Integrating the abilities of the Coast Guard with local first responders has become a priority for maritime security, officials told a congressional subcommittee.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Larry Hereth told lawmakers that there has been “a tremendous focus on communications development and capability” nationwide since 9/11 that is keyed to linking local officials with Coast Guard assets. The close communications and coordination of New York City fire and police units with the Coast Guard is one of the few positive examples of coordinated response on September 11, 2001, Hereth said, calling it “one of the better systems in the country” at that time. Reinforcing that lesson means investing money in equipment and training.
“There has been a lot of equipment purchases to foster [the relationships],” he said.
During his testimony, Hereth also described the expansion of a cargo container-screening program to 40 foreign ports. The aim is to double the current number by the start of 2005.
Customs agents are posted to major foreign ports to “look for anomalies” in containers inbound to the United States and assist ports in maintaining security requirements established by the Department of Homeland Security, Hereth said.
Russian Horror Highlights U.S. School Security
In the wake of the deadly hostage taking in Beslan, Russia, many U.S. officials are reexamining school security precautions and providing direction to worried school officials and parents.
The Education Department has issued the newest version of its “Practical Guide on Crisis Planning.” In it, officials suggest crafting detailed crisis response plans to account for students, assign staff, collect information about facilities and purchase equipment needed to mitigate or respond to a dangerous incident.
A similar guide published by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 issued recommendations for schools and universities specifically in response to terrorism threats. Among the suggestions were establishing working relationships with first responders and police, as well as the supervisory agent in charge of FBI field offices and the regional Joint Terrorism Task Force.
DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., said that the FBI would be the lead responder if a hostage situation similar to Beslan—which ended in bomb blasts, a shootout and the death of 334 people, mostly children—occurred in the United States.
“The FBI, clearly in terms of the number of people that have been trained and deployed to deal with those situations, is best equipped to do it, but I daresay it would be a collaborative effort … I suspect the FBI would take the lead, but not to the exclusion of some extraordinary partners we have within the law enforcement community around the country.”
Ridge added that, despite the existence of emergency response telephone numbers that are provided by state homeland security offices, the best point of contact to report an incident is the local police.
“I think that we don’t need a centralized number. The best thing to do is pick up the men and women who on a day-to-day basis protect your community,” Ridge said.
He added that in many ways the U.S. school system has been prepared for crisis because of a well-published rash of violent incidents before September 11, 2001.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to concern ourselves as parents about our children in their schools long before 9/11, in the aftermath of not only Columbine, but a series of shootings around the country,” he said. Schools, both public and private, have adapted much more stringent security measures including metal dectors in many schools, Ridge said.
Public Would Ignore Authorities in Terror Event
A newly released report from the New York Academy of Medicine found that the public may be impossible to control in the wake of a terror attack. “Redefining Readiness: Terrorism Planning Through the Eyes of the Public” warned that mistrust of the government and worries over loved ones many times supercedes any efforts to instruct the public during a crisis.
“This information is critically important because plans currently being developed to deal with these situations are based on expert assumptions about what people would be concerned about and how they would behave,” the report said. “If planners’ assumptions about the public are wrong—as they have been in the past—the plans being developed will not work as expected.”
Academy researchers interviewed government and private sector officials and evaluated disaster plans. They then compared them to the results of a telephone survey and group discussions in 14 communities across the United States. The study found many disparities in the way the public is likely to react to government instructions in the case of a radiological “dirty bomb” explosion or release of smallpox.
Far fewer people than needed would follow protective instructions, the report found, with only two-fifths of the public going to a vaccination site in the case of a smallpox outbreak, and only three-fifths sheltering as long as instructed in the case of a dirty bomb.
A large part of the problem, according to the report, is mistrust of the government. “Many people would be seriously worried about something other than what the planners are trying to protect them from,” the report said.
