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IT TAKES A VILLAGE: COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, LOCAL, 

AND PRIVATE SECTOR PREPAREDNESS 

AND INTEGRATION 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JUNE 5, 2008 

Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, LOCAL, AND PRIVATE SECTOR 

PREPAREDNESS AND INTEGRATION 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas, Chairman 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

KRISTIN SHARP, Staff Director 

MICHAEL MCBRIDE, Minority Staff Director 

KELSEY STROUD, Chief Clerk 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statement: Page 

Senator Pryor .................................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement: 

Senator Voinovich ............................................................................................. 21 

WITNESSES 

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2008 

Dennis Schrader, Deputy Administrator, National Preparedness Directorate, 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland 

Security ................................................................................................................. 3 

Russell Decker, Director, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and First Vice President, International Association of Emergency 

Managers .............................................................................................................. 4 

Suzy DeFrancis, Chief Public Affairs Officer, American Red Cross .................... 6 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

Decker, Russell: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 4 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 42 

DeFrancis, Suzy: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 48 

Schrader, Dennis: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 22 

APPENDIX 

Questions and responses submitted for the Record from: 

Mr. Schrader ..................................................................................................... 55 

Mr. Decker ........................................................................................................ 73 

Ms. DeFrancis ................................................................................................... 75 

(1) 

IT TAKES A VILLAGE: COMMUNITY 

PREPAREDNESS 

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2008 

U.S. SENATE, AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE ON STATE, LOCAL, AND

PRIVATE SECTOR PREPAREDNESS AND INTEGRATION, OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:43 a.m., in 

room SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Mark L. Pryor, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senator Pryor. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PRYOR 

Senator PRYOR. I am going to go ahead and convene the meeting 

and call this Subcommittee hearing to order. 

Before I get started, I would like to welcome all of our witnesses 

and tell you how much I appreciate you being here today at this 

Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness. 

We are going to look at community and individual preparedness 

programs and we look forward to hearing from all of you on this 

topic. 

This week marks the beginning of both hurricane season and the 

Red Cross CPR Awareness Week, so it is a particularly good time 

to examine our preparedness programs. At heart, the goal of individual preparedness is to mitigate the impact of a natural disaster 

or terrorist incident. It involves three main elements: Knowledge, 

communication, and motivation. People need to know what the 

dangers are, they need to know how they can protect themselves, 

and they need to want to be proactive. 

Unfortunately, recent surveys have shown that the majority of 

people in our country have not taken steps to prepare for disasters, 

even in the wake of September 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina. 

Fewer than 30 percent of the people surveyed mentioned that they 

have a preparedness plan. Only 7 percent have taken all the steps 

recommended by DHS. Creative outreach strategies are crucial to 

improving these low numbers. 

It is obvious that government, our first responders, and our private sector partners need to be prepared, but individual citizens 

are also an important part of this effort. Every citizen who has a 

plan for connecting with his or her family and has a supply of food 

and water is one less citizen that is in need of and waiting for government assistance and resources. 

2 

Of course, the types of events that get the most attention are terrorist attacks and large natural disasters like hurricanes, and even 

the Chinese earthquake that killed nearly 10,000 people, but as 

any State Emergency Manager will tell you, the most frequent 

events are much smaller, things like tornadoes, floods, and fires. 

These events may not destroy huge regions of the country, but they 

are no less devastating for the individuals affected. These smaller 

events are also the events for which preparedness measures can 

have a big impact. People can get the most bang for their buck, so 

to speak. 

So I want to take just a quick moment to brag on some outstanding grassroots efforts. Dayna Hilton, who is a fire fighter from 

Clarksville, Arkansas, who has taken on the task of educating 

young children about the dangers of fire and methods for safety 

evacuation. She has written a children’s book and created a mascot, 

Sparkles, the Fire Safety Dog, which is right here on the poster. 

Dana and Sparkles travel around the State visiting school children 

to promote fire safety. As the parent of two Arkansas school children myself, I want to thank her for her work. 

I also want to recognize the special work of the young people visiting Washington, DC. They are the winners of the Home Safety 

Council Kids Prepare America Contest. These students are actively 

contributing to community preparedness by creating plans for their 

families and neighborhoods. We appreciate the efforts of first prize 

winner Katharine Henson, who is in the audience today, and the 

other kids. Could you all please stand up if you are here? 

[Applause.] 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you. Because so many of these programs 

are bubbling up at the ground level, we want to make sure that 

we are providing the appropriate Federal support to integrate the 

efforts into our broader homeland security efforts. 

Again, I appreciate everyone being here today and look forward 

to hearing from you about your community preparedness efforts. 

What I will do now is I will quickly introduce our witnesses and 

we will let them testify. I am not sure how many Senators we will 

have join us today, but if you could possibly keep your opening 

statements to 5 minutes, that would be great, and then I will have 

questions. And again, I may be joined by colleagues. 

First, Dennis Schrader. Mr. Schrader is responsible for the National Preparedness Directorate at FEMA, which builds prevention, 

protection, response, and recovery capabilities. Before joining 

FEMA, he was Director of Homeland Security for the State of 

Maryland. 

Second, Russ Decker. Mr. Decker is the Emergency Manager for 

Allen County, Ohio, the Vice President of the Association of Emergency Managers and the author of two books on preparedness. 

And third, Suzy DeFrancis. Ms. DeFrancis is in charge of all 

communications and public outreach programs at the Red Cross. 

She has also served in a variety of communications positions at the 

Department of Health and Human Services and at the White 

House. 

Mr. Schrader. 

3 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Schrader appears in the Appendix on page 22. 

TESTIMONY OF DENNIS SCHRADER,1 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS DIRECTORATE, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. SCHRADER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Dennis 

Schrader. I serve as the Deputy Administrator for DHS, FEMA’s 

National Preparedness Directorate, and I am honored to appear before you today to discuss the Department’s individual and community preparedness efforts. 

