them today. The President has directed an in-depth assessment of the Federal Response Plan capabilities to deal with the consequences of weapons of mass destruction and that assessment will be completed in July. We know that State and local capability to respond to such an incident is limited. We are focusing our limited training resources and our exercise program more sharply on this problem and we will be working with the National Governors' Association and other groups to conduct a strategic review of State and local capabilities for such a response. FEMA, the FRP agencies and the FBI have made significant improvements in our ability to work together since the Mirage Gold exercise. From our headquarters to our regions, through exercises, briefings and planning sessions, FEMA and the Bureau are aggressively building the policy and operational links we need, and we have deployed together in Oklahoma City and we are now focusing very sharply on the Olympic Games. We know we have much to do, but we do have much in place. Thank you, sir. [The prepared statement of Mr. Hollister follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF G. CLAY HOLLISTER Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss the role of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in responding to the consequences of a terrorist incident in the United States that involves a weapon of mass destruction. I am G. Clay Hollister, Deputy Associate Director for Response and Recovery with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. INTRODUCTION The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is the central coordinating agency for emergency management in the Federal Government. FEMA is charged with establishing Federal policies for and coordinating the emergency planning, management, mitigation and assistance functions of the executive agencies of the Federal Government. Interagency emergency planning and experience over the years has established a significant base of capability at the local, State and Federal levels of government for responding to natural and technological disasters, including those involving nuclear and chemical materials. However, we realize that while there is a baseline capability there also is an extraordinary challenge associated with an effective response to an intentional nuclear, biological, or chemical disaster. The potential magnitude, the public fear, and the myriad of simultaneous response operations that would be required constitute a formidable management responsibility. The marriage of traditional consequence management with both law enforcement and highly technical scientific and medical response is new ground on which we are making deliberate and significant progress. THE FEDERAL RESPONSE PLAN FEMA's role is in the management of the consequences of our nation's disasters and emergencies. This includes terrorist events. FEMA is the coordinator of the Federal resources that can be used to assist State and local governments in carrying out their responsibilities to reduce the loss of life and damage to property from all hazards. FEMA provides the management structure for consequence management, a funding source in the Disaster Relief Fund, authority to task other Federal departments and agencies, and an established relationship with State and local emergency managers. What FEMA provides for the consequences of a terrorist event is, essentially, what we provide for all other emergencies and disasters. Consequence management includes measures to restore essential government services, protect public health and safety, and provide emergency assistance to affected governments, businesses, and individuals. • We do this through a management structure which extends from headquarters to the field. The mechanism for this is the Federal Response Plan (FRP). • Through the Federal Response Plan and with FEMA leadership, 28 Federal departments and agencies as well as the American Red Cross and national voluntary agencies work together to facilitate the timely coordination and application of all Federal resources, including those of the Department of Defense, in response to all hazards. • FEMA provides the management structure in the Federal Response Plan. • FEMA and the member agencies of the Federal Response Plan bring their own programs and special areas of expertise to each response operation. FEMA, as the coordinator, does not duplicate the expertise that lies with the member agencies of the Federal Response Plan, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense; nor does it replicate services that are available through voluntary agencies, such as the American Red Cross. The Federal departments and agencies successfully used the Federal Response Plan for the Northridge Earthquake disaster, the Great Midwest Floods of 1993, the Oklahoma City Bombing, Hurricanes Marilyn and Opal, and over 100 other Federal disasters and emergencies since the Plan was signed in 1992. It is a system that has a proven track record, and one which works and is understood at the Federal, State and local levels of government. The Federal Response Plan is built on the principle of functionality. • We have identified the twelve primary areas in which Federal support may be necessary in a disaster operation. • Each of these twelve support functions is arranged with a lead Federal department or agency to coordinate operations within that area of expertise. • Federal resources are grouped into 12 Emergency Support Functions. Each is headed by a primary agency. For example: • In addition, I think that it is important to note the unique and critical role played by the Department of Defense under the Federal Response Plan. With its expertise, and ability to mobilize a wide variety of resources rapidly, Department of Defense provides highly important support to all functional areas under the Plan. This response mechanism is not theoretical. It is functionally effective and efficient. Within the framework of the Federal Response Plan, FÉMA and the other Federal departments and agencies have already gained a great deal of valuable experience through dealing