Mr. HORN. Well, I thank you, gentlemen, and thank you again for the good presentation. We now move to Peter Bakersky, Director of the Office of National Preparedness, Region VIII, Federal Emergency Management Agency, otherwise known as FEMA. STATEMENT OF PETER BAKERSKY, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS DIVISION, REGION VIII, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Mr. BAKERSKY. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. It's a pleasure for me to be here to discuss a pressing matter of how FEMA is assisting State and local government to prepare for a potential terrorist attack involving biological, chemical, or nuclear agents. FEMA is the Federal agency responsible for leading the Nation in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Our success depends on our ability to organize and lead a community of local, State, and Federal agencies and volunteer organizations. The Federal Response Plan forms the heart of our management framework and lays out the process by which interagency groups work together to respond as a cohesive team to all types of disasters. In response to the terrorist events of 2001, the Federal Response Plan has proven to be an effective and efficient framework for managing all phases of disasters and emergencies. The plan is successful because it builds upon existing professional disciplines, expertise, delivery systems, and relationships among the participating agencies. Much of our success in emergency management can be attributed to our historically strong working relationship with our State and local partners. Through our preparedness programs we provide the financial, technical, planning, training, and exercise support to give State, local, and tribal governments the capabilities they need to protect public health, safety, and property both before and after the disaster strikes.

In meeting the challenges ahead for State and local government, FEMA's Office of National Preparedness is becoming more robust. The mission of the Office of National Preparedness is to provide leadership in coordinating and facilitating all Federal efforts to assist State and local first responders, as well as emergency management organizations, with planning, training, equipment, and exercises.

FEMA has made the following changes to support this expanded mission. We have realigned preparedness activities from the Readiness, Recovery, and Response Directorate to the Office of National Preparedness. We have realigned all training activities into the U.S. Fire Administration to allow greater coordination between training for emergency managers and training for the first responders. We have moved the authority for credentialing, training, and deploying the urban search and rescue teams from the Readiness, Response, and Recovery Directorate to the U.S. Fire Administration.

We continue to work with all 55 States and Territories and federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaskan native villages to implement our current and other grant programs to assist State, tribal, and local governments to enhance their capabilities to respond to all types of hazards and emergencies, such as chemical incidents, incidents involving radiological substances, and national disasters.

We recognize that chemical, biological, and radiological scenarios will present unique challenges to the first responder community. Of these types of attacks, we are, in many ways, better prepared for a chemical attack because such an incident is comparable to a large-scale hazardous materials incident.

In such an event, the Environment Protection Agency and the Coast Guard are well connected to local hazardous materials responders, State and Federal agencies, and the chemical industry. There are systems and plans in place for response to hazardous materials, systems that are routinely used for both small and large-scale events. The EPA is also the primary agency for the hazardous materials function of the Federal Response Plan. We are confident that we would be able to engage the relevant players in a chemical attack based on the hazardous materials model.

Bioterrorism, however, presents the greater immediate concern. With a covert release of a biological agent, the first responders will be hospital staff, medical examiners, private physicians, or animal control workers instead of the traditional first responders, with whom we have a long-term relationships.

The Department of Health and Human Services leads the efforts of the health and medical community to plan and prepare for a national response to a public health emergency and is the critical link between the health and medical community and the larger Federal response. The Department of Health and Human Services is also our primary agency in the Federal Response Plan for health and medical services.

The Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan has 17 Federal agency signatories, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the lead Federal agency for coordinating the overall response, and FEMA is responsible for coordinating nonradiological support.

Tabletop exercises have been conducted in order to determine Federal agency resources for responding to a terrorist attack with a radiological component. In addition, nuclear or radiological threat posed by improvised nuclear devices and radiological dispersal devices is being evaluated, as well as the preparedness of member departments and agencies to deal with these threats.

It is FEMA's responsibility to ensure that the national emergency management system is adequate to respond to the consequences of catastrophic emergencies and disasters regardless of the cause. We rely on our partners at the State and local level. Without question, they need support to further strengthen their capabilities and their operating capacity.

FEMA must ensure that the national system has the tools to gather information, set priority, and deploy resources effectively. In recent years we have made tremendous strides in our efforts to increase cooperation between the various response communities and now we need to do more.