On January 29, 2002, the President announced the creation of 

Citizen Corps as a White House initiative with operational responsibility assigned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

The Citizen Corps strategy is based on the tenets that, one, government has to collaborate with civic leaders; two, that local implementation is essential; and three, that national support has to include consistent policy and guidance, tools and resources that are 

adaptable for local use and building awareness through a national 

voice, such as the Ready Campaign. 

Citizen Corps is the Department’s principal community preparedness strategy and is administered nationally by FEMA’s Community Preparedness Division. Our work to support this priority includes four fundamental principles. First, our Nation’s resilience 

must be built on a firm base from the bottom up. It is every individual’s responsibility for preparing themselves, their family, and 

their community. 

Citizen Corps Councils and programs, second, are designed to be 

integrated with and build support for emergency management programs and comprehensive emergency management plans. 

Third, Citizen Corps Councils are sponsored by local government 

and must be supported by the local elected leader, emergency manager, or homeland security officials. 

And fourth, community preparedness is integrated into our existing programs. For example, just recently, we announced the 2008 

Competitive Training Grant Program and two of the focus areas 

are going to be on citizen preparedness and participation and citizen evacuation and shelter in place. 

Citizen preparedness is an important but challenging objective. 

Uniformed emergency responders make up less than one percent of 

the total U.S. population and may be overwhelmed in a crisis. Citizens must be better prepared and trained on how to take care of 

themselves in those first crucial hours. 

FEMA is working with the National Emergency Management Association and the International Association of Emergency Managers, many nonprofit organizations like the American Red Cross, 

and national voluntary organizations active in disaster and the private sector to strengthen this collaboration at the local level. Citizen Corps has formal relationships with 25 national nonprofit organizations and other Federal agencies through our National Citizen Corps affiliates, including the Home Safety Council, the Meals 

on Wheels Association of America, and agencies such as the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. 

4 

1The prepared statement of Mr. Decker appears in the Appendix on page 42. 

The Department’s efforts to promote community preparedness 

culminate each September during National Preparedness Month. 

In 2007, 1,800 local, State, and national organizations, businesses, 

and governments registered as National Preparedness Month Coalition members and held events ranging from Youth Be Ready 

Camps, public preparedness fairs, special needs workshops, school 

preparedness events, Public Alert Systems tests, and small business workshops. Already in 2008, over 900 organizations have registered to participate. 

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, we have a long way to go, but we 

must not become complacent or waver in our efforts. Thank you for 

the opportunity to appear today and for your continued support for 

this important work. I will be happy to respond to any questions 

you or Members of the Subcommittee may have, and I will stop 

there. 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you very much. Mr. Decker. 

TESTIMONY OF RUSSELL DECKER,1 DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, 

AND FIRST VICE PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS 

Mr. DECKER. Chairman Pryor, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to provide testimony today on this critically important 

topic. I am Russ Decker, the Director of Emergency Management 

and Homeland Security for Allen County, Ohio. Allen County is a 

mid-sized rural county in northwest Ohio with a population of just 

over 100,000. I have 18 years of experience in emergency management, with the last 10 years as a local director. 

I currently serve as President-Elect and First Vice President for 

the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and 

I am testifying on their behalf today. I am a member of the FEMA 

National Advisory Council and have also served as President of the 

Emergency Management Association of Ohio. IAEM has more than 

4,300 members, most of whom are emergency management professionals at the Federal, state, and local government levels, tribal 

natins, the military, colleges and universities emergency managers, 

and since all disasters begin and end at the local level, I believe 

our perspective is a unique one. 

The issue of preparedness is neither novel nor new. Civil defense 

and emergency management officials have been involved in this 

role for decades. Working with our partners from the public and 

private sectors, including our key nongovernment partners such as 

the American Red Cross, we have been tasked with identifying the 

risks which threaten our communities, reduce or eliminate those 

risks when possible, and help to prepare our citizens for dealing 

with those threats that we cannot control. 

However, the preparedness of communities is based on the preparedness of individuals. This is perhaps the weakest link in our 

efforts. We believe that in most cases, the majority of people can 

take care of themselves and their families for the first 72 hours, 

or 3 days, after a disaster strikes if they plan. That planning is 

5 

what allows local emergency managers to focus our efforts on those 

who are not able to provide for themselves. 

Because local emergency managers have the statutory responsibility for coordination of all phases of comprehensive emergency 

management, it is vitally important that community and individual 

preparedness efforts be integrated and coordinated through the 

local emergency management agency. Failure to do so may lead to 

well-intentioned but off-target and misdirected efforts based on incorrect or incomplete information. This same line of reasoning applies to the State and Federal Governments, as well, and that is 

why IAEM insists that all Federal community preparedness efforts, 

in fact, all preparedness efforts, need to be integrated and coordinated through FEMA. This is consistent with the Post-Katrina 

Emergency Management Reform Act. 

The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) concept for 

providing basic emergency training to citizens originated in 1985 in 

Los Angeles. Since the program was made available nationally by 

FEMA in 1993, communities in 28 States and Puerto Rico have 

conducted CERT training. In my home State of Ohio, more than 

8,000 citizens have taken the basic CERT training. 

In addition, as you can see from my prepared remarks, we have 

a long-established history in my county of partnering with local 

business and industry to provide a successful grassroots community 

preparedness program. A number of Federal preparedness programs exist, including Citizens Corps Councils. And while these 

new programs show promise for improved preparedness, we also 

find several issues that cause us concern. 

I believe it is important to realize that these new programs do 

not seem to be attracting large numbers of new volunteers. Instead, 

our experience is that many of the folks participating in these programs are the same dedicated corps of volunteers that we have already been counting on to step up when disaster strikes. We may 

be creating a false sense of increased volunteer assets that don’t actually exist. 

