This week GOVSEC/U.S. Law/READY, a government security expo and conference, was held in Washington's Convention Center. The show targeted security, law enforcement, and the emergency preparedness and response community. According to a show representative, 500 exhibitors and 9,000 registered attendees were at the two-day event.

Many of the exhibitors in the fire/emergency services section appeared to be featuring technology that did not exist or was not available to first responders two years ago. (Many will be featured in an upcoming issue of Fire Chief.)

In the security and law enforcement areas, virtual firing ranges, portable security scanners and detectors for everything from gases to bioweapons to electrical currents were featured at the show. A wide range of representatives of federal agencies -- Departments of Justice, Education, Homeland Security and U.S. Customs -- plus an equal number of police and fire officers wandered the exhibits.

Among the 34 media participants present at the GOVSEC show, 13 had security, homeland or first responder in the title.

The featured speaker at the luncheon was Edward V. Badolato, executive vice president of Homeland Security for Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure Inc. Badolato, a retired military officer, spoke on "Taking the Terror out of Terrorism," specifically in four areas of concern: preparing the citizens, preplanning for biological weapons, unrestricting the National Guard and moving from the 'me too' social age to the 'greatest generation.'"

Badolato started out with the need to prepare citizens for potential major terrorist disasters. He raised some eyebrows when he demoted police and firefighters to second responders, saying that "citizens are the real first responders" to incidents. "Dirty bombs are not the threat," he said, except to those nearby when they go off. Panic is the real threat.

Badolato proceeded to launch into an attack on Arabs and Muslims in America that was totally out of line. He made broad, sweeping generalizations that surprised and offended some of us in the audience. It quickly went downhill from there.

He suggested that TV technicians, firefighters and even postal workers should be trained to be on the lookout for any suspicious activities or items when they go into people's homes.

He also called for "unrestricting" the National Guard. "There's a big tug-of-war between securing the homeland and our overseas commitment -- The National Guard's mission begins within the U.S., and we need to address that," said Badolato. (This comment turned out to be popular with one National Guard member who came by our booth.)

In concluding, he said it was vital to prepare our citizens and that the Department of Homeland Security's Ready campaign is a good start, as are ALISTO for Hispanics, Ready for Business and Ready for Kids.

Badolato made some good points in his talk, but I wonder how many people stopped listening after his bigoted comments.

Afterward, I suggested to Badolato that his personal prejudice against race and a religion was uncalled for. He replied that it wasn't "Scandinavians that flew into the Twin Towers."

I've spent enough time outside the United States to know that you don't judge an entire nation by its bad apples. Likewise, you don't judge an entire corporation, fire department or school by a few people.

As the new homeland security industry emerges, many such "experts" are coming out of the woodwork, not unlike must-have, handheld widgets that can _____ (fill in the blank) and save your life. How do you tell the good from the bad? Who determines who and what is "certified"? Or are they merely "certifiable"?

Janet Wilmoth, Editor