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Tuesday, October 2, 2012
NELSON CHEERS OPENING OF NEBRASKA NATIONAL GUARD JOINT FORCES HEADQUARTERS

October 2, 2012— Today, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson said that he was proud of his work that helped allocate funds for the construction of the new Nebraska National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters, a modern home for several Nebraska emergency response agencies that enables a timely coordination of disaster response efforts. 

“Nebraska should be proud to have the Nebraska National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters up and running,” said Senator Nelson at the headquarters’ ribbon-cutting ceremony. “I’m certainly proud to have been a part of the effort to make sure our state can better handle the challenges that come with disasters. This Joint Forces Headquarters will provide a quicker, more thorough and better-coordinated local, state and federal response to any man-made or natural disaster.”

After years of planning, collaboration, and construction, the new Joint Force Headquarters located at the Nebraska National Guard air base in Lincoln was officially opened on October 2. Nelson attended and spoke at the ceremony, as did other Nebraska elected representatives and officials from Nebraska State Agencies. The new, 165,000 square foot structure houses members of the Nebraska Army and Air National Guard, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, and the Nebraska State Patrol. The building’s state-of-the-art communications capabilities will enable the Joint Force Headquarters staff to coordinate deployment of the highest level of resources and aid to meet any emergency Nebraska may face.

Prior to the construction of the new Joint Forces Headquarters, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was located in a Cold War era facility. Space and technological limitations of this location continually prevented smooth responses and communications during man-made and natural disasters in Nebraska, signaling the need for a new facility.

“Nebraskans are frugal people, and as frugal people, we use things for a long time. But the old facility was designed for the challenges of the Cold War. It has far outlived its usefulness,” said Senator Nelson. “At the beginning of my first term as a Senator, I saw the underground facility that housed the staff of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency. At first glance, it was apparent that such an important element of our state’s government needed to move from that Cold War facility into something modern, to better serve Nebraska’s needs and to better coordinate with emergency responders.”

While steps were made to fund a new building to house NEMA, along with its co-response units in the Nebraska Army and Air National Guard and the Nebraska State Patrol, events at the national level threatened to dissolve the funding.  

“This state-of-the art facility will properly deal with the defense challenges of nature, and this post-9/11 era. It will help provide ease of mind to Nebraskans and real help in our time of need, if it comes,” said Nelson. “But it wasn’t a pretty path to get here. There were plenty of hurdles to jump.”

In 2001, the Nebraska National Guard alerted Senator Nelson that the project had been scheduled to receive substantial federal funding in 2009. However, it looked as if the Department of Defense might push the funding schedule back to 2012 or beyond. The delay could void a $1.9 million federal grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tied to $600,000 that the Nebraska State Legislature had appropriated to match the FEMA grant. Senator Ben Nelson was able to work with FEMA, and retain the funds for usage by the Nebraska Guard and NEMA.

Congress then earmarked the funds in the 2010 Military Construction Appropriations bill. Months later, the Military Construction appropriations bill was signed into law, including $24.5 million for the construction of the Joint Forces Headquarters.

“I hope today’s celebration will reiterate how vital emergency responders are to Nebraska,” said Nelson. “I look forward to working with all the agencies involved to ensure that Nebraskans can weather any storm.”

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