Nearly seven months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the federal government's approach to homeland defense remains characterized by fragmentation, overlap and duplication of effort, the investigative arm of Congress said Tuesday. 

The government has substantially increased spending forlocal preparedness against terrorism but without setting goals or defining the results it wants, the General Accounting Office said. Testifying before the House Government Reform Intergovernmental Relations subcommittee, GAO Strategic Issues Director Patricia Dalton said appointing former Gov. Tom Ridge as the nation's homeland security coordinator was a good first step, and his work on creating a national homeland defense strategy, expected later this year, is another. 

But Ridge and the strategy must address the problem of the federal government's lack of focus and diffusion of responsibility and the confusion this has caused among local agencies, she said. 

"Although the federal government appears monolithic to many, in the area of terrorism prevention and response, it has been anything but," Dalton said. "More than 40 federal entities have a role in combating and responding to terrorism, and more than 20 federal entities in bioterrorism alone. . . . Concerns about coordination and fragmentation in federal preparedness efforts are well-founded." 

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a subcommittee member, said she has asked for a hearing in Chicago this spring on local government's difficulties in dealing with Washington on terrorism matters. 

Dalton said the federal government's diffusion of responsibility and lack of clear-cut guidelines and goals could mean that some of the huge sums budgeted for the anti-terrorism effort could be wasted--a concern shared by Mitch Daniels, White House budget director. 

Federal spending for homeland defense has increased to $29.3 billion from $19.5 billion, Dalton said. 

"Where the nation should be in terms of domestic preparedness [has] yet to be defined," she said. "Given the recent and proposed increases in preparedness funding as well as the need for real and meaningful improvements in preparedness, establishing clear goals and performance measures is critical to ensuring both a successful and a fiscally responsible effort." 

Dalton urged the federal government to use grants, regulations and partnerships with local government as tools to control homeland defense spending. 

This will "enhance the government's capacity to target areas of highest risk to better ensure that scarce federal resources address the most pressing needs, promote shared responsibilities by all parties and track and assess progress toward achieving national goals," she said. 

The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Steve Horn (R-Calif.), agreed with Dalton's concerns. 

"Despite billions of dollars in spending on federal emergency programs, there remain serious doubts as to whether the nation's public health system is equipped to handle a massive chemical, biological or nuclear attack," he said.