FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2007
CONTACT: Geoff Embler or Matt Mackowiak
Sen. Hutchison Proposes National Disaster Response Center at Kelly Air Field
Facility would Provide Nationwide Coordinated Disaster Recovery and Response
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) today filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Defense (DOD) Authorization bill requiring a feasibility study be completed by March 31, 2008 to house a National Disaster Response Center (NDRC) in San Antonio at Kelly Air Field.
“San Antonio and Kelly Air Field is an ideal location for this type of center to provide coordinated response activities from local, state, and federal governments and the military,” said Sen. Hutchison. “Texas has a lot of experience dealing with disasters, and the capacity and strategic location of Kelly Air Field will bring the assets and resources together to improve disaster response and recovery for our nation.”
Before such a facility can be built, the DOD has to conduct a feasibility study, which would audit the proposed location for its personnel, existing capacity, assets, deficiencies, and then estimate the cost for construction.
The amendment would require a report from the Secretary of Defense to Congress on the feasibility of “utilizing existing infrastructure or installing new infrastructure at Kelly Air Field in San Antonio to house an NDRC for responding to man-made and natural disasters in the United States.”
Specifically, the report will include:
· A determination of how the DRC would organize and leverage capabilities of the following currently co-located organizations, facilities, and forces in San Antonio:
o Lackland AFB
· Including The Air Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, The United States Air Force Security Police Training Department, and the large manpower pools and blood donor pools from the more than 6,000 trainees
o Fort Sam Houston
o Brooke Army Medical Center
o Wilford Hall Medical Center
o Audie Murphy Veterans Administration Medical Center
o 433rd Airlife Wing C-5 Heavy Lift Aircraft
o 149th Fighter Wing and Texas Air National Guard F-16 fighter aircraft
o Army Northern Command
o The National Trauma Institute’s three Level 1 Trauma Centers
o Texas Medical Rangers
o San Antonio Metro Health Department
o The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
· A determination of the number of military and civilian personnel required to be mobilized to run the logistics, planning, and maintenance of the NDRC both during a time of disaster recovery and during a time when no disaster is occurring
· A determination of the cost of improving the current infrastructure at Kelly Air Field to meet the needs of displaced victims of a disaster equivalent to Hurricane Katrina or Rita or a natural or man-made disaster of similar scope, including adequate beds, food stores and decontamination stations to triage radiation or other chemical or biological agent contamination victims
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