Combating Terrorism: Use of National Guard Response Teams is Unclear : Report to Congressional Requesters

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The Office, 1999 - 48 pages

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Page 3 - ... performed in a lab and cannot, as yet, be done on scene by any unit, including the RAID teams. However, it is likely that detecting and identifying an actual biological agent will involve the medical community over a period of days rather than the HAZMAT community or the RAID teams over a matter of hours. If the local responders are unable to manage the situation or are overwhelmed, the protocol is for the incident commander to contact nearby communities and the state emergency management office...
Page 12 - The 59-837 99-2 team will be equipped to perform detection, monitoring, sampling, and decontamination. By the end of 1999, the FBI plans to have 4-person teams in the remainder of the field offices, trained to the HAZMAT technician level, but with very little equipment. Eight of the larger FBI teams will be in states that also have the National Guard RAID teams. There are also highly specialized military assets to deal with the full range of WMD. These include the Army's Technical Escort Unit, with...
Page 3 - ... train and equip every HAZMAT team in the state. Other advantages cited include using the teams to identify and test new concepts and equipment in WMD detection and identification and filling a very important force protection role for other National Guard units deployed to assist in a WMD emergency. Officials from the FBI and FEMA are concerned about the RAID team concept and how the teams would fit into any federal WMD response. They question the need for the RAID teams because of the federal...
Page 7 - According to some officials, an investment in more sophisticated detection and identification equipment and advanced training for HAZMAT teams would benefit the teams' response to all HAZMAT emergencies, not just WMD incidents. SIMILAR CAPABILITIES EXIST AT LOCAL. STATE. AND FEDERAL LEVELS According to the International Association of Fire Chiefs, there are over 600 local and state HAZMAT teams that will be the first to respond to an event involving hazardous materials, whether it is a WMD agent,...
Page 1 - ... transportation networks, and other criteria. Consideration was also given to the level of congressional interest in the teams' locations. Currently, the team is an asset of the state in which it is located, but can be deployed as a regional asset to other states. The DOD plan that created the teams suggested that there eventually should be a RAID team in each state, territory, and the District of Columbia, for a total of 54 teams. Until this occurs, the Army Guard is establishing RAID (Light)...
Page 9 - Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams, stationed across the United States; military laboratories, such as the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases; and other assets, such as the Mobile Analytical Response System from the Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center. These units have been positioned at large events such as the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, economic summits, and presidential inaugurations in case of a terrorist attack. There are 89 Air National Guard civil...

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