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87–138 PDF 2003

HOW EFFECTIVELY IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

ASSISTING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

IN PREPARING FOR A BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL

OR NUCLEAR ATTACK

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY,

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON

GOVERNMENT REFORM

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JULY 3, 2002

Serial No. 107–212

Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/congress/house

http://www.house.gov/reform

(II)

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman

BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York

CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland

CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida

JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York

STEPHEN HORN, California

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia

MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana

STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio

BOB BARR, Georgia

DAN MILLER, Florida

DOUG OSE, California

RON LEWIS, Kentucky

JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania

DAVE WELDON, Florida

CHRIS CANNON, Utah

ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida

C.L. ‘‘BUTCH’’ OTTER, Idaho

EDWARD L. SCHROCK, Virginia

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California

TOM LANTOS, California

MAJOR R. OWENS, New York

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, Washington,

DC

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland

DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio

ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois

DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois

JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts

JIM TURNER, Texas

THOMAS H. ALLEN, Maine

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri

DIANE E. WATSON, California

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts

———

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont

(Independent)

KEVIN BINGER, Staff Director

DANIEL R. MOLL, Deputy Staff Director

JAMES C. WILSON, Chief Counsel

ROBERT A. BRIGGS, Chief Clerk

PHIL SCHILIRO, Minority Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

STEPHEN HORN, California, Chairman

RON LEWIS, Kentucky

DOUG OSE, California

ADAM H. PUTNAM, Florida

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma

JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois

MAJOR R. OWENS, New York

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

EX OFFICIO

DAN BURTON, Indiana HENRY A. WAXMAN, California

J. RUSSELL GEORGE, Staff Director and Chief Counsel

BONNIE HEALD, Deputy Staff Director

JUSTIN PAULHAMUS, Clerk

(III)

C O N T E N T S

Page

Hearing held on July 3, 2002 ................................................................................. 1

Statement of:

Hecker, JayEtta, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, General Accounting Office; James Bogner, Special Agent in Charge, Omaha Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Lieutenant Tim Conohan, emergency preparedness coordinator, Omaha Police Department; Paul R.

Wagner, fire chief, city of Omaha; Steven Hinrichs, M.D., director of

Nebraska health laboratory, director of microbiology and virology, department of pathology/microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical

Center; and Philip W. Smith, M.D., chief of infectious diseases, department of internal medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center ........ 4

Heineman, David, Lieutenant Governor, State of Nebraska; Richard A.

Raymond, M.D., chief medical officer, State of Nebraska; Richard

Hainje, region VII, FEMA; W. Gary Gates, vice president, Nuclear

Division, Omaha Public Power District; Steve Lee, director, Douglas

County Emergency Management Agency, Douglas County Health Department; and Pete Neddo, manager of safety and security, Metropolitan Utilities District ..................................................................................... 77

Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:

Bogner, James, Special Agent in Charge, Omaha Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, prepared statement of ............................................. 30

Conohan, Lieutenant Tim, emergency preparedness coordinator, Omaha

Police Department:

Letter dated July 25, 2002 ....................................................................... 75

Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 44

Gates, W. Gary, vice president, Nuclear Division, Omaha Public Power

District, prepared statement of .................................................................... 105

Hainje, Richard, region VII, FEMA, prepared statement of ......................... 92

Hecker, JayEtta, Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, General Accounting Office, prepared statements of...................................................... 6, 120

Heineman, David, Lieutenant Governor, State of Nebraska, prepared

statement of ................................................................................................... 80

Hinrichs, Steven, M.D., director of Nebraska health laboratory, director

of microbiology and virology, department of pathology/microbiology,

University of Nebraska Medical Center, prepared statement of .............. 53

Lee, Steve, director, Douglas County Emergency Management Agency,

Douglas County Health Department, prepared statement of ................... 112

Raymond, Richard A., M.D., chief medical officer, State of Nebraska,

prepared statement of ................................................................................... 85

Smith, Philip W., M.D., chief of infectious diseases, department of internal medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, prepared statement of ........................................................................................................... 63

Wagner, Paul R., fire chief, city of Omaha, prepared statement of ............. 49

(1)

HOW EFFECTIVELY IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ASSISTING STATE AND LOCAL

GOVERNMENTS IN PREPARING FOR A BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL OR NUCLEAR ATTACK

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2002

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY, FINANCIAL

MANAGEMENT AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS,

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM,

Omaha, NE.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:04 a.m., in the

Private Dining Room, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 45th

and Emile Streets, Omaha, NE, Hon. Stephen Horn (chairman of

the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Horn and Terry.

Staff present: J. Russell George, staff director and chief counsel;

Bonnie Heald, deputy staff director; Justin Paulhamus, clerk; Chris

Barkley, staff assistant; and Michael Sazonov, Sterling Bentley,

Joe DiSilvio, and Yigal Kerszenbaum, interns.

Mr. HORN. A quorum being present, the hearing of the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management and

Intergovernmental Relations will come to order.

On September 11, 2001, the world witnessed the most devastating acts ever committed on U.S. soil. Despite the damage and enormous loss of life, the attacks failed to cripple this Nation. To the

contrary, Americans have never been more united in their fundamental belief in freedom and their willingness to protect that

freedom.

The diabolical nature of those attacks and then the deadly release of anthrax sent a loud and clear message to all Americans.

We must be prepared for the unexpected. We must have the mechanisms in place to protect this Nation and its people from further

attempts to cause massive destruction.

The aftermath of September 11th clearly demonstrated the need

for adequate communications systems and rapid deployment of

well-trained emergency personnel. Yet despite billions of dollars in

spending on Federal emergency programs, there remains serious

doubts as to whether the Nation is equipped to handle a massive

chemical, biological or nuclear attack.

Today the subcommittee will examine how effectively Federal,

State and local agencies are working together to prepare for such

emergencies. We want those who live in this great State of NeVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:29 Jun 12, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 D:\DOCS\87138.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1
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braska and the good people of Omaha to know that they can rely

on these systems and they should.

We are fortunate to have witnesses today whose valuable experience and insight will help the subcommittee better understand the

needs of those on the front lines. We want to hear about their capabilities and their challenges and we want to know what the Federal

Government can do to help.

We welcome all of our witnesses and look forward to their testimony. This is an investigating committee of the full Committee on

Government Reform and we swear in all witnesses and we will do

that in a minute. Your statements, which we all have read are very

fine statements. And when I call on you, actually it will be Congressman Terry, he will move from one person to the next as the

agenda shows and that is automatically in the record of the court

reporter. We just want a summary of your document because we

are on a time schedule and we are going to need to be here until

11. So if you will stand and raise your right hand and have the

people behind you, if they are going to give testimony.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. HORN. The clerk will note that all have affirmed. We thank

you and I will now turn over the gavel to my colleague, Lee Terry.

He has been an outstanding Member of the House of Representatives and we admire his work and tried to be helpful in a number

of things. He will conduct this because he knows many of you and

we have asked him to do that.

So he will start with the first person, which I will mention that

one, and that is JayEtta Hecker. She is the Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues, U.S. General Accounting Office. That is the Office under the Comptroller General of the United States—a 15-year

term, so Presidents and Congress cannot do much if they do not

like it. He has done a marvelous job, the best I have ever seen over

the last 30 years.

So we will have a 3-minute summary by Ms. Hecker and at the

end, she will have a summary if we have lost a few pieces here and

there.

Mr. TERRY [presiding]. Thank you. Chairman Horn, I want to

begin by thanking all of our witnesses today. I appreciate that you

took time away from your jobs in protecting our community to be

here today for what I consider an extremely important matter, of

coordinating between governments to make sure everyone is working together for the same goal of protecting and serving our community in case something tragic should happen.

I also want to thank our congressional staff, we have many of

our staff members here, Chairman Horn, who helped work with

your incredible staff to organize today’s event. Particularly I want

to point out next the University of Nebraska Medical Center who

is, of course, hosting this event. I think as you will find through

the testimony today, you will be impressed, not only with the University of Nebraska Medical Center and how progressive they have

been in making sure our community is prepared to handle any biological, chemical or nuclear attack or incident, but also how impressed I think you will be with the State, our utilities, our police,

our fire, our FBI—all those that have come here to testify today.

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And last, I want to thank you, Chairman Horn. You are one of

the, if not the, hardest working chairmen in Congress today, and

for the audience that is here today, Chairman Horn held a similar

hearing in Milwaukee yesterday and the University of Vanderbilt

Medical Center the day before.

His task as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Government

Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations, particularly in the field of biological, chemical and nuclear

preparedness, is to gather data. And Steve—Chairman Horn is

known by his colleagues as being the academic on that committee.

So if there is anyone that can best gather and articulate the data

into needs and goals, it is Chairman Horn.

So that is what the purpose of this hearing is today, to elicit the

testimony from all levels of Government, to see what we are doing

in Omaha, what the University of Nebraska is doing, what we are

doing at the State level. So it is not just Omaha, Papillion and

Bellvue, but Burwell and Funk, Nebraska—across the State.

Chairman Horn and his great staff will then sort through piles

of testimony and information, work with Government agencies such

as the General Accounting Office, GAO, and come up with a report

and recommendations of how we can best partner.

As Chairman Horn mentioned in his opening statement, life

changed for all of us on September 11th.

Many of my colleagues went to Congress thinking of police and

fire as a local issue. After September 11th, we can no longer think

that way. We are all members of the same team now, at different

levels of responsibility. And unless there is coordination between

all levels of Government, from the Omaha Police Department, the

Fire Department to our FBI, through our State to FEMA, we will

have weak links. Weak links break and somewhere in our community, people will go unserved and unprotected. We in Congress cannot allow that to happen.

So, Chairman Horn, thank you for the effort that you are putting

forth in touring States and localities across our Nation, and since

you are from the California, Long Beach area; thank you for going

to the heartland and not just the big cities of L.A. and San Francisco, but to the medium size cities such as Omaha, Nebraska.

And in my conclusion I will say, I am so confident that you will

be impressed with the testimony that you will hear today that you

could probably make some recommendations to those larger cities,

because I think we are doing several things right here in this community.

So again, thank you for taking time, and welcome to Omaha.

With that conclusion of my opening statement, it is somewhat

unusual—I used to be on the Government Reform Committee, but

switched to the Energy and Commerce Committee, so Steve is allowing me—I am sorry—Chairman Horn is allowing me to be an

ad hoc member and even so kind to let me handle the gavel for

awhile, although——

Mr. HORN. Just do not use it on my head.

Mr. TERRY. You know, power.

I call on JayEtta Hecker. Thank you for being here today.

4

STATEMENTS OF JAYETTA HECKER, DIRECTOR, PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE ISSUES, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE;

JAMES BOGNER, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, OMAHA DIVISION, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION; LIEUTENANT

TIM CONOHAN, EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COORDINATOR, OMAHA POLICE DEPARTMENT; PAUL R. WAGNER, FIRE

CHIEF, CITY OF OMAHA; STEVEN HINRICHS, M.D., DIRECTOR

OF NEBRASKA HEALTH LABORATORY, DIRECTOR OF MICROBIOLOGY AND VIROLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY/

MICROBIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER; AND PHILIP W. SMITH, M.D., CHIEF OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY

OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER

Ms. HECKER. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Terry, we

are very pleased to be here. I will very briefly summarize my full

statement.