Nowhere is this mistrust greater than in vaccination programs. In the study’s theoretical smallpox outbreak, one-fifth of the American people would be worried enough about accepting a vaccine to keep them away from a medical site. The report noted that three-fifths of the public would be worried about the vaccination side effects—twice as many as those who said they were worried about catching smallpox.
“The way the American people say they would react to instructions in the [hypothetical] smallpox outbreak is consistent with the actual behavior of health care workers in the Centers for Disease Control Smallpox Vaccination Program,” the report said.
The researchers, a team of six PhD’s led by a medical doctor from the New York Academy of Medicine, found that the public was hungry for decision-making support from familiar doctors. They noted this advice was important to have before and during either attack.
“Looking at preparedness planning through the public’s eyes redefines the notion of protection,” the report concluded.
Fort Detrick Begins Bio-Defense Additions
The first step in creating a national bio-defense “campus” for civilian and military researchers is underway at Fort Detrick, Md.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has been cleared to construct a $105 million laboratory that will include the first advanced scanning devices in bio-safety level 3 and 4 facilities.
The lab will have a clinical focus on emerging or engineered diseases, using Computed Tomography scans and Magnetic Resonance Imaging to produce research that will be published in medical literature, according to Mary Wright, chief of bio-defense for the clinical branch of NIAID. The goal is to use modern medicine to develop research bio-weapon candidates.
“These buildings take three or four years to build, because of the complexities,” she said.
Construction of the National Bio-Defense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, operated by the Department of Homeland Security, still is being reviewed for its environmental impact. Construction plans for that facility are likely to be drawn early next year.
With the addition of these two labs, Fort Detrick will become a centralized location for advanced bio-defense research. Already located at the base are labs run by the Department of Agriculture, the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRID).
When finished, the complex will be referred to as the “national interagency bio-defense campus,” and theoretically will centralize the efforts of military and civilian researchers. Currently, representatives from each branch are meeting to decide on an operational framework that will facilitate collaboration, Wright said.
“The reason we wanted this facility here was that USAMRID had so many years of experience working with these infectious diseases when no one else was,” she explained.
Some arms control advocates worry the new centers may violate an international ban on biological weapons if biological agents were created to test defensive systems, but Fort Detrick officials have denied categorically that any such bio-weapons would be developed.
Contracts Awarded for Passenger Jet Missile Defense
The Department of Homeland Security awarded contracts for two antimissile systems for passenger planes and is scheduling a 24-month test to determine if the systems are feasible.
BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman Corp. each won a $45 million contract in August to adapt currently used military platforms for civilian use. Both systems use lasers to jam the heat-seeking guidance of surface-to-air missiles.
“That’s pretty much where the comparisons stop,” said Parney Albright, DHS’s assistant secretary for science and technology. “Other than the fact they both use directed energy, the systems are fundamentally different,” he said.
The effort has received lukewarm support, at best, from the airline industry and pilot associations, principally because of the high price tag and untested technology. Like many military systems deployed to the civilian sector, false alarm rates and differing operating environments make transitions problematic.
One problem with civilian laser systems is the extended periods that they operate. Military aircraft generally activate their defenses over high-risk areas, or on takeoff and landing. A civilian system would have to run the duration of a flight, 10 times longer than the current systems point of failure, Albright said.
He added that the testing of the two systems, the second phase in the department’s effort, is designed to answer some of these questions. “There’s a lot of challenges here to deploying them to the civil air fleet,” Albright said. “When phase II is over, we’ll be in a much better position to decide whether to deploy these systems.”
DHS officials rejected a flare-based system developed by United Airlines, in favor of the laser approach. The Federal Aviation Administration has not certified the use of systems that use flares.
The State Department estimates that more than 40 aircraft have been hit by surface-to-air missiles since the 1970s. Singapore Airlines plans to develop and install antimissile systems in all its aircraft in the next year, and Israel’s government-owned airline already has begun installing flare-based antimissile defense for commercial jets.
Congressional estimates have put the total cost of installing and maintaining the systems at more than $10 billion.