Remarks of R. David Paulison Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency National Campus Security Summit University of Central Oklahoma Oklahoma City, OK May 30, 2007 Thank you for inviting me to join you today. When most people think of FEMA they think about our activities during natural disasters. They are familiar with our response to tornadoes in Kansas, hurricanes across the southeast or the ice storms here in Oklahoma. But what many people do not realize is that as part of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA is also tasked with helping you prepare for and coordinate the federal response to terrorist or other man-made tragedies. As such, we also have a role to play in campus security. We are committed to working with tribal, state and local officials as you work to make our nation’s educational facilities places students can focus on their studies without fear. It is for this reason that I am so pleased to be here speaking to an audience that would not have been on FEMA’s radar just a few years ago. You are the men and women who have the primary responsibility for protecting your students, faculty and campus. As with any disaster – natural or otherwise – the first response will always be a local one. But FEMA can play an important supporting role. On April 1 of this year, FEMA implemented a reorganization based on last year’s Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act and an internal assessment of our roles and responsibilities. One of the biggest changes we made was the creation of the National Preparedness Directorate, which includes many of the grant programs previously managed directly by the Department. Under this new Directorate, FEMA provides a broad array of assistance to America’s emergency responders through funding, coordinated training, equipment acquisition, technical assistance, and support for tribal, state and local exercises. FEMA assistance includes initiatives to improve the security of schools at all levels, as well as to train campus law enforcement and other school personnel. FEMA now manages the Homeland Security Grant Program, which provides funds for planning, equipment, training, and other efforts – including efforts to support school security. Equipment examples which are of most interest to schools include: public announcement/warning systems, barrier or fencing systems, and physical access systems. Catastrophic planning is also funded under this program and could include emergency response planning for the kind of event that occurred at Virginia Tech. An analysis of recent grants shows that over the past three years states invested over $26 million in Federal grant dollars specifically to improve security at educational institutions – primarily at the university level. Examples include the following initiatives: * In California, San Joaquin County’s Critical Facility Alerting Project used the funds to issue an emergency alert system and weather system receiver to public and private schools in the county. Funded by homeland security grants, the project has inherent benefits to school security and preparedness through greater access to information. * Wisconsin developed a comprehensive program to address school safety. In coordination with the school system, the state sponsored a series of workshops or conferences on school safety and preparedness. * Right here in Oklahoma, the State Department of Education conducted a program through which public elementary schools conducted an assessment of their facility, submitted an enhancement plan, and incorporated materials provided by Ready Kids – part of our Ready Dot Gov initiative – into their classrooms. In addition to the programs funded through these Homeland Security Grant Programs, FEMA’s National Preparedness Directorate also provides training to members of the campus security community. With the support of FEMA grants, awareness, performance, and management level training is provided to campus executives, law enforcement officers, school resource officers, and other first responders throughout the nation. They are designed to enhance their skills in preventing, protecting against, responding to, and recovering from manmade and natural disasters. Many specifically address school security. FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security partner with the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators to enhance the capacity of campus public safety agencies to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from catastrophic events. With the more than $3.4 million in grant funds we have provided, they’ve been developing, delivering, and operating the successful activities that include: * Delivery of Weapons of Mass Destruction Awareness training to 4,500 campus and non-campus emergency responders throughout the U.S. * Development of a campus-specific Threat & Risk Assessment tool in cooperation with Texas A&M University. The Campus Preparedness Assessment Manual is available to campus public safety agencies across the Nation. * Training for 46 instructors who are now delivering a three-day Incident Command-Command Post training class at regional sites for command-level campus and non-campus emergency responders. In 157 iterations of the course, this training has reached 4,076 first responders. * Creation of a Mobile Incident Command program to bring the three-day class to other campus-based sites throughout the U.S. * Development of a comprehensive Model Campus Emergency Operations Plan Guidelines document to serve as a resource to campus public safety agencies