It is also vital that at all levels of government, we provide information to our citizens allowing them to gain a realistic understanding of the response they should expect in times of disaster 

from government at all levels. In the absence of realistic information, unreasonable expectations are formed and post-disaster frustrations rise. 

One area where FEMA could assist local and State officials 

would be by returning to the policy of providing adequate quantities of educational materials. Local emergency managers have the 

audience and the opportunity to reach our citizens, but oftentimes 

lack the resources for needed materials. In addition, we would urge 

FEMA to develop radio and TV Public Service Announcements that 

could be used for government at all levels to promote community 

preparedness. In other words, we are urging FEMA to help provide 

some tools for our toolbox. 

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this topic with you 

today. I welcome any questions. 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you. Ms. DeFrancis. 

6 

1The prepared statement of Ms. DeFrancis appears in the Appendix on page 48. 

TESTIMONY OF SUZY DeFRANCIS,1 CHIEF PUBLIC AFFAIRS 

OFFICER, AMERICAN RED CROSS 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. The American 

Red Cross is very pleased to be here today and we salute you for 

bringing to the fore this important topic of community preparedness. We also are in wholehearted agreement with your points on 

preparedness—knowledge, communications, and motivation. 

The mission of the American Red Cross is to help people prevent, 

prepare for, and respond to disasters and other emergencies. We 

shelter, feed, and counsel people affected by disasters at home and 

abroad. We collect and distribute nearly half of the Nation’s blood. 

We teach life-saving skills, and we support our military and their 

families through emergency communications. So whether it is a 

hurricane or a heart attack, a call for blood or a call for help, the 

Red Cross is there around the corner, around the country, and 

around the world. 

We have more than 700 chapters nationwide and we respond to 

an average of 74,000 disasters each year. Now, as you mentioned, 

these are typically floods, tornadoes, and fires. This spring saw a 

recordbreaking number of tornadoes, including in your own State. 

We are currently responding to 18 large disaster relief operations. 

But what most people don’t know about us is that every night 

in America, Red Cross volunteers show up on the lawn of someone 

who may have lost their home to a house fire. We give them a cup 

of coffee, a blanket around their shoulders, and a place to stay for 

the night, and we participate in fire safety awareness, such as your 

poster indicates. 

But because we deal with so many disasters, the Red Cross 

knows the importance of being prepared before a disaster strikes. 

Preparedness can help an individual respond effectively until help 

arrives and it can save lives. Despite the importance of preparedness for ourselves and our families, the vast majority of Americans 

are not prepared, and as you mentioned, our polling shows only 7 

percent of Americans have taken all the steps necessary to prepare. 

Yet the majority of Americans say they would get prepared if it 

were easier and more convenient to do. 

So at the Red Cross, we are making preparedness as easy as one, 

two, three. Get a kit, make a plan, and be informed. We call it Red 

Cross Ready, and we aligned our steps with the Department of 

Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign because we think it is critically important that there be simple, easy-to-follow instructions 

and that they be consistent with what all the other authorities are 

saying. So a national preparedness message that emergency managers throughout the country can use and localize helps us cut 

through the clutter and avoids confusion. We ask you and your colleagues as we go into a new Administration to encourage continuity 

of this three-step plan across the Department of Homeland Security. 

Just as important as having a simple, easy message to follow, it 

is also important to have multiple messengers. If people hear the 

same message from different sources they trust, they are more likely to believe it and act on it. So we partner at the Red Cross with 

7 

businesses, schools, community organizations and government to 

reach people where they live, work, and play. 

Here are a few examples. We know many people will listen to information that comes from their employer, so our Red Cross chapter in Chicago is working with W.W. Grainger to create a corporate 

volunteer program called Ready When the Time Comes. This program trains volunteers from businesses and organizations. We 

have trained more than 4,000 volunteers from over 100 corporate 

partners. Recently, some of those volunteers worked to assist people during the tornadoes in Kansas. 

Our research has also found that young people, such as Katherine, are very effective messengers when it comes to telling their 

parents to get prepared and we need to engage the next generation. 

So the Red Cross developed a program called Masters of Disaster 

and we teach it in schools. We train about a million kids a year. 

And because we know that poorer communities are often at higher 

risk of disasters, our chapter in Columbus, Ohio, works with the 

local Public Health Department to teach Masters of Disaster in 

after-school and summer programs in impoverished neighborhoods. 

But perhaps one of the best examples of effective partnerships on 

the local level is in your home State, Mr. Chairman, of Arkansas. 

It is the Arkansas Seniors are Prepared Program (ASAP). This is 

a cooperative effort among the Red Cross, FEMA, and State Government to help senior citizens get better prepared. We have provided 2,200 seniors with this life-saving information in Arkansas. 

So we need one simple, easy-to-follow message. We need multiple 

trusted messengers. But there is one more thing we can do. We can 

lead by example. We can all make sure we are prepared in our own 

homes and businesses. Many of us, as you said, got prepared for 

the first time following September 11, 2001. It is time now to restock those supplies and replace those batteries that probably 

ended up in a kid’s toy over the holidays. Summer is a great time 

to get prepared and get kids involved. They have some time on 

their hands and they know how to use the Internet. So I encourage 

families to go to redcross.org and click on, ‘‘Preparing for a Disaster.’’ There is also a Mother’s Guide to Preparedness. And by the 

way, research shows that the most trusted and effective messenger 

on preparedness, even among older people, are their mothers. 

Redcross.org will give you a whole list of items you need for a kit, 

or you can buy assembled kits from our Red Cross store. And, it 

is relatively inexpensive to get a kit and it doesn’t cost anything 

to make a plan and be informed. 

Mr. Chairman, we thank you and the Members of the Subcommittee for making preparedness a priority. As leaders in your 

communities, you can help us build a culture of preparedness, and 

in doing so, save lives. Thank you. 

