MINUTES OF THE
COUNTER-TERRORISM SUBCOMMITTEE 
of the 
FEDERAL INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY
MEDICAL SERVICES (FICEMS)

DATE AND TIME:

June 5, 2003 1:30 p.m.
LOCATION:

National Emergency Training Center, Room J-107
16825 South Seton Avenue
Emmitsburg, MD  21727

MEMBER AGENCY 
REPRESENTATION:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 
Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA)
Mr. Gordon Sachs, Acting CT Subcommittee Chair
United States Fire Administration (USFA)

Mr. John Brasko
Mr. Jeff Dyar
United States Fire Administration (USFA)

Department of Agriculture
No Representation

Federal Communications Commission
No Representation

Department of Defense (DOD)
No Representation

General Services Administration (GSA)
Mr. Mel Globerman, Engineering Director

Department of Health and Human Services 
(DHHS)
Ms. Nancy Romano 
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 
(NIOSH)

Department of Interior 
No Representation

Department of Transportation (DOT)
Mr. Drew Dawson
Ms. Susan McHenry
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

Department of Veteran Affairs
Ms. Paula Janes

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
No Representation

Department of Labor
No Representation 

OTHER FEDERAL 
ATTENDEES:

Department of Commerce (DOC)
Ms. Jennifer Hendrickson
Ms. Jeanette Young-Reese
Mr. Wayne Strickland
National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

Department of Justice (DOJ)
No Representation 

National Park Service (NPS)
No Representation 

OTHER ATTENDEES 
PRIVATE SECTOR:

CFSI, VFIS
Mr. Rick Patrick

American Association of Safety Engineers
Mr. Steve Pyle

National Volunteer Fire Council
Mr. Joseph Robison

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue
Captain Christine Woodward

Centronia Ambulance Corps, Inc.
Mr. Larry Wiersch

NATEK Incorporated
Ms. Sandy McMinn, EMS Specialist
Ms. Sarah Oliver
Ms. Susan Steinruck
Mr. Stephen Homoki

TELEPHONE CALL-IN 
ATTENDEES:

American Ambulance Association (AAA)
Mr. Kurt Krumperman 

MTIP
Mr. Bill Leonard

IFSTA
Mr. Michael Wieder

MWCOG
Mr. Stephen Dickstein

I.	WELCOME

Mr. Gordon Sachs opened the meeting at 1:30 p.m.  He stated that he was 
requested to chair this meeting for Jeff Dyar and welcomed all the attendees.  

II.	INTRODUCTIONS 

All the attendees introduced themselves.

III.	ROUNDTABLE OF ATTENDEES' INVOLVEMENT IN COUNTER-
TERRORISM PROJECTS 

The Chair provided an update on Structure and Reorganization of DHS.  He cited 
an article by George Mason University and James Madison University describing 
what the organization looks like, how it could change soon and often after that.  
He stated that a new replacement for the Fed Response Plan is being released 
today, it looks like the National Response Plan, based on current rumors.  They all 
will have a better idea in three months at next meeting.

The Subcommittee members each made their contributing remarks to the group.

Nancy Romano  nothing to update.

Rick Patrick  nothing to update.

Joe Robison  nothing to update.

Mel Globerman  GSA's involvement in CT is in supporting other agencies in the 
purchase of specialty equipment designed for their law enforcement activities  
GSA works for agencies directly, the agencies send money, and GSA takes care 
of them.

Wayne Strickland - NTIS requested that they be kept up to date with the 
subcommittee activities and the E-mail addresses of all the attendees.

Jeanette Young-Reese  observing.

Wayne Powell  just observing and wants to keep his website up to date with 
current information.

Christine Woodward  described some post event reactions  their goal is to be 
prepared for the HazMat WMD side of things.  The Fairfax County HAZMAT 
team is fully staffed 24 hours per day.  The EMS portion of the region, we got 
defined levels of mass casualty care and created a level 1,2, or 3 level of care 
(level 1 - treating about 25 people, for example).  These definitions would be 
uniform in all the surrounding jurisdictions.  Most equipment is in the purchasing 
stage and jurisdictions are waiting for their units to arrive.  Equipment includes 
trailers and self-contained driving units (no towing needed).  They have increased 
and looked at search capacity units so they can increase their units by 30%.  They 
are working with the local hospitals.  She feels Northern VA is making progress 
gelling together.

Paula Janes  nothing to update.

Susan McHenry NHTSA is about to fund the roll out of the Medical Response to 
Terrorism training program, using a multi prong approach. Number 1: distant 
learning program with pre and post test; Number 2: have a CD ROM/DVD 
available for all the front line health responders, the target audience; Number 3: 
train the trainer program, face to face; Number 4: using CDC's public health 
community and hospitals to broadcast information across their network; and 
Number 5: using curriculums from a meeting in Houston this week dealing with 
the medical response program, basic disaster life support, advanced disaster life 
support.  There is some agreement starting to form in the medical community, 
however, funding might not happen for a few months.

Jeff Dyar  there are rumblings that a new replacement for the emergency 
response plan is being released today. 

Steve Pyle  no update.

