 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
A Review of federal Bioterrorism Preparedness Programs from a Public Health Perspective.
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Mr. Bruce Baughman
Itroduction Good
morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee.
I am Bruce Baughman, Director of the Planning and Readiness Division,
Readiness, Response, and Recovery Directorate, of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). Director
Allbaugh regrets that he is unable to be here with you today.
It is a pleasure for me to represent him at this important hearing on
biological and chemical terrorism. I
will describe how FEMA works with other agencies, our approach to dealing with
acts of terrorism, our programs related to terrorism, and new efforts to enhance
preparedness and response. Background
The
FEMA mission is to reduce the loss of life and property and protect our
nation's critical infrastructure from all types of hazards.
As staffing goes, we are a small agency.
Our success depends on our ability to organize and lead a community of
local, State, and Federal agencies and volunteer organizations.
We know who to bring to the table and what questions to ask when it comes
to the business of managing emergencies. We
provide an operational framework and a funding source. The
Federal Response Plan (FRP) is the heart of that framework.
It reflects the labors of interagency groups that meet as required in
Washington, D.C. and all 10 FEMA
Regions to develop our capabilities to respond as a team.
This team is made up of 26 Federal departments and agencies and the
American Red Cross, and organized into interagency functions based on the
authorities and expertise of the members and the needs of our counterparts at
the state and local level. Since
1992, the Federal Response Plan has been the proven framework time and time
again, for managing major disasters and emergencies regardless of cause. It works during all phases of the emergency life cycle, from
readiness, to response, recovery, and mitigation. The framework is successful because it builds upon the
existing professional disciplines and communities among agencies. Among
Federal agencies, FEMA has the strongest ties to the emergency management and
the fire service communities. We
plan, train, exercise, and operate together.
That puts us in position to manage and coordinate programs that address
their needs. Similarly, the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the strongest ties to the
public health and medical communities, and the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has the strongest ties to the hazardous materials community.
The Federal Response Plan respects these relationships and areas of
expertise to define the decision-making processes and delivery systems to make
the best use of available resources. The
Approach to Biological and Chemical Terrorism We
recognize that biological and chemical scenarios would present unique
challenges. Of the two I am more
concerned about bioterrorism. A
chemical attack is in many ways a large-scale hazardous materials incident. EPA and the Coast Guard are well connected to local hazardous
materials responders, State and Federal agencies, and the chemical industry.
There are systems and plans in place for response to hazardous materials,
systems that are routinely used for small and large-scale events.
EPA is also the primary agency for the Hazardous Materials function of
the Federal Response Plan. We can
improvise around that model in a chemical attack. With
a covert release of a biological agent, the 'first responders' will be
hospital staff, medical examiners, private physicians, or animal control
workers, instead of the traditional first responders such as police, fire, and
emergency medical services. While I
defer to the Departments of Justice and HHS on how biological scenarios would
unfold, it seems unlikely that terrorists would warn us of a pending biological
attack. In exercise and planning
scenarios, the worst-case scenarios begin undetected and play out as epidemics.
Response would begin in the public health and medical community.
Initial requests for Federal assistance would probably come through
health and medical channels to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Conceivably, the situation could escalate into a national emergency. HHS
is a critical link between the health and medical community and the larger
Federal response. HHS leads the
efforts of the health and medical community to plan and prepare for a national
response to a public health emergency. FEMA
works closely with the Public Health Service, as the primary agency for the
Health and Medical Services function of the Federal Response Plan.
We rely on the Public Health Service to bring the right experts to the
table when the Federal Response Plan community meets to discuss biological
scenarios. We work closely with the
experts in HHS and other health and medical agencies, to learn about the
threats, how they spread, and the resources and techniques that will be needed
to control them. By the same token, the medical experts work with us to learn
about the Federal Response Plan and how we can use it to work the management
issues, such as resource deployment and public information strategies.
Alone, the Federal Response Plan is not an adequate solution for the
challenge of planning and preparing for a deadly epidemic or act of bioterrorism.
It is equally true that, alone, the health and medical community cannot
manage an emergency with biological causes.
We must work together. In
recent years, Federal, state and local governments and agencies have made
progress in bringing the communities closer together.