Senator PRYOR. Thank you. Again, I want to thank all the panelists for your testimony. Now I have a few questions. 

I may just start with you, Ms. DeFrancis, if I can, and that is 

I know that in many States, the States do not provide any sort of 

protection like legal liability protection for volunteers, and I assume that is true for volunteering organizations, as well. Is there 

a difference in what you have seen, is there a difference in particiVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:39 Dec 18, 2008 Jkt 043091 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\43091.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
8 

pation State by State depending on whether these States have 

what a lot of people call ‘‘good samaritan’’ laws? 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. Mr. Chairman, I am not aware of any studies 

that specifically show a difference. However, we are strong supporters of that legislation. We believe it is critically important to 

protect our volunteers when they come forward. They are often the 

people who are going to a disaster scene when others are leaving 

and we want to make sure that they have that protection. 

Senator PRYOR. I know that back years ago when I was in the 

Arkansas State Legislature, we passed some laws through the legislature that basically protected doctors when they were providing, 

again, good samaritan-type efforts. We just felt it was unfair that 

they might get sued if they were out there just on their own helping somebody. So anyway, I do think that is good public policy and 

I think that—I just didn’t know if you were seeing any difference 

out in the field. So as far as you know, you are not, but you 

just—— 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. As far as I know, but I will definitely check and 

if we can find any research on that, get it to the Committee. 

Senator PRYOR. That would be great. 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. Thank you. 

Senator PRYOR. That would be helpful if there is anything out 

there. Mr. Schrader, let me just ask you—— 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir. 

Senator PRYOR. One of the concerns that we find with DHS that 

has been pretty consistent, unfortunately, since I have been here 

in the Senate for the last 5 years is DHS does not always do a 

great job of coordinating, not just coordinating with other agencies, 

but sometimes even know what is going on within the Department. 

I know DHS and FEMA, part of what you do is you coordinate with 

other Federal agencies on this particular thing, on community preparedness and individual preparedness. Do you think that FEMA 

and DHS are doing what they need to do to coordinate with other 

Federal agencies? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, Mr. Chairman, I will start by saying, as I 

said in my opening statement, we are not where we need to be. We 

have a long way to go. But the good news is that the Post-Katrina 

Act envisioned the establishment of the National Integration Center and put this program inside the National Preparedness Directorate. What we have been doing over the last 9 months has been 

spending a lot of time working to get the organization to do exactly 

what you are talking about, reaching out, working across boundaries. Brock Bierman, who is the Director of the program, as well 

as Karen Marsh, have relationships that cut across the Department and the agency. 

Within DHS, our experience has been very positive. Of course, 

we have the Ready Campaign, which is a public affairs message 

nationally that has done a very nice job. So our whole agenda is 

to do exactly what you are talking about. But I am not going to 

sit here and tell you that we are anywhere near where I would like 

it to be. 

Senator PRYOR. And do you have in your mind the steps necessary to get it to where you want it to be? 

9 

Mr. SCHRADER. What we are doing—this gets back to the whole 

big picture around transition philosophy—we are putting qualitycapable career people in key jobs. We are delegating to them and 

we are allowing them to do the work we are supposed to be doing, 

and we are having a lot of success with that. I know the Deputy 

Secretary has held a number of sessions in the last several months 

to do just that, is to get people within intra-DHS talking to each 

other. So it is a very directed initiative, and I think that is going 

to pay dividends. 

As you know, Nancy Ward is the Senior Transition Official. She 

is our Region IX Administrator. We just had a conference here in 

Washington, DC, 2 weeks ago where Mr. Paulison brought together 

all the regions around the country to make sure that this whole 

transition message was—so the things we are doing are going to 

carry on in the future. 

Senator PRYOR. A lot of that sounds good about you getting people together and talking and communicating. That is obviously a 

very important step. But you also mentioned a few moments ago 

that you have been working on some of this for the last 9 months. 

As you are working on this and as you are talking, are you actually 

making changes? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes. 

Senator PRYOR. I mean, are you changing structure? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, absolutely. The change is consistent, deliberate, and I will give you an example. We are bringing in a new 

system administrator who starts on Monday and his name is John 

Bridges. He is actually from the U.S. Postal Service. So we are 

reaching across other agencies to bring in talent that FEMA might 

not have otherwise had, and you can’t get much more local than 

your local post office. 

Senator PRYOR. Right. 

Mr. SCHRADER. So we are really thinking that way. We are 

bringing a lot of people into the organization. If you look at some 

of the things that need to be done, for example, we need to be focused on making sure that the emergency operations plans in all 

of our jurisdictions have the concept of NGO participation and private sector participation in them. By virtue—the other thing that 

we did, which is very important, is we have created the—and this 

is not just talk, this is action—in every region as of January, we 

now have realigned the reasons to have a Federal Preparedness 

Coordinator. We have hired those people, we have staffed them, 

and they are responsible for overseeing their States and getting involved at the State level. 

So there is a lot of work going on in a very rapid fashion and 

I am very optimistic. And we have to push this program into the 

regions to get closer to the State and local folks where the action 

really is. 

Senator PRYOR. Well, let me follow up on that and ask a specific 

question about preparedness and communication. Do you know if 

the Citizen Response Teams are incorporated into the State or national exercises out in the field, like the TOPOFF exercise? Do you 

get the Citizen Response Teams involved in those? 

Mr. SCHRADER. In some cases, they are. We held, for example, for 

TOPOFF 4, we had a very specific part of the exercise, because the 

10 

way TOPOFF—and those are now going to be called national exercises in the National Exercise Program, but the way those work, 

we actually had one of the sessions during the design process focused on the citizen participation. So that is part of the process. 

And I would say getting this embedded into the design and evaluation of exercises is critical. One of the evaluation factors in our exercise program now is citizen participation. 

