Leader of County Association says planning is key in terrorist attacks

The President of the National Association of Counties spoke about national security issues to county officials from Iowa today. Javier Gonzales is a commissioner in Santa Fe County New Mexico.Gonzales says county officials are the first line of defense for homeland security in Iowa and across the country. Gonzales stressed the need for counties to develop security plans that include sharing agreements with cities, towns and other counties.He says many counties have emergency plans in place, but he says those plans don’t focus on homeland security. He says counties need to get the plans in place as soon as possible.He says the threat is real, and he says being prepared will make citizens safer. You might not think tiny rural counties in Iowa need to worry about terrorist attacks. Gonzalez says that’s a wrong assumption.He says small rural counties have the least amount of resources to deal with the problem, but he says they often surround federal installations or agricultural products that could be the target of terrorist attack. And he says those counties have American citizens living in them that could be a target of terrorists. Gonzalez spoke today at the annual Spring business meeting of the Iowa Association of Counties held in Des Moines.