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Communications System FEMA Coordinates Federal Disaster and Emergency Assistance Programs and Activities in Support of State and Local Governments Statement of Joe M. Allbaugh, Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Before the Joint Hearing of the Committees on Appropriations, Armed Services And Intelligence, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2001. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Committee members. I am Joe M. Allbaugh, the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). I thank you for this opportunity to discuss Federal terrorism-related programs and activities with the distinguished Members representing the various Committees assembled for this extraordinary set of hearings. I would like to provide an overview of the FEMA responsibilities in terrorism preparedness and response, describe our roles in consequence management, and discuss programs and activities we are undertaking in conjunction with our Federal, State and local partners to enhance the capabilities at all levels of Government for responding to the effects of terrorist incidents. Authorities and Responsibilities FEMA is the lead Federal agency for all-hazard emergency management activities involving mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. FEMA’s involvement in terrorism preparedness and response is based on statutory authorities, Executive Orders and Presidential directives. As the designated lead agency for terrorism consequence management under Presidential Directives 39 and 62, FEMA coordinates Federal disaster and emergency assistance programs and activities in support of State and local governments. In response to terrorist incidents, FEMA coordinates the Federal consequence management activities for the President using the structures of the interagency Federal Response Plan to provide the needed Federal resources to augment the State and local efforts. As we do in natural disasters, this involves measures to protect public health and safety, restore essential Government services, and provide emergency relief to governments, businesses, and individuals affected by the disaster or the consequences of a terrorist act. In the area of preparedness, FEMA provides planning and technical guidance, conducts assessments, provides and supports training, and sponsors and supports exercises with other Federal departments and agencies to ensure the Federal Government is prepared to respond to any contingency, including the consequences of terrorist incidents. In this regard, FEMA also supports local and State terrorism preparedness efforts by providing technical guidance; planning, training, and exercise assistance; and funding to support State and local terrorism preparedness activities. Federal Response Plan In an actual or potential terrorist incident, FEMA uses the structures and resources of the Federal Response Plan (FRP) to manage the Federal consequence management response activities. The FRP, first published in 1992 and recently updated, has been used in the past several years to respond to numerous disasters and emergencies declared by the President, including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, as well as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and earthquakes. The Plan brings together twenty-six Federal departments and agencies and the American Red Cross to organize Federal disaster response and recovery efforts and coordinate them with an affected State. Most importantly, it provides a known and flexible framework under which local, State and Federal officials can orchestrate their response to a disaster or emergency and make the most effective use of all available resources. FEMA has developed a special annex to the FRP to address the unique requirements for responding to a terrorist incident. FEMA’s Domestic Preparedness Focus We rely on the FBI and others in the intelligence and law enforcement communities to assess these threats and communicate information about their likely occurrence. Based on the assumption that any area in the country could be the potential target for such an attack, we continue to emphasize the following key considerations to ensure the broadest coverage for the implementation of domestic terrorism preparedness activities. These include programs and activities to ensure that:
FEMA Programs and Activities FEMA terrorism preparedness and consequence management activities are focused mainly in the areas of planning, training and exercises, to include assessments and grants to the States. Planning In the area of planning, the responsibility for developing plans and implementing response falls heavily on the States and the local governments. FEMA is applying its experience gained in responding to natural disasters to guide the development of terrorism consequence management preparedness plans and procedures at the local, State and Federal levels. In 1997, we published the FRP Terrorism Incident Annex describing policies and structures of the Federal Government for coordinating crisis management and consequence management activities. In that a fundamental goal of the planning effort is to assist in the development of State and local plans for dealing with WMD contingencies, FEMA grant assistance is being provided to enhance planning resources and capabilities at the State and local levels of government. FEMA has developed a special attachment to its all-hazards Emergency 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 the National Emergency Management Association and the International Association of Emergency Managers representing State and local governments. The overall Federal planning effort is being coordinated with the FBI utilizing existing plans and associated planning structures whenever possible to help ensure that crisis and consequence management plans are in place across the Nation. In this regard, we also are a signatory with the FBI and other key agencies to the recently published United States Government Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan (the CONPLAN) that further describes the linkages between crisis management led by the FBI, and consequence management, let by