Senator PRYOR. Good. Well, you said sometimes that they are incorporated. To me, it seems like they should always be incorporated. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Did I say some? 

Senator PRYOR. Yes. 

Mr. SCHRADER. I am sorry. If I say always, then I am sure there 

will be times when it doesn’t happen, so—it is the intent that it 

would always happen—— 

Senator PRYOR. It seems to me to make sense to always include 

it—— 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir. 

Senator PRYOR [continuing]. Because they would be an important 

piece of that. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Mr. Chairman, you are absolutely correct. 

Senator PRYOR. Let me ask you as well, Mr. Schrader, about how 

again, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is organized and 

how you have so many different offices and chain of commands and 

what not within Homeland Security. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Right. 

Senator PRYOR. You have two main programs here, I think, when 

we are talking about community preparedness, Citizen Corps and 

Ready.gov, but I don’t think they are within the same office at 

DHS, isn’t that right? They are in separate offices? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir, or Mr. Chairman. 

Senator PRYOR. And then beyond those two, you have the Private 

Sector Office, you have the Disabilities Office, State and Local Outreach Office, Nonprofit Outreach Office, etc. What are the advantages of being organized that way rather than trying to bring everybody together and do it in a more unified fashion? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Quite frankly, it could work this way, and we 

have very good relationships. Al Martinez-Fonts and I speak frequently. Bob Stephan, who runs the Critical Infrastructure Program and his people, Jim Caverly, we work very closely together. 

If you look at how we organized, for example, Title IX, we have a 

Private Sector Council now that oversees the implementation of 

Title IX. The administrator chairs that. I am his designee. But we 

are working very closely together on that project. 

What it really requires and what has happened since the PostKatrina Act and the establishment of my office is we have to demand that people collaborate in process, and that is what is happening. We are going to—Assistant Secretary Fonts has a lot of information. His people, like Mr. Morris, participate with us. 

So my sense is that—and I will give you another example. We 

do a lot of research, DHS and S&T are involved with us. I think 

it is incumbent on us and our people to reach out and work together, and we are seeing a lot more of that and I am very encouraged by what I see. 

11 

Senator PRYOR. Good. Let me ask another thing about Citizen 

Corps. Citizen Corps does things like forming councils, partnership 

development and coordination, training and exercises, communication, outreach, and national policy integration. Can you tell me 

what you mean by national policy integration? 

Mr. SCHRADER. What I mean by that is—and again, this gets 

back to the creation of the National Preparedness Directorate and 

pulling all these folks together—we want to make sure that if there 

is a—and this gets back to your point, for example, on exercises. 

We have an HC program which oversees exercises. We need to 

make sure that as we develop policy around exercises, that citizen 

participation is built into that as we do the National Preparedness 

Guidelines. There is information in there that requires, for example, in the eight national priorities that came out of the guidelines, 

citizen preparedness is one of the eight priorities. 

And then that ties back to how we fund programs. As I mentioned earlier, you tie that back to the Competitive Training Grant 

Program, we made, based on input that we got from the field, we 

made two of the five priorities this year citizen participation. So we 

have to weave these together as a matter of policy and that is what 

we are doing. 

It is not where I would like it to be, quite frankly, but every day, 

I come to work with that focus in mind and we have to keep hammering on it and our folks are getting it. They understand that is 

where we are heading. One of the reasons why this transition 

strategy is so important is that we have to have the career workforce driving this. It can’t be at the political level. It has to be at 

the career level, and it is starting to work. 

Senator PRYOR. Good. Let me ask you, Mr. Decker, if I may, here 

you are sitting next to Homeland Security and FEMA. From your 

perspective, are Homeland Security and FEMA doing enough to coordinate with State and local but also just with community organizations? 

Mr. DECKER. Mr. Chairman, I welcome that question. Let me say 

that I think DHS and particularly FEMA within DHS has made 

major strides to get better at communicating with us and our local 

counterparts—— 

Senator PRYOR. Since when? 

Mr. DECKER. Over the last 18 to 24 months. 

Senator PRYOR. OK. 

Mr. DECKER. I would say it is part of Administrator Paulison’s 

vision of the new FEMA, the leaning forward. We are seeing more 

communication and more effort coming out to the regions and the 

regions are a little more convenient for us to deal with at the local 

level than trying to contact folks at headquarters and get answers. 

And I would also say through our associations, through NEMA and 

IAEM, that certainly we are partnering more. They are listening 

to us more. 

And I would point to, as an example, the National Response 

Framework. I think we all remember the first version came out, 

not too happy of a version. They were willing to listen to the locals 

and to the State directors and I think the final product we have 

out is one that is actually being used at the local level now and not 

12 

just stuck on the shelf somewhere as one more thing that Washington sent us. 

So I do think we are making progress and I do think it is at the 

FEMA level. We still feel, I will tell you, we still feel disconnected 

from DHS as a whole. To us, that is a big thing that we can’t get 

our arms around. But we do feel that we are making inroads with 

the FEMA folks. 

Senator PRYOR. Well, let me follow up on that, if I may. It sounds 

good in terms of FEMA, and I do think that Dave Paulison is really 

trying hard at FEMA and I think he has the right approach. I 

know he still has some legacy issues he is trying to clean up from 

previous directors. But nevertheless, I do think he is trying very 

hard to do that and he has been very responsive. I think he has 

FEMA focused again like it should be. Personally, I think FEMA 

should be at a cabinet-level position and I think that model worked 

well under the previous Administration. I think it would work well 

right now. 

But regardless of that, you mentioned that the coordination with 

FEMA and the communication with FEMA is good, but not so 

much with DHS. How does that hurt what you are trying to do 

when you really can’t communicate or you don’t have that type of 

relationship with DHS? How does that hurt you in what you do? 

