cyber world as well as biological or chemical attacks, and to secure borders as well as monitor home-grown threats.

Some of her department's policies on securing borders and combating illegal immigration have come under criticism from immigration reform advocates, who say what's needed is overall immigration reform.

A group of protesters gathered across the street from the site of Napolitano's speech to speak out against a federal program that allows local and state law enforcement officials to arrest and deport immigrants.

Napolitano's schedule in New York City also included a visit to the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

She was joined by Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Grand Central Terminal to announce a $35.9 million grant that would be used to hire about 125 police officers for the city's subways.

A total of nearly $78 million in funding is going to 15 transit systems across the country to hire about 240 officers, Homeland Security announced Wednesday.

[platteman]

Right, Call the cops, get called a racist and she wants people to help her fight terror. Get a life. Time for her to get out in the real world. Go to the border along her own state and see how long she lasts.
She did nothing to help stem the tide of illegal imigrants and only Sherrif Joe has the guts to do anything.
Again, more of the do as I say, not as I do!!!!!!!!

[xlib]

Geez, I thought we had done away with that nasty word "terrorist".

[Anti-Zionist_115]

<sigh>
guys look at the roots of terrorism.
what we are doing is just fighting the effect of terrorism. not the cause.
Whats the cause?
Us destroying (wishfully, but very unrealistic at this early stage), or at least stop supporting "israel".
Cant you retards see that they are the sole reason America has been underattack?

[pws54]

The public should be more observant but not to the point of over-reacting. I live in a city with a million+ people and watch my surroundings every time I step outside my home. Just do it with common sense. Unfortunately, there's nothing "common" about common sense.