The creation of the Office of National Preparedness and our emphasis on training, planning, equipment, and exercises, will enable us to better focus our efforts and will help our Nation become better prepared for the future.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I'll be available for any questions.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bakersky follows:]

STATEMENT OF

PETER J. BAKERSKY

EXECUTIVE OFFICER

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS DIVISION
REGION VIII

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY, FINANCIAL

MANAGEMENT AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 23, 2002

EXHIBIT

7

HUNTER & GEIST

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Introduction

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. I am Peter Bakersky, Executive Officer, National Preparedness Division, Region VIII of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It is a pleasure for me to be here today to discuss the pressing matter of how FEMA is assisting State and local governments to prepare for a potential terrorist attack involving biological, chemical or nuclear agents. I will describe how FEMA works with other agencies and our State and local partners, our programs related to terrorism, and new efforts to enhance preparedness and response. The President's proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security would strengthen these links and enhance our Nation's ability to respond to terrorism.

FEMA's Coordination Role

FEMA is the Federal Agency responsible for leading the nation in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters. Our success depends on our ability to organize and lead a community of local, State, and Federal agencies and volunteer organizations. We know whom to bring to the table when a disaster strikes in order to ensure the most effective management of the response. We provide management expertise and financial resources to help State and local governments when they are overwhelmed by disasters.

The Federal Response Plan (FRP) forms the heart of our management framework and lays out the process by which interagency groups work together to respond as a cohesive team to all types of disasters. This team is made up of 26 Federal departments and agencies, and the American Red Cross, and is organized into interagency functions based on the authorities and expertise of the members and the needs of our counterparts at the State and local level.

Since 1992, and again in response to the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, the FRP has proven to be an effective and efficient framework for managing all phases of disasters and emergencies. The FRP is successful because it builds upon existing professional disciplines, expertise, delivery systems, and relationships among the participating agencies. FEMA has strong ties to the emergency management and fire service communities and we routinely plan, train, exercise, and operate together to remain prepared to respond to all types of disasters. The National Strategy for Homeland Security proposes to build on the experience of the Federal Response Plan to develop one all-discipline, all-hazard plan to cover all events of National significance and clarify the roles and responsibilities of different levels of government.

State and Local Relationship

Much of our success in emergency management can be attributed to our historically strong working relationship with our State and local partners. Through our preparedness programs we provide the financial, technical, planning, training, and exercise support to give State, local and Tribal governments the capabilities they need to protect public

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health, safety and property both before and after disaster strikes. Our programs foster the partnerships that are so critical to creating a strong comprehensive national emergency preparedness system. Terrorism consequence management is just one component of our overall emergency management effort. For example, after September 11, Governor Ridge and Director Allbaugh agreed that there was a need to quickly assess State capabilities to effectively respond to acts of terrorism. FEMA assembled an interagency team with members from Department of Defense, Department of Education, Health and Human Services, Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency to visit the 50 States and territories to assess their readiness against 18 criteria and to identify priorities and shortfalls. We examined several categories such as critical infrastructure, personnel, plans, equipment and supplies communications and related capabilities. The results were provided in a classified report to Governor Ridge right before Thanksgiving. Meeting The Challenge Ahead – Creating the Office of National Preparedness

On May 8, 2001, the President tasked the Director with creating the Office of National Preparedness within FEMA to “coordinate all Federal programs dealing with weapons of mass destruction consequence management within the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Justice, and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies." Additionally, the ONP was directed to "work closely with state and local governments to ensure their planning, training, and equipment needs are met."

The mission of the Office of National Preparedness (ONP) is to provide leadership in coordinating and facilitating all Federal efforts to assist State and local first responders (including fire, medical and law enforcement) and emergency management organizations with planning, training, equipment and exercises. By focusing on these specific areas, we can build and sustain our nation's capability to respond to any emergency or disaster, including a terrorist incident involving chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction and other natural or manmade hazards.

FEMA has made the following changes to support this expanded mission to support the Office of Homeland Security:

• Realigned preparedness activities from the Readiness, Response and Recovery Directorate to ONP;

Realigned all training activities into the U.S. Fire Administration to allow greater coordination between training for emergency managers and training for firefighters;

• Moved the authority for credentialing, training and deploying Urban Search and Rescue teams from the Readiness, Response and Recovery Directorate to the U.S. Fire Administration.