Governor M. Jodi Rell today welcomed dozens of federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement, homeland security, fire and rescue officials to a roundtable discussion of the intelligence failures surrounding the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Governor Rell directed the state’s Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security to organize the review to reduce the risk of similar communications breakdowns in Connecticut.
“President Obama has not minced any words about the failures – both human and systemic – that led to the near-tragedy in the skies over Detroit on Christmas Day,” Governor Rell told panel members during a roundtable she asked be held after the bombing attempt. “Our goal today is to learn lessons from the federal lapses and to assure the same do not occur here.”
The meeting, held on the campus of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, began with a review of the declassified summary of the breakdowns that preceded the Christmas Day attempted bombing and comments from federal and state agencies in Connecticut, followed by a broader discussion among all partners. The goal was to develop potential “action items” where the partnerships in Connecticut – which both Governor Rell and others described as very good – can be further improved.
“I asked for this meeting because the findings of the White House summary can – and should – be applied here as well,” the Governor said. “We can no more afford these kinds of communication breakdowns at this level than the federal government can afford them at the national and international level.”
The Governor said among the points discussed and reviewed were:
· Broad-based agreement that communication, among all levels of government, has improved greatly since September 11, 2001, but can still be improved;
· The state continues to leverage existing networks to increase information sharing and awareness among all partners;
· The intelligence community is constantly enhancing ways to quickly gather and analyze information from the streets and communicate it quickly back to the field.
The Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security coordinated the review. Federal agencies invited to join the meeting included the FBI, the Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration. At the state and local levels, agencies included the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture, representatives of municipal and tribal police departments, local fire departments and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
