Federal Officers Cram Training Center

— -- Fed Training Rush Stretches Resources

B R U N S W I C K, Ga., Sept. 3 — There's enough ammunition at the FederalLaw Enforcement Training Center to fight a small war, but the 15million rounds of bullets and shotgun shells have barely lasted theyear.

The crush of new federal officers hired since Sept. 11 hasstretched resources to the limit at the center, which trains agentsand officers for 76 federal agencies.

James Lanier, chief of the center's Firearms Division, said hehas made a few emergency credit card buys to keep from running outof ammo.

"We're maxing out our facilities and maxing out our instructorsto provide the training, whereas before we at least had somebreathing room," Lanier said.

The 130 instructors have been working six-day weeks sinceJanuary. Some of them will soon pull double shifts at the 17 firingranges so students can train after dark.

The center, established on the Georgia coast in 1975, has hadits training load double in the past year as the government rushedto hire new officers to improve homeland security.

Including its satellite campuses in New Mexico and SouthCarolina, the center has trained 52,000 federal law officers sinceSept. 11, compared with 26,000 the previous year.

Though it does not handle FBI or Drug Enforcement Administration agents,those it does train include Secret Service, Border Patrol andCustoms agents, Capitol police officers, air marshals, and policeofficers who guard the nuclear power plants of the Tennessee ValleyAuthority.

"They're all over the place," said Rep. Jack Kingston, aRepublican whose district includes the center. "The Park Servicepolice, you'd think they're guarding Yellowstone. But they guardthe Mall and the Washington Monument, places of very high profilethat could be targets for attacks."

If Congress and the president agree to put guns in the cockpitsof commercial airlines, many of the nation's 70,000 pilots wouldtrain at the center as well.

The center expanded to a six-day training week in January andhas housed some trainees in hotels up to 30 miles away. Many of thecenter's 2,500 instructors get just one full weekend off a month.

The load has begun to take a toll on morale, said centerDirector Connie L. Patrick. When she was sworn in as director lastmonth, Patrick said more time off for employees was her highestpriority.

"They were gung-ho after Sept. 11. They would work seven days,24 hours a day," Patrick said. "But now it has been about a year,and there's the burnout factor. No matter how much you want to dothe job, physically and spiritually you can't do that."

Congress has given the center authority to hire back up to 250retirees with no penalties against their pensions. So far it hashired 92.

The headquarters, which trained 76 percent of center graduateslast year, is also relying more on its satellite campuses.

Plainclothes air marshals who guard domestic flights are beingtrained in Artesia, N.M., while additional Border Patrol agentshave been sent to Charleston, S.C.

Patrick says next year will be the center's busiest ever, withabout 56,000 students expected. The new Transportation SecurityAdministration is building new facilities to train its agents,expanding the Brunswick campus' 1,500 acres.

The center, which falls under the Treasury Department, hopes tosee its $200 million budget expand.

"Certainly they need additional training facilities in terms offiring ranges," said Jimmy Gurule, Treasury's undersecretary forenforcement. "I would like to see them have additional funding forhousing facilities and additional trainers."

There has been talk of moving FLETC from Treasury and into theJustice Department or the new Department of Homeland Security.Kingston has spoken in Congress against putting the center underthe Justice Department's control, saying he's concerned it mighthave to compete with the FBI for funding.

Patrick says her agency will do its job wherever the center endsup.

"We think it's kind of exciting," she said. "It's nice to bekind of fought over. If nobody wanted us, I'd be more concernedabout that."

— The Associated Press

Bush to Honor Sept. 11 With Prayer, Visits to Attack Sites, Public Address

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 3 — President Bush, who will mark the remembranceof Sept. 11 by visiting three terrorist attack sites, plans tostart the observances in prayer and close them with a prime-timeaddress to the nation.

The White House today released details of the president'sSept. 11 schedule, which will take him and first lady Laura Bushfrom a private morning church service in Washington, to a moment ofsilence observed at the White House at 8:46 a.m., EDT. That's theexact time that the first terrorist-hijacked jet slammed into theWorld Trade Center tower in New York. They will go from there to aceremony at the Pentagon, which also was attacked on that fatefulday.

The president and Mrs. Bush will then journey to Shanksville,Pa., and lay a wreath in the field where Flight 93 crashed,presumably en route to another target in Washington.

"Those who were here at the White House that day feel stronglyabout honoring those who gave their lives that day on Flight 93,particularly given the fact that most of us view that as savingsthe lives of those who were here at the White House that day,"said White House deputy press secretary Scott McClellan.

That afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., Bush will lay a wreath at GroundZero, site of the former Trade Center towers in New York. At 9:01p.m., he is to address the nation from New York.

Meanwhile, Tom Ridge, director of Bush's Office of HomelandSecurity, said today he thinks U.S. security has improvedsignificantly since the attacks.

"I think we've made substantial progress and I think we aresubstantially safer than we were on Sept. 11," he said on ABC's"Good Morning America."

"We still have considerable work to do in the years and monthsahead," Ridge acknowledged.

He said he knew of no "specific credible information" aboutany particular threat on Sept. 11.

"We have been in an elevated state of alert for quite sometime," he said. "It's our job to worry about, be concerned aboutsecurity every day," Ridge said on CBS' "The Early Show."

"Obviously, this is a day that we are going to celebrateheroes. We are going to remember some extraordinary things thatAmericans did on behalf of one another. It's a day of mourning,"he said.

He said he believed that "on that day, like every day sinceSept. 11, America will be vigilant" and authorities at all levelsof government "will continue to be on guard."

—The Associated Press

Terror Concerns Leave Thousands of Refugees in Limbo

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 3 — Tightened security imposed after Sept. 11 has,at least temporarily, prevented thousands of people living insqualid refugee camps from starting a new life in the UnitedStates.

Increased scrutiny of applicants has produced a sharp decline inthe number of refugees — particularly Muslims — accepted by theState Department for U.S. resettlement.

U.S. officials expect that only half, at best, of the 70,000refugees projected for resettlement during the year ending Sept. 30will actually arrive in the country.

Before Sept. 11, many of those still in limbo had already beenapproved for travel to the United States.

And as one outgrowth of the new concern over terrorism, a higherpercentage of Muslims have remained on the waiting list forresettlement than refugees of any other category.

The ceiling for the Muslim-rich Near East and South Asia regionis 15,000 but with only a month left in the fiscal year, only 2,539had been admitted from those areas, according to official figures.

During the last fiscal year, 12,060 refugees from these regionswere accepted compared with a ceiling of 12,500.

As part of post-Sept. 11 security measures, all male refugeesbetween 15 and 50 from Muslim countries who are candidates forresettlement must undergo FBI scrutiny.

The FBI issues "security advisory opinions" on each candidateto determine whether any could pose a security risk.

The same check is given to applicants for U.S. visas from Muslimcountries.

The declining number of admissions of both Muslims andnon-Muslims has severe implications for those forced to wait.

Virtually all have fled persecution and now are confined to adreary and sometimes dangerous life at camps sponsored by the U.N.High Commissioner for Refugees.

Of the world's 12 million refugees, the largest number are inAfrica Five of the eight leading refugee-producing countries areAfrican. That continent also is the region with the highest U.S.ceiling for refugee resettlement: 22,000 for the current fiscalyear.

Islamic countries which have produced the most refugees areAfghanistan, Sudan and Iraq.

Gene Dewey, the State Department's top official for refugees,said he is hopeful that procedures can be streamlined to ease thebottlenecks.

"The task is to balance the need to provide protection to asmany as possible who need protection and to protect the people ofthe United States from evildoers," he said in an interview.

He acknowledged that racial profiling is a component of themandatory FBI evaluation of refugee candidates who are Muslimmales.

"If it takes profiling, then that's what you have to do,"Dewey said. "You know what the vulnerable sources are. So it'ssomething you can't take a risk with."

Lavinia Limon, executive director of the private U.S. Committeefor Refugees, acknowledges that security concerns are important butsuggests they could be exaggerated in the case of refugees.

"In the last 35 years, 2 million refugees have been admitted tothe United States," she said. "So far none have been implicatedin terrorist acts. The idea of using the refugee program to come tothe U.S. for terrorism is far fetched."

She said the purpose of the refugee program is to rescue peoplewho are fleeing terror.

She noted that people who are forced out of their own countriesgain U.N. designation as refugees by making the case that "theyhave experienced repression and would experience it all over againif they are forced to return."

Dan Stein, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, ananti-immigration group, says stricter security for refugeeadmissions is justified.

"The reason why flow is slow is the need to make sure we knowwho we are dealing with," he says.

Dewey dreads the thought of what might happen if there is alapse in the refugee screening process.

"Can you imagine what would happen when the first refugee slipsthrough who is a terrorist?" he asked. "This is something I justdon't want to contemplate because of the body blow it would strikeat the admissions program."