Gordon Sachs  passed around a USFA handout, USFA Response Branch 
Emergency Response to Terrorism Program (attached).  They held a pilot offering 
of a new one-day Emergency Response to Terrorism: Awareness course, most of 
the participants were public health representatives.  A self study course is being 
upgraded to a web based course.  There is a little snag in the virtual campus right 
now but it should be ready for beta testing in July or August.  This will be the 
same course as the paper based course currently in effect.  Mass Decontamination 
Operations course will be a stand-alone one-day course.  The limiting factor in all 
these efforts is funding.  He wants to share a draft of the new course to see if it 
relates to and is compatible and consistent with good information.  Many Fire 
Departments are anticipating doing decontamination at the scene, but many 
hospitals are also thinking they will have to do decontamination at the hospital. 
They want to develop partnerships with the hospitals so the fire departments can 
do the decontamination outside of the hospital and the hospital can concentrate on 
the medical treatment inside the hospital.  The National Terrorism Conference is 
on hold and probably will not happen.  The terrain and the whole issue has 
changed a lot recently.   Much of the Palm OS programming for the Job Aid is 
complete and should be beta tested soon.  A post-9/11 report is nearing 
completion based on experiences gained from actual fire department participants 
on what they would recommend to other fire departments based on these 
experiences.  The two scenarios in the CD ROM simulations include a dirty 
bomb, and others chemical type challenges.  These are still under development.  
They will be like video games and you can choose your role as an EMT or the 
Incident Commander. 

John Brasko Emergency Response to Terrorism TRADE (Training Resources 
and Data Exchange) is a committee of Federal agencies that are providing 
terrorism training.  They meet quarterly in DC.  USFA is a part of TRADE and 
will keep this subcommittee up to date.

IV.	ESTABLISH OBJECTIVES FOR THE SUBCOMMITTEE

The Chair pointed out that it is hard to put objectives in play for the subcommittee as 
everything relating to counter-terrorism changes daily.  Thus it is tough to set objectives.  
However, the question remains why are there not agencies that are directly responding 
and involved in counter-terrorism, like the FBI and Secret Service, participating in this 
subcommittee.  It would be a good idea to have a representative from those agencies, as 
well as ODP, here at these meetings to help pass along information regarding events, 
plans, courses, and news.

V.	ACTION ITEM REVIEW

No action items were still outstanding and no new action items were identified.

VI.	SET NEXT MEETING AGENDA

It was felt that the roundtable venue is a valuable tool  we will see if we can get some of 
the other agencies involved so they can share what they're doing.

The next meeting will have an update on DHS and the revised National Response Plan.

There was a discussion of the color codes threat level meanings.  All agreed that more 
information should be made available of the consequences of going to a higher level of 
alert.  

The next meeting may explore what information the public or the subcommittee need to 
know or need to get out to the public regarding the various threat levels (Homeland 
Security Advisory System (HSAS)  codes Orange, Yellow, etc.).  Apparently there is 
guidance being developed according to John Brasko.  Mr. Sachs said that currently 
individual states may not participate in HSAS.  Ms. McHenry stated that a lot of the 
issues involved are based on economics.  Some states do not have the funds to respond to 
a rise in the threat level, etc.  Any rise in the threat level is not homogeneous throughout 
the states, that is, a threat from container ships may not apply to Wyoming, etc.  Mr. Mel 
Globerman volunteered that even agencies respond differently to changes in threat levels.  

All members felt it might be interesting to discuss the homeland security advisory 
systems and share what agencies do in reaction to different levels of threat advisories.

VII.	NEXT MEETING 
 
September 4, 2003, 1:30 p.m., NETC, Emmitsburg, Maryland 
 
VIII.	ADJOURNMENT 

Gordon Sachs adjourned the meeting at 2:20 p.m.

USFA Response Branch
Emergency Response to Terrorism Program

Mission Statement
The USFA Emergency Response to Terrorism Program is designed to provide training, 
educational support, and programmatic technical assistance to the Nation's first 
response community; so they can effectively plan and prepare for, recognize, respond to, 
and recover from local emergency incidents which have national consequences, such as 
incidents involving the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Current Curriculum
ERT: Self-Study (download)
ERT: Awareness (handoff)
ERT: Basic Concepts
ERT: Tactical Considerations  Company Officer
ERT: Tactical Considerations  EMS
ERT: Strategic Considerations for Command Officers

Current Publications
ERT: Job Aid
CIP: Job Aid

Current Curriculum Development/Revision Efforts
ERT: Self-Study			(Revision and upgrade to WBT)
ERT: Mass Decon Operations	(New development  handoff course)
ERT: EMS Opns at CBRNE Incid.	(New development  self-study course)
ERT: Fire Service/Hospital Coord.	(New development  self-study course)
USFA National Terrorism Conf.	(One-time effort; on hold)

Current Publication Development/Revision Efforts
ERT: Job Aid	(Revision and upgrade to PDA)
Responding to Major Incidents (Post-9/11 Report)
2 Interactive CD-ROM simulations

Other Efforts  current and ongoing
Assisting with Credentialing project  (NFA)
Assisting with IMT training project  (Response Branch)
Assisting with management of Hazardous Materials Response Curriculum  (Response 
Branch)
Coordinate USFA Haz Mat/Terrorism Task Force  (Mission Statement: To support and assist 
other members and their respective program areas by working together, providing input, 
and sharing information.  These cooperative efforts will ensure that projects and 
programs can be coordinated and integrated throughout USFA program areas in an 
efficient, cost effective way.
Member of ERT "TRADE"  (Mission Statement: To ensure a unified and coordinated federal 
training effort and to improve the consistency and the quality of WMD training, through 
the exchange of relevant information in the area of WMD training for local, state, and 
federal emergency responders.)

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