Major General Mason C. Whitney. The Adjutant General of Colorado Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Testimony for the House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on Government Date: Friday, August 23, 2002 Place: Jefferson County Municipal Building, Golden, CO Federal Government Assistance to State Government in The Federal Government supports the State of Colorado in preparing for terrorist attacks involving biological, chemical, or nuclear agents through organizing, funding, equipping and establishing training standards for Colorado National Guard units capable of responding to these events. National Guard units are uniquely organized as a state controlled military that can be used as an emergency response force by the Governor and can additionally be called to active duty as a reserve force for national defense missions. While still under state control, these units can also be federally funded and equipped to train for their national defense role or can be tasked to perform federal operational missions in their state as requested by the President with the concurrence of the Governor. When they are in this state status, the National Guard is not subject to Posse Comitatus and is able to exercise a level three peace officer authority. They can then be used in support of law enforcement operations throughout the state, regardless of pay status. Colorado was the first state to field a mission ready National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction/Civil Support Team (WMD/CST). This team consists of twenty-two full time highly trained soldiers and airmen who are equipped with state of the art equipment used to detect and mitigate nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) events. This team works closely with the FBI, state agencies, and local authorities in responding to these NBC events throughout an assigned geographical area. They can also be used in a federal status to respond to NBC events throughout the United States. They are one hundred percent federally funded and are evaluated by the United States Army for mission readiness. They were used extensively during the most recent anthrax threats. There are presently twenty-seven National Guard WMD/CST teams throughout the United States. All units of the Colorado Army and Air National Guard are trained to operate in a NBC environment as a measure of their readiness for their national defense mission. Although their federal equipment is dated and has not kept up with the emerging NBC threats, they do have a limited capability to respond to NBC events with a large percentage of their force. The federal government provides one hundred percent of the funds for the NBC training and equipment received by the National Guard. Like the WMD/CST unit, these combat units can be used in a state status to respond to state emergencies, such as NBC terrorist attacks. They also have a capability of responding in a state status using federal funds and equipment with the permission of the President and the concurrence of the Governor. They could also be called to active duty and placed in a federal status under federal control. As we better define the roles our military organizations will play in the evolving threat of terrorism within our borders, we should ponder two significant thoughts. The first thought has to do with the relationship between U.S. Northern Command and the fifty-four National Guard organizations. The National Guard is forward deployed to over 3,000 communities throughout the United States, the District of Columbia, and three territories. It is uniquely capable of supporting local authorities with an immediate emergency response under command and control of the Governor. The National Guard can also be federalized to support USNORTHCOM in their Homeland Security mission, if necessary. When is it necessary for USNOTRHCOM to federalize the National Guard? Under what authority does USNORTHCOM mobilize the National Guard for the Homeland Security mission? The second thought to ponder concerns the organizing, training, and equipping of the National Guard for the Homeland Security mission. The initiative of the Total Force policy, implemented over thirty years ago, has allowed the Air and Army National Guard to maintain high levels of readiness for their national defense mission. This has been accomplished with varying degrees of success by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army. As a result of this policy, the National Guard has received federal funds and equipment that have allowed it to maintain a relevance to its federal mission. The National Guard has been EXHIBIT 4 HUNTER & GEIST integrated into the active duty commitments for global military response because of the downsizing of the active military forces and the high operations tempo that currently exists. The result has been an unprecedented use of the National Guard over the past few years in contingency and peacekeeping operations throughout the world. Some say the National Guard should focus exclusively on the Homeland Security mission at the expense of the global national defense mission because of a concern about over tasking our citizen-soldiers. I think this would be a serious mistake. It would divorce the National Guard from the Total Force and reduce the capability of the United States to respond to global threats with a cost effective reserve force. The National Guard would become a less capable force as a result of the loss of training and equipment that has defined our contribution to our national defense. Any Homeland Security mission should be in addition to the national defense missions already established within the National Guard training programs. New equipment and training for Homeland Security could be integrated into training programs to allow for an adequate response capability within existing units. New units with antiterrorist capabilities like the National Guard's WMD/CST should be researched and funded if they prove to be an effective counter to terrorist threats. The National Guard training and equipment funded by the federal government has laid a good foundation for limited responses to terrorist attacks involving nuclear, biological, or chemical agents. USNORTHCOM can build on this capability with research and development focused on Homeland Security. New and existing military organizations that are properly equipped and trained for this evolving mission can support state and local governments in meeting the challenges of protecting our American citizens at home. Mr. HORN. And we will now go to Ms. Mencer. Ms. Mencer is the executive director, Department of Public Safety, director of Homeland Security, State of Colorado. I assume that is the Governor's sort of operation? Ms. MENCER. That's correct. Mr. HORN. Put it all together? Ms. MENCER. Yes. STATEMENT OF SUZANNE MENCER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, AND DIRECTOR, HOMELAND SECURITY, STATE OF COLORADO Ms. MENCER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for inviting me to speak here today. I think we realized in 1993, after the first bombing of the World Trade Center, and then after the bombing of the Murrah Building in 1995, that we needed to refocus our efforts on this issue of terrorism, particularly domestic terrorism, which we, I don't think, gave much attention to at all until 1995. I think