CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The cooperation at the heart of the nation’s anti-terrorism task forces has taken root so well in New Hampshire that it has extended to how law enforcement agencies approach other crimes, task force members told U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Wednesday.
Ashcroft, who set up the 93 task forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has been visiting each to discuss collaboration among local, state and federal agencies. New Hampshire’s group was the 41st to receive such a visit.
Among those involved in the meeting was state Attorney General Peter Heed, who told Ashcroft that efforts to foster cooperation among law enforcement agencies paid off last week when three inmates escaped from the state prison and were captured in Massachusetts the next day.
“The cooperation we got from federal authorities was immediate. Our state officials and our local officials were immediately receptive. This wasn’t, ‘Oh, we can handle it.’ This was, ‘Oh thank you, we’ll work together,”‘ Heed said after the meeting.
Ashcroft, who also traveled to Connecticut on Wednesday, praised the task force members and law enforcement community.
“Time and again, individuals whose feet are on the street have been able to help us with the detection, apprehension and disruption of terrorism,” he said. “The anti-terrorism task forces bring together the finest resources and intelligence in this country to thwart the potential of terrorist activity.”
“Working together we are winning the war against terrorism,” he said.
At a news conference after the meeting, Ashcroft outlined progress authorities have made, including disrupting terrorist cells across the country, freezing $125 million in assets and reorganizing the FBI to better anticipate threats.
The government also has used plea bargains to get convicted terrorists to lead authorities to their associates, he said.
“These individuals have provided critical intelligence into the al-Qaida network and other terrorist organizations, their safe houses, training camps, their recruitment techniques, their tactics in the United States and the operations of those terrorists,” he said.
New Hampshire’s seacoast, with its commercial port, liquid petroleum gas tankers and nuclear power plant, has been a key focus of the state’s anti-terrorism task force, said Portsmouth Police Capt. Bill Irving.
He said Ashcroft’s visit showed the Justice Department’s willingness to hear the concerns of the state officials and said he hoped states would receive adequate funding to protect their residents.
“We have to make sure the money, training and equipment get to the men and women on the street, the officers who are answering the calls at two or three in the morning,” he said.
Heed also said New Hampshire authorities must be prepared not just for terrorist attacks in their own state but from surrounding states, particularly Massachusetts.
“if there’s a situation where people want to leave quickly, we know we’re they’re going to want to go,” he said. “We’ll have a lot more tourists than we’re really planning for, and they’re not going to be looking for the Old Man of the Mountain.”
AP-ES-06-11-03 1722EDT
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