The key points that I want to make really are two; one is about

the proposed department and some views that the GAO has about

that. And second, the importance of the national strategy that is

yet to be developed and our concerns about the scope of what ought

to be in that strategy.

Now about the department, the key thing is that GAO has been

studying terrorism preparedness programs and counter-terrorism

activities and has concluded and recommended for a number of

years the importance of better Federal coordination. Both our work

and the reports by emergency managers at the State level, as well

as the experience of a lot of the exercises has shown that Federal

programs have not been well coordinated, and organizations and

different levels of government have not worked together as well as

they could.

So there has really been an absence of Federal leadership and coherence in the assistance to and building of effective partnerships

that you would expect from the Federal role.

Those are the kinds of things that we look for in the department.

We think that there is an important role for the Congress to look

at that proposal. We have a number of concerns about what is included in the department and what is out. For example, our review

in the area of bioterrorism notes that there is a potential for an increase of fragmentation by bringing 300 people and I think $4 billion of activity from HHS on bioterrorism into this new department. The proposal breaks bioterrorism off from those similar activities that would still be ongoing and that are core public health

programs in HHS.

So it is not easy to establish where you draw the line, and there

is a very active role for Congress to play in weighing those considerations.

The second point about the strategy. There are three things that

we look for in the strategy and we do not believe that the proposal

that has been put forward represents a strategy. It was due last

month and now it has been deferred, so it is something you would

actually like to see before the department is created, as its role presumably is to implement the strategy. But in any case, the strategy

is yet to come out and there are three levels of detail that we would

like to see in it.

5

First is greater clarity about the different roles of government.

Second is more implementation of a performance oriented organization—performance management, a focus on performance, not just

programing this much money, this many people. What are the results, what is the impact?

And finally, clarity on the appropriate tools that really build incentives and partnerships.

So in sum, the State and local governments are critical to effective homeland security, and while there are many aspects of getting a department to work, an absolutely essential part is building

these effective partnerships. That is why we applaud the work of

this committee and are working actively with Mr. Horn on better

understanding the challenges in building effective intergovernmental relations. We think this is the absolutely perfect way to do

it, to hear from these folks about what the concerns are, what their

experience is with Federal programs and have that be key input to

the department.

So I too look forward to the statements and continue to stand

ready to provide support for the committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Terry.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. As some of you know who have participated in hearings in the past, we let everyone testify and then if

there are any questions from Mr. Horn or from me, that is when

we will ask them.

Mr. Bogner is the Special Agent in Charge of the Omaha FBI Division and he has been very active in our community in helping develop our task forces. September 11th, certainly he and I met and

toured the facility and had an interesting briefing of the role of FBI

in that particular situation. I appreciate all of your efforts and the

fact that you are here in our community. We welcome you and

thank you. You may start.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hecker follows:]

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Mr. BOGNER. Good morning, Chairman Horn, Congressman

Terry. I appreciate and value the opportunity to testify before you

today.

As part of the reorganization plan, Director Mueller stated to all

FBI employees that the FBI’s goal in counterterrorism is prevention. It is not, as in the past, only reacting to attacks and bringing

terrorists to justice.

While investigating terrorist acts remains the FBI’s highest priority, our primary goal is prevention of future acts of terrorism.

This does not mean that prosecution is not important; prosecution

is an absolutely critical element of prevention. But making clear

that the goal is prevention rather than prosecution will mean enhanced emphasis on intelligence gathering, analysis and proactive

initiatives. Counterterrorism is our top priority.

We in the Omaha Division of the FBI have embraced Director

Mueller’s message and implemented numerous initiatives. The

Omaha office covers the two States of Iowa and Nebraska, a territory spanning two time zones and extending from the Mississippi

River to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is approximately

800 miles from eastern border to western border of our FBI Division. We encompass three Federal judicial districts. We have the

main headquarters in Omaha, along with eight resident agencies

throughout the two States, three additional offices in Nebraska and

five additional offices in Iowa. Our territory includes distinctly different regions of the country, ranging from urban industrial centers

to midwest farmlands and agricultural communities to the ranch

lands of the great plains. The vastness of the territory and the resulting differences in regional culture and crime problems require

us to maximize and leverage our resources and to exercise some

flexibility and innovation in our investigations and operations.

We, with our city, county, State and other Federal counterparts

recognize that partnership is the most effective means of countering terrorism. This partnership, when formalized, generally takes

the form of a joint terrorism task force, otherwise known as JTTF.

The process of forming a JTTF in the Nebraska and Iowa areas reflects the unique and expansive nature of the territory, which is

why I gave you that information on the record about this territory.

In trying to address terrorism matters in an 800-mile wide twoState territory required innovation and so we believed that it was

important, not to have just a single investigative entity or joint terrorism task force, but one composed of five elements throughout

the two States. This was our premise and to validate that, we

sought input from the city, county, State and other Federal agencies. We held a series of informational meetings throughout the two

States. We notified and invited all law enforcement agencies within

those two States to attend. We had 171 representatives of the city,

county, State and Federal law enforcement agencies attend those

meetings where we presented the FBI counterterrorism strategy,

the function of a typical joint terrorism task force and provided

briefings, intelligence briefings, to those law enforcement agencies.

And we proposed a unique concept to the joint terrorism task force

by having five teams. I have provided you a map of those five

teams so that you can see more clearly I think how they are formed

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and how they represent and can respond to the diverse geographic

regions that our territory covers.

Presently the joint terrorism task force consists of 110 law enforcement agents or officers from more than 50 different agencies

throughout the two States.

One of the goals to provide the joint terrorism task force officers

is training. In addition to training specifically for those partners,

we have provided counterterrorism training to city, county, State

and Federal agencies throughout the two States of Iowa and Nebraska, through many Police Chiefs Associations and law enforcement coordinating committee meetings and conferences.

The Nebraska/Iowa Joint Terrorism Task Force has already conducted a very successful and high profile domestic terrorism investigation, despite the fact that the investigation occurred just 2 days

after forming this joint terrorism, and this was the matter of the

improvised bombs that were left inside mailboxes in the rural areas

of Iowa, northwest Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force was mobilized within hours of

the first explosions there, and the identification, location, apprehension and filing of charges against the individual occurred within

5 days of the first bomb being found.

We worked very closely with the Nebraska State Patrol and the

Iowa Department of Public Safety to establish secure communications with all law enforcement officials within those two States. In

addition to those activities, we also have been involved in weapons

of mass destruction or WMD preparedness and counterterrorism

preparedness and training exercises.

Every FBI office has a weapons of mass destruction coordinator,

likewise do we. And that coordinator’s job is to ensure that the various State and local agencies in Iowa and Nebraska are familiar

with the assistance that the FBI can provide, as well as our protocol for responding to these weapons of mass destruction incidents.

Our coordinator has conducted or participated in nine preparedness

or training events within the last 3 years, and I have provided the

committee with a list of those events.

The Omaha Coordinator is also a member of a steering committee for the Omaha Metropolitan Medical Response System, or

OMMRS, which I am sure you will hear additional information

about. Representatives of all major health care facilities, public

health officials in the Omaha metropolitan area participate in

OMMRS. OMMRS’ mission is to maximize preparedness and coordination in the health care community. They meet on a monthly

basis. We have very actively participated in that and our coordinator is a member of that.

The Division has participated in 10 exercises in the past 3 years

that I have noted and also provided you information on that.

In the area of weapons of mass destruction investigations and operations, we are in constant contact with members of the law enforcement, fire and emergency management and medical communities. This partnership was clearly evident in the cooperation during the time period after September 11, 2001 when anthrax hoaxes

occurred in Iowa and Nebraska. In addition to these hoaxes, wellmeaning citizens reported hundreds of suspicious packages and

other items. Since October 2001 nationwide, the FBI has responded

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to more than 16,000 reports of use or threatened use of anthrax or

other hazardous materials and the Omaha Division has had this

share of these reports. We have provided advice, guidance and response on more than 800 incidents of suspected or reported anthrax, physically responded to the scene approximately 75 times

and have several pending investigations related to those threats or

hoaxes.

In the FBI Omaha Division, all investigations and preparedness

responsibilities are conducted jointly with other law enforcement

agencies and often with the appropriate fire and emergency response agencies. We believe that communication, coordination and

cooperation are exceptional in the heartland here and in the

Omaha Division and we strive to maintain and improve upon the

relationships that we have built over the years.

This concludes my prepared remarks and I express appreciation

to this subcommittee for concentrating on this issue of terrorism

preparedness. Thank you.

Mr. TERRY. Likewise. Thank you, Special Agent Bogner.

Next is Tim Conohan from the Omaha Police Department, Lieutenant Conohan is in charge of the emergency preparedness for the

city of Omaha—or the Police Department—sorry, Tim. He is the coordinator, and I appreciate that you took your time to be here and

Tim and I were friends before we were—at least Tim became the

famous police officer he has become. Tim, thank you for being here

today.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bogner follows:]

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Lieutenant CONOHAN. Thank you, Congressman Terry, and

Chairman Horn, thank you for inviting us.

Chief Kerry would have liked to have been here this morning,

but he had a scheduling conflict, so he asked me to represent him

and read a prepared statement. So with that, I will.

The events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent anthrax

mailings that occurred shortly thereafter were a wake-up call for

all public safety officials throughout this country. Although the

Omaha metro area was spared from the death and destruction that

occurred back east, our city did have to deal with perceived bioterrorism threats of anthrax being mailed through our postal system. We learned first hand that our public safety departments can

become taxed to their limits when dealing with not only an actual

bioterrorism incident, but a perceived threat as well.

Although there were no actual cases of anthrax being sent

through the postal system to anyone in the Omaha metro area, the

fear that the public experienced in dealing with this bioterrorism

event was indeed real. Our police, fire and 911 departments handled hundreds of calls from citizens that thought they were the victims of a bioterrorism incident.

The Omaha Police Department feels that there are several areas

where the Federal Government can continue to be of great assistance and support State and local government when dealing with

nuclear, biological and chemical events.

The first one would be threat assessment equipment and personal protective equipment for first responders. It is imperative

that first responders, police, fire and EMS have the necessary

equipment to determine as quickly as possible the substances they

are dealing with when responding to NBC type—nuclear, biological, chemical type—incidents.

They then must be able to don the appropriate personal protective equipment to allow them to function in this type of environment.

We learned first hand how important it was to have the ability

to assess quickly what type of threat we were dealing with. Omaha

was indeed fortunate to have a bioterrorism preparedness lab in

our city, located right here on the campus of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, it is a division of the Nebraska Public

Health Lab. These labs allowed public safety officials the ability to

quickly analyze the biological or chemical agents or the hoax material they were dealing with. The labs must be equipped and staffed

properly to ensure quick response to bioterrorism threat incidents.

These labs need to be a high priority. Public safety departments

cannot formulate a response plan until they know what exactly

they are dealing with and time is critical during these types of incidents.