FEMA. In addition to refining the use of the FRP, one unique way we continually validate our planning concepts is by developing plans to support the response to special events, such as we are now doing for 2002 Olympic Winter Games that will take place in Utah. FEMA has implemented the Rapid Response Information System (RRIS), which contains an inventory of key Federal assets that could be made available to assist State and local response efforts, and a database on chemical and biological agents and protective measures. And we continue to refine our Federal plans and procedures with other departments and agencies to ensure response operations are timely and meet the critical resource needs for response to these kinds of incidents. Training In the area of training, FEMA has developed and delivered a number of terrorism-related courses for State and local emergency management personnel and first responders. FEMA is utilizing existing programs, networks and facilities to help support the training delivery. In particular, we are using the National Emergency Training Center, which includes the National Fire Academy and the Emergency Management Institute, as well as State fire and emergency management training systems to deliver terrorism-related training to State and local responders. FEMA continues to emphasize the "train-the-trainer" approach to leverage existing capabilities with performance objectives to accomplish training goals and uses distance education capabilities such as the Emergency Education Network to expand the offerings. The National Fire Academy (NFA) has developed courses for first responders in the fire community and others areas. 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. Over one thousand ERT instructors representing every State and major metropolitan area in the Nation have been trained under this 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. 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. FEMA also uses the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) to develop and deliver some 35 training courses such as the Integrated Emergency Management Course on Terrorism that incorporates a terrorist attack scenario. This 4½-day team-building program includes classroom instruction and a tabletop exercise specifically tailored for emergency response leaders from a particular community or jurisdiction. EMI also has developed and delivered a number of other terrorism-related courses such as the Senior Officials Workshop, and those dealing with incident command, mass fatalities, and emergency response to criminal and terrorist incidents. A new course is being developed that will assist State and local emergency planners develop terrorism incident plans. EMI utilizes the State Emergency Management Training Officers (STOs) network to distribute materials and instruction to the emergency management community in all 50 States and six territories. FEMA's course development efforts also have enhanced initiatives of both the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense. DOJ has been using the Emergency Response to Terrorism curriculum in its training program; the Department of Defense used the Senior Officials Workshop in its Domestic Preparedness Program that is now transferred to the Department of Justice. 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. In May 2000, we participated in the TOPOFF exercise and continue to work with other departments and agencies to learn from the results of that and other exercises. In 1997-1998, FEMA conducted a series of Regional seminars on terrorism preparedness in each of the ten FEMA Regional Offices. A second round of these seminars is planned for later this year. In addition, exercise templates and tools are being developed for delivery to State and local officials. In addition, lessons learned from other emergency preparedness programs dealing with chemical stockpiles, radiological emergencies, and hazardous materials are used to further terrorism preparedness capabilities. GAO has noted that some aspects of these programs can serve as models to support terrorism preparedness efforts. Grants In FY 2001, FEMA is distributing $16.6 million in terrorism consequence preparedness assistance grants to the States to support development of terrorism preparedness and response capabilities. FEMA is developing additional guidance to provide greater flexibility for States on how they can use this assistance. Another $4 million in grants is being provided to State fire training centers to deliver first responder courses developed by the National Fire Academy. Capability Assessments FEMA and the National Emergency Management Association jointly developed the Capability Assessment for Readiness (CAR) process to assess operations, readiness, and capabilities of States, Territories, and Insular Areas to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from all disasters and emergencies. CAR is a self-assessment that focuses on 13 core elements addressing major emergency management functions. It includes assessments on terrorism preparedness relative to planning, procedures, equipment and exercising. FEMA's CAR report presents the composite pictures of the Nation's readiness based on an analysis of all self-assessments. Conclusion In responding to a terrorism incident, local responders will be the first to arrive at an incident site and may be forced to manage operations at the scene on their own for hours. The focus of Federal programs must be on ensuring that the local and State responders on the front lines of a terrorist attack will be adequately prepared to deal with the situation. Terrorism preparedness requires planning, training and exercising on a regular basis, with equipment and other support, to ensure maximum readiness to respond to an actual incident. From our consequence management perspective, we recognize the extreme importance of viable State and local response plans, training and exercises as critical to the capability building effort. I thank the Committee Members for this opportunity
to describe FEMA’s activity. I look forward to continuing to work
with the Committee members on this and other issues.
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