Chertoff Joins Counterterrorism Initiative Kickoff in Philadelphia

"I am glad to be here as we highlight the partnerships underway between the City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Task Force, and the Department of Homeland Security to address the threat of terrorist incidents," said Mayor Street at today's press conference at City Hall.  "Philadelphia has already undertaken significant steps to reduce our vulnerability to these threats, which includes training for our law enforcement personnel through systems like TRIPwire and the IED Awareness Course being presented here."

The Technical Resource for Incident Prevention, or TRIPwire, system allows Federal, State and local bomb-prevention professionals to share up-to-the-minute technical and operational information on the use of IEDs worldwide, and to create greater awareness of how to prevent and respond to this type of an attack.

Other representatives at the news conference were: Pennsylvania Homeland Security Advisory James F. Powers, Jr.; City Managing Director Loree D. Jones, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, and representatives from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Task Force.

The city's participation in today's news conference is another in an ongoing series of steps to improve the city's emergency preparedness following an exhaustive review in 2005 and 2006 by the Emergency Preparedness Review Committee (EPRC). The EPRC process was ordered by Mayor Street following the hurricanes in the Gulf region and the London subway bombings. It included an intensive review of all emergency plans and a definitive report outlining areas for improvement. The city has budgeted $1.4 million in fiscal 2008 for its emergency preparedness work - a significant increase over prior spending levels for this important work. As recently as fiscal 2006, the city spent just $400,000 on emergency preparedness.

"In September 2005, I announced that Philadelphia was establishing an emergency preparedness review committee to evaluate all our existing emergency preparedness plans to thoroughly analyze any potential threats our city may face," Mayor Street said.

"One of the most beneficial aspects of that process was the enthusiastic partnerships we gained. Today's demonstration is a shining example of how those partnerships can benefit our citizens and increase our security."