State, locals on the ground taking security steps.

AuthorPappalardo, Joe

On the state and local levels, law enforcement and first responders know that cooperation is essential to saving lives. That principle is particularly relevant along the U.S.-Mexico border, where joint endeavors help to enhance security, including infrastructure protection and preparedness exercises.

"There's critical infrastructure and threats within eyesight on the Mexican side of the border," said Frank Navarette, director of the Arizona's Office of Homeland Security. "For example, there are chemical factories. It's very important to have planning in place."

While the federal authorities compile their list of targets, the states of Sonora and Arizona last year formed their own state-to-state bilateral committee to beef up infrastructure protection and disaster planning. Navarette diplomatically said the effort is complimentary to the bilateral efforts of federal agencies.

"We welcome any federal assistance. Sometimes, you know, things locally advance ahead of your federal partners," Navarette said. "It's not a dig; it's reality."

In an attempt to use off+the-shelf technology to defeat interoperability problems, Arizona DHS purchased communications switches, the ACU 1000, that links the various radio frequencies of domestic agencies and Mexican responders. The devices are stashed in sheriff's departments along the border.

The devices, and preparedness level in general, were tested in a November 2003 exercise simulating a large-scale terrorist attack in Nogales, Ariz. More than 60 of state, local and federal agencies on both sides of the border participated in the exercise.

In the simulation, a stolen chemical agent was detonated in a truck bomb at the Mariposa Port of Entry. The exercise tested the response to mass casualties and the decontamination of a hazardous agent.

Evaluators found that the ACU 1000 units worked well, despite unexpected gaps in coverage. The surge capabilities of Nogales could not handle the casualties, and hospitals in Mexico and Tucson accepted the wounded. Forms made available to Mexican nationals brought in to identify the "dead and wounded" were in English. On the whole, however, the communications systems allowed on-site leaders to deploy assets regardless of nationality.

"The Mexican city [of Nogales] is much larger, and consequently it has more first responders than the...

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