Oregon Public Broadcasting

If terrorists decided to attack Oregon today, the state wouldn't be adequately prepared. That's what Gov. Ted Kulongoski said came from an exercise called Top Officials or TOPOFF that was carried out last October.

The 4th TOPOFF exercise simulated an attack on Portland with a dirty bomb that contained radioactive material.

Governor Ted Kulongoski spoke Wednesday at an Anti-Terrorism Conference, along with the U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and other federal and state officials.

Kulongoski said the state learned a number of things from TOPOFF, perhaps most importantly, that the state's public safety communications systems are dangerously out of date.

Ted Kulongoski: "We now know that if TOPOFF had been a real life exercise, people would have likely died because we couldn't maintain reliable tactical communication."

Kulongoski says the state is working on a new wireless communication system to solve this problem. He says the legislature is poised to release nearly $70 million for this purpose.