Maj. Gen. David B. Poythress, left, Georgia's Adjutant General, makes a point during the Georgia Homeland Security Task Force meeting with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. 
(Photo by Sgt. Roy Henry)

TAG, Others Meet with Secretary Chertoff at Dobbins

Georgia's Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. David B. Poythress; Brig. Gen. Terry Nesbitt, Army Guard commander; and Col. Steve Westgate, Air Guard chief of staff, are among the state officials involved with the Georgia Homeland Security Task Force, who met recently at Dobbins Air Reserve Base with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff.

Chertoff flew into Dobbins with Vice President Dick Cheney, who came to Georgia to promote President Bush's Social Security reform package. Officials with the secretary's entourage said he saw the trip as an opportunity to meet face-to-face with those he would have to deal with during an emergency.

It's the first time Chertoff, who replaced Tom Ridge Feb. 15 as secretary of homeland security, has met with the group. 

While Cheney was at a Smyrna high school touting Bush's proposal for saving Social Security, Chertoff sat in a conference room at the Guard's Finch building and was briefed on the Georgia National Guard's capabilities, its assets and its role in homeland security.

"I believe Secretary Chertoff walked away from our meeting with an understanding of the level of experience we (the Georgia National Guard) bring to the homeland security effort," Poythress said.

Briefing the secretary was Maj. Mike Scholes, counter drug coordinator for Georgia's Counterdrug Task Force and Full Spectrum Integrated Vulnerability Assessment program director.