Second, we would like to see the Federal Government assist us

with a best practices manual. We feel there is a need for the Federal Government to assist State and local public safety agencies in

putting together a best practice manual when dealing with nuclear,

biological, chemical terrorism incidents. There needs to be consistency throughout the country when dealing with these events. This

will greatly enhance the City’s ability to draw upon mutual aid

from other cities during times of WMD incidents. We would ask

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that input from State and local agencies of various sizes be requested when putting together this type of manual to ensure that

it will work for agencies of all sizes.

Third, regional training for standardized response. This goes

hand in hand with the completion of a best practice manual. State

and local public safety agencies need the Federal Government’s expertise in the field to assist us with training our people so there

is a standardized response to these type of incidents.

And last, public education to reduce fear. After what our city experienced last fall, we feel it extremely important that there is an

education component to any response plan dealing with nuclear, biological, chemical type incidents. An informed public will have less

fear and be less likely to panic when they have to deal with an

NBC terrorism incident.

Although Federal funding is a critical component to any State or

local response plan for nuclear, biological, chemical incidents, we

feel it is even more important that the Federal Government share

its expertise in this area with State and local governments, so that

standardized response plans can be created to assist us in dealing

with incidents of this nature.

The 2002 funding of the Office of Domestic Preparedness for

State Domestic Preparedness Programs is a great start to assisting

State and local governments with implementing response plans to

deal with nuclear, biological and chemical type events.

The Omaha Police Department thanks Congressman Terry for

inviting us to speak before this committee and represent our community.

Sincerely, Donald L. Carey, Chief of Police, Omaha Police Department.

Thank you.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Lieutenant Conohan.

Next we have our great fire chief for the city of Omaha and I

have had the pleasure to work with Chief Wagner when I was a

member of the Omaha City Council and also had the opportunity

to work with his niece in Washington, DC. So you are never far

away, Chief. Thank you for being here today. You may start.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Conohan follows:]

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Mr. WAGNER. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Horn, Congressman Terry, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this committee today.

I am going to be a little bit more parochial. I think that what

we are going to see in many of these subcommittee meetings is that

there are needs that are probably going to be consistent for all metropolitan cities, and so I am going to speak from that point of view.

I do have a prepared speech, I will try to make it brief and

maybe reduce some of the time that it takes.

I would like to thank the Federal Government and subcommittee

for taking the time to address these issues. The Omaha Fire Department has been the beneficiary of Federal assistance to provide

training for all its employees in weapons of mass destruction. We

were fortunate enough to be probably on the cutting edge of this

and it was very beneficial to us. We trained all of our personnel,

which is very important when we respond to these kinds of events,

and our expectation is that the potential is always going to be

there, more so now than ever before. We were the beneficiaries of

$300,000 worth of equipment, which was also very important to us,

because once the training took place, this equipment was determined to be the necessary equipment needed for any response,

looking at nuclear, biological and chemical.

But there are problems with this and I think we have to look at

those problems from a parochial point of view: Shelf life. There is

a shelf life on some of these products and there is no program in

effect to offer replacement without using city funds. With the budgetary constraints that we are all facing today, it would probably

take a little priority with respect to our budget for just the everyday servicing of our citizens and being able to function as a fire department. And that is not good. It is certainly something that we

need to look at. We do have some very fine facilities here, they

have already been referred to, but I will refer to them again. The

Nebraska Public Health Labs are one of the best and they are conveniently placed for the city of Omaha and the Omaha Fire Department right here.

There is no recycling system. If we have equipment and we could

recycle it through training, how can we do that—how do we allow

that to be offered to other communities so that they can have the

benefit of this equipment—not just the city of Omaha, but the outlying communities.

Technological advances. We have improved equipment and they

range from a variety of things—greater protection as in air purifying equipment, canisters that filter chemicals and can be updated.

Less bulky, lighter weight and usable for greater lengths of time.

Changes in the equipment that allow us to work in a more contaminated environment for longer periods of time safely.

One of the issues for Omaha, as well as probably a lot of other

communities, is that the equipment does not allow for vehicles to

allow us to transport this equipment. We have been able to utilize

some funds to buy trailers, but one of the most important aspects

of any response is how quickly we can get there. And I think we

have to look at if this is designated for weapons of mass destruction, can we utilize these funds to buy equipment that would allow

us to take the equipment to the scene immediately? We have agreeVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:29 Jun 12, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 D:\DOCS\87138.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1
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ments now with some trucking companies who have been very considerate in offering us help. But we have to get them to have a

truck and a driver come to the scene of our equipment storage and

then trailer it to an event. This is all very time-consuming and can

affect the impact of what we can do when we arrive at the scene.

And I think it is very important to look at these as potential uses

for funds that will benefit everyone.

Omaha Fire Department views itself as a regional response for

hazardous materials. With respect to that, we look at time response, trained personnel and the need to be able to function effectively and efficiently in the field. We have recently sent some of our

personnel to Anniston, Alabama, where they have had additional

training and learned a lot more about weapons of mass destruction,

because we are learning more as time progresses.

We need to be able to bring that training not only to the Omaha

Fire Department, but to the regions surrounding us.

With respect to that, I would like to thank this subcommittee for

taking the time to listen to me. As a fire chief, we respond locally

first and regionally second, but that can obviously change very

quickly. We want to be able to provide the best equipment, the best

training and the best offer to save lives as we can.

And with that, I would like to thank you for taking the time. If

there are any questions I can answer at the end of this, I would

be very happy to. Thank you very much.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Chief, appreciate your testimony.

Next is Steven Hinrichs, Dr. Hinrichs at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he is the director of Nebraska Health Laboratory, director of microbiology and virology in the Department of

Pathology and Microbiology. Dr. Hinrichs, thank you for spending

your morning with us. You may begin.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Wagner follows:]

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Dr. HINRICHS. Thank you, Chairman Horn and Congressman

Terry, I appreciate this opportunity to provide testimony.

As part of my duties at UNMC, I have been named Coordinator

of the University of Nebraska Bioterrorism Preparedness Task

Force, and in addition, I work with the Nebraska Health and

Human Services System as Director of the Nebraska Public Health

Laboratory.

The commitment, dedication and expertise of the people who

have been brought together by the planning efforts of the State

government, particularly under the direction of Lieutenant Governor Dave Heineman, have been unprecedented. We also greatly

appreciate the coordinating efforts of our Chief Health Officer,

Richard Raymond, and his efforts have been outstanding.

It is apparent to everyone that we are facing a challenge with

the potential to significantly alter and permanently change life as

we know it in our Nation and, therefore, many of the traditional

obstacles to progress have been set aside.

I will provide summaries of my comments and recommendations

on the following topics, but would be pleased to answer any specific

questions as they might arise.

My first comment relates to electronic information systems. Continued support is needed for development and deployment of electronic information systems. These systems must extend to the private sector including hospitals and laboratories. Many of the current systems are primitive and consist of only notification systems

rather than direct communications that allow real time monitoring

and exchange of information. The Nebraska Department of Health

and Human Services can be a leader in this activity.

My second comments relate to the National Laboratory Reserve

Force. The national need exists for a reserve force of expert laboratory scientists capable of responding to national emergencies. These

reserve scientists could be deployed during non-crisis times to provide training and connection to the front line laboratories throughout each State. This is the model that we are taking in Nebraska.

The CDC has begun exploring mechanisms to meet this need similar to the one in Nebraska and this activity is one of the critical

objectives of the new funding to States.

The third area of activity is in the role of the universities. Universities and institutions of higher education represent a national

resource and should be included in efforts to educate the public regarding threats from biological, nuclear and chemical agents, as

well as the training of first responders and volunteer service providers. We also are capable of providing research into new approaches to identifying and responding to acts of bioterrorism.

Universities can contribute expertise in areas related to both

human, animal and crop diseases. However, universities also face

significant challenges due to the need for enhanced security and

the impact of the Patriot Act.

The fourth point is that we need sustained effort over time. Continued support of public health efforts over several years is needed

to facilitate the rebuilding of national capacity and the overall national laboratory system. The recruitment and training of new personnel to fill the need of expert scientists will take many years to

accomplish.

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I would like to emphasize that we believe it is important to recognize that many of the biological, chemical and radiologic agents

have the capability to affect humans, plants and animals and,

therefore, a system to respond to these threats must incorporate

the ability to communicate with not only the medical, but the agriculture communities as well. It would be inherently disjointed if efforts at both the research level and the application level were not

capable of integrating the capabilities of the agriculture extension

services of our State land grant universities and the medical services of our academic medical centers. Therefore, the most important

test of any governmental reorganization effort must be whether the

new agency is able to be cross cutting and unify diverse resources,

not only within the Government, but also within our universities.

We learned from the events following the anthrax attack of last

fall that education of the public was one of the most important factors contributing to calming their fears. Dr. Smith will address this

issue in more detail.

In conclusion, many of the Government’s efforts to prepare for

and deal with bioterrorism have been effective. The success of our

Government’s ability to place technology into the able hands of

educated citizens, health professionals and soldiers will have the

single greatest impact on the outcome of this war.

I encourage our Government to make effective use of our academic institutions as key partners and consider how current and

future legislation, as well as any significant structural changes to

Federal agencies, will impact the world’s most effective higher education system.

The University of Nebraska is prepared to contribute its capabilities to efforts by the President, Congress, State and local entities

to develop a comprehensive and integrated plan to deal with future

criminal acts using biologic agents. This is a complex task. UNMB

and other institutions of higher education are prepared for this

task. We can be effective strategic partners in this national effort.

Thank you for inviting me to present this testimony.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Dr. Hinrichs.

I would now like to introduce the chief of infectious diseases in

the department of internal medicine, Dr. Philip Smith. Dr. Smith,

you may begin.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Hinrichs follows:]

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Dr. SMITH. Chairman Horn and Congressman Terry, thank you

for the opportunity to testify. I will just briefly present a few excerpts from my written testimony.

Basically you are asking us how the Government is doing in

terms of coordinating the response to bioterrorism and I would

have to say that the response has been excellent.

First of all, there was quite a bit of planning in Nebraska, as

there was nationally, prior to the bioterrorist attack of September

and the anthrax attack of October 2001. The State Health Department contracted with the two universities and with the Nebraska

Infection Control Network to develop some educational programs

and to do a survey of institutions prior to the terrorist attacks occurring.

The Nebraska Infection Control Network did a survey of all hospital and nursing home infection control practitioners in the State.

Now keep in mind, in small communities, the infection control

practitioners are often a resource for infectious disease emergencies

such as a bioterrorist attack. They found last summer, not surprisingly, that only 2 percent of institutions felt they were prepared for

a bioterrorist attack. After the attack occurred, there was a tremendous coordinated effort, and without a doubt, the Government,

through the Nebraska State Health Department, has provided excellent leadership here. Dr. Dick Raymond, in the Health Department, has spearheaded this, he is the medical director. And there

are many other institutions that are involved, including the universities who have provided hundreds of hours of education of public,

physicians and other health care providers, with the information

necessary on anthrax and other possible bioterrorist attacks.

As we look ahead, I think we need to be prepared. It is an enormous task and many interested parties are involved. One of the

key elements is collaboration between the Government, the health

department and other parties. And I think one great example, just

as we have seen with Dr. Hinrichs, is in the laboratory where the

State Health Department and University of Nebraska Laboratory

combined in their bioterrorism preparation efforts.