Exercise Top Officials (TOPOFF) 2000 in May 2000 involved two concurrent
terrorism scenarios in two metropolitan areas, a chemical attack on the East
Coast followed by a biological attack in the Midwest. We are still working on the lessons learned from that
exercise. We need time and
resources to identify, develop, and incorporate changes to the system between
exercises. Exercises are critical
in helping us to prepare for these types of scenarios.
In January 2001, the FBI and FEMA jointly published the U.S. Government
Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operation Plan (CONPLAN) with HHS,
EPA, and the Departments of Defense and Energy, and pledged to continue the
planning process to develop specific procedures for different scenarios,
including bioterrorism. The Federal
Response Plan and the CONPLAN provide the framework for managing the response to
an act of bioterrorism. Synopsis
of FEMA Programs
FEMA
programs are focused mainly on planning, training, and exercises to build
capabilities to manage
emergencies resulting from terrorism. Many
of these program activities apply generally to terrorism, rather than to one
form such as biological or chemical terrorism. Planning The
overall Federal planning effort is being coordinated with the FBI, using
existing plans and response structures whenever possible.
The FBI is always the Lead Agency for Crisis Management.
FEMA is always the Lead Agency for Consequence Management. We have developed plans and procedures to explain how to
coordinate the two operations before and after consequences occur.
In 1999, we published the second edition of the FRP Terrorism Incident
Annex. In 2001, the FBI and FEMA
published the United States Government Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of
Operations Plan (CONPLAN). We
continually validate our planning concepts by developing plans to support the
response to special events, such as we are now doing for the 2002 Olympic Winter
Games that will take place in Utah. To
support any need for a Federal response, FEMA maintains the Rapid Response
Information System (RRIS). The RRIS
provides online access to information on key Federal assets that can be made
available to assist state and local response efforts, and a database on chemical
and biological agents and protective measures. In
FY 2001, FEMA has distributed $16.6 million in terrorism consequence management
preparedness assistance grants to the States to support development of terrorism
related capabilities, and $100 million in fire grants.
FEMA is developing additional guidance to provide greater flexibility for
states on how they can use this assistance. FEMA
has also developed a special attachment to its all-hazards Emergency Operations
Planning Guide for state and local emergency managers that addresses developing
terrorist incident annexes to state and local emergency operations plans.
This planning guidance was developed with the assistance of eight Federal
departments and agencies in coordination with NEMA and the International
Association of Emergency Managers. FEMA
and the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) jointly developed the
Capability Assessment for Readiness (CAR), a self-assessment tool that enables
States and Territories to focus on 13 core elements that address major emergency
management functions. Terrorism
preparedness is assessed relative to planning, procedures, equipment and
exercises. FEMA's CAR report
presents a composite picture of the nation's readiness based on the individual
State and Territory reports. FEMA's
Comprehensive Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Capability Assessment
Program (CHER-CAP) helps communities improve their terrorism preparedness by
assessing their emergency response capability.
Local, State, and Tribal emergency managers, civic leaders, hospital
personnel and industry representatives all work together to identify problems,
revise their response plans and improve their community's preparedness for a
terrorist event. Since February 2000, a total of 55 communities have been
selected to participate, initiated, or completed a sequence of planning,
training, and exercise activities to improve their terrorism preparedness. Training FEMA
supports the training of Federal, State, and local emergency personnel through
our National Fire Academy (NFA), which trains emergency responders, and the
Emergency Management Institute (EMI), which focuses on emergency planners,
coordinators and elected and appointed officials.
EMI and NFA work in partnership with State and municipal training
organizations. Together they form a
very strong national network of fire and emergency training.
FEMA employs a "train-the-trainer" approach and uses
distance-learning technologies such as the Emergency Education Network via
satellite TV and web-based instruction to maximize our training impact. The
NFA has developed and fielded several courses in the Emergency
Response to Terrorism (ERT) curriculum, including a Self-Study course
providing general awareness information for responding to terrorist incidents
that has been distributed to some 35,000 fire/ rescue departments, 16,000 law
enforcement agencies, and over 3,000 local and state emergency managers in the
United States and is available on FEMA internet site.
