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West Virginia Leading the Way in America's Homeland Security
After the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Marines and Army Special Forces scoured the rugged hills in the southern part of that country searching for remnants of the old regime and for al Qaeda terrorists. They searched cave to cave, not knowing what they might face as they moved through the dark corners. Where did they train for this mission? These Marines and Special Forces had prepared in West Virginia.
First responders -- police officers and firefighters and emergency medical teams -- answer the call when the Department of Homeland Security raises the terrorist alert. The threat could come from a chemical tanker or a biological weapon. Where do America’s first line of response train to handle the situation? Where do they go to learn the best ways to deal with today’s terrorist threats? They come to West Virginia.
Before 9/11, few places in America worried about the danger of terrorism. The country had suffered attacks at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1996 and at the Olympic Park in Atlanta in that same year, but those were two isolated events. Americans believed that terrorism was something that people in the Middle East had to live with, not those of us in the United States. The threat was part of life in lands far away, not in cities close to home.
We were wrong.
9/11 forever changed that mindset. That fall day forced our nation to rethink our security, from the technology at our airports to the security at our borders to the training for our first responders. The tragedy left an imprint on America that has affected us all.
Closest to home were the demands facing our first responders. No longer was the biggest danger facing a local fire department a multi-alarm fire. Now firefighters had to prepare for the potential use of hazardous materials as a weapon against our citizens. Police officers had to know how to storm a lab where terrorists were building a ‘dirty bomb’ of radioactive material. Ambulance teams and emergency room doctors needed to develop the expertise to recognize the symptoms of a biological attack and keep it from spreading. These were not simple challenges. But the Mountain State was already meeting them.
Long before September 11, 2001, I partnered with the West Virginia National Guard to create the best training facilities in the nation, facilities that could be adapted to any scenario. Our state already had identified these looming threats and put in place the resources and expertise to train America’s first responders.
Perhaps the most visible piece of West Virginia’s counterterrorism training is the Center for National Response (CNR) at the Memorial Tunnel in Kanawha County. Started in 2000 with funding that I added to federal legislation, this Center has provided one-of-a-kind instruction to more than 20,000 military and emergency responder personnel. Now, because of more than $20 million that I have added to federal legislation to equip and update the CNR, the National Guard is able to shape training to virtually any situation that emergency teams might face.
All who have utilized the expertise and the unique training programs available at the CNR have come away more than impressed; they have come away prepared to handle danger and disaster. They have come away prepared to protect America.
Camp Dawson in Preston County is another key piece of West Virginia’s homeland security network, and is quickly developing into one of the country’s premier homeland security training facilities in the nation. Camp Dawson gives National Guardsmen and other military personnel the opportunity to train for a range of important missions, including special operations and defense against weapons of mass destruction.
Today, thanks to a decision by the U.S. National Guard Bureau, Camp Dawson is taking on a new mission. The Guard has chosen the Preston County facility as its first National Guard Joint Interagency Training Center for Homeland Defense. Simply put, this means that Camp Dawson will be the site for the country’s first comprehensive homeland defense facility. It will serve not only the National Guard, but also the training needs of other federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense and for emergency responders and other state and local agencies.
With this new mission, West Virginia will continue to set the standard for homeland security training. What we have accomplished in West Virginia is because of teamwork. Teamwork among the federal government, the National Guard, the West Virginia Office of Emergency Services, and West Virginia University has placed the Mountain State at the top of the list for homeland security preparation. Now, we will be able to share the expertise and the lessons learned in West Virginia with the rest of the country. By preparing today, we can save lives tomorrow.
All Americans, whether they live in rural communities or big cities, want to know that, if there is a terrorist attack close to their homes, local doctors and nurses are trained to treat the injured. Americans want to know that local firefighters have the capabilities and equipment to handle a chemical or biological attack. Americans want to know that local police officers are trained in identifying and responding to the wide-ranging terrorist attacks that we could face. The country wants to know the answers; and West Virginia is providing them. |