with a wide range of emergencies and disasters. We work very hard to incorporate the insight we gain from our experience in our consequence management planning and preparedness efforts. HOW WE WOULD RESPOND TODAY I would like to spend a few minutes on the actual process of how we would respond if an event were to occur today. In a terrorist incident the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under its own authorities, would be responsible for pursuing criminal matters related to the incident. By the direction of the President, the FBI is the lead Agency for crisis man agement. Crisis management involves all the measures to confirm the threat, investigate, gather evidence, locate and capture the terrorists and their weapons, and prosecute the terrorists under Federal law. Also by direction of the President, FEMA is the lead Agency for consequence management of a terrorist event. Consequence management involves coordinating the use of Federal assets and providing a focal point for voluntary organizations in support of the affected community. Both crisis management and consequence management are supported by the technical assessments, counsel, and potential deployment and operation of all appropriate Federal departments and agencies. With this in mind, the following would be the actions taken, many concurrently, in response to a terrorist incident that occurred with no warning: • As in any emergency, the primary initial response would come from local emergency services personnel who will respond to provide medical, fire, and law enforcement assistance and assess the nature of what has occurred. • State and local emergency management organizations would activate their emergency plans and procedures to respond to the consequences of the event. • The FEMA Director would consult with the Governor of the affected State to determine the scope and extent of the incident and the nature of support required. • FEMA would utilize its emergency authorities to notify the Federal departments and agencies, activate the Federal Response Plan elements, begin coordinating the delivery of Federal assistance, establish liaison operations with the FBI at headquarters and in the field, and establish liaison with the State and affected local governments. • Concurrently, the President, under the authority of the Robert T. Stafford Emergency Assistance and Disaster Relief Act, would declare an emergency or major disaster and designate a Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) to coordinate Federal consequence management operations; • As soon as there is sufficient information to act upon, there would be a deployment of the rapid response teams managed by FEMA and the other departments and agencies. These teams are rostered and ready to deploy on notice. The teams managed by FEMA include the national Emergency Response Team (that will establish a Disaster Field Office and manage the Federal involvement in consequence management), the Initial Response Resources with its logistics support, the Mobile Emergency Response Support detachments with their communications and power generation equipment and additional logistics support, and the Urban Search and Rescue Teams. • We would quickly establish a joint information center and begin providing essential emergency information to the public. Four Federal agencies would play key roles in any response to a terrorist incident: • The Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, through both its agency specific missions and as the lead agency under the Federal Response Plan for health, medical, and health-related social services and organizations, would bring extensive capabilities for patient care, disease prevention and control, and management of the health consequences of environmental contamination. This would include the capabilities resident in the Disaster Medical Assistance and Disaster Mortuary Assistance Teams. • The Environmental Protection Agency, among other technical functions, would lead decontamination activities if the terrorist incident involved chemical or nerve agents. -In the event of a terrorist act involving chemicals, an Environmental Pro- • The Department of Energy, among other technical functions, would provide Federal monitoring and assessment capabilities in a nuclear event. • The Department of Defense would provide a critical supporting role to the entire Federal effort. -The Army could activate its Technical Escort Unit to conduct reconnaissance of the incident site, and assist with recovery, sampling, and disposal operations of chemical and biological material; The Department of Defense could provide support personnel and equipment for chemical and biological detection and decontamination; -In conjunction with the Public Health Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs, it could provide medical assistance to victims of any type of terrorist incident; -Also, the military's transportation resources would be called upon for patient evacuation and transportation. In the event of a warning of a credible threat, FEMA would be notified by the FBI and would exchange liaison personnel at headquarters and at the location. • At the FBI's request, FEMA and selected other Federal agencies (e.g., the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency) would join the FBI threat assessment team and advise the FBI on areas within their expertise. • As appropriate and as coordinated with the FBI, FEMA would notify Federal Response Plan agencies and begin planning for the management of potential consequences of the specific situation, including consideration of pre-deployment of selected essential Federal assets. • In coordination with the FBI, FEMA would coordinate anticipated needs with the State Governor and State Emergency Director. THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING Unfortunately, on April 19, 1995, we had the first requirement to implement the Federal Response Plan for an actual terrorist incident at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As horrible as this situation was, this event demonstrated that we, the Federal agencies, can