We have proposed several ideas to the Health Department that

are being considered for collaborative efforts. No. 1 is a multi-disciplined education task force; and No. 2, which I will not go into

in detail, is a bioterrorism containment for small numbers of cases

of a disease like anthrax or smalllpox that may occur and pose a

hazard to the public.

I wanted to comment briefly on our multi-organizational education program. We propose that all the interested parties in the

area of medical bioterrorism prevention be brought together in a

single committee structure, to do an inventory of the resources we

have available and to coordinate a training effort, including looking

at distance learning technology.

There are many different players, and the types of organizations

that we have represented on our proposed committee include organizations like the two universities, the Health Department, the

Medical Society, the Hospital Association and Nursing Home Association, infection control practitioners, first responders, the two city

emergency response systems in the State; namely, Omaha and LinVerDate 11-MAY-2000 09:29 Jun 12, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 D:\DOCS\87138.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1
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coln; and other interested experts in biocommunication, distance

learning technology.

So I guess in summary, I think that the State response to the

bioterrorist attack was prompt and excellent and particularly in

Nebraska, I feel that our Government worked very hard to provide

coordination between the public and the private sector in the area

of education, prevention, laboratory. And I hope that this spirit carries on as we move ahead.

Bioterrorism is a very daunting task and there are many different players. I think the key role of the Federal Government here

is to not only foster, but to insist on multi-agency collaboration to

minimize the chance that we are going to have duplication, and do

the best job of protecting the public in the future.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Smith follows:]

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Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Dr. Smith.

At this time, the panel is subject to questions. Chairman Horn.

Mr. HORN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In your testimony, Dr. Smith, you state that a 2001 survey taken

before September 11th found that less than 2 percent of Nebraska’s

hospitals and nursing home infection control practitioners felt they

were prepared for a bioterrorist attack. If that survey were taken

today, what type of response would you expect to see to the same

question?

Dr. SMITH. A very good question. In fact, we plan to answer that

scientifically by redoing the survey, but my guess is that the percent of people that are prepared for bioterrorist response at the

present time would be much higher, perhaps 75 percent. Almost

100 percent of hospitals and long-term care facilities have done

some planning and are much better off than they were a year ago.

I think many people realize we still have some details in terms of

interagency collaboration and exactly who to call in the event of an

emergency, getting correct communications, equipment and so

forth. But I think 100 percent of institutions will say have improved and probably 50 percent of them will say they are close to

being ready.

Mr. HORN. Given limited resources, your suggestion to concentrate effort at university hospitals is well taken. How many and

where are Nebraska’s university hospital centers?

Dr. SMITH. There are two medical schools in Nebraska; the University of Nebraska and Creighton University. We work together

on the pre-survey that I talked to you about earlier, and also would

work together on my proposed collaborative training model that we

have going ahead in the future.

Mr. HORN. What would be the geographic area?

Dr. SMITH. The two medical schools are both in Omaha, both on

the extreme edge of the State. But although both medical schools

are in Omaha and the State is about 500 miles wide, we have

many outreach programs, including outreach training programs,

satellite telecommunications, so that even though the medical

schools are on one edge of the State, they communicate well with

constitutions outstate.

Mr. HORN. How long would it take to transport patients from remote parts of the State to the two centers?

Dr. SMITH. As far as transport to the two centers, it can be done

either by ambulance or by helicopter and transport—because of the

availability of the air transportation, transportation can be accomplished in a short time, in a matter of hours.

Mr. HORN. When we were in Nashville and with Vanderbilt, the

hospitals could not have any frequency to work with the military

that is on another frequency when they bring patients and land on

the roof of the hospital. Do we have any problem like that? You

have got major groups in military, do we have a frequency between

civilian and military?

Dr. SMITH. I cannot answer that. Can anybody? Paul Wagner,

Fire Chief.

Mr. WAGNER. At the present time, we do not have that capability, Chairman Horn. However, I can tell you that at the present

time, Douglas County is involved in an 800 megahertz system

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which will allow us to communicate with the hope that we will be

able to bring these other agencies on line and at least provide them

with the ability to communicate with us in the event of a weapons

of mass destruction or anything of that nature. However, it is presently still being worked out in terms of the RFP for the equipment.

So we are looking at a number of years down the road before we

would even be able to do that.

Mr. HORN. Could you discuss emergency room diversions at the

medical center? Is it a problem, Dr. Smith?

Dr. SMITH. I am not sure what you mean.

Mr. HORN. Well, could you discuss the medical room diversions

at the medical center? I mean we find hospitals all over America

have difficulty in terms of overcrowding and everything else, illegal

immigrants, so forth and so on. So how do you deal with that, or

is it a problem here?

Dr. SMITH. I think it is a problem in terms of hospital capacity

being relatively full. There is not a shifting of individuals in the

sense of deliberately shunting patients from one facility to another,

but there are times, for instance, during an influenza outbreak in

the community, when virtually all hospitals are full. And when a

hospital becomes full, then patients are shunted preferentially to

hospitals that have available beds. And at times, they have been

shunted to other cities, such as Kansas City or Des Moines when

hospital beds are not available here.

When we are planning for a bioterrorist emergency, I think our

initial discussions about a small unit, as was demonstrated on the

east coast, you are probably going to be dealing with a small number of cases of anthrax or influenza or hemorrhagic fever or smallpox, and we think that a special containment unit should be available because of the concern of protecting the public and other individuals at the hospital from spread of that, especially before a diagnosis is necessarily made.

The State Health Department, I know, is working on the potential of up to 500 cases of a bioterrorist agent and because of the

hospital capacity being somewhat limited, that may involve creating field hospitals in situations such as gymnasiums and armories

because the hospital capacity may not be there.

Mr. HORN. The laboratories you have are very fine that go with

the medical schools. How about parts of Nebraska where there is

no hospital. What are we doing to get a laboratory that the community colleges or the smaller colleges would have. Do they need

training when we are talking about a germ that we do not know

really what it is, like botulism.

Dr. SMITH. That is a very good question, and what we believe is

one area where Nebraska is setting an example for the rest of the

country. And that is because we developed a program called the

laboratory demonstration project in Nebraska. It was then funded

by the CDC for us to hire an individual who would be able to go

out and train as well as provide communication to all those small

hospitals, small facilities throughout the State of Nebraska.

We were in a situation because we had that operation in place

at the time of the bioterrorist attack, to actually create information

for all of those small facilities and distribute it across the State of

Nebraska within a week following the anthrax crisis.

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So that is an extremely important issue. We feel that the rest of

the States need a similar opportunity to develop that. And fortunately that program became one of the key aspects of the bill that

was recently funded and is now flowing money to the States. So

that exactly is the issue and we continue to work on that problem.

Mr. HORN. Do you have a number of private laboratories that

could do the work also?

Dr. SMITH. Well, that is exactly the issue, because the current

situation is that the laboratory response network, which the current program sponsored by the CDC does not extend to the private

sector and we believe that the private sector is really on the front

lines. So our efforts have been to connect to the front lines those

private laboratories, those private hospitals, in order to prepare

them. And so in our plan, we have to have training planned and

we have connectivity planned with all those private hospitals, those

private laboratories. That is an extremely important issue, Congressman Horn.

Mr. HORN. I am glad you had that answer, because I was not

sure whether it was simply State, region, national. But we’ve got

other people also?

Dr. SMITH. That is right.

Mr. HORN. Good. Thank you.

Mr. TERRY. Tim, did you have a followup to Chairman Horn’s

concern?

Lieutenant CONOHAN. Yes, I did. Chairman Horn, your question

concerning the hospital emergency rooms and how do we handle

situations like that. Omaha is very fortunate, and I think Special

Agent Bogner mentioned it. We have a group that has been meeting for the last 3 years called the Omaha Metro Medical Response

System. It is not only for the Omaha area, but it is for the whole

metro area. It has received some Federal funding in 2000. This is

a group of law enforcement, public health, hospital personnel. We

have created a committee, I sit on the steering committee, along

with one of Mr. Bogner’s agents, that looks into exactly the things

that you mentioned, about interpreters, if we run into issues related with immigrants that cannot speak and we are dealing with

those type of situations. Omaha is very far advanced, I think, than

most cities because of this Omaha Metro Medical Response System,

and the Federal funding that was put in place to assist that is

greatly appreciated.

Again, that needs to extend throughout the State, but right now

Omaha and Lincoln are really working together to ensure that the

largest populated cities are being handled, and all those small,

minute issues that could concern biological, chemical and nuclear

weapons are being addressed when it comes to public health.

Mr. HORN. Thank you.

Mr. TERRY. I had one particular question, Lieutenant Conohan,

I wanted you to followup with OMMR and you did that.

Special Agent Bogner, you had mentioned the JTTF, Joint Terrorism Task Forces. I am wondering how your JTTF works with

OMMR, are they the same thing? Where do they overlap? I am particularly interested in how we develop the theme of the JTTF and

OMMR. Is this unique? Could we copy it? Where are the voids and

where can we as the Federal Government help in the process?

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Mr. BOGNER. First of all, Congressman Terry, on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, those are the investigative units that consist of

law enforcement officers and agents throughout the two States. So

they conduct the investigations, gather the intelligence, hopefully

do the analysis on them and then attempt to prevent any activities,

or investigate them sufficiently in advance to interrupt any

planned activities, not only locally here, but throughout the country, if we should get any information that might relate to any activity within the country, to gather that intelligence and pass it on

to the appropriate elements and Joint Terrorism Task Forces in

other parts of the country.

On the OMMR, though I am not in the best position to answer

that. That is more of I think a coordination group that was established for the health care and perhaps the Lieutenant can add to

that because, I was not here in the initiation of that. But when I

came, I was briefed about that association, not only the coordinated

activity among those health care professionals and law enforcement

professionals, fire and other first responders to it, but also the

training initiatives that they have. We have participated in that

because we feel that there are two stages, probably three stages,

to these events. One is the initial incident and first responders to

the initial incidents and the coordination is obviously very important there. Second, any investigation of—if it is proved to be a terrorist activity here, the investigation of that criminal act. And then

third, consequence management after that.

So that is more of a coordination group, I think. I am not sure

who else would be best to respond to that.

Lieutenant CONOHAN. I think Mr. Bogner, or Agent Bogner is

right, that they are two separate entities, Congressman Terry. The

Joint Terrorism Task Force deals with preventative issues where

the Omaha Metro Medical Response System would deal with responding to an actual event.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. I’m going to ask then, Lieutenant

Conohan and Chief Wagner the next question, regarding equipment. In both of your testimony, you talked about equipment that

is necessary for assessment, the extent of whatever incident has occurred, as well as protective personal equipment. Do you have any

grasp in the Police Department and in the Fire Department what

the totality of the cost would be to become prepared, knowing that

you are front line defenders? We are going to hear from FEMA in

a few minutes, but nonetheless, you are the first responders. What

specific equipment is necessary and cost, have you been able to

grasp that? And followup with, there have been Federal grant programs established. Do those need to become more flexible, for example, in COPS and COPS More programs? Are those flexible

enough now that those can be used in the special circumstances of

purchasing equipment and training of officers and firemen? Lieutenant Conohan first.