Mr. DECKER. I think where it really hurts us, and I would mention, Mr. Chairman, that IAEM wholeheartedly agrees with your 

assessment that we think FEMA should be a cabinet-level agency 

and restored to their previous status, but having said that, the biggest problem with the disconnect at DHS, I believe, is that it adds 

to confusion in the public. They will hear something from DHS, 

and is that DHS and FEMA or is that just DHS, and I think if the 

public is confused, certainly my counterparts across the country are 

confused, and I think that is why the Post-Katrina Emergency 

Management Reform Act was so critical because it forced DHS to 

put a lot of the programs that we deal with—in fact, all of the programs we deal with are now under FEMA. So we are back to dealing with the organization that we are comfortable with, and that 

is FEMA, on our grants and other programs. 

Senator PRYOR. OK. Ms. DeFrancis, same question for you in 

terms of your perspective on whether FEMA is doing a good job of 

helping you coordinate, being integrated in the communities and 

the areas where you are going to need response, and also for that 

matter how that works on DHS’s level, as well. 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. Well, Mr. Chairman, we have very good coordination with FEMA as well as the Department of Homeland Security. The head of the Red Cross has traveled with them to many 

disasters. We have been linked up all the way down the chain. We 

recently held a meeting at the Red Cross just a few weeks ago, convening the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, other agencies, and nongovernmental organizations to discuss Preparedness 

Month and how we can get ready for that and send messages and 

help communities prepare. 

So I would say that we are very confident with our relationships 

with both FEMA and the Department. I am not aware of instances 

where it has been a disconnect between FEMA and the Department, but I would say we work very closely with them and consider 

13 

them to be our partners, and of course under the National Response Framework, we have responsibilities, as well, with them in 

terms of convening other nongovernmental organizations for mass 

care. 

Senator PRYOR. Right. Let me follow up on that, if I may, just 

a little different piece of that same question, and that is there is 

a study out that says that some of these programs and some of 

these efforts that FEMA and DHS are doing are attracting volunteers, your standard volunteers like fire fighters, National Guard, 

Red Cross, those types of standard volunteers in communities they 

volunteer, but they are not attracting new volunteers. Do you think 

we need to be actively trying to recruit more volunteers into preparedness and into response? 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. Well, absolutely, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator PRYOR. And then how do we do that? 

Ms. DEFRANCIS. Well, certainly as you know, the Red Cross depends on volunteers. They make up the bulk of our response effort, 

and so we are always actively trying to recruit more volunteers. 

I think part of the answer to how you do that is you need to educate communities about what we do, what the Red Cross does in 

our instance, and help train people to do that. I mentioned in my 

testimony that getting businesses who very often come to us and 

say, we want to have our employees trained, whether it be in preparedness or CPR or anything, and working with them through 

programs like ‘‘Ready When the Time Comes.’’ As I said, this is a 

program that was started in one city. We have now piloted it in 16 

other cities. I think it is going to go nationwide, and basically it 

is getting businesses to lend us their employees for one Saturday 

to train and to be a disaster volunteer so they could go in a shelter 

and help with that. I have attended these. They are wonderful. You 

will see teams of employees who work together during the week at 

work and they are training to be volunteers. And as I said, we have 

already deployed them other places. 

So obviously, I guess, the other is we really want to connect with 

more young people, encourage them. We are very active on the new 

media and websites to interest the next generation of volunteers in 

the Red Cross. I think, as you know, there is a tremendous desire 

to serve among the American people. When we connect that with 

the work that we do, we will get more volunteers. 

Senator PRYOR. Mr. Decker, are you seeing that same thing in 

your experience? The research is saying that there are volunteers 

out there, but not a lot of new volunteers. 

Mr. DECKER. That is exactly what we are seeing. We are seeing 

that our Red Cross volunteers, for instance, that are working on 

those DAT teams that show up at those house fires are the same 

guys who are volunteering to be HAM radio operators and help us 

storm spot during severe weather, and they are the same guys who 

is helping out in local service clubs and his church. So we have a 

lot of people who are out there, are great volunteers and are offering their help almost carte blanche and we are not seeing great 

numbers to replace them or to augment them in the future. Our 

concern is that when disaster strikes, we are forcing these volunteers to pick one. 

Senator PRYOR. Yes. 

14 

Mr. DECKER. When this disaster strikes, are they going to come 

out and be part of the CERT team? Are they going to be part of 

the DAT team with the Red Cross? Are they going to go over and 

help their church take care of the elderly that they are helping? 

Senator PRYOR. Right. 

Mr. DECKER. So that is the concern that we see, and I think you 

are right on target. 

Senator PRYOR. And the other problem is, for example, in Arkansas, in about a 60-day period, we had two pretty severe rounds of 

tornadoes and major flooding. A lot of times, those same volunteers 

were going from event to event to event. There is some wear and 

tear there. So do you have any ideas on how to expand the recruiting base for volunteers? 

Mr. DECKER. No. There is no golden answer to that. I wish there 

was. I think it is a matter of—it is going to take a lot of effort. I 

think we have to attract this younger, this 30-ish to 40-ish area is 

where I see the big struggle being, is to get folks in that age range 

to want to volunteer. We have younger folks who want to volunteer 

and we have older folks that have been volunteering for generations. And I think part of it is that is the age group where they 

are raising families and they are probably both working and it is 

just when they get 10 hours of spare time, they want to keep it for 

themselves and not donate it and we are just going to have to work 

on trying to educate them and showing them that just makes good 

sense, to help your neighbors. 

Senator PRYOR. Mr. Schrader, did you want to add something to 

the volunteer question? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, Mr. Chairman. What I would suggest is we 

do regular research in the directorate and one of the things we 

want to do is to begin to get more focused on these issues and convert the research to action recommendations because one of the 

things that we don’t want to do, particularly within Citizen Corps, 

we don’t want to replicate or duplicate effort, and it may be that 

as we drill into this through our research efforts, we may find that 

people are affiliated with all sorts of groups. 

