[Witnesses sworn.] Mr. HORN. Thank you. The clerk will note all, not just at the table but the ones back of the table. So we will start then with the panel one, we called it, and we are trying to get both the State, the local, the Federal, all moving along. We are going to start with Chief John D. Wilkinson, Fire and Life Safety Services of the city of Evanston Fire Department. Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, if I could just give a special thanks to Chief Wilkinson. Because we are so concerned about hometowns, I thought we would start with my hometown and so both Chief Wilkinson and Commander Nilsson are from Evanston, where I have lived for 30 years. Thank you for being here. Mr. HORN. OK, Chief. STATEMENTS OF JOHN D. WILKINSON, CHIEF, FIRE AND LIFE SAFETY SERVICES, CITY OF EVANSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT; DENNIS L. NILSSON, COMMANDER, FIELD OPERATIONS DIVISION, EVANSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT; PATRICK J. DALY, ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, CHICAGO DIVISION, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION; QUENTIN YOUNG, M.D., CHAIR, HEALTH AND MEDICINE POLICY RESEARCH GROUP, HYDE PARK ASSOCIATES IN MEDICINE; JOHN R. LUMPKIN, M.D., DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH; PAMELA S. DIAZ, M.D., DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE CONTROL, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN WILHELM, M.D., COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH; ARTHUR B. SCHNEIDER, M.D., PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, CHIEF OF THE ENDOCRINOLOGY SECTION, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS; AND DAVID A. KRAFT, DIRECTOR, NUCLEAR ENERGY INFORMATION SERVICE Mr. WILKINSON. Well, in a more global sense, Chief Reardon will be able to speak to the MABAS portion of it, but our experience at the local, basic, first-responding level initially from September 11th, that period of time, was communication was coming from all directions. We didn't know for sure what to believe. We do some high-risk analysis in our community, we have been doing this for a long time and we have a structure in place. But initially, I think we felt lonely, there was not a lot of other communication coming down to us. Since then, the Government has provided a lot of resources that go into our MABAS organizations and our special teams and communications is definitely an issue, and that communication problem is still there and it is inter-agency, both from law enforcement to fire and from various law enforcement and various fire departments among themselves. Communication is a big one to overcome. What I would like to see and what I am looking for and think is coming down the road is preparedness at the actual first-responding level. Resources are available to us, we can get them, but not as timely as if we had them right at the first very responding level. We are using the same technologies and the same personnel for situations that could be significantly different than they were in the past. And I think it is going that way, but speeding that process up in the funding so that we can get it to the local level is going to make a difference for us. We are still maintaining the same services we did before plus living under this threat. And the threat is not just an international thing either. I mean we have had a number of incidents in the United States that were not from any organized foreign soil. Oklahoma City was an example that taxed them completely. And that is the incident that we are concerned about, the one that has no warning. And that potential is out there. So that is essentially where we are at. Things did not seem to work quite as well, things have been I think a little bit slow coming, but they are coming, and we still have at first responding level, we need some better education, better training facilities. There really are not too many of them out there and, of course, the communication issue. That is essentially a snapshot as I see it. Mr. HORN. Well, thank you very much. You are on the firing line and we listen to people that are on the firing line. The next presentation is Commander Dennis L. Nilsson, Field Operations Division, Evanston Police Department. Mr. NILSSON. Good morning. On September 11th, we all had a very rude awakening, as everybody in this room knows. Myself, like everybody else, the first thing we did was we went to a television to see what was going on. And then as the realization began to settle in, we had to start looking at our home, where we are, what did we have to do. We had to start looking at our vulnerability immediately because in our community is looking at us, pubic safety, police and fire, to reassure that safety and security is in fact in Evanston. What we started to learn that morning was just what we did not know and what we did to have available to us. Evanston is very fortunate, we are a well-trained police and fire department, but we realize that our equipment that we respond with is equipment that we respond to suppress fire and our officers are trained to handle crime on the street, crime in the home, not terrorism at the level that we were seeing. The community looked toward us, when they were coming home that night, getting off the public transportation, they were actually greeting our officers and thanking them for being there. But what we found out was we had nobody to call at that time. We were beginning to pool our resources in our city, our health department came together, our emergency operations center, police and fire and we began to assess what we had available to us and what communications we had, how to keep the communications open amongst ourselves so that we could provide these services to our community. So we found out in retrospect and looking back, it has already been said, communications is key. Training, we are going to need more training. Our police officers are trained as crime fighters and problem solvers, they are not trained to handle terrorism. Our first responders, when they are going to go in, they are going to go in as they go into any issue that we go in on, a fire, a call for the police, they are going in there pretty much without equipment. They are not going in with hazmat suits, so they are very vulnerable. So we need to begin to train our police officers on how to handle situations and be more aware of these situations, because we have never experienced this. In 32 years of law enforcement, it was my first experience feeling that we really needed more training. We need help at the community level to provide extended assistance in the event that a critical incident happens that goes beyond the agency's ability to sustain long-term commitment to the incident, something that goes beyond the agency's ability to provide adequate manpower and resources. We are well-equipped to handle the day-to-day stuff, but what we are looking at now is we are looking at having to handle something that goes beyond the day-to-day stuff and something that goes on to the extended. We need to bring in other resources, we need to know what other resources are out there and available to us and we need to begin to pool that information so we do not make blind