Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, has been chosen to join the National Task Force for Protecting Democracy, a group formed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to prepare states in case of a national or state emergency.

As a part of a regional wing of the National Task Force, Diamond and other legislators from Maine and surrounding states, will work closely with the Office of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to examine how best to protect the nation’s Northeast corridor from the dangers of terrorism and how best to respond to an attack or natural disaster.

Diamond said he felt privileged to be appointed to the task force and is excited to cooperate with other states to make Maine and the region safer.

“It’s going to be an eye opener,” Diamond said. “It’s going to be a chance to see where Maine really is (in terms of homeland security).”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, Diamond said the “weakness” of the nation’s security was revealed along with the need for local, state and federal coordination.

“We saw that need in Louisiana where we saw that not only the federal government was unprepared, but the state and local government as well,” Diamond said. “I think we saw a weakness up and down the line and I think it’s surprising that it was handled so poorly.”

In the four years since the World Trade Center towers fell, Diamond said there have been many assumptions made as to how well the nation has prepared itself for another attack and that, in the wake of the hurricane disasters, “we may not be able to handle an attack as well as we had previously thought.”

“It’s a whole new era of terror,” said Diamond. “And I think a lot of people thought that we had made some changes.”

Diamond remembers the “chill” he felt watching the second plane hit the towers on television while sitting in a garage getting his car repaired; the chill of realizing that the nation was vulnerable, that terrorism had no boundaries.

The recent disaster on the Gulf Coast may be hard lesson of how unprepared the nation still is, Diamond said.

“It’s a real tragedy,” Diamond said of the hurricanes’ devastation, “but a second tragedy would be to not learn from it.”

Diamond sees the task force as an opportunity to learn what other states are doing to protect and prepare themselves as well as what state and local law enforcement’s day-to-day role is in keeping Maine safe.

“My concerns right off the top will be happening with our coasts,” Diamond said. “We’ve got three thousand miles of coast and a lot of those coasts are hidden.”

Diamond said he also hopes to examine how federal money for Homeland Security is being spent in Maine.

As he meets with the task force in coming months, Diamond will report back to the Public Safety Committee, of which he is a member, and address the full legislature as to what has been discussed.

“The most important piece is to do an examination for where we are at the moment,” Diamond said.