|
Senior Homeland Security advisor visits Sylva, WCU
By Lynn Hotaling
“Be prepared” – the tried-and true motto of the Boy Scouts – is one every American should adopt, said 1990 Smoky Mountain High School graduate Dan Ostergaard.
Ostergaard is now nationally-known due to his position as senior advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
“Have a plan, discuss the plan, have an emergency kit and be informed,” was Ostergaard’s reply when asked what people in Jackson County should do to prepare themselves for terrorist attacks.
 |
Answer: Two 1990 Smoky Mountain High School graduates who have recently found themselves in the national spotlight. Question: Who are Homeland Security Advisory Council Director Dan Ostergaard, left, and his classmate Phoebe Juel? The 1993 Jeopardy! College Tournament Champion, Juel competed in early March against 150 other big-time winners as part of the game show’s Tournament of Champions. The show aired March 23. In second place heading into the final round, Juel’s hopes of winning were dashed when she couldn’t come up with the correct question (What are the Marlins and Mariners? Answer: These two expansion teams begin with the same three letters; one could catch the other.) “I should have gotten it,” she said. “Baseball’s the only sport I know anything about.” In North Carolina for a regional HSAC meeting in Charlotte, Ostergaard visited Western Carolina University and Sylva last Thursday and took advantage of the fine spring weather for a Main Street reunion with his former high school quiz bowl teammate, who works at City Lights Bookstore. – Herald photo by Derek Hodges
Ostergaard, named executive director of the Homeland Security Advisory Council in July, said people across the country need to take steps to ensure their own safety. He recommends a government-sponsored Web site, www.ready.gov, that outlines practical steps that everyone can take.
“The homeland is not secure until the hometown is secure, and the hometown is not secure until the home is secure,” he said.
However, Ostergaard pointed out that his agency does not only deal with terrorist threats.
“Homeland security is more than just responding to terrorism,” Ostergaard said. “It’s responding to natural disasters. Hurricanes Frances and Ivan were major terrorists for Jackson County last year.”
The event that gave Ostergaard a chance to visit his own hometown was a quarterly meeting of the HSAC last week in Charlotte. A national council, the HSAC often meets in Washington, D.C., but also makes stops across the country.
Charlotte was chosen for the group’s March meeting because of its status as a major inland city, Ostergaard said, and also because it’s a town that’s taken steps to beef up its own security.
Council members heard from city leaders concerning plans to protect Charlotte’s many targets, including Lowe’s Motor Speedway and nearby nuclear power plants.
Several Tar Heels are among the 20 or so HSAC members, Ostergaard said. They include Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, Research Triangle Institute President Victoria Haynes and Raleigh Police Chief Jan Perlov.
In addition to his work with the main council, Ostergaard directs four subcommittees that also each meet four times per year.
When asked how things had changed at the Department of Homeland Security with the departure of Tom Ridge and advent of new Secretary Michael Chertoff, Ostergaard described Chertoff as “fantastic” and said that he “is tweaking things that need to be tweaked.”
Chertoff has initiated a 60-day review to assess threats and align the department with its mission.
“Secretary Ridge was fantastic, too,” Ostergaard said. “Both men were the right choice for a tough job.”
Ostergaard’s associate, Rich Davis, expressed similar admiration for the HSAC director.
“Surely he’s in the right place at the right time,” Davis said of Ostergaard. “The nation’s at war, and Dan’s skills from the Coast Guard and Navy War College make what he’s doing as senior advisor invaluable.”
Ostergaard agreed that he has found his niche.
“In terms of public service, with the nation at war, this is the right place for me,” he said. “It’s very rewarding, and I feel like we’ve made the country more secure.”
While in Sylva, Ostergaard admired improvements to Main Street and was reunited with high school classmate Phoebe Juel, who appeared on a Jeopardy! show that aired last week. The two were teammates on the SMHS quiz bowl team, they said.
Ostergaard, who served as the homeland security and criminal justice liaison for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush before being named to his HSAC post, was on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1990 until 2001. He continues as an officer in the Coast Guard Reserve.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the Coast Guard Academy and two graduate degrees: a master’s in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a master’s in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
|