Lieutenant CONOHAN. Well, let me let Chief Wagner, he outranks

me, so he should go first. [Laughter.]

Mr. WAGNER. I only outrank him because I have some figures.

[Laughter.]

That is really a very good question. First of all, as I mentioned

earlier, technology has advanced. Three years ago when we looked

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at how we respond to these events, we were using our self-contained breathing apparatus and airtight suits. These allowed us approximately 30 minutes of functional working time at best. And in

the summertime when it is really hot, probably less because you

are going to overheat quickly.

There are now suits out there that allow us to work for hours

on end, that allow us to stay cool within that environment. And we

looked at the cost—as I said from the very beginning, I was being

very parochial—and just with respect to the Omaha Fire Department, we are looking at approximately $50,000, which would allow

us to function in an environment, have enough protective equipment to rotate crews and to do our jobs.

From the point of view of a department the size of Omaha, where

we are a little over 600 employees, obviously all 600 are not going

to wear these, it is going to be our hazmat people. We are looking

at possibly 20–30 people at a time that have to have enough suits

and you have to be able to decontaminate them.

We look at that as strictly what will work for us today. I could

give you more specific numbers in terms of suits and actual cost,

but these suits that we are looking at are the new technology that

allow us to do a better job. And as time progresses, we are going

to find more technology that will allow us to do even more. How

do we keep up with these costs and providing the equipment to the

necessary organizations that will need it. That’s the question.

Mr. HORN. If I might ask a question, just because I saw that

$50,000 and I wondered how many uniforms does that really buy.

Can you give us an idea of what the normal fire department needs

in terms of the special type of oxygen and all the rest?

Mr. WAGNER. That is a good question. Obviously, as I said, we

would not even try to outfit all of our people, it is strictly the

hazmat trained personnel. Off the top of my head, I am going to

say maybe 30 to 40 outfits, completely outfitted. You have to recognize that things are very costly. Self-contained breathing apparatus

alone is probably $1,500–$1,600, and when you replace bottles,

then you have to have extra bottles.

Mr. HORN. So it is $1,000 or $2,000, in that range.

Mr. WAGNER. At least $2,000, I would say, yes. I can get you the

specifics and actually mail those to you, or e-mail them to you and

I would be happy to do that.

Mr. HORN. Without objection, it will be in the record at this

point.

Mr. CONOHAN. In regard to the Police Department, we are not at

an adequate level to respond to these type of incidents because of

a lack of personal protection equipment. We are in the process of

purchasing as much as we can through our budget dollars, but we

are going to be asking the State, through the Federal dollars that

they are receiving, to assist us in the purchase of some personal

protective equipment for our officers. Our officers will be the first

to respond, and I think Chief Wagner understands, and police officers in the past have been referred to as blue canaries. You know,

we respond, and we determine by falling to the ground and dying

that we have got a hazardous situation there. And we usually get

the calls before fire responds.

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So we do need a minimal amount of personal protective equipment. And the dollars would probably be $300 per person, that will

allow us to have a negative pressure respirator, which is a gas

mask basically, with filters that will filter out the agents and the

biological agents that we would be dealing with when we respond.

Also some type of protective suit that would also assist us. We

would like to see a kit in each one of our cruisers for our officers

to be able, if they receive a call to a situation, they can immediately put that on and then be there to help. It would be really

unfortunate if all my officers had to back out and let fire handle

a situation. You heard from Chief Wagner, not every one of the fire

officers or firefighters have the necessary protective equipment at

this time now. So it is critical that we do get the funding for the

personal protective equipment.

The Fire Department right now is the lead agency in regards to

hazardous material incidents. We will assume a support role for

fire and we will look to them for guidance and leadership, but there

is definitely going to be a need for law enforcement to work within

that environment and during that incident.

We see that it is critical that we obtain the personal protective

equipment for our officers.

Mr. HORN. Just looking in the audience here, I would think there

were people saying well, that is fine for the police and the fire department, how about me? Is there any type of gas mask or whatever? Has there been any discussion about that? And we will ask

that also of the FEMA director on the next panel. But I realize that

most of the professionals say well, we will solve that problem. The

question will be, if you had let us say an airplane that was using

pesticides and spraying the place and all the rest of it.

Mr. WAGNER. Once again, I think that is a good question. When

we went through our weapons of mass destruction field exercise,

one of the issues was what do you do with the public and is there

anything that we can do. And to be very honest, if it is ingested,

I am sure from a medical standpoint, you are already out of luck

or you are going to have a number of people that are going to succumb to that.

At the present time, there is not a method or tool or piece of

equipment that we could put on the market and sell that I am

aware of. Our response is that the sooner we get there and start

decontaminating, the better the opportunity for survivability. And

that is probably the answer that you are going to hear throughout

the country at this point in time, sir.

Mr. HORN. Lieutenant.

Lieutenant CONOHAN. I would agree with Chief Wagner. I mean,

you know, I am not going to stand here and say that we can protect

the public from every one of these events. There are going to be

casualties, you have to understand that. And I think most people

do. What we can do is try to minimize those casualties through the

efforts of both fire, police and the public health services. And you

know, maybe eventually down the road, as more technology becomes available, maybe there will be something out there for the

general public to be able to purchase and utilize in one of these

events. But to my knowledge, I do not know of any right now.

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Again, we are in the process of trying to equip the first responders

and we have not done that yet.

Mr. HORN. Thank you.

Mr. WAGNER. May I add one thing, sir?

Mr. HORN. Sure.

Mr. WAGNER. I think that no matter what happens, we are not

going to recognize an event until people start actually falling down.

And at that point, I think it is almost too late, when you say what

can we put on to filter our air. And that is one of the problems with

the weapons of mass destruction, is that we are going to respond

to an event when we recognize the symptoms of that event.

And so once again, I think that in many respects, it is going to

be too late to be able to do something. It is how we react to it, how

quickly we react to it and then recognize whatever that particular

germ, whether it be chemical, biological or nuclear, whatever that

event is. And that is going to fall back again to our field testing

and then the labs.

Dr. SMITH. I would add just to that, I agree entirely, but upon

infectious disease sampling, some diseases are secondarily spread

and some are not. We are very fortunate that anthrax was not a

disease that spreads from person to person, but if we do have a

hemorrhagic fever or smallpox, then after the first wave, as Chief

Wagner discussed, then this disease may still be spreading and

that is why we depend on the special units for the early cases and

our laboratory for making an early diagnosis.

Mr. HORN. In your discussions with the CDC in Atlanta, they

have vaccines on smallpox. Was there ever a discussion saying why

are we not using this for the average citizen?

Dr. SMITH. We are very interested in that and the CDC is at the

present time debating it, because there is some morbidity and mortality with the vaccine itself and since there have been no cases of

smallpox since 1977, the issue is whether or not we should vaccinate the entire population with possibly one person in a million

dying from the vaccine, or whether we should wait until there is

an emergency and try to vaccinate and just stockpile vaccines. And

a third strategy that the CDC is leaning toward right now I understand is that we vaccinate perhaps first responders, physicians and

emergency personnel and then have a vaccine stockpile that we can

activate very quickly to vaccinate the population.

So we are very interested in the debate at the CDC about this

right now. We do get calls from our citizens saying should I be vaccinated, but when we explain the situation, I think people are pretty understanding.

Mr. HORN. Thank you for that answer.

Mr. TERRY. Lieutenant Conohan—no more questions for the

panel, but I do want to ask if you could, if you have any numbers,

assessment of the costs of providing equipment, if you could just

provide that to me and I will submit it to the committee for the

record.

Lieutenant CONOHAN. Yes, I will.

Mr. HORN. At this point in the record.

Mr. TERRY. At this point, right.

[The information referred to follows:]

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Mr. TERRY. With that, I excuse the panel. Thank you for coming

today and providing your testimony. It was interesting and helpful.

Mr. HORN. We are delighted with it.

Mr. TERRY. We will now call the second panel, our esteemed

panel which consists of our Lieutenant Governor David Heineman;

Richard Raymond, Dr. Raymond, Richard Hainje and Gary Gates,

Steven Lee from Douglas County and Pete Neddo.

And we will begin with our highest ranking public elected official

our Lieutenant Governor. David Heineman has an extensive pedigree in politics and management, and we are fortunate that he is

our Lieutenant Governor and has also been placed in charge of bioterrorism, terrorism preparedness for the State of Nebraska. And

I think he is exactly the person we need to be in charge of that

task.

Before I request your testimony, I think we need to swear in this

panel, so chairman, if you would.

Mr. HORN. I want you to understand that the subcommittee is

an investigating subcommittee and once we call on you, the chairman here today, that document goes right into the record, you do

not have to read it word for word, just summarize it and then we

can have a dialog.

So if you would stand up, raise your right hands.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. HORN. Thank you very much.

Mr. TERRY. So Lieutenant Governor David Heineman, will you

please start.

STATEMENTS OF DAVID HEINEMAN, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,

STATE OF NEBRASKA; RICHARD A. RAYMOND, M.D., CHIEF

MEDICAL OFFICER, STATE OF NEBRASKA; RICHARD HAINJE,

REGION VII, FEMA; W. GARY GATES, VICE PRESIDENT, NUCLEAR DIVISION, OMAHA PUBLIC POWER DISTRICT; STEVE

LEE, DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, DOUGLAS COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT;

AND PETE NEDDO, MANAGER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY,

METROPOLITAN UTILITIES DISTRICT

Lieutenant Governor HEINEMAN. Chairman Horn, Congressman

Terry—Congressman Terry, I especially appreciate those comments, that is very kind of you.

Let me try to limit my comments so we can get to that discussion, but I do want to start by emphasizing that Nebraska Governor Mike Johanns had the foresight to appoint a State Bioterrorism Task Force in 1999, 2 years prior to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The mission of the task force was to assess the

State’s level of bioterrorism preparedness, to formally apply for

grants from the CDC to increase laboratory capacity, to increase

surveillance in epidemiology capacity, to develop a health alert network and to coordinate bioterrorism surveillance activities between

the Nebraska Public Health Lab, county health departments and

the State Department of Health and Human Services System. And

I believe this emphasis has given us a head start in preparing for

bioterrorism.

The other key event that I want to mention to the committee is

the Governor appointed a Homeland Security Policy Group last fall,

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that includes the Nebraska National Guard, Nebraska Emergency

Management, State Patrol, Fire Marshal, the Secretary of Health

and Human Services System and the Chancellor of the Med Center

and the Governor’s Policy Research Office. And I do want to note

that we have an extraordinary asset in this State in the University

of Nebraska Medical Center and we appreciate their efforts, particularly Chancellor Maurer and Dr. Hinrichs.

As Lieutenant Governor and Director of Homeland Security, I

chair the policy group. And the point I want to make about this,

this structure is very critical because it keeps the focus on the development and implementation of a statewide, comprehensive

homeland security policy strategy, rather than a fragmented departmental view of homeland security that I have seen in other

States.