in creating or revising their own Emergency Operations Plan. * A Lessons Learned Listening Session last year produced a report identifying key lessons learned by Gulf Coast campus public safety executives in their response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This report is being widely circulated to campus public safety agencies, national associations of higher education, law enforcement groups, and key policy makers in the Federal Government. This report also includes lessons learned from incidents involving explosives at Oklahoma University and Georgia Tech University. In response to last month’s shootings at Virginia Tech, the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium has proposed a course to address the issue of school violence. The content of the seminar will be adapted from the principles and selected terminal objectives from two already certified courses: Operational WMD Response for Law Enforcement, and Law Enforcement Prevention and Deterrence of Terrorist Acts. Participants will be comprised of college leaders, campus law enforcement/public safety/security agency managers, jurisdictional emergency managers, jurisdictional law enforcement leaders and managers, other public safety leaders and managers, campus and jurisdictional Public Information Officers, and others with need. The course will be conducted over a two-day period, comprised primarily of facilitated discussions and scenario based activities, and delivered to college campuses across the nation. Training also is provided to campus law enforcement and school safety officers focused on the skills they need to function effectively in a terrorist or natural catastrophic event that could occur at a school or college campus. Should we ever face a larger event on campus, all of FEMA’s standard disaster operations capabilities are available. FEMA’s resources could be deployed and provided to help with the response and recovery with food, shelter, crisis counseling and other capabilities. FEMA is not only dedicated to helping you prepare for and respond to natural disasters. We also recognize the all-hazards approach necessary if we are to be the preeminent emergency management agency in the nation. To meet this goal, we are reaching out to new voices. Our reorganization also included the creation of a new Office of the Law Enforcement Advisor. This will be a senior leader in our organization dedicated to ensuring we include law enforcement concerns into our planning and activities. He or she will report directly to me and have the access they need to make sure this important perspective is included in everything that FEMA does. As we reach out to this and other new communities, we could use your assistance and support. One way you can be of assistance is to help us bring in talented people to FEMA. Encourage qualified people in your community to join FEMA’s team. There are a variety of potential opportunities. Temporary employees are needed to be on-call to supplement our operations. Full-time employees who can develop the depth and breadth of skills to build the nation’s preeminent emergency management agency are always in demand. And I can tell you a career at FEMA can be extraordinarily rewarding – professionally and personally. The second area where we could benefit from your help is in building a culture of preparedness in America.  Everyone has a role to play.  First responders are just one percent of the population and can be overwhelmed or unable to reach the scene immediately. Americans must “be prepared” to care for themselves and their loved ones during and immediately following a disaster until other resources are available. In urban communities, getting through debris or providing the vast quantity of supplies could pose a challenge. Government can and will help those who most in need. But a little bit of preparedness can go a long way to reducing the burden on all of us. FEMA is reaching out in new ways to promote personal preparedness. One example: our Citizen Corps Councils.  Serving 74 percent of the American population, these Councils provide a ready means to foster participation by community and government leaders, and a way to inform, train, and engage citizens in community preparedness that can support our first responders in an emergency.  Under the Citizen Corps are more than 2,100 Citizen Corps Councils, more than 2,600 Community Response Teams (CERT) and Hundreds of Fire Corps and Medical Reserve Corps. For example, in Los Angeles they are developing a Medical Reserve Corps with more than 500 volunteer physicians and nurses and over 100 volunteer chaplains. In conclusion, we have a come a long ways in our all-hazards approach that is part of the New FEMA. FEMA is leaning forward and ready to respond when needed. We are making sure we have open lines of communications with our partners at all levels of government. And we are dedicated to building a culture of preparedness in this country that will improve of our abilities and capabilities when faced with a disaster. I encourage you to work with FEMA and your emergency management partners at every level of government to develop the plans and capabilities you will need to respond to any event on your campus. We are standing by to help, but it is you – the first responders – who need to have robust plans in place, will be the first on the scene and the first to respond. Thank you again for the work that all of you do in your communities and for our children. Thank you for inviting me to join you this afternoon. God bless you, and God bless America.