what we learned on September 11, 2001, is that our efforts still were not sufficient to combat this threat, either internationally or domestically. I have the unique advantage, I guess, of having been in the FBI for 20 years; 13 of those years I was a counterterrorism and foreign counterintelligence supervisor, both at FBI headquarters and here in Denver. So I have that in my background as well, which serves me well now that I try to look at how to protect the State with not only sharing intelligence with law enforcement agencies, but also with looking at plans, preparedness, and response issues as well. On November 7, the Governor, by executive order, created the Office of Preparedness and Security in the State. Given our tight fiscal problems that we are having now, he created this office using existing resources that the State already had, and focused our efforts in the area of terrorism. To do this, we used my personnel from the Department of Public Safety, we used-we borrowed one person from the Department of Health and Environment that specialized in bioterrorism, and we used two people from the Office of Emergency Management, who have always done a good job at protecting the State in all kinds of all-hazards approaches to disasters. But their specific tasking has been to look at focusing the State on preparedness issues of weapons of mass destruction. To do that, we have divided this office into two areas of focus. One is preparedness, plans, and response. To do that-and this office, by the way, was signed into law by the Governor after passing the legislature in this last legislative session in the Colorado legislature, so it became an office permanently in June. The focus of this office then is twofold. One is for plans, preparedness, and response. To do that, the Governor announced 2 weeks ago that we were dividing the State into seven districts. Six of those districts are the existing State Patrol districts with one exception, and that is, we carved out the five counties of the metro area to create the seventh district. We didn't want the six districts to be overwhelmed by the key assets that we have up and down the front range. So we decided to create this seventh district of the metro area, which we did. These districts will then be coordinated by three individuals: A major of the State Patrol of that district, an OEM regional planner that is assigned to that area, and a CBI investigator, agent-incharge. Their responsibility will be to bring to the table everyone from that district that should have a say in plans and preparedness issues. They will look to fire chiefs, to police chiefs, to sheriffs. They will look to health care professionals in that district. They will look to emergency first responders in that district, and ask for assistance from the National Guard and FEMA to coordinate what should the plans be, are the existing plans sufficient. And, indeed, we already have good plans out there; we don't want to reinvent the wheel. Are they sufficient to handle weapons of mass destruction? If not, what additional responses do they need in that area, and what kind of training and equipment do they need that they don't already have? So we'll be looking at that in each of the districts. Additionally, we'll also be looking at developing an intelligence collection piece. I think when I was in the FBI, sharing of intelligence with local law enforcement agencies consisted of me receiving the information from the sheriffs and chiefs and saying, “Thank you." That was about the end of the sharing. I think what-is there clapping back there? I think what we've learned is that we have to share better. And, indeed, the FBI created joint terrorism task forces all over the United States. Denver was one of the first offices to do that. I'm sure Mr. Carballido will speak more about that. And I'm pleased to say that we have a Colorado State trooper on the domestic side of the joint terrorism task force. So we are very lucky to have a seat at the table. Unfortunately, the task forces, by necessity, are limited as to who can be at the task forces. So we need to have a way to better have the chiefs and the sheriffs and other folks out there that have intelligence or that see things every day to be able to share that. So we are going to act as a clearinghouse for this kind of information so that we can then package it and provide it to the FBI if it rises to the level of an investigative concern. So that's what we hope to do. We do need to break down some barriers among law enforcement agencies. It is difficult, if you work hard to get information, to then give it up and share it with other agencies. That's always been a problem with law enforcement. So we are looking at ways to try to break down those barriers because I think what we've all learned since September 11th is we do need to share better, and we are going to work very hard at doing that. We applaud the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security and of Governor Ridge, and the President's initiative to create this new department, similar to what we have done here in the State, taking existing resources, combining them together to focus on this issue of terrorism. So we very much applaud that. We are in close contact with the Office of Homeland Security. I am in biweekly conference calls with them. I just had one yesterday. We share their concerns. They're divided by FEMA regions. We are with FEMA Region VIII and X on our conference calls. And all the States' homeland security directors are there. So it is an op portunity for us to share our concerns, ask our questions, and get answers at that time, and they've been very responsive to all the questions we've had. So we have a good relationship with them. We also I go back about every other month to meet with Governor Ridge and his staff. All the homeland security directors do, and this has been very helpful as well, so that we know where they're going, what their direction is, and what kind of information they can provide to us to better make our system here in Colorado more functional in working with them. So we are busy on that. The Governor also created an infrastructure committee 2 weeks ago, and this will be to bring in the private sectors as well in the State. We will have at least 13 people at that table, each representing the 13 critical infrastructures as defined by the national security strategy. We will look at those 13 infrastructures and then add some as well, such as education, to decide things for the State, like the structure of the threat level system. What does it mean for education if we go up from a Level Yellow, which we are at now, to a Level Orange? What does it mean-do you send your kid to school if we go up to a Level Red? Do you ride the light rail if we are at the red level? These are the kinds of questions we will ask this committee to come up with by asking their constituents to come up with the models that we need to use and then disseminate to the public as to how we are going to react to this kind of thing. So that way we will bring in the private sector as well and get input from everyone because this is indeed a problem that has to be solved by everyone, not just law enforcement, not just the National Guard, not just Public Safety, but we have to all work together on this. Thank you. [The prepared statement of Ms. Mencer follows:] |