Dewey said refugees who have resettled in the United States overthe years do very well. "They are some of our best citizens, someof our best taxpayers," he said.

—The Associated Press

Bicyclists to Travel United Flight 93 Route in Commemoration of Attacks

P A R A M U S, N.J., Sept. 3 — Eleven bicyclists will travel fromNew Jersey to Pennsylvania this weekend to commemorate theterrorist attacks.

They'll leave New Jersey on Saturday for a 400-mile "Cycle ofFreedom Two" trip that will travel the route taken by UnitedFlight 93. The bicyclists hope to arrive in Shanksville,Pennsylvania on Sept. 10 and attend ceremonies there thenext day.

Glenn Wisch, a dentist who is organizing the trip, says proceedsfrom the ride will go to the Shanksville Fire Department. They planto spend the money on a new fire truck and other equipment.

This isn't the first fund-raiser Wisch has been involved with.In November, he joined several friends for a four-day, 300-milebicycle trip from the Pentagon to Staten Island.

That trip raised more than $28,000 for the familiesof 14 firefighters from the Staten Island-based Rescue Five unitwho died in the World Trade Center attacks.

—The Associated Press

Will 9/11-Sparked Upsurge of Volunteerism Remain?

N A S H V I L L E, Tenn., Sept. 3 — Since Sept. 11, Donna Nix has givenblood, sorted canned goods at a food bank and made care packagesfor AIDS patients.

Before the terrorist attacks, Nix was content to enjoy thecomfort of her living room sofa. But when the unfathomablehappened, she—like thousands of Americans—was inspired to jointhe nation's ranks of volunteers.

"Giving of your time became more important instead of justsitting at home watching TV," said Nix, a 27-year-old officeworker from Hendersonville, a Nashville suburb. "I realized Icould be doing something better."

In the hours and days after Sept. 11, Americans floodedvolunteer agencies and relief organizations with donations andoffers to help.

Since then, President Bush urged the nation to make thepost-attack "culture of service" a lasting part of American life.Bush called for each American to donate 4,000 hours over alifetime.

But while Sept. 11 sparked a tremendous upsurge in volunteerism,it's not clear "whether that's been a lasting trend or just ablip," said Sara Melendez, president and CEO of IndependentSector, a Washington-based coalition of more than 700 charitablegroups.

So far, it looks more like a blip to Jennifer Gilligan Cole,executive director of Hands On Nashville, an organization thatcoordinates more than 1,600 volunteers.

"We've seen a lot of people interested, but I have not seen alot of follow-through," Cole said. "We really are still workingto get people to come out and make a long-term commitment."

United Way of America reported a 6 percent rise in volunteers in2001, and "I'm sure that can be attributed in part to Sept. 11 andrenewed community spirit," said United Way spokeswoman AnnAndrews. But whether that held firm in 2002 won't be clear forseveral months, she said.

Close to ground zero, interest in volunteering remains high,said Ariel Zwang, executive director of New York Cares, which stilladvertises recovery-related needs on its Web site.

"It's obviously leveled off since the early months, but what wehave now is a level about 25 percent higher than before," saidZwang, whose organization provided volunteer opportunities for48,000 New Yorkers last year.

Ashley Harris, a 17-year-old senior at Great Valley High Schoolin Malvern, Pa., volunteered with United Way before Sept. 11, butthe attacks strengthened her resolve to "do something."

"After Sept. 11, I went up to see ground zero and it was reallyinspiring," said Harris, who helps at a Police Athletic Leaguecommunity center and visits residents at a senior citizens home.

In Tennessee—nicknamed the Volunteer State for furnishing aremarkable number of volunteers in the War of 1812 and the MexicanWar—some college students want to keep the patriotism andvolunteer spirit alive.

Brooks Brown, a 20-year-old student at the University ofTennessee in Knoxville, helped persuade state lawmakers to pass a"Unite Our Cities" resolution. It urges public school systemsstatewide to create opportunities for students to do volunteer workcommemorating Sept. 11.

"We want to show parents and teachers and kids coming up behindus that we are concerned about our community and the future,"Brown said.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks, Americans also showedtheir concern by giving blood.

Nationally, more than 276,000 people gave blood for the firsttime between Sept. 11 and Oct. 1, the Red Cross reported. However,only about 20 percent have returned to give blood a second time.

As Mando Rueda, 65, donated blood near Las Vegas, he said it'seasy to forget that help is still needed. "A year has gone by."

— The Associated Press