Other courses in the curriculum deal with Basic Concepts, Incident
Management, and Tactical Considerations for Emergency Medical Services (EMS),
Company Officers, and HAZMAT Response. Biological
and chemical terrorism are included as integral parts of these courses. Over
one thousand instructors representing every state and major metropolitan area in
the nation have been trained under the ERT program. The NFA is utilizing the
Training Resources and Data Exchange (TRADE) program to reach all 50 States and
all major metropolitan fire and rescue departments with training materials and
course offerings. In FY 2001, FEMA
is distributing $4 million in grants to state fire-training
centers to deliver first responder courses developed by the NFA. Over
112,000 students have participated in ERT courses and other terrorism-related
training. In addition, some 57,000
copies of a Job Aid utilizing a flip-chart format guidebook to quick reference
based on the ERT curriculum concepts and principles have been printed and
distributed. NFA
is developing a new course in FY 2002 in the Emergency Response to Terrorism
series geared toward response to bioterrorism in the pre-hospital recognition
and response phase. It will be
completed with the review and input of our Federal partners, notably HHS and the
Office of Justice Programs. EMI
offers a comprehensive program of emergency management training including a
number of courses specifically designed to help communities, states, and tribes
deal with the consequences of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
The EMI curriculum includes an Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC)/Consequences
of Terrorism. This 4-½ day course
combines classroom training, planning sessions, and functional exercises into a
management-level course designed to encourage communities to integrate
functions, skills, and resources to deal with the consequences of terrorism,
including terrorism. To foster this
integration, EMI brings together 70 participants for each course that includes
elected officials and public health leaders as well as representatives of law
enforcement, emergency medical services, emergency management, and public works.
The course provides participants with skill-building opportunities in
preparedness, response, and recovery. The
scenario for the course changes from offering to offering.
In a recent offering, the scenario was based on an airborne anthrax
release. Bioterrorism scenarios emphasize the special issues inherent
in dealing with both infectious and noninfectious biological agents and stresses
the partnerships between local, state, and Federal public health organizations. Exercises
In
the area of exercises, FEMA is working closely with the interagency community
and the States to ensure the development of a comprehensive exercise program
that meets the needs of the emergency management and first responder
communities. FEMA is planning to conduct Phase II of a seminar series on
terrorism preparedness in each of the ten FEMA Regional Offices.
In addition, exercise templates and tools are being developed for
delivery to state and local officials. New
Efforts to Enhance Preparedness and Response In response to guidance from the President on May 8, 2001, the FEMA Director created an Office of National Preparedness (ONP) to coordinate all federal programs dealing with weapons of mass destruction consequence management, with particular focus on preparedness for, and the response to the terrorist use of such weapons. In July, the Director established the ONP at FEMA Headquarters. An ONP element was also established in each of the ten FEMA Regional Offices to support terrorism-related activities involving the States and localities. On
September 21, 2001, in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, the President announced the establishment of an
Office of Homeland Security (OHS) in the White House to be headed by Governor
Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. In setting up the new office, the President stated
that it would
lead, oversee and coordinate a national strategy to safeguard the country
against terrorism and respond to attacks that occur. It is our understanding
that office will coordinate a broad range of policies and activities related to
prevention, deterrence, preparedness and response to terrorism. The
new office includes a Homeland Security Council comprised of key department and
agency officials, including the FEMA Director. FEMA expects to provide
significant support to the office in its role as the lead Federal agency for
consequence management. Conclusion Mr. Chairman, you convened this hearing to ask about our preparedness to work with State and local agencies in the event of a biological or chemical attack. It is FEMA's responsibility to ensure that the national emergency management system is adequate to respond to the consequences of catastrophic emergencies and disasters, regardless of cause. All catastrophic events require a strong management system built on expert systems for each of the operational disciplines. Terrorism presents tremendous challenges. We rely on our partners in Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the efforts of the health and medical community to address biological terrorism, as we rely on EPA and the Coast Guard to coordinate the efforts of the hazardous materials community to address chemical terrorism. Without question, they need support to further strengthen capabilities and their operating capacity. FEMA must ensure that the national system has the tools to gather information, set priorities, and deploy resources effectively in a biological scenario. In recent years we have made tremendous strides in our efforts to increase cooperation between the various response communities, from fire and emergency management to health and medical to hazardous materials. We need to do more.
The creation of the Office of Homeland Security and other efforts will enable us to better focus our time and effort with those communities, to prepare the nation for response to any incident. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to answer any questions.
|
|||||||||||
|
