But now that the nation is likely to stay on a wartime footing for years to come, it's time to get sensibly organized on a permanent basis with local, state and federal agencies working together.

At issue is not only security in the conventional sense of protecting the public from the bad guys - but also to protect the public from disease. All this will require more manpower, hardened infrastructures and improved cooperation at all levels of government.

Mayor Bob Young just led an Augusta delegation to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington to learn the role localities are expected to play. As first responders local police, fire, emergency management personnel and health and medical agencies will play critical roles.

The mayor will soon be meeting with appropriate public and private groups to work out specific security missions. They won't just be about improving responses after a crisis hits, but also what can be done pro-actively to derail crises. This will require surveillance/preventive programs.

On Thursday Gov. Roy Barnes put Public Safety Commissioner Robert Hightower in charge of Georgia home security and announced the formation of an anti-terrorism intelligence center. He also noted optimistically, but accurately, that because of the 1996 Olympics experience, Georgia has a head start on dealing with terrorist threats.

The intelligence center is a great idea. It will be charged with detecting and sharing terrorist threats with local and federal authorities. Gathering and sharing such information is crucial.

If various agencies of government, which separately knew something bad about most of the Sept. 11 hijackers, had collectively pooled their knowledge, they might very well have put the pieces together in time to cut the Twin Towers and Pentagon attacks off at the pass.

Mayors and governors are also looking to the federal government for help in one other homeland security area: Paying for it. The ''terror tax" is already taking a toll, not directly as a new tax per se, but in revenues lost due to rising unemployment and consumers closing up their purses.

Uncle Sam will reimburse the states for use of National Guard units, but Barnes and his gubernatorial colleagues are also seeking federal funds to help pay for equipment and training.

Young and his mayoral colleagues want Congress' spending to include public works projects to enhance security and keep people working. Where these jobs are necessary, they deserve public support, but not to create a grow-the-government jobs program. The work should be contracted out to boost the private sector.

Ultimately, federal, state and local governments will share in levying the ''terror tax," but it won't make any difference to taxpayers where the tax comes from. They'll have to pay it anyway.