I also want to make note for both of you that we appreciate the

cooperation we have received from Governor Ridge and the Office

of Homeland Security. If you are not familiar, we have had meetings with their staff back in Washington, DC, we do a conference

call every other week with many States and that has been very,

very helpful. And in particular, I think it is worth noting that

when we had the pipe bomb incidents here about 2 months ago, the

Office of Homeland Security was in very close coordination and

communications with our State Patrol, Emergency Management

and myself and we particularly appreciated the outstanding support we received from the FBI.

Regarding bioterrorism preparations, we are receiving $9.7 million. Dr. Raymond here to my left, the State’s Chief Medical Officer, will go into some detail about that but what I want to emphasize again is this comprehensive view that we have been trying to

take, Congressmen. Even though the money is coming down from

Health and Human Services to our Health and Human Services

System, part of those funds will go to our Department of Agriculture for agri-terrorism. Part of the money will go to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Creighton University

Medical Center for the education of health professionals throughout

the State. And I think that is very helpful and the reason we have

been successful is because it is being coordinated at the highest

levels of our State government; i.e., the Governor’s Office.

In the near future, we expect to receive Federal funding for the

needs of our first responders and we very much appreciate that

Federal support, because an essential element to any effective bioterrorism response is the ability of all public safety agencies to

communicate with each other. Chairman Horn, you had an earlier

question, so I am pleased to note that Nebraska is moving forward

with a new state-of-the-art wireless communication system that

will allow all law enforcement, fire and emergency personnel to

communicate with each other from Omaha to Scotts Bluff. I mention this because both the State of Nebraska and our local units

of government are discussing a coordinated effort to use part of our

respective portions of the proposed first responder dollars for our

wireless communications system. And I also want to thank Congressman Terry, who is working with us on the associated infrastructure costs to receive hopefully some Federal funding for that.

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Finally, the State of Nebraska strongly supports the concept that

all Federal funds should be coordinated and disbursed through the

States in order to maintain a comprehensive, strategic focus to national, State and local homeland security efforts.

Thank you.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor.

Next is our chief medical officer for the State of Nebraska, Dr.

Raymond.

[The prepared statement of Lieutenant Governor Heineman follows:]

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Dr. RAYMOND. Chairman Horn, Congressman Terry, good morning. Congressman Terry, I am glad to see you rehydrated after the

parade in Elkhorn on Saturday.

Mr. TERRY. Yeah.

Dr. RAYMOND. I will try to just summarize my remarks also,

Chairman Horn, so we have time for the discussion, which I am

sure you would rather hear.

First of all, as Chief Medical Officer, I am an appointee by the

Governor, I do report directly to Governor Mike Johanns on all

health-related issues in Nebraska and I also report directly to Lieutenant Governor David Heineman, particularly on bioterrorism

issues, and most recently, of course, on the CDC grant and how we

plan to spend that money.

In addition, I see one of my roles to be a chief facilitator amongst

agencies, both State, Federal and local, universities, local health

departments, law enforcement, etc., to make sure that the dollars

that we do receive are spent in a very coordinated and enhanced

effort.

I would like to express my gratitude to all the Federal officials

who have kept myself and others in Nebraska very informed

through the timely provision of information, their availability for

consultation through prompt return of phone calls, their onsite visits for technical advice, their funding to address our capacity for

bioterrorism response and other outbreaks of infectious disease and

other public health threats and emergencies. The number of conference calls and online video presentations by the CDC and by the

Health and Human Services and others has just been amazing and

extremely helpful during these difficult times. They provided very

important information and support for our epidemiologists and our

public health officials.

I would like to take just a little bit different slant this morning

than the other testifiers who have gone before, and give you just

a little history perhaps. You are probably aware of this, but for the

public record, I want to make sure we emphasize it.

In 1994, the defense against weapons of mass destruction began

to fund major metropolitan communities for emergency response,

as you have already heard from law and fire. We started receiving

funding in the year 2000 in Omaha and received funding in 2001

for Lincoln. So our two major metropolitan areas have already

begun advance planning. Needless to say, it has been enhanced and

accelerated since September 11th.

In 1999 the Federal Government gave money to the CDC to help

States begin to prepare for bioterrorism. I think there is a great

deal of foresight there and I think a lot of people thought maybe

someone was smoking something funny when they allowed this

money for bioterrorism. We looked at it as an ability to increase

our public health infrastructure, whether we ever needed it for bioterrorism or not.

Two of the grants we received, one you have heard reference to

already, and that is the enhancement of our public health lab,

which allowed us to hire personnel and purchase equipment and

become a Level 3 lab. So we were able to respond to white powder

and anthrax threats in October and November very rapidly. And as

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Dr. Hinrichs has already mentioned, we became a model for the

CDC.

One of the things he did not mention was we prepared a CDROM for all of the hospitals in Nebraska to understand how to

handle the white powder, the CDC took the CD-ROM and used it

nationally, with our permission of course. But I mean it was a

model that we were able to develop because of our grants that we

received in 1999.

He also did not mention that Tony Sambo, who was hired to be

the director of our microbiology lab, was called by the Federal Government to Washington, DC, for 1 month to help in the investigation of the U.S. Postal Office for anthrax. He was their main advisor/coordinator.

Because of what the CDC did for us in 1999, we were able to

turn around and help the Federal Government in 2001. So we

think there is a good, mutual symbiotic relationship here.

Nebraska is a very rural State. At the start of this year, we had

16 county health departments that covered 22 of our 93 counties.

All response to bioterrorism or other infectious disease has to be

local initially, followed by State, followed by Federal. Eighty of

those counties had no ability to respond, 91 had no epidemiological

capacity. Thanks to the foresight of our legislature and our Governor, we were able to pass a bill that uses the tobacco funding

money, some of the tobacco settlement money to be a big carrot, to

enhance rural communities to form multi-county health districts

composed of at least 30,000 people.

Because of the events in the fall, this process also became very

accelerated and in the last 6 months, we have formed 16 new

multi-county health districts that now cover 84 of our counties.

They are very early in their process and a lot of the CDC money

that we will receive will be going out to these new county health

districts to help them build their infrastructure so they can help

us.

Some of the money will be used to hire epidemiologists for our

two large county health departments, that being Lincoln and

Omaha, and those will be our deputies should we need them in

rural Nebraska. They will become our epidemiologists to help rural

Nebraska as an example of how we used the CDC funding.

We are taking the CDC dollars and trying to find unique situations in Nebraska. As an example, we are very rural, you have already heard, Chairman Horn, about the two medical schools located both in Omaha, they have a high degree of national recognition for their abilities to educate on infectious disease and they

have formed a coalition at my request, along with multiple other

people. They will be in charge of the money that we will be using

for education of health professionals should the need arise.

The red light is on, I will stop. I would like to thank the U.S.

Government for funding these activities. I would ask that you

strongly consider continued funding. Public health has kind of been

on the back burner for so long, it is going to take consecutive years

to buildup the capacity that we so desperately need. We cannot afford not to be totally prepared. The State that is the least prepared

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for bioterrorism becomes the weakest link in the Nation’s defense

against bioterrorism because of our mobile population. We must

make sure that all States respond to this.

Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Raymond follows:]

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Mr. HORN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask one question in

particular, and that is the M.D. practicing out in the prairies. What

are we doing to get either broadband or some form of telephone

type of information? Have we done that?

Dr. RAYMOND. We are in the process. Actually for 17 years, I was

one of those prairie doctors, so I know what it is like out in rural

Nebraska, that is where my heart really is. Even though the people

are in Omaha and Lincoln, my heart is in rural.

I actually met very early this morning with a group that has a

proposal to help us link, via satellite communications with all the

rural hospitals. We are—right now, we have contracts out to every

hospital in Nebraska, that we will provide them money from the

CDC grant for e-mail addresses, computer enhancement and faxes.

Also, in our county health departments, the same process.

That is the best I can do this summer, but we will use other

money from the Health Alert Network part, that is Focus Area E,

I believe of the grant, will be used to actually get online instant

video communications to all of our hospitals to start with. We

would like to obviously expand beyond that, but we are taking

steps as we go along. So I think that will be our next step for those

particular dollars. It is very important.

Mr. HORN. Thank you.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you. Since you are the chairman, you can

break in whenever you want.

Next, the Director of Region VII of FEMA, Federal Emergency

Management Agency, Richard Hainje. Thanks for being here today.

Mr. HAINJE. Thank you. Good morning, Congressman Terry,

thank you for this opportunity and, Chairman Horn, thank you.

I am pleased to be with you here today to discuss the challenges

that are facing emergency managers in their efforts to become better prepared to respond to acts of terrorism.

FEMA is the Federal agency responsible for leading the Nation

in preparing and responding to and recovering from disasters. Our

success depends on the ability to organize and lead a community

of local, State and Federal agencies and volunteer organizations.

We know who to bring to the table when a disaster strikes in order

to ensure a more effective management of the response.

Region VII includes the States of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, representing a population of approximately 13 million, with

the majority residing in the urban areas. Risks in Region VII include flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, hazardous materials and

the potential for terrorist attacks.

The management and control of hazardous materials is a major

issue in Region VII. The North Platte, Nebraska facility is one of

the largest railroad terminals in the world and it has over 80,000

shipments of hazardous materials per year.

FEMA’s responsibility is to coordinate Federal, regional and

State terrorism-related planning, training and exercise activities.

All of the States in Region VII have implemented proactive and aggressive actions in response to terrorism threats that have emerged

since September 11th. Many States have committed substantial

amounts of staff and their own financial resources toward preparing for weapons of mass destruction events.

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The President has requested $3.5 billion in the fiscal year 2003

budget to support first responders. That is the first responder grant

initiative. These funds would help plan, train and acquire needed

equipment and conduct exercises in preparation for terrorist attacks or other emergencies.

Right now, we are developing a streamlined and accountable procedure that would speed the flow of funds to the first responder

community. The President is requesting funds in the 2002 spring

supplemental to support the first responder grant initiative, including $175 million to be provided to State and local governments to

upgrade and sometimes to develop for the first time comprehensive

emergency operation plans.

We recognize that biological and chemical scenarios would

present unique challenges to the first responder community. Of

these two 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.

Bioterrorism, however, presents the greater immediate concern.

With a covert release of a biological agent, the first responders become hospital staff, medical examiners, private physicians or animal control workers instead of the traditional roles of police, fire

and emergency medical workers.

When September 11th showed us how a commercial jetliner

could be used as a weapon of mass destruction, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and FEMA began to work jointly on the preparation of protocols and procedures for dealing with the consequences of a similar attack on a nuclear power plant.

The functions that FEMA performs will be a key part of the mission of the new Department of Homeland Security. As you know,

FEMA is proposed to go into—as the complete agency, into the Department of Homeland Security. The new department will

strengthen our ability to carry out important activities such as

building the capacity of State and local emergency response personnel to respond to emergencies and disasters of all kinds.

The structure of this newly proposed department recognizes that

FEMA’s mission and core competencies are essential components of

homeland security. For this reason, Congress can continue to be assured that the Nation will be prepared to respond to acts of terrorism and will coordinate its efforts with the entire first responder

community. 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 cost.