phone calls like we were making on September 11th, trying to contact our resources that we use on a day-to-day basis, only to find out that they've already been overtaxed with calls from other agencies. That is basically what we were faced with that morning. The next presenter, I want to say that this subcommittee, over the last few years, we have depended on those in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whether it was Y2K or whether it was fraud or whatever. Patrick J. Daly is the Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation. We thank you for all the help you and your colleagues have given us. Mr. DALY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the FBI's efforts in northern Illinois to address the problems of weapons of mass destruction or WMD. The mission of the FBI's counterterrorism program is to detect, deter, prevent and swiftly respond to terrorist actions that threaten the U.S. interests. Director Mueller identified the first priority of the FBI as protecting the United States from terrorist attack. The Chicago FBI covers the northern portion of the State of Illinois, it contains 18 counties and has more than 370 law enforcement agencies. Chicago FBI has approximately 434 special agents and 282 support employees. The FBI has developed an enhanced capacity to deal with acts of terrorism. This has been accomplished by one, increasing number of FBI and task force personnel investigating terrorism; two, establishing partnerships with law enforcement, first responders and public health communities to combat WMD threats; and three, improving information sharing with local, State and Federal agencies as well as with the private sector. The Chicago FBI has been extremely active in the WMD program area with an emphasis on strong liaison with State and local agencies. Since 1999, Chicago has participated in more than 200 field and table-top exercises with area first responders. Chicago has one of eight regional enhanced hazardous material response teams composed of FBI special agents trained to gather evidence in a contaminated crime scene. FBI bomb technicians are also hazmat trained. The Chicago Division participated in a terrorism threat assessment team consisting of the Chicago Police Department, Fire De partment and Illinois State Police. This team identified key infrastructure components throughout the city of Chicago. The Chicago Division recently began an information sharing project with Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies using the Law Enforcement Online [LEO], Web page. This information sharing project is a result of a task force on terrorism initiated by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Chicago FBI after the September 11th attacks. The Chicago Terrorist Task Force was founded in 1981 by members of the Chicago Police Department, FBI, Secret Service and Illinois State Police. Today, member agencies include the FBI, Chicago Police, Illinois State Police, Secret Service, ATF, INS, Customs, IRS, Postal Inspectors and State Department Diplomatic Security. Other agencies providing close cooperation with the Chicago Terrorist Task Force include the CIA, FEMA, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Chicago Fire Department, Department of Health and Human Services, Illinois Department of Public Health, Department of Energy and various local police and fire departments. The Chicago Division enjoys an excellent relationship with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois. The present U.S. Attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, is recognized for his extensive knowledge of terrorist groups and his ability to successfully prosecute them. Life has changed for all of us in the United States as well as throughout the world. Major acts of terrorism are no longer confined to Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America. The terrorists have struck hard within our borders and have brought the violence to our neighborhoods, to our citizens, to our families, to all of us. We are threatened by a man in a cave thousands of miles away and by a former Chicago resident named Padilla, who returned to his city and this Nation seeking to carry out a plan of mass destruction. We are improving our WMD capabilities, our intelligence sharing, our willingness to dedicate personnel and resources to this fight. We, the FBI, the Chicago Terrorist Task Force, the public safety community, the public health community, the military, the intelligence agencies and our allied countries are joined in a battle that may last years, but the alternative of not entering the fight is unacceptable. Thank you. Mr. HORN. Thank you. And we know you have other appointments and we thank you for giving us that statement. Our next presenter is Dr. Quentin Young, chair, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Hyde Park Associates in Medicine. STATEMENT OF PATRICK J. DALY ASSISTANT SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, CHICAGO DIVISION BEFORE THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM Good morning Chairman Horn and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the FBI's efforts within the Northern Illinois region to work with our law enforcement and first responder partners in addressing the threats of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), specifically chemical, biological or nuclear threats. Introduction The mission of the FBI's counterterrorism program is to detect, deter, prevent, and swiftly respond to terrorist actions that threaten the United States national interests at home or abroad, and to coordinate those efforts with local, state, federal, and foreign entities as appropriate. The counterterrorism responsibilities of the FBI include the investigation of domestic and international terrorism, both of which represent threats within the borders of the United States. In reaction to these threats, Director Robert S. Mueller, III, recently identified the first priority of the FBI as protecting the United States from terrorist attack. Presidential Decision Directives (PDD) 39, 62, and 63 define the FBI's role of crisis management, investigation, and intelligence support for terrorism prevention in the coverage of National Special Security Events (NSSE), and in response to an actual terrorism event. At the federal level, the FBI's lead crisis management and investigative responsibilities exist in a partnership alongside FEMA's consequence management role for response to a WMD attack. PPD 62 creates a three-way partnership in connection with NSSES, adding the United States Secret Service (USSS) role of security management. The FBI nationally, and the Chicago Division locally, have developed an enhanced capacity to detect, prevent, and respond to acts of terrorism. This has been accomplished by increasing the number of FBI and task force personnel dedicated to the FBI's Counterterrorism Program; the establishment of partnerships with law enforcement, first responders, and the public health communities to combat WMD threats; and improved information sharing with local, state, and federal agencies, as well as with the private sector. There are 56 Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) established. One in every FBI |