In our April 1998 report, we cited several public and private sector entities that use or recommend threat and risk assessment processes to establish requirements and target investments for reducing risk.* Although we recognize there are challenges to doing threat and risk assessments of program cities, we believe that difficulties can be overcome through federal-city collaboration and that these assessments would provide a tool for making decisions about a prudent level of investment to reduce risks. LINKING FUTURE TRAINING TO EXISTING STRUCTURES In implementing the Domestic Preparedness Program, DOD could leverage state emergency management structures, mutual aid agreements among local jurisdictions, or other collaborative arrangements for emergency response. By delivering the program to cities based on population size, DOD is replicating training in nearby cities that might be part of the same response system or mutual aid area. Because of such mutual aid agreements and response districts or regions-as well as traditional state roles in both training and the established federal response system-a more consolidated approach could have resulted in fewer training iterations. Training in fewer locations while taking *Combating Terrorism: Threat and Risk Assessments Can Help Prioritize and Target Program Investments, (GAO/NSIAD-98-74, Apr. 9, 1998). In that report, we recommended that federal-city collaborative threat and risk assessments, facilitated by the FBI, be included as part of the assistance provided in the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici program. The pending national defense authorization legislation for fiscal year 1999 requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the FBI and others, to develop and test methodologies for conducting such assessments. advantage of existing emergency response structures could hasten the accomplishment of program goals and reinforce local response integration. Such an approach also could cover a greater percentage of the population and make effective use of existing emergency management training venues. Under this approach, WMD training would be delivered over the long term through existing state training systems. As shown in appendix I, DOD's city approach resulted in clusters of nearby cities, each of which is to receive training and equipment. Our analysis shows that 14 clusters of 44 different cities, or 37 percent of the total number of the cities selected for the program, are within 30 miles of at least one other program city. Southern California is a key example of the clustering effect where training efficiencies could be gained. Appendix II shows California's mutual aid regions. Consistent with the statewide standardized emergency management system involving countywide operational areas within six mutual aid regions, the Los Angeles County sheriff is in charge of the consolidated interagency response to an incident occurring in any of the county's 88 local jurisdictions and 136 unincorporated areas. These include Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Glendale, all of which are treated separately in the program. Further, the nearby cities of Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, San Bernardino, and Riverside are within 30 miles of at least one other program city and also are treated separately. Through mutual aid and under California's statewide system, Los Angeles county conceivably could assist or be assisted by these other neighboring program cities or any other jurisdictions in the state in the event of a major incident. Similarly, as shown in appendix III, Virginia has 13 regional hazardous materials teams to respond to a WMD incident. Through these regional teams operating under state control, four adjacent program cities-Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, and Chesapeakewould assist one another along with Portsmouth and Hampton, which are not program cities. Texas has four program cities less than 30 miles from each other: Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, and Arlington. In yet another example, the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area established a Metropolitan Medical Strike Team with a council-of-governments approach involving six jurisdictions in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia-these jurisdictions would support each other in the event of a WMD incident. DOD treats Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, separately for the training and equipment segments of the program. Similar strike teams in other cities are designed to be integrated into the local emergency response and medical systems for that particular area. In response to comments by state and local officials, DOD began holding regional meetings to introduce the program. Nevertheless, each program city still receives its own training and equipment package. Cities may invite representatives from neighboring jurisdictions and state agencies, but classroom space is limited, and if the neighboring city is a program city, it will eventually receive its own on-site training. DOD could have used state structures to deliver its training. Some states have academies and institutes to train first responders and emergency managers. For example, California's Specialized Training Institute provides emergency management training to first responders statewide. In Texas, the Division of Emergency Management conducts training for local first responders, and fire protection training is provided through the Texas Engineering Extension Service. Under current circumstances, the individual cities whose personnel were trained as trainers are to ensure that the appropriate courses are delivered to rank-and-file emergency response personnel. Cities we visited were adapting the DOD courses differently and using different venues to deliver the training. Cities planned to deliver portions of the courses both directly and through their local academies. One delivery method that DOD could consider to reach large numbers of first responders while minimizing travel costs is distance learning. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, for example, has used distance learning techniques through satellite-to-television links. TERMS OF DOD EQUIPMENT The legislation authorizes DOD to lend rather than give or grant training equipment to each city. The loan agreement between DOD and the cities specifies that the loan is for 5 years and that the cities are to repair, maintain, and replace the equipment. The loan agreement terms have caused frustration and confusion among local officials. Some cities we visited viewed the acceptance of the equipment as tantamount to an unfunded federal mandate because DOD is providing no funds to sustain the equipment. At least two cities were reluctant to accept the equipment unless DOD would provide assurances that they could be use it operationally and would not be asked to return it. Although such assurances conflict with the loan agreement terms, DOD officials acknowledged that cities could keep the equipment and use it operationally if necessary. DOD officials also pointed out that much of the equipment has no more than a 5-year useful life and is largely incompatible with standard military-specification equipment. Further, expectations have been raised among some local officials that the federal government may eventually provide funds to sustain the program and to provide even more equipment to meet cities' perceived operational requirements. DOD officials said that the equipment was intended only to support cities' training needs. Also, DOD wanted to encourage cities to share the burden of preparing for WMD terrorism by funding additional equipment needs themselves. However, no assessments have been undertaken as part of the Domestic Preparedness Program to help define equipment requirements for WMD over and above what is needed for an industrial hazardous materials incident response. Although the FBI and the intelligence community see growing interest in WMD by groups and individuals of concern, the intelligence community concluded that conventional weapons will continue to be the most likely form of terrorist attack over the next decade. Such threat information would be a factor in a threat or risk assessment process that could be used as a tool for determining equipment requirements. |