Terrorism presents tremendous challenges. In recent years, we

have made tremendous strides in our efforts to increase cooperation between the various response communities, from fire and

emergency management to health and medical to hazardous materials. We continue to work with our partners in Federal, State and

local government to improve our response and recovery capabilities

from any disaster, whether natural or manmade.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Mr. TERRY. Take. I appreciate that, Mr. Hainje.

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Next, I want to introduce Gary Gates from Omaha Public Power

District. Mr. Gates is the vice president of the Nuclear Division,

oversees security at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant and

motivational speaker. Mr. Gates.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Hainje follows:]

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Mr. GATES. Thank you, Chairman Horn and Congressman Terry.

As Congressman Terry indicated, my name is Gary Gates, I am the

Chief Nuclear Officer for the Omaha Public Power District and as

a result, have responsibility for oversight of our Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station. As such, I am acutely aware of the focus being placed

on security since September 11th.

Others will address the biological or chemical agents and dangers

they would pose. What I would prefer to do this morning is focus

on the area of intergovernmental relations that I believe is working

very well because of communications. To a certain degree, I am a

customer of many of the presenters that you have heard this morning.

On September 11th, we went to our highest level of security, as

did all other nuclear plants, and we have since built on that. Many

of the measures taken at Fort Calhoun, including increased staffing

and increased barriers, were implemented across our country. We

have conducted length and ongoing discussions with numerous

agencies to define and redefine areas of responsibility. We have

taken a number of internal steps that I am not at liberty to discuss

the details of in a public forum, for obvious security reasons, but

they are significant.

Even before the events of September 11th, OPPD was working

with State and local officials in Nebraska and Iowa to assure our

neighbors that our operations are safe and do not pose a threat to

the health and welfare of the public. This level of communication

and trust has provided a sound foundation on which to grow.

Our relationship with the State, local and Federal officials has

become even stronger as a result of September 11th, increasing a

level of cooperation and communications that already existed. By

communicating, we mean that each party letting the other know

what is being done and what needs to be done to enhance our preparedness to respond to an emergency. Our security office at Fort

Calhoun Station has increased contact with the NRC, the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, to discuss issues of security since September 11th. Representatives of the NRC attend briefings from Homeland Security and various other agencies, contributing to that effort

to pass that along. NRC Region IV, of which we are a part, has

been very proactive through the Regional Administrator, in maintaining close communications regarding security issues.

Following September 11th, we held discussions with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Nebraska State Patrol on additional security, including more patrols and a heightened presence

in the area. We met with members of the Nebraska Adjutant General’s Office and familiarized them with our security organization,

and should the need arise, how the National Guard could quickly

and most efficiently become part of that security effort. In fact,

General Lemke personally toured the site to confirm that the contingency plans were adequate.

We also began daily communications with security organizations

in other plants to share our knowledge and learn from them. This

peer-to-peer contact is continuing today through our contacts at the

Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, DC.

Regular, open communications are the key to successful completion of task. A wise individual once said that the job gets done

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more easily when nobody worries about who gets the credit. And

that is the case here.

Just to give you an idea of the scope of the agencies that we have

interfaced with, the Nebraska and Iowa State Troopers, our own

and other nuclear security officers, National Guard officials, the

NRC, the FBI, Federal Aviation Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, FEMA, Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, Iowa Emergency Management, county emergency

directors on both sides of the Missouri River, the Coast Guard and

more. We will continue to effectively monitor these efforts and continue this communication. It is a true team approach.

Knowledge is power and by passing on the knowledge to the men

and women on the front lines, front offices and backrooms of these

organizations, we have given them more power to work against terrorism. In return, these women and men give us the benefit of

their diverse points of view on ways to improve security.

In summary, communications, training and the drills that we do

on a very frequent basis build a relationship in which to continue

positive intergovernmental relations.

We know that this approach of industry and government cooperation involving Federal, State and local officials is the right approach for our utility and the people we serve.

Thank you for your time.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gates follows:]

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Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Mr. Gates, appreciate your time.

Next, I have the honor of introducing Steve Lee. Steve has been

with Douglas County Emergency Management, Douglas County

Health Agency for as long as I can remember. How long, Steve,

have you been there?

Mr. LEE. Well, I am starting my 30th year last month.

Mr. TERRY. That is what I thought. I appreciate you taking the

time. Mr. Lee, obviously in his positions with Douglas County

Health and Douglas County Emergency Management, is at the hub

of the activity in case of any emergency, albeit any time of terrorist

attack or an actual emergency. So Mr. Lee, we appreciate that you

took time out of your busy day to be with us today. You may begin.

Mr. LEE. Mr. Chairman, Representative Terry, thank you for the

invitation. I will read my remarks, which will prevent me from

rambling.

For the record, I am the Director of Douglas County Emergency

Management Agency. I do not have a direct affiliation with the

Health Department, although we work quite closely.

One of the beautiful things about America is its ability to meet

every challenge it faces. Most recently, in preparing for bioterrorism attacks, we have begun to plan for what may indeed be our

most daunting and long-term battle. We are blessed with the freedom, talent, ingenuity and resources to meet this challenge, but it

will require an unselfish and unified effort by those individuals, organizations and governments charged with the safety, security and

protection of our citizens.

The potential scenarios involving bioterrorism require an enhancement of local and State capabilities to manage the threat.

Issues that may be encountered include: Developing response models that include the occurrence of a chemical or biological attack

with no advanced warning. Difficulty in identifying the agent. Development of a rapid and reliable public health surveillance system.

Determining the most appropriate means of protection. Decontaminating, sheltering and treating victims, first responders, incident sites and the environment. Plans and facilities for the decontamination of the worried well population. Identifying and providing appropriate treatment, both initial and definitive. Identifying

and providing diverse collateral requirements; for example, public

safety, mental health issues, ventilation systems and so forth. Determining the appropriate disposition of the deceased. And working

more closely with the media to address issues such as mass panic

and decontamination procedures.

First responders and health systems, including State and local

health departments, need specific protective equipment and training and the ability to: Identify the agent. Learn appropriate methods for safe extraction and transportation. Store, disburse and distribute antidotes. Decontaminate, triage and provide primary care.

And provide for forward movement of victims when treatment centers reach capacity.

We now know that the real or perceived release of a biological

threat such as anthrax has a debilitating and predictable impact

on a community. It does not require the release to take place in a

densely populated area or a highly visible place of assembly. We

have seen how easy it is to overwhelm our support systems. A wide

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outbreak of infectious disease would threaten the ability of emergency and medical personnel to respond. Personnel within these facilities would be at risk of infection themselves, especially prior to

a certain diagnosis of the disease. The collection and disposal of

contaminated material presents additional long-term problems.

The problems cited above, along with other issues and concerns

too numerous to mention here, make it seem as though there is no

way this task could be accomplished. Although no plan will completely address and solve the menace of bioterrorism, I believe we

can go a long way toward providing a reasonable, acceptable solution. In fact, the Federal Government already has a model in place

that, if followed, serves as an excellent guide for addressing the

planning requirements for bioterrorism. It is called MMRS or Metropolitan Medical Response System. MMRS provides for a collaborative development of an effective system capable of responding to

chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents. It requires

coordination among fire, law enforcement, emergency management,

hospitals, laboratories, public health officials, poison control centers, mental health professionals, infectious disease experts, surrounding communities, States and the Federal Government.

Three years ago, a contract provided to the city of Omaha

through the Federal Department of HHS enabled the development

of the Omaha Medical Response System, referred to as OMMRS. It

was created following a series of three exercises conducted under

the authority of the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Domestic Preparedness

Act. The after-action reports highlighted the community’s need to

enhance its WMD response capability, particularly the areas of

public health, communications and hospital preparedness. OMMRS

represents over 50 agencies, departments and institutions. By virtue of the ongoing effort of its 10 active subcommittees, OMMRS

is in a position to inform you exactly what our community requires

in meeting the bioterrorism threat. You may wince at the final

tally, but it is accurately and honestly arrived at.

The two most important words I have used in describing a successful bioterrorism preparedness program are: unselfish, and unified. All localities, regional and States, should be encouraged to utilize MMRS or an equivalent concept. No single entity can provide

for or meet the requirements that are needed for a bioterrorism

plan. Left alone, agencies will fight for funds, reinvent wheels,

refuse to share information and end up with plans developed in isolation that will not work.

I will conclude by saying that last, the Federal Government can

do four additional things: Congress must insist on cooperation, not

competition, among the Federal agencies and departments and see

to it that they are singing the same song. Continue to support efforts to increase the public health infrastructure in order for communities to effectively address acts of bioterrorism and other public

health threats. Offer an incentive to business and industries to contribute to the cause, whether it is money, material or personnel.

And last, assure the public that these issues are being addressed

and develop programs that enable the citizens to make a contribution by being actively involved, beyond just being more vigilant.

Thank you.

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Mr. TERRY. Very good, appreciate that testimony.

Next I have the honor of introducing Pete Neddo, who is the

manager of safety and security for Metropolitan Utilities District.

Mr. Neddo.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Lee follows:]

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Mr. NEDDO. Good morning. Thank you, Congressman Terry and

Chairman Horn, for asking the District to be represented here. As

mentioned, I am the Director of Safety and Security for the Metropolitan Utilities District, a gas and water public utility for Omaha.

In addressing the issue here this morning of how the Federal

Government is assisting the State and local governments in preparing for bioterrorist attacks, we found that while there is some assistance there, it is somewhat limited.

While the EPA has provided some grant money to water utilities

for threat assessments, that money can only be used for threats,

so there is not a lot of flexibility in how we can use that to enhance

security and make other types of improvements. We have received

excellent information, educational materials and such, to use to

educate our employees and our customers. That has been very

helpful.

In addition to that, Sandia National Labs, in conjunction with

the American Water Works Association Research Foundation has

provided an excellent risk assessment methodology for us to use in

evaluating the water systems. They have also provided some training for member companies. I think that should be expanded for all

water utilities, because it is an excellent model and should be used

by all, I think.

We have incurred significant increases in security costs since

September 11th. The cost of security guards has tripled. Improvements have been initiated in many areas, security evaluations, improvements and other enhancements are ongoing. As we evaluate

our systems, we are going to incur more costs to protect the water

and gas supplies for Omaha. Our needs will be met, costs are expected to be significant.

The District recognizes the responsibility to its customers, the

public as well as the employees and we will make the necessary

improvements to continue to look for ways to ensure gas and water

supplies are protected. Critical to this obviously is fire protection.

We will work with the fire departments to ensure that is available

to them.

The support from local law enforcement, the FBI and other enforcement agencies has been excellent. We are kept informed on

various activities through advisories, other methods, responses to

our various inquiries has been outstanding, especially from local

law enforcement.

We are also in coordination with Offitt Air Force Base, looking

at their needs and their concerns and working with them to address those needs so that will be ongoing and we feel is very critical.

Our commitment to security is strong, continual and any assistance, whether monetary or otherwise is beneficial and can only

serve to expedite our efforts. At the present time, Federal assistance, as I mentioned, has been limited to the EPA grants. We

would like to see perhaps more flexibility in using any moneys that

are made available and use those to enhance hardware, physical

security efforts and those.

Thank you for your time this morning. That is all that I have.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Mr. Neddo.

