Local emergency personnel are being trained this month to respond to terrorist attacks in the region.

The Centre County Board of Commissioners, following a statewide directive, reported Feb. 19 plans to increase readiness among the area's emergency response teams throughout the next two years. The state and local governments have earmarked $400,000 for the training.

Two training dates already were completed on March 12 and 14. The plan calls for three more days of training tomorrow, Thursday and March 28. The focus of these days of training will be local police officers' response to weapons of mass destruction such as a biological, chemical or nuclear attack.

Although Centre County has not seen any terrorist attacks in the past, local officials stress the importance of being prepared.

Jon Eich, director of Administration Services for the board, said the training is in direct reaction to the attacks on Sept. 11. The governor told county and local representatives across the state to follow the state's lead and make terrorism prevention a number one priority, Eich said.

The state allocated half of the $400,000 budget with the other half coming from local tax revenue.

Some experts are skeptical about the necessity of the training.

"The most common targets are outside of the U.S. because terrorists like to remain near their support networks," Jeffrey Dixon, senior lecturer of political science, said. "You look at Centre County, and you think there is not much to attack."

Dixon acknowledged Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber, attacked universities on a small scale, but it was usually an individual targeted and not large-scale terrorism.

Scott Bennett, associate professor of political science, also said the task force is probably not necessary, adding that the odds are small that a terrorist will target the Centre County area.

Eich said there hasn't been any public descent to the training, but agreed that the area is probably not at the top of any terrorist's list.

"I don't think any domestic terrorist group has nuclear weapons," Bennett said. The groups might have primitive chemical or biological weapons but do not have the capability to deploy them on a large scale, Bennett said.

There might be better ways to spend the money, but a balance must be reached between research, defense and humanitarian aid, Bennett said.