For example, I used to coach my daughter’s teams when she was 

growing up. It may be that we have to get some of this first aid 

and CPR training, the basic training, into some of those organizations as part of that milieu rather than trying to get them to do 

something else, but to still get it. And so we may have to think 

about ways. But I think part of where we can add value is to direct 

some of our research to answering some of these questions and that 

is what I would like to be able to do. 

Senator PRYOR. Well, you have got two good resources here. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Absolutely. I am taking copious notes. 

Senator PRYOR. Good. Maybe you can talk to them about that because that sounds reasonable to me. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, sir. 

Senator PRYOR. Mr. Schrader, let me also ask about—let me the 

preface the question by saying, in my State, if I can speak for the 

people of Arkansas, I think most people feel comfortable in preparing and sort of thinking about preparing for tornadoes and 

floods and ice storms, things like that. They don’t feel as comfortable when it comes to terrorist attacks or pandemic flu or someVerDate Aug 31 2005 14:39 Dec 18, 2008 Jkt 043091 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\43091.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
15 

thing of that nature. Do you try to encourage people to prepare for 

every type of potential disaster or do you try to focus your message—like, for example, we live in a part of the country that has 

a lot of tornadoes and we are prone to ice storms in the wintertime. 

Do you try to tailor the message, or is it just more of a one-sizefits-all for everything? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, Mr. Chairman, you have asked a question 

that is probably the center of a lot of controversy in the country 

because that is where this debate lies around all hazards. Let me 

start by saying that part of what we are doing inside of FEMA to 

more directly integrate with the Department is to make sure that 

FEMA is an all hazards agency. We benefit by all the programs inside of DHS like the INA program, like the IP program. What we 

are doing and our responsibility inside FEMA is to reach out and 

connect so that we begin to organize our efforts in an all hazards 

way. So that is one issue. 

The second thing we are doing, we have been given resources to 

do regional catastrophic planning. Dave Maxwell, for example, is 

doing a terrific job as the Chairman of NEMA’s Preparedness Committee nationally. But there is a CUSEC group in the middle of the 

country that looks at earthquakes. The worst earthquake in that 

eight-state region is pretty significant—— 

Senator PRYOR. Right, with the New Madrid fault. 

Mr. SCHRADER. The New Madrid fault, right. We are currently 

working on a plan, bottoms-up plan, that will culminate in an exercise in 2011. 

Senator PRYOR. Right. That would be a tabletop? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, that would be a national level exercise—— 

Senator PRYOR. Right. 

Mr. SCHRADER [continuing]. Because it would include all eight 

States, yes, sir. 

Senator PRYOR. I think that is great. I think that is important. 

Speaking of that, because, again, in our region of the country, we 

live on or near a very dangerous fault line, but we haven’t had a 

major earthquake there in 200 years, almost—— 

Mr. SCHRADER. Exactly. 

Senator PRYOR [continuing]. A major one. We have had little 

tremors here and there. So I think a lot of people, even though that 

threat is out there, it is not that real to them, so I think an exercise like that would help inform the public. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Right, and that to me is an example of how it all 

streams together. The whole concept of the planning scenarios 

came from working internally with DHS on the planning guidance. 

The whole notion of having these regional catastrophic—well, not 

only, but an all hazards for disaster situations, earthquakes are 

low-probability events, but they are very—they have high impact. 

So the point I was making is that whether it is an earthquake 

or a major HAZMAT or a chemical-biological event, those are kinds 

of things that most people are not thinking about. But the fact of 

the matter is that if we prepare the public at that scale—it is really a matter of scale that we are talking about here rather than the 

initiating of that, and then that part of the country will focus on 

earthquakes. Obviously, in the Southeast it will always be hurricanes. But if we can get those base capabilities in place around 

16 

communications, citizen preparedness, how people work together, 

around logistics, we will be able to deal with most situations. 

Senator PRYOR. Let me ask you, and it is really for both of you 

here, yesterday here at the Capitol, we had severe weather warnings and tornado warnings, etc. What most people did is they went 

to their television set and turned on either the Weather Channel 

or CNN or Fox News, whatever it may be, some sort of local broadcast, or turn on the radio and try to figure out what is going on, 

what is about to happen. On the national level and then again on 

the State and local level, do you all systematically try to work with 

the news media in terms of making sure that you are coordinated 

with them, or is the news media, do they have enough incentives 

just to do that on their own and they are going to do what they 

do because they cover local weather and local events? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Well, let me start by saying, obviously, the news 

media has a very positive effect on driving preparedness because 

they are right on top of these things 24/7. So that is a positive 

thing. 

Last night, for example, the Office of National Capital Region 

was monitoring this thing, Chris Geldart, who is the Director, and 

then there was a conference call with the Administrator and the 

National Operations Center and the NRCC folks talking about 

where we are. Prior to that, the Director of the National Capital 

Region talked to the Virginia Homeland Security Advisor and also 

the Maryland Homeland Security Advisor and Washinton, DC, and 

said, where are things? Is everything OK? They said, we have got 

it under control, there are some outages, and that information was 

all discussed last night at 9 p.m. So we are on top of it, in a way, 

we have to stay two steps ahead of the media, which is not easy 

to do, as you can imagine. 

Senator PRYOR. Right. But are they out there on their own, or 

do you actually—I know you are informing them and giving 

them—— 

Mr. SCHRADER. Right. 

Senator PRYOR [continuing]. Messages for them to broadcast, but 

are they working pretty much independently of you or are you trying to coordinate with them? 

Mr. SCHRADER. A lot of their information comes from government 

agencies like the National Weather Service and NOAA. We have 

partnerships with those folks, the Hurricane Center. So my view 

is that those linkages are in place and work. Obviously, things can 

always be better. 

Senator PRYOR. Did you have something to add to that? 