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Mr. HORN. Mr. Hainje, I am interested in the applications people are applying for the $3.5 billion allocated in the first responder

grant funds. Now you represent both urban America and rural

America. Do you feel the formulas they are using across the Nation

make sense? And if so, what is the formula?

Mr. HAINJE. At this time, they are still working on those formulas. They have had quite a bit of input. They brought in State

emergency management directors, local police, fire representatives,

a few elected officials to have some sessions to talk about what that

process should be.

The only indication that I have had so far of how that will work

that would probably be the most comforting is that the States

themselves are going to be able to do planning on how to access

that money and how to best use it. So there is a lot of—there will

be a lot of local input. There will be a tremendous amount of State

input, State by State.

Mr. HORN. Of course, the mayors will then complain that the

Governor is doing it and they want to do it. And that is a 40-yearold argument.

Mr. HAINJE. That is an argument that I believe you will hear

more about than I will in my office probably. You know, it is something that—FEMA presently in emergency operations works very

extensively with the State emergency management folks, who are

part of the Governor’s office typically. And that is the relationship

that we have had most common.

In some of our mitigation activities, we work directly with locals,

but we have encouraged the States—the States are in the process

of developing plans for this and the format is expected to be easily

accessible to local and State government.

Mr. HORN. Mr. Neddo, your responsibilities for water are great.

When I was in Europe a few months ago, you perhaps read about

this, there were four terrorists that were trying to poison the water

supply of Rome. They caught them, but we are open in many parts

of America, you have big reservoirs and all the rest.

What are we doing to assure security of your water supply here?

Mr. NEDDO. Well, as I mentioned, the security guard service has

tripled, our costs in that area have tripled. Our manning in that

area has tripled. We have installed a number of physical security

devices—card access readers. We have controlled access into many

of our areas, we have realigned our tours and those kinds of things

that we generally make available to the public and certainly tightened controls on those.

We are in the process of completing threat assessment evaluations to determine where our critical areas are and where maybe

our weakest points are and are looking at enhancing physical security in those areas.

We are, in fact, using the Sandia methodology which really fits

well with what we are doing here.

But you are right, it is very unnerving to drive by some of our

water facilities and see how easy they are to be accessed. We are

continuing to evaluate, we will be installing more security cameras,

detection, we will operate under a fairly simple detect, delay and

respond risk assessment plan.

Mr. HORN. Thank you.

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Mr. TERRY. Let me just followup. Is there also a process for testing, continuous testing of the water so if there is an incident that

occurs that goes undetected by cameras and a guard, that there is

perhaps a tertiary level of containment and detection?

Mr. NEDDO. Yes, there is testing. We are also looking at expanding our testing. In fact, even continuous monitoring at various

points throughout the water system. That is a very good question.

Mr. TERRY. Do you have any more questions?

Mr. HORN. No, that is it.

Mr. TERRY. Lieutenant Governor Heineman, Chairman Horn

raised one of the fundamental questions regarding how the money

will be distributed. There will be a formula—I do not know. Do you

know how much of that $3.5 billion will come to the State of Nebraska? I have heard from our local police and fire, who are now

trying to use different grants to avoid the political controversy of

having to ask the State for dollars. Is there a process that has been

developed at the State to get the dollars in a, let me say, non-political way, to those that are in most need of those dollars?

Lieutenant Governor HEINEMAN. That is a pretty significant

question, Congressman Terry. Let me try to take that one on.

Mr. TERRY. You have 30 seconds. [Laughter.]

Lieutenant Governor HEINEMAN. Thirty seconds. It is called Governor Mike Johanns—no. In our State, everything we have tried to

do is to take a comprehensive view. As I talk to my counterparts

in other States, I am amazed that, oh, you all actually get in the

same room and you talk to each other. I mean their emergency

management does not talk to the National Guard, does not talk to

the State Patrol, does not talk to Health and Human Services or

whatever.

As you well know, in our State, we have a foundation that for

many years, regardless of political party, we are all in there trying

to do what is best and what is right for the State. So I do not think

that has been a problem for us. About 75 percent of money that we

will get—and I do not know the specific amount out of the formula—will go to local first responders. Again, I mentioned in my

testimony, we are already beginning discussions on this new wireless communication system. Can all of us agree in advance that a

portion of those dollars will go to that system?

And so I think the coordination and the cooperation that you

have heard about all morning long is very true in Nebraska, because we tend, when elections are over, to take off the political hats

and we are focused on doing what is right for the State.

And we have a situation in our State, three Congressman and

two Senators, we know each other all very, very well from a variety

of previous positions. This afternoon, they are all going to be talking, for example, on the drought situation facing Nebraska. So the

communications that occurs in our State, I think, has avoided the

difficulties that I hear from my counterparts in other States. We

are going to make sure that money goes to the local units of government. But I also want to emphasize, there is going to be a national homeland security strategy. In order to carry that out, to

have an effective command and control, I think you have got to use

the chain of command, which basically flows from our national

level to our States to our local units of government.

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Now maybe in the State of New York where they have different

kinds of challenges, they have different problems, but I will say in

Nebraska, I do not believe that will be one of ours.

Mr. TERRY. Well, I do think that what separates us probably

from other States and their degree of preparedness is our ability

to communicate. For some reason, that has just been the culture

in Nebraska and that really helps us.

A tool of communication, as you have mentioned and Dr. Raymond mentioned, is the wireless communications system so all

emergency entities, whether it is local police and fire departments

from Omaha to wherever, and also I would assume, Dr. Raymond,

medical information that perhaps is developed here at University

of Nebraska Medical Center laboratories and then needs to be communicated to various parts of Nebraska. That wireless communication system, Lieutenant Governor Heineman, I think is key.

I am just wondering where we are in that process of developing

it. We have written a letter asking for appropriations. Assuming

we do not get that this year, where is the State. And also have you

thought about using—you mentioned satellite, but there is new

wireless terrestrial technologies too that will allow not just for

land-based communications, but internet communications,

videoconferencing, which I think would be a tremendous asset.

Lieutenant Governor HEINEMAN. Congressman Terry, I fully expected you were going to announce that grant to us this morning

and that everything would be—we would be ready to move forward.

But we do appreciate all the support we are receiving and your efforts and Senator Hagel and the others of our delegation.

One of the hats that I think we have done very well in this

State—the Lieutenant Governor is responsible not only as director

of homeland security, but I serve as chairman of the Nebraska Information Technology Commission, I will be a member of the board

on this wireless communications board. And so that gives the Lieutenant Governor of this State the opportunity to keep this comprehensive focus, to look at the variety of technologies, to span not

only what I will say is our bioterrorism concerns, but our information technology needs in general, related to the Med Center, the

University of Nebraska, our distance education learning,

videoconferencing. We want to take advantage of all those techniques and I would just share with you that if we do not get the

money this year, we will continue to move forward with our local

efforts involving our cities and counties where they are going to use

their bonding authority to move forward in some of these equipment purchases. But particularly, the infrastructure costs that we

talked to you about, if we could begin to move forward on that, that

will take us a long ways down the road of implementing a new

wireless communication system.

Mr. TERRY. Well my time for questions has run out. If I could

ask the chairman for time for one more question.

Mr. HORN. Certainly.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, sir.

I would like to ask Mr. Hainje, one of the themes that we have

picked up on today is that in order to be successful in securing any

community, whether it is in Nebraska or anywhere in this Nation,

is the need for full cooperation and really all levels of government,

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whether it is Douglas County with Mr. Lee, city of Omaha, State

of Nebraska, the Federal Government. You represent the link of

the Federal Government to the State and the other links. Historically there has been, at times of emergency, tensions that arise between the Federal link and the local and State links.

What efforts are being taken in regard to terrorism preparedness, bioterrorism, chemical, nuclear, to avoid those type of tensions so we can all act as members of the same team?

Mr. HAINJE. I believe the first thing is that Director Allbaugh,

when he immediately came in, one of the first things that he talked

about was for FEMA specifically to not be late arriving on the

scene, if you will, when something begins to happen. So we actually

are attempting to open up—on the after-the-fact side of things,

open up the communication and open up the cooperation even

quicker.

Going way back in history to like Hurricane Andrew, there was

a timeframe between when an incident happened and the Federal

Government assistance arrived, very controversial at the time. It

changed greatly before the floods of 1993 and it has now gotten to

the point now where in major events, certainly a weapons of mass

destruction type event, FEMA would be there nearly immediately

on those scenes.

And also just for the record, if you will, what FEMA does is set

up the emergency support functions in Washington or in the region

and bring in the Federal agencies so that we can start offering

help. If you are more familiar with working with HHS, HHS will

be there, if it is an issue that deals with them. And we can start

offering that support very quickly.

We are gearing up considerably with the new Office of National

Preparedness our training and exercise and coordination abilities.

This is something that was prior to September 11th, that the President asked Director Allbaugh to form that and the Office of National Preparedness’ entire goal is to work more closely with people

at all levels, whether it be specific to, for example, like Mr. Gates

referred to, nuclear preparedness around a facility and how that all

works, increase the exercises and the communication and plus,

really the big thing though, is we are gearing up in the first responder area. That will be a major, major impact, because in order

to do the first responder grant initiative correctly, we will have to

work closely with agencies nationwide on what their plans are and

offer the kind of support they need.

So we are trying to do things on the response side, if you will,

and the recovery side, to make ourselves more responsive and as

responsive as we can be. And we are trying to work closely with

our Federal partners and the Federal response plan is the key to

that and the first responder initiative especially is going to really

bring a lot of this together and hopefully facilitate a lot of discussion.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you for that answer. Thank you for the extra

time, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hecker follows:]

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Mr. HORN. I want to thank a number of people, without whom

this hearing would not have been made. And let me start in with

the subcommittee itself. I believe we have J. Russell George, our

staff director and chief counsel; and Bonnie Heald, is on the left of

Mr. Terry, and she is the deputy staff director; Chris Barkley is on

our—where is Chris, OK, he is running around solving problems;

and then Justin Paulhamus is the majority clerk. We have Yigal

Kerszenbaum, a subcommittee intern. And I want to thank particularly Mr. Terry’s District Director, Molly Lloyd.

And our host here, we are most grateful, I just love this facility

and that is the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

And then you have seen this gentleman over here, the court reporter, Bill Warren. Bill, you have escaped me a minute—well,

maybe he has moved in the back—oh, here he is. He goes with us

wherever we go and the transcript is right.

And we are going to have to ask your indulgence because we

have a meeting at 11 with the Strategic Command to see them.

You have here a number of questions we would like to ask, but if

you would not mind, we will send you the questions and just at

your leisure, put an answer in there and we will put it in the

record at this point, because you have put some very important

things before us.

And I particularly am delighted that Lee Terry could provide

here the leadership. He is one of the finest U.S. Representatives I

have ever seen and I have known him since day one when he arrived.

Mr. TERRY. And I did not even write that.

Mr. HORN. That is true. I got the PR guy from the Lieutenant

Governor’s Office. [Laughter.]

Your interest in the public interest to do the right thing, that is

what he has done. And you are lucky to have a person like that.

So thank you, sir.

Mr. TERRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. HORN. With that, we are adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 11:05 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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