Testimony of Mrs. Barbara Y. Martinez, Deputy Director, National
Domestic Preparedness Office, FBI
Before
the United States House of Representatives
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee
on Oversight, Investigations, and Emergency Management
June 9, 1999
"Preparedness
for Terrorism Response"
Good
morning, Madam Chairman and thank you for this opportunity
to speak before distinguished members of Congress and my
colleagues
regarding the proposed role of the National Domestic Preparedness
Office in combating terrorism within the United States.
My intent
is to highlight the importance of achieving coordination across
the federal government of the various individual agency efforts
that provide valuable assistance to states and local communities
in preparing them to face the challenge that terrorism presents.
As over 40 federal agencies would have a role in the response
to a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction,
so too are many of these agencies in a logical position to
provide various forms of expert assistance to their state
and local counterparts -- the men and women of this country
whose job it is to save lives and protect the security of
our communities if such an event occurs. The mission of the
proposed National Domestic Preparedness Office, consistent
with the recommendation to the Attorney General by state and
local authorities, will be to serve as the central coordinating
body for federal programs that can help emergency responders
prepare for terrorist incidents, particularly those involving
weapons of mass destruction.
Potential
Threat of a Terrorist Attack involving Weapons of Mass Destruction
Terrorist
events such as the World Trade Center bombing, the bombing
of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City,
and the pipe bomb at the Olympic Games in Atlanta revealed
the United States' increased susceptibility to terrorist assaults.
These attacks, coupled with the March 1995 Tokyo subway attack,
where the weapon was the chemical nerve agent sarin, exposed
the threat of use of WMD within the United States. The threat
of WMD use in the United States is real, however, we must
not inflate nor understate the actual threat. The United States
is experiencing an increased number of hoaxes involving the
use of chemical or biological agents perpetrated by individuals
wishing to instill fear and disrupt communities. Yesterday's
bomb threat has been replaced with a more exotic biological
or chemical threat. While the FBI continues to investigate
these hoaxes, other on-going investigations reveal that domestic
extremists, as well as international terrorists with open
anti-U.S. sentiments, are becoming more interested in the
potential use of chemical and biological agents.
Examining
the increased number of WMD criminal cases, the FBI has opened
over the past several years highlights the potential threat
of use we face. WMD criminal cases are those cases primarily
dealing with the use, threatened use, or procurement of chemical
and biological materials with intent to harm within the United
States. These criminal cases have shown a steady increase
since 1995, rising from 37 in 1996 to 74 in 1997, 181 in 1998,
and 114 to date for 1999, with three-quarters of these cases
threatening a biological release. The biological agent most
often cited in 1998 and 1999 was anthrax. Despite the increase
in fabricated threats, the WMD threat remains. Since the early
1990s, the FBI has investigated a number of domestic extremist
groups and associated individuals interested in procuring
or ready to employ chemical or biological agents against innocent
civilians. In February 1999, members of a right-wing splinter
group were sentenced to 292 months (over 24 years) in prison
for threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction against
federal officials. These individuals intended to modify a
cigarette lighter in order to shoot cactus quills tainted
with HIV-blood or rabies.
It is
impossible to eliminate all vulnerabilities in an open society
without taking draconian measures that impinge on civil liberties.
However, it is possible to reduce susceptibility to WMD terrorist
attacks by taking security precautions, remaining vigilant
in pursuing WMD terrorist activity, and improving preventive
measures, as well as civil preparedness. The FBI is currently
undertaking all of these steps. The United States is preparing
itself for unconventional threats like WMD terrorism by coordinating
federal, state, and local law enforcement and emergency responders
in their ability to ferret the fabricated threats and meet
the challenges posed by a potential chemical or biological
terrorist attack.
As you
know, in the past few years, the President of the United States
and Congress have taken significant steps to increase our
national security and to promote interagency cooperation.
Most recently, cooperative efforts against terrorism have
been extended to include state and local agencies and professional
and private sector associations as well.
For example,
in the preparation of the Administration's Five-Year Interagency
Counterterrorism and Technology Crime Plan, the Attorney General
directed the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,
to host a meeting of individuals who represent the various
emergency response disciplines that would most likely be involved
in the response to a terrorist event. More than 200 stakeholders
representing local and state disciplines of fire services
and HAZMAT personnel; law enforcement and public safety personnel;
emergency medical and public health professionals; emergency
management and government officials; and various professional
associations and organizations attended the two-day session.
Collectively,
they made recommendations to the Attorney General; James Lee
Witt, Director of FEMA; Dr. Hamre, the Deputy Secretary of
Defense, and other federal officials on ways to improve assistance
for state and local communities. These recommendations have
been incorporated in the Administration's Five-Year Plan mentioned
above.
The most
critical issue identified by stakeholders was the need for
a central federal point of coordination. Due to the size and
complexity of both the problem of terrorism and of the federal
government itself, it was no surprise that the many different
avenues through which aid may be acquired, by state and local
officials, and the potential inconsistency of those programs
was deemed to be simply overwhelming. In essence, the federal
government, though well intentioned, was not operating in
an optimal manner nor was it effectively serving its constituents
with regard to domestic preparedness programs and issues in
an optimal manner.
