Regardless of how individuals feel about the ongoing Iraq war, Americans are united in their support for our troops and our wish that they return home safely - and soon. But unfortunately, most of us are also united on another matter: fear of the terrorist threat to our homeland.
Just as generations before us built bomb shelters and took turns serving on air raid watch, it's important for Americans to remain vigilant, yet not paranoid or panicked. While West Virginia doesn't contain a major metropolitan center that would make a likely target, our government is taking the necessary steps to assure we're not caught off guard.
Days prior to the war, Gov. Bob Wise and Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary Joe Martin participated in a conference call with the White House, during which Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge advised them that the threat level had been raised to orange and the federal government was launching additional security efforts.
Based on that conversation and other information gathered during the year following the September 11th attack, West Virginia is covering the critical infrastructure in the state, in particular transportation facilities and to critical industries.
West Virginia's Office of Emergency Services is operating 24 hours a day and is staffed with representatives from different agencies, Wise announced last week.
"My office and I have been in constant contact with the White House," Wise reported. "I want to stress that the entire nation, including West Virginia, is under a general threat level. At this time there is no specific threat directed at West Virginia. We have been assured that should there be a specific threat, we will be contacted."
The governor also has established West Virginia Watch, a group organized to take state residents' calls of suspicious behavior or suspected terrorist threats. Meanwhile, all members of regional response teams reporting to the Office of Emergency Services are on alert and prepared to dispatch within 30 minutes of a call. Four of the teams - based in Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling and Morgantown - have mobile hospitals that can be used as triage centers, each complete with supplies to treat as many as 5,000 people, decontamination equipment, inflatable shelters, defibrillators and electric generators.
But government officials are also mindful of how Americans, especially West Virginians, value their privacy. On Tuesday <sic March 25>, Gov. Wise issued an executive order creating a Privacy Management Team to ensure that the personal information of all West Virginians is protected. "It is of utmost importance that the privacy of the citizens of West Virginia be protected," he said. "Citizens should not have to worry that their information is being sold to strangers."
The Privacy Management Team has been instructed to conduct a comprehensive review of state procedures to ensure that each citizen has the right to access his or her personal information, which may have been collected by state agencies, and that it is protected.
The Privacy Management Team will also develop and implement a state policy for the collection, maintenance and dissemination of personal information, Wise reported. He said residents' personal information, such as Social Security numbers and medical records, must remain confidential.
The team, to be chaired by the chairman of the Health Care Authority, will include the secretaries of the Departments of Administration, Military Affairs and Public Safety, Transportation, Tax and Revenue, Education and the Arts, Health and Human Resources, and Environmental Protection, and the commissioners of the Bureaus of Commerce, Employment Programs, and Senior Services, or their designees.
I welcome and appreciate your input on these issues, or any other legislative matter. Please call me at (304)340-3106 or write to Delegate Virginia Mahan, 215-E, Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV 25305.