 |
Above left, members of the government’s
ESF-13 group responding to Hurricane Gustav, including SSA Mark
Morgan (in dark shirt) of the FBI’s
Critical Incident Response Group; right, a tree downed by Gustav. |
At the end of August, more than two million people evacuated
their homes before Hurricane Gustav came bearing down on the Louisiana
coast. While forecasters
were plotting the storm’s course, the federal government was ramping
up its response and activating agencies that might be needed to help
in the wake of a natural disaster. The FBI and other federal law enforcement
agencies were included in that response.
On August 31, agents assigned to the FBI’s Critical Incident
Response Group (CIRG) and the Technical Response Unit rushed to Louisiana
to take part in a joint federal response
to Gustav in support of Emergency Support Function 13 (or ESF-13), part
of the government’s overall National Response Plan. ESF-13, is coordinated
by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, and
enables federal law enforcement to assist other federal, state, and local
authorities
during an “Incident of National Significance.”
During Gustav, the ESF-13 group was housed in a mammoth former department
store in the middle of downtown Baton Rouge; it was the same building used
as a joint field office by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“We were walking into the same place, and facing a situation that
everyone feared would be similar to Katrina,” said CIRG Supervisory
Special Agent Matt Chapman. Chapman knew what he was talking about—when
Katrina hit he was serving as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s
New Orleans office.
Hurricane Katrina, of course, was on everyone’s mind. FEMA and other
federal agencies took the lessons learned during Katrina and applied them
to Gustav with a more proactive approach to the impending disaster. Now,
agencies under the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of
Justice are all put on stand-by and readied for deployment when a storm could
potentially make landfall in the United States.
During Gustav, the FBI deployed its “Blue Whale,” a large tractor
trailer that doubles as a mobile field office, complete with secure communications
capabilities and office space. The “Whale,” and its companion
tactical vehicles, were also used during Hurricane Katrina to keep operations
up and running.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Assistant Special
Agent in Charge Jeff Stirling, who normally works out of that agency’s Columbus, Ohio office,
said, “We weren’t sure how the events would play out with this
storm, so we wanted to make sure we were prepared for everything.” During
the emergency response to Gustav, the ATF was the lead for coordinating federal
law enforcement.
The ESF-13 mission received several requests for assistance after the storm
made landfall, and continues to fully support each of these missions.
The FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group was set up in 1994 to respond
to crisis incidents, using tactical and investigative resources for situations
which require an immediate response from law enforcement authorities.
