"We try to get the public works and utilities sectors up to speed on potential threats and potential target sites," says Vince Slominski, an instructor with the Texas Engineering Extension Service and National Emergency Response and Rescue Center. "We want to get them back in operations and to get the community back to a state of normalcy."

The center, which helps local governments and their staffs respond to terrorists' threats, says that utilities have assets and manpower that are vital in the effort to assist other first responders with evacuations, search and rescue operations and damage assessments. The process, says Slominski, has been laid out by the Office of Homeland Security. It's one that begins at the local level with state and federal resources added as needed.

Law enforcement typically takes the lead role and determines who does what. Fire departments, emergency management services and public works often take a proactive part in such cases. Once a unified command center is established, essential personnel direct operations in the field that include helping the wounded and performing searches. Other groups, meantime, are responsible for organizing supplies or partaking in long-range planning that involves trying to mitigate future damages.

If a transformer or substation goes down, for example, the time it takes to replace broken parts can be expensive. That's why Slominski says that such equipment ought to be stockpiled in advance while pre-established contacts should be current and abundant.

"It is our suggestion that you practice these events well in advance," says Slominski. "Come up with a scenario and apply it to your community to see how it would operate. The day of the event is too late. Planning and training go hand in hand."

He points to Oklahoma City, which suffered the bombing of one of its federal buildings in the mid 1990s. Prior to that event, such essential enterprises as police, fire, medical units, utilities and public works had advanced training. They handled one of the most dramatic and stressful events in this country's history with valor. And out of that came a more sophisticated emergency response team.

Threat Levels

The discussion is not theoretical. The specific steps that individual utilities are taking are highly secretive, mainly because they would not want any intruder to breach their own security. But according to papers filed by the critical infrastructure working group of the North American Electric Reliability Council, each company should prioritize its facilities and assets as well as characterize potential risks based on historical accounts.

Once a threat level is determined, companies should consider barricading those assets with gates and limiting access to them by using "smart cards" that can identify each person coming and going. Meanwhile, cameras and sophisticated alarms should pervade utility campuses. In case of "high" alerts, or when a terrorist threat or criminal activity is imminent, the management within a facility must be notified as well as law enforcement and medical teams. At the same time, all personnel should be accounted for and any outsider should be prohibited from entering the campus, for any reason.

Employees who have been trained in advance to deal with disaster-related events should be able to respond properly to such things as power outages and cyber invasions. If tragedy should strike, utilities must have "mutual assistance agreements" lined up to assist with the perpetuation of business. Under any circumstance, employees who are to operate critical assets must undergo background checks -- whether they are new or getting a promotion. The standard also requires a periodic background check at least every five years if an employee continues to have access to critical systems.

"If people with weapons want to bring harm to the population, there is not much a private company can do," says Larry Brown, a member of the infrastructure group. "In this country, however, the redundancy rate we have built into our electrical systems would make the results of an incident like that far less severe," adds Brown, who is also a lawyer for the Edison Electric Institute.

Power companies generally have systems in place to fight the effects of natural disaster. Newark-based PSEG Corp., for example, has trained for and dealt with its fair share of hurricanes, ice storms and floods. Its top priority is to restore power as quickly as possible -- something that can only be achieved through a unified command structure. It works hand-in-hand with the local offices for emergency management that include fire fighters and police, who have the communications equipment to direct assets to where they are needed.