State
and local emergency response officials made a strong recommendation
to the Attorney General for the coordination and integration
of all federal assistance programs that reach state and local
agencies for terrorism preparedness. In heeding that recommendation
and seeking to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
federal support programs that provide grants for equipment,
training, exercises, and information sharing, the Attorney
General proposed the establishment of the National Domestic
Preparedness Office.
In proposing
the establishment of the NDPO, the Attorney General consulted
the National Security Council, Department of Defense, Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Department of Health and Human
Services, and other relevant agencies regarding the creation
of a single coordination point within the federal government
to better meet the needs of the Nation.
Mission
of the NDPO
The NDPO,
if approved, will provide a forum for the coordination of
all federal programs that offer WMD terrorism preparedness
assistance for state and local officials. Through such coordination,
it is believed that the vital efforts of the Office of Justice
Programs' Office for State and Local Domestic Preparedness
Support, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS), the Department of Defense (DoD),
the National Guard Bureau (NGB), the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI), and other agencies will better serve the states and
local communities of this country.
It is
intended that the NDPO will serve as a much needed clearinghouse
to provide information to local and state officials who must
determine the preparedness strategy for their community. In
keeping with Stakeholders' requests, the NDPO will also provide
a forum for the establishment of agreed-upon standards to
guide the execution of federal programs.
Federal
participants that will serve in a full-time capacity at the
NDPO, once approved, will include the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Guard Bureau,
the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human
Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office
of Justice Programs, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
We have also received commitments from other agencies including
the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Veterans Affairs,
and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to provide personnel
in the future.
Stakeholders
also cited the need for formal representation of state and
local officials with the federal agencies in the form of an
Advisory Board to guide the development and delivery of more
effective federal programs. Federal agencies agree that their
participation is critical to the whole process of domestic
preparedness. Therefore, in addition to the Advisory Board,
it is anticipated that when fully staffed, approximately one-third
of the NDPO will be comprised of state and local experts from
various disciplines.
Stakeholders
identified six broad issue areas in need of coordination and
assistance. These areas are: Planning; Training; Exercise;
Equipment Research and Development; Information Sharing; and
Public Health and Medical Services. I would like to highlight
how the proposed NDPO would address each of these areas.
In the
area of Planning, the NDPO would facilitate the distribution
of the United States Government Interagency Domestic Terrorism
Concept of Operations Plan and other Planning guidance for
state and local communities. The benefit of such guidance
is to explain to state and local planners the logistics of
how federal assets may be included in their local emergency
response plans.
In the
area of Training, the NDPO would continue the DoD initiative
to establish and maintain a compendium of existing federal
training courses available to emergency responders. It would
also establish a mechanism to ensure federal training programs
comply with national standards such as those issued by the
National Fire Protection Association and Occupational Safety
and Health Administration. Finally, it would develop a national
strategy to make sustained training opportunities and assistance
available to all communities and states. For example, the
Office of Justice Programs Office for State and Local Domestic
Preparedness Support will incorporate into the training programs
that it supports standards that have been coordinated through
the NDPO process.
In connection
with the Information Sharing program area, the NDPO can implement
a mechanism to facilitate access by personnel outside law
enforcement to information that may be important for preparedness
and consequence management. Internet web-sites, both public
and secure have been proposed for the sharing of public safety
information. Links to several existing web-sites may also
be built.
In the
Exercise program area, the NDPO will formally adapt a military
software application for civilian use to track the lessons
learned during exercises and actual events. The NDPO will
provide this tool to participating communities and will maintain
an After-Action Tracking database for the repository and review
of all lessons that might assist other communities.
In the
Equipment/Research and Development program area, the NDPO
has established a Standardized Equipment List which has been
incorporated into the grant application kits used by the Office
of Justice Programs. The NDPO would, again, serve as a clearinghouse
for product information provided by private vendors and testing
data provided by approved testing facilities to promote synergy
and avoid costly duplication in the area of federal research
and development.
In the
Health and Medical program area, the NDPO, under the guidance
of the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and
Human Services would coordinate efforts to support Metropolitan
Medical Response Systems, pharmaceutical stockpiling, the
establishment of a nationwide surveillance system to improve
the identification of infectious diseases and the integration
of the public and mental health care community into WMD response
plans.
Thus
far, two conferences have been held and have been attended
by representatives from federal, state and local agencies
to promote interaction. Each time, the Attorney General was
presented with an overview by several communities of their
cooperative efforts, which illustrated the growing cooperation
between all levels of government to address the preparedness
needs of this Nation to deal with a major terrorist event,
including those that involve WMD.
I thank
you for the opportunity to speak to you today. As the Attorney
General has recently said, "The actions of the first
people on the scene will make the difference between life
and death. The key is to work together in a partnership among
federal, state and local communities to prepare a coordinated
response that saves lives and provides for the safety for
all involved." I stand ready to respond to any questions
you may have.
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