rapidly provide a coordinated and effective response. In what follows, please understand that I am describing Federal response activities. The true "first responders" were the Oklahoma City Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, and Police. The First Day When the explosion occurred at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, our initial consultation and Federal Response Plan procedures were immediately activated by FEMA Director James L. Witt. • Within an hour after the blast, FEMA dispatched a liaison to the Oklahoma City Emergency Operations Center to begin coordinating with the State and local officials, and the Federal Response Plan agencies were alerted. • We sent a liaison to the FBI Operations Center to begin coordination activities. • By 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, FEMA Director Witt was en route with a senior management team to coordinate response activities. • At approximately 5:15 p.m., the President had declared an emergency under Title V of the Stafford Act. • The appropriate Federal departments and agencies mobilized immediately under both their own and FEMA authorities to assemble a constellation of capabilities to support the State of Oklahoma. Under the Federal Response Plan, FEMA activated eight of the twelve Emergency Support Functions: • FEMA's Mobile Emergency Response Support detachment from Denton, Texas, arrived on-site at 7:52 p.m. to provide critical communications, logistics, and life support to the operations at hand. This proved critical to the establishment of joint operations in the field. • And using airframes provided by the Department of Defense, at 7:26 p.m. and 9:24 p.m. that same day, respectively, the first two FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces (Phoenix and Sacramento) were deployed to Oklahoma City to begin sorting through the rubble, searching for victims of the blast. We eventually deployed 11 Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces. All of this activity occurred on the first day of this crisis. On-going Response The Federal Bureau of Investigation, under its own authorities, was responsible for pursuing criminal matters related to the incident. FEMA and the Federal Response Plan agencies executed the responsibilities associated with consequence management. As a result of these different responsibilities, FEMA and the FBI coordinated closely, both at headquarters and in the field. Using the structure of the Federal Response Plan, FEMA coordinated the response operations of 24 other non-law enforcement Federal departments and agencies over 2,000 personnel on-scene-in this event. Among those responders: -The Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assisted with debris removal, offered air transportation for personnel and resources to and from the disaster area, and provided structural engineers to monitor the stability of the Federal Building; -The American Red Cross provided food, shelters, mental health services, and other mass care needs to support both victims and emergency responders; -The Public Health Service was instrumental in this operation by activating a Disaster Mortuary Assistance Team to assist with victim identification. The Public Health Service also provided crisis counseling services, and monitored conditions on-scene to ensure emergency workers were protected from disease and other medical hazards; -The Small Business Administration provided 163 disaster loans for over $7 million to affected individuals and businesses so that they could obtain the funds needed to recover from this horrible event; and -The General Services Administration was able to rapidly meet resource needs on-site, and identified alternate work locations for many of the Federal offices that were damaged or destroyed. This list stands as only a small sample of what was done at the Federal level to respond to the consequences of the Oklahoma City bombing. We demonstrated that our plans worked, and our efforts to coordinate an effective response were successful. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE FEDERAL PREPAREDNESS FOR TERRORIST CONSEQUENCE MANAGEMENT Preparedness for terrorism is not a challenge for just the Federal Government. It is a national problem which requires full national partnership and cooperation. At FEMA, we have emphasized the importance of additional planning, training, and practice for all levels of government so that we will better prepared for the awful consequences of a terrorist act. A Terrorism Annex to the Federal Response Plan was written to define the relationship of the Federal Response Plan to other existing interagency plans in which terrorism is involved. It defines the responsibilities and relationships among the responding agencies and defines the mechanism for coordination between crisis management and consequence management operations. The draft annex is being tested and refined in current exercises. The President directed FEMA, with appropriate Federal Response Plan agencies, to report on the status of efforts to achieve an adequate response capability for nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) related terrorism incidents. That assessment will include specific assessments of: stockpile of antidotes and other medicines; the National Disaster Medical System, and procedures for direct Department of Defense support for medical facilities and decontamination. The full report is due to the President in July 1996. We continue to work with and support the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services in its very challenging job of preparing to lead the health and medical response to nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. In our view the Public Health Service-led planning for the interagency health and medical response operation constitutes a significant improvement in the Federal Response Plan. We also believe that the proposed Chemical/Biological Rapid Deployment Teams and the proposed Metro Medical Strike Teams, when funded and constituted, would constitute a significant asset in major metropolitan areas for medical man |