Retired Marine: Citizens should learn about terrorism threat

By: Dick Brinster
   HIGHTSTOWN — It would be wise for ordinary citizens to learn all they can about the ongoing threat of terrorism in our nation, according to the organizer of a series of symposiums on the subject.
   "It’s necessary for the future of America," said retired Marine Corps Colonel and Hightstown resident Walter Conner. "Citizens can be trained, and they can actually help out if there is a disaster."
   That’s what Col. Conner hopes the public will understand when the USMC Reserve Association conducts its latest forum on Nov. 11 at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark. It will cost them $50 to hear presentations aimed at educating them to recognize and respond to a terrorist attack or other emergency.
   It will be the fourth symposium of the group led by Col. Conner, an active Marine for six years who has been a reservist for 24. The keynote speaker this time will be retired Maj. Gen. George Garrett, deputy director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security.
   The security topics to be discussed include schools, transportation and the Internet. Col. Conner said hospital preparedness also will be on the agenda.
   Such gatherings can prove important to both the general public and the corporate community, which Col. Conner said is extremely interested in Internet security. Identity theft is another growing problem to be examined, and certainly something he feels the public needs to learn more about.
   In fact, many of the threats to society today go unnoticed as people conduct their daily business, he said.
   "The public can get pretty complacent," he said. "It can be one of those ‘It hasn’t happened to me, it won’t happen to me type of things.’
   "The public needs to be more vigilant, and everybody needs to contribute. There are terrorists out there in the world who love to do what they do again and again, and I think we need to take those threats seriously."
   To Col. Conner the highest priority might be school security, which will be the subject covered in a presentation by the State Police Infrastructure Security Unit. It’s a topic that has been paramount to him since Chechen terrorists killed 344 people, including 186 children, in the siege of a Russian school two years ago.
   He said the importance of school security was brought to the fore again in this country with the massacre by a sole gunman of five Amish children last month in Pennsylvania.
   "We’re keeping school security on the front burner," Col. Conner said, noting that lockdowns of buildings are among options. "Each school should have an assessment and recommendation made by a professional on what’s the best method of security."
   Transportation security is another area of great concern. Col. Conner said that subject will be broken down into four areas — aviation, rail, maritime and motor. The movie "Flight 93" — about the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001 when passengers rushed hijackers in the cockpit — has heightened interest in aviation terrorism, he said.
   "People want to know more about that," he said. "It certainly seems to have high visibility, and it’s something that terrorists like to do."
   Outside this country, though, trains have been a popular target with attacks in London and Madrid. Col. Conner said the maritime problems and port security will be discussed by the Coast Guard.
   "They will speak about nuclear, biological and chemicals weapons," he said. "These are things we have to think about and what’s being done about them."
   One of the areas perhaps taken for granted is what happens on the highways of America.
   "But there’s always fear of a truck in the Holland Tunnel or various other places would terrorists could strike," Col. Conner said.
   Among the speakers will be Dr. Judith Lightfoot, a physician with Voorhees-based Garden State Infectious Disease Associates, who will lecture on the state’s hospital disease preparedness plan. Col. Conner said a possible pandemic of avian flu will be addressed.
   Another presentation will be made by the State Police Bomb Squad, which will discuss improvised explosive devices.
   Col. Conner hopes for a large turnout, saying that the three previous symposiums, which began last year, attracted between 120 and 150 people each.
   The symposium will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the NJIT Campus Center at 150 Bleeker St., Newark.
   For more information, call 977-2114 or email [email protected].