a particular concern of the committee. It has two main parts-a train-the-trainer program that is targeted toward 120 jurisdictions across the United States; and a second aspect is an equipment distribution program which makes $300,000 available to each selected community to purchase specialized emergency response equipment for training. The program's eventual goal of establishing 120 adequately trained and equipped jurisdictions is a long-term objective spread over several years.

On the whole, we find the program to be surprisingly ineffective. The program does not provide appropriate training for first responders. The curriculum focuses largely on the problems of a terrorist incident without providing solutions or operations for our members. One typical reaction came from a member who said that he would rate the program as a 7 on a scale out of 10, if its intent is to encourage firefighters to understand the importance of terrorism emergency response training, but only as 1 out of 10 if the intent is to actually train firefighters in the methods of responding to a terrorist attack.

The program does not actually pay for the training of firefighters. The program trains trainers and makes money available for training equipment. The DOD program does not allow for feedback or input from the student trainers, which is a criticism that we've heard from many of our members across the United States who have been involved in the training.

The DOD program offers awareness level and operations level of training as two separate courses. As we have noted, every firefighter needs to be trained at the operations level, which includes, of course, awareness training. When an emergency occurs and someone calls 911, we're there in 4 minutes and we cannot stand there and wait for someone else to arrive. We must begin operations to respond to this particular incident.

Operational-level courses presented by DOD consist entirely of 4 hours of classroom lecture. This is inadequate in both content and time. It needs to be more than 4 hours devoted to how a firefighter responds to a terrorist attack involving a weapon of mass destruction. The DOD program assumes that all firefighters have received hazmat training, and it builds on an expected level of knowledge. Unfortunately, most firefighters in this Nation have not received operations-level hazmat training.

Finally, the DOD program does not provide for refresher courses. Terrorism incidents are, thankfully, still extremely uncommon in this Nation. As a result, there is rarely an opportunity for those who have gone through the DOD training to brush up on their skills.

Mr. Chairman, nothing is more frightening than the thought of a deliberate act of terrorism which threatens hundreds, or even thousands, of innocent lives. Clearly, terrorism is an issue of national concern. The lives of the people in the community where the terrorist strikes depend not on broad national goals, but on the capabilities of their local emergency responders. We ask you to keep this simple thought in mind as you review our Nation's preparedness to deal with the ugly specter of terrorism.

The International Association of Firefighters stands ready to work with you, Mr. Chairman, and the other members of the sub

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committee to achieve the goal of creating a national emergency response capability that is second to none.

I thank you for your attention to our views and will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Nesbitt follows:]

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Chairman. My name is Frederick Nesbitt, and I am the Director of Governmental Affairs for the International Association of Fire Fighters. I greatly appreciate this opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of IAFF General President Alfred K. Whitehead and the other 225,000 members of the organization to share our views on the nation's

preparedness to acts of terrorism.

The IAFF brings two distinct but related perspectives to this issue. First and foremost, we represent the nation's first line of defense against all terrorist incidents. Whether it is a chemical, biological or nuclear attack, the members of the IAFF will be first on the scene. We are acutely aware that the lives of countless Americans depend on our preparedness for such a catastrophe. We are concerned that this ground-level perspective is often missing when the federal government designs terrorism emergency response programs.

The second perspective we bring is that of the nation's premier trainer of fire fighters in hazardous materials emergency response. Since 1987, the IAFF has operated a federally funded hazmat training program that has trained over 20,000 emergency responders. The curriculum and presentations we developed have become the standard for this nation, as well as several countries around the world. A recent independent survey published in the prestigious American Journal of Industrial Medicine found that the IAFF training program was highly successful in improving hazmat

emergency response efforts. With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I would ask that a copy of this article be included in the hearing record.

At this time, I wish to introduce two of my colleagues who are involved with our training program. I have asked them to join me this morning so that we may fully respond to any technical questions you may have regarding the training of emergency response personnel.

Eric Lamar is a veteran trainer in our hazmat trainer program. Eric is a Fairfax County fire fighter, and a hazardous materials technician. He has attended numerous hazmat training programs, including the programs that have been created under the National Defense Preparedness Plan. joining me is Scott Solomon of the IAFF's hazardous materials training department. Scott has been instrumental in developing the curriculum and delivery systems the IAFF uses to train fire fighters.

Also

Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss if I did not preface my remarks by first expressing my gratitude to you and your colleagues for the heightened congressional interest in terrorism related training programs for first responders. When the threat of domestic terrorism first seared the public consciousness following the cowardly acts at the World Trade Center and the Murrah Federal Building, the initial response was to pour resources into preventative measures. While it would of course be preferable to prevent all acts of terrorism, it would be foolhardy to assume we can achieve this goal.

We therefore have been extremely pleased that in the last few years Congress and the Administration have increasingly turned their attention to emergency response issues. While this attention is an important step in the right direction, much remains to be done. Additional resources are needed, and the allocation of those resources must be refocused to have the greatest impact on domestic preparedness.

I would like to divide my remarks into two general areas. First, I wish to offer the fire fighters' perspective on the most effective way to provide terrorism emergency response training. I would hope that these comments will help guide this committee as it reviews existing terrorism programs. Second, I wish to share some specific concerns we have regarding the training carried out under the Defense Department Domestic Preparedness Program, an area which I understand to be of particular interest to this committee.

TRAINING FOR TERRORISM EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Additional Resources are Needed--The first and most salient point that needs to be stressed regarding training for emergency response to a terrorist act is that there needs to be more of it. Much more. Despite the array of programs that have been developed in recent years, we have only just begun the process of assuring that our nation's emergency response personnel are adequately trained.

The IAFF supports the approach taken by the Departments of Justice and Defense targeting the nation's 120 largest jurisdictions, but current

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