Homeland security - pork or protection?

It's showtime at the Nevada Test Site. A bassoon voice over a public address system sets the scene: A team of "Al Qaeda terrorists" has just seized a "nuclear processing plant."

Immediately, a "SWAT team" (actually four local cops) scrambles across the craggy desert floor into the "plant" (actually a former rocket-testing structure). They try to neutralize the "terrorists" (actually just one rag-doll dummy). But the "terrorists" retaliate - and a "nuclear fireball" (actually a flour-based explosive) flashes like a mini-supernova across the khaki moonscape.

A squadron of white-suited "first responders" (actually the real thing - local police, fire, and paramedic personnel) swarms in to save the "victims" (actually volunteers equipped with Hollywood-style blood.)

At a safe distance, on a shielded stage, Tom Ridge, the White House Homeland Security chief, nods and smiles on cue, calling it a "sterling" performance.

He's trekked out to this remote cold-war nuclear test site at the invitation of Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid (D), who's lobbying for a share of the White House's proposed $3.5 billion for America's "first responders."

Senator Reid envisions this spot as the "top gun" of counter-terror training centers, where police, fire, and paramedic personnel will train for terror attacks. But he's got competition.

Indeed, in the security conscious post 9/11 era, many communities are responding with entrepreneurial spirit and political chutzpah to the booming demand for first-responder training - spurring construction of new and bigger facilities.

Whether these centers will actually boost readiness, however - or whether they're simply old-style pork-barrel projects cloaked in chic patriotism - is yet to be seen. But boosters are charging ahead.

• Reid hopes to win up to $250 million to expand the Nevada training center - and add 1,000 local jobs. Already 3,000 of America's "first responders" train here annually. If Mr. Ridge's funding comes through, 16,000 a year may come.

• In posh Glenview, Ill., officials plan to turn an old naval air base into "the Midwest's premier training academy" for fighting fires, crime, and terrorism.

• A suburban Detroit community college is constructing a 22-acre center with a faux motel and bank atop an old missile-silo site. It's even offering naming rights to buildings - for a fee. Or patrons can buy bricks at the site's memorial, where a twisted chunk of the World Trade Center is the planned centerpiece.

"Everybody's trying to do their share - and going about it in their own way," says John Eversole, who recently retired from commanding Chicago's hazardous-materials teams and is involved in antiterrorism training. "But the most difficult thing is getting one centralized, organized plan" to prepare frontline responders "to fight tomorrow's battles - not just yesterday's battles."

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