"War on terror" depletes "domestic army".

ITEM: Police and firefighters "are part of the 'domestic army' ... who will be called upon to respond to the next terrorist attack," noted USA Today for November 29. However, "At least two-thirds of the nation's fire departments are understaffed, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The shortage is worst in rural volunteer departments that have trouble recruiting new members. But many' big and medium-size cities that are more likely to be terrorist targets are also shorthanded. Some, including New York, have had to close fire stations; others, such as Houston, have had temporary, closures. In many cities, response times are slower, and trucks go out with too few firefighters."

"Many big-city police departments such as Cleveland also are bleeding officers," continued the report. "Nationally, the number of police has remained stagnant in recent years.... Staffing problems are being felt coast to coast. New York City, with 23,000 police officers, has lost 1,000 a year for the past three years.... There also are staffing problems at 911 emergency centers. National figures are not available for 911 call-takers and dispatchers, sometimes called the first of the first responders."

According to Steve Souder, director of the 911 Emergency Communications Center for Montgomery, Maryland, staff shortages nationwide have reached a "crisis point."

Layoffs" and attrition have contributed to this crisis among first responders. USA Today made fleeting mention of another significant factor: "The call-up of reservists and National Guard members for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also is taxing police and fire departments. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the National Guard has called up 4,153 police officers and 451 firefighters."

The December 1 New York Times offered a tragic counterpart to that story, reporting the deaths of firefighters Stephen C. Benish, 20, and Christian Engeldrum, 39, while serving with the New York National Guard in Iraq. A third New York-area firefighter, Daniel Swift, was wounded in the same bomb attack that killed Engeldrum.

AHEAD or THE CURVE: In a May 5, 2003 feature story entitled "Exporting Our 'First Responders,'" published just weeks after the Iraq war began, THE NEW AMERICAN noted that tens of thousands of local police and emergency personnel who "man the front lines of 'homeland defense' ... have been sent to fight overseas."

We cited Randy Bruegman, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, who warned: "We're going to lose upwards of 75,000 firefighters over the next several months with the reserve call-up. Those called up for war duty overseas tend to be veteran firefighters with critical skills that would be needed in the event of a terrorist attack at home.... We may be extracting the one person who is the hazardous materials specialist out of a community, or the one person who has been involved with terrorism response over the course of the last two or three years."

We predicted that the mobilization would have a similar impact on police and other emergency services: "The lack of street-savvy, experienced local police is a national security liability at a time when officers across the nation are the first defense against another terrorist attack." The loss of experienced police "has devastated many police agencies in smaller communities," we observed, pointing out that filling the gaps "often means either paying overtime--or reducing police coverage."