Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart is alarmed after hearing this week's warnings of possible summer terror attacks by Al Qaeda operatives here in the United States.

In a recent plea, the Democrat urged Denver city leaders to wake up — Denver isn't ready to respond to a catastrophe, and neither are large cities West of the Mississippi River.

On a recent visit to New York University, Hart — who co-chaired both the U.S. Commission on National Security/ 21st Century and the Council on Foreign Relations task force on homeland security — told Fox News that Americans in the heartland need a serious wake-up call.

"I have focused on my own region because I think people out there believe terrorism is a New York problem, not an American problem," Hart said. "The Mississippi is not any kind of protection for Denver, Colo., or Omaha, Neb., or anyone else."

The country's firefighters police officers and emergency personnel are still waiting for federal money to better equip themselves for a terrorist attack. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness (search) has budgeted just over $4 billion for that effort.

But many officials say it's not enough.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,121278,00.html