States on guard against terrorism
TERRORISM from page 1
attacks is on the rise.
Such attacks on the civilian popu
lation bring attention to the message
the terrorist groups want to deliver,
without any consideration for loss of
lives and property.
Biological and chemical weapons
are suitable for terrorist attacks
because they inflict immeasurable
harm on a community and are often
difficult to detect, according to the
Nebraska Emergency Management
Agency’s training manual on chemi
cal and biological attack.
That manual is used by the
Lincoln-Lancaster Emergency
Management office, which would be
the central planning point for crisis
management in the event of an attack.
Mike Burnett, an inter-agency
liaison for the office, said the city and
county are developing a local plan for
response to a local attack involving
chemical or biological weapons.
He said each local agency must
know how to assess the situation in
the event of a disaster and allocate the
necessary personnel and resources.
If local officials estimate that suf
ficient capabilities are not available,
they notify state agencies, such as
NEMA and the State Patrol, who can
call in the National Guard for extra
assistance.
State agencies in turn are respon
sible for requesting the involvement
of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency if the added
resources fall short of what is needed
to coordinate a timely and appropri
ate response to the crisis.
The New York Times reported
early this month that state representa
tives from across the nation view U.S.
emergency planning as repetitive,
messy and confusing.
Some state officials, the article
reported, are confused by the large
number of acronyms for federal
agencies, including CBDCOM and
the Federal Emergency Support
Teams of the FBI, Department of
State and Marines.
The group of state officials sub
mitted a report to U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno calling on
President Clinton to create a commis
sion responsible for coordinating
state and federal efforts.
A step ahead
Tim Hergenrader, a spokesman
for NEMA, said there are two aspects
of preparedness: preventing a crisis
and managing the consequences of
an attack.
He said NEMA holds training
courses designed for local officials
from across the state designed espe
cially for firefighters, health person
nel and police officers, such as a
weeklong seminar completed last
week for handling radiological mate
rials.
FBI spokesman Larry Holmquist
said the FBI monitors the activity of
potential domestic terrorist groups,
as well as foreign groups, with the
cooperation of the CIA.
The FBI not only watches over
allegedly dangerous groups, but also
investigates groups’ involvement in
attacks that have already occurred
and works with other agencies to
coordinate an appropriate response,
he said.
State Patrol Major Brian Tuma
said the patrol is involved with moni
toring terrorist activity, as well as
providing personnel to manage the
chaos after an attack.
But he and Holmquist said it is
difficult, if not impossible, to predict
an attack, such as the bombing of
American embassies in Nairobi,
Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
According to statements by
national leaders and terrorism
experts, the United States is at greater
risk than ever before because of the
proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. Adding to that risk is the
increased motivation for terrorists to
harm civilians to show their disap
proval of U.S. domestic and interna
tional policy.
Greater risk coupled with lack of
organization creates a relatively vul
nerable situation for the United
States, a country not accustomed to
going to great lengths to defend its
borders.
Meanwhile, prevention and pre
paredness have become important
goals of administrators and public
officials, who rely on each other to
manage a crisis.
Holmquist said local, state and
federal officials have identified the
concern for terrorist attack and made
plans to prevent an attack.
“We’re getting geared up to stop
tragedies from happening.”
Award named for professor's contribution
AWARD from page 1
studies to the University of Nebraska
Lincoln was much more of a chal
lenge.
In 1969, the Stonewall riots sent
shock waves across the country,
Crompton said. The riots started when
police raided the Stonewall bar, a gay
bar in New York City.
“Patrons, instead of being intimi
dated, fought back,” he said.
“Gays were coming out on cam
puses everywhere,” Crompton said.
In 1970, just one year after the
riots, he organized a course on gay
issues, Homophile Studies, at UNL.
The course was only the second in the
nation dealing with homosexuality.
Crompton said the chancellor
approved of die course. The course did
not, however, receive as good a wel
come from the state Legislature.
“It caused a political uproar,” he
said.
Then-State Sen. Terry Carpenter
was opposed to the course being
offered on campus and wrote a bill to
stop the class, Crompton said.
Crompton was called to appear in
front of a legislative committee to give
the names of the students who had
signed up for the class so their parents
could be notified, said George Wolf,
associate professor of English.
He refused, and university lawyers
backed him up, Wolf said.
The bill did not pass, Crompton
said.
Although the first class in gay
studies came to campus 28 years ago,
Wolf said the university has not made
much progress since then in expanding
its offerings.
“Other departments have not done
their job,” Wolf said. “There are no gay
and lesbian issue courses in political
science; there are no gay and lesbian
issue courses in sociology.”
As gay and lesbian studies have
evolved to spread across a variety of
disciplines, Crompton said no one fol
lowed his lead in establishing those
types of classes.
“No one picked up the ball in other
departments,” Crompton said.
Wolf said Crompton was instru
mental in bringing gay studies to cam
pus, and he worked to make faculty
members who came out as homosexu
als feel comfortable.
“I think that (Crompton) set an
example for all of us that it was possi
ble to be out and work at the universi
ty,” Wolf said. “Not too many people
have followed his example.
“He is a very brave, courageous
and conscientious man.”
Nominated essays for the
Crompton-Noll award must have been
published between the summer of
1997 and the summer of 1998.
They can be sent to Professor
David Roman, chairman of the
Crompton-Noll Award; Department of
English at the University of Southern
California; Los Angeles, Calif. 90089
0354. The deadline is Thursday.
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Graduating college seniors are invited to apply for the 26th annual
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internships to 20 journalism or liberal arts majors in the August 1998
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Previous internship or part-time experience at a newspaper is desired.
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