OUR
VERY OWN GLOBAL LOGISTICS SERVICE
Ready When Crisis Strikes…and Even When It Doesn’t
04/08/05
When our investigators
are called to the scene of a major crime, terrorist attack, or special
event around the globe, there’s another team that springs into
action, too.
It’s called
the Rapid Deployment Logistics Unit (RDLU)…and
its specialty is getting our personnel and all the necessary gear—literally
tons of it—to the incident site as fast as humanly possible so
our investigators can do their jobs.
What kinds
of gear? Not exactly the comforts of home, but everything
needed to run an investigation: computers, command post facilities,
environmentally controlled tents, vehicles, power generators, prepackaged
meals, bottled water, portable toilets, showers, and more.
The team has proved
so useful during times of crisis—whether it’s terrorist
attacks, natural disasters, plane crashes, or other incidents—that
it’s been asked to set up temporary operations centers to safeguard
major diplomatic meetings, international sports competitions, and other
special events. Recently, it’s even been hauling building materials
all over the globe for our new international
offices under construction.
What happens
when the call comes in? We’ll walk you through it:
- First, initial
assessment. RDLU team members, counterterrorism experts, lab personnel,
military liaisons, medical staff, communicators, and others determine
which investigative teams will respond and guesstimate how many personnel
may need to deploy.
- Next, an RDLU
rep and subject matter experts arrive on the scene as part of a Crisis
Advance Team (CAT). Among other critical tasks, the CAT determines exactly who
and how many team people…and what specialized equipment is
needed.
- Then—no
more than 24 hours after getting the call—the RDLU gets rolling.
It pulls supplies and equipment from its warehouses and coordinates
land transport or commercial and military airlifts.
- Once on the
scene, RDLU field specialists get our command post up and running
with phones, fax machines, copiers, shredders, and computers linked
to FBI offices worldwide. They set up places to live and eat. And
they set up maintenance points so they can keep all equipment and
systems functioning properly during the deployment.
We’ve
called on the RDLU dozens of times in recent months:
- To Athens, Greece
for the 2004 Summer Olympics;
- To Sea Island,
Georgia for the G-8 Summit in June 2004;
- To Montgomery
County, Maryland, during the DC area sniper shootings;
- To Iraq following
bombings and terrorist attacks.
Says Unit Chief
Thomas Hansen, “We’re the behind-the-scenes people—making
sure our investigators have everything they need. If they’re
happy, we’re happy.”
Links: Rapid
Deployment Logistics Unit | Critical
Incident Response Group