Mr. DECKER. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I would say that the question 

that you raise is really what local emergency management is all 

about and that is what I and my colleagues across the country, 

that is what we are paid to do, is develop those relationships with 

our local media so that we have ways to communicate in those crisis times. And I can say that for a large part, that is very successful. In most areas, the local emergency manager and the news 

media have an excellent working relationship. 

We have multiple—and redundancy is a good thing in our profession. So we have multiple ways that we can get hold of reporters 

and news media during hours, after hours, and likewise, we make 

17 

it a two-way street, so that if they need to access me during a disaster, they have some offline ways to be able to do that because the 

lack of information is certainly worse than, I believe, than being 

able to have too much information. 

So I think what you probably saw here, or what I saw last night 

when I was here and what you would see in any community across 

the country is the fact that I am sure the local emergency managers and the media were working together, and had shelters needed to be opened and things, those would have been communicated 

quickly through the media so folks know what to do. 

Senator PRYOR. Let me ask you, Mr. Decker, this is a little bit 

of a follow-up to what you are saying but it is a different subject. 

I just want to see if you have had this experience. In another committee setting—I am on the Senate Commerce Committee—we 

were talking about ownership of local media outlets and whether 

you should continue to allow this consolidation where radio stations, for example, are parts of larger and larger chains or if you 

want to discourage that and require more local ownership. 

Well, anyway, one of the stories that was told in the other committee was that there are examples of areas who have had their 

local radio stations bought up by chains and what that means in 

effect is that a local radio station loses its news department. And 

so even though they are broadcasting, they may be playing rock 

and roll or country music or whatever the case may be, they are 

not getting any local coverage in that area. So when there is a 

threat of a natural disaster, whatever it may be, the traditional, 

normal local media outlet is not of any help because they are just 

broadcasting whatever is being syndicated or whatever they are 

picking up on satellite. Have you had that happen to you, or—— 

Mr. DECKER. Well, we haven’t had it negatively impact us, but 

I will tell you that is the real world out there. In my county, we 

have 12 radio stations under two owners—— 

Senator PRYOR. Right. 

Mr. DECKER [continuing]. And they are both large corporations. 

We have the four major television networks under two owners. And 

so there are really four media shops in town to do all the radio and 

television. But what we have found, those stations, you are right. 

Many of those stations are automated now, so if something happens at 3 a.m. on Sunday, there is nobody at that radio station. We 

can still—— 

Senator PRYOR. There is nobody you can coordinate with? 

Mr. DECKER. We can still use the EAS to interrupt on our own 

on the short-term, to get that immediate message out—— 

Senator PRYOR. Right. 

Mr. DECKER [continuing]. And then what we have been doing in 

our jurisdiction, and I am sure my colleagues around the country, 

because you don’t have the newsroom. So we are partnering with 

the general managers and the chief engineers to find out how we 

get a body into their radio station at 4 a.m. in the morning that 

can put on some special programming. Most of those companies, we 

have found to be receptive to do that. It is just a new model. It is 

not the old days where you had to know the news director. Now 

you need to know the chief engineer and the general manager and 

the sales manager because those are the guys who can get in and 

18 

get something different on the air than what is coming off a satellite someplace. 

Senator PRYOR. Right. Well, a similar circumstance is with satellite television. There is a must-carry rule there where if you are 

in a certain media market, then that satellite provider must carry 

your local TV broadcast. But what happens is around the country, 

I know in Arkansas, for example, if you go up to the northern tier 

of counties that touch Missouri, they are not in an Arkansas media 

market. They are in Missouri media markets and so they are getting their news and weather and all that out of Joplin or out of 

Springfield or out of somewhere like that, and I am sure those are 

great people that run those stations, but they are more focused on 

Missouri issues. So if you are in rural Arkansas up in some of 

those counties, and there are other regions of the State like that 

around the borders, pretty much, where they are picking up other 

States’ media markets, they get zero Arkansas weather coverage or 

zero catastrophe coverage like that in Arkansas because Arkansas 

is really just an afterthought because they only have a couple of 

counties or something. 

That is a concern, too, and I don’t know if you have a fix for that. 

I mean, we are looking at something here that maybe would fix 

that and allow the customer to decide which one they pick up, but 

we can work on that. But I didn’t know if you had that experience, 

either. 

Mr. DECKER. We haven’t had that exact experience in my county 

but we had something similar. We had a lot of guys out selling satellite service before they had to carry the locals and we encouraged 

them, and they voluntarily agreed to go along with this idea, and 

that is we were stressing the fact, and maybe we embarrassed 

them into it because we would speak publicly about the fact that 

you are not going to get these local warnings if you are on satellite 

television. And so we got the satellite providers to voluntarily provide NOAA all-hazard weather radios to their subscribers when 

they bought the satellite dish because at least we knew then that 

they had that all-hazards radio in their household, and if they 

aren’t going to get it off the TV, that the radio would come on and 

should alert them at that point. 

Senator PRYOR. Let me ask this, too, and this may be more for 

FEMA than the local and other volunteer organizations. Of course, 

today, a lot of people communicate through their wireless telephone, their cell phone. Is there a system in place where people can 

get emergency broadcasts through their telephone? Is that option 

available, and is it available in all media markets, do you know? 

Mr. SCHRADER. I know that in the National Capital Region, we 

were working—there are providers who provide alert notifications—— 

Senator PRYOR. Right. 

Mr. SCHRADER [continuing]. Through those kinds—but those are 

usually services—— 

Senator PRYOR. You have to pay extra for that? 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, exactly. But I know we had a program 

where you could sign up free with the local AMA, like in Montgomery County, but it is not universal around the country. But the 

capability exists. It is not an organized effort. 

19 

Senator PRYOR. Do you know anything about that? 

Mr. DECKER. No, other than I do know that FEMA is working 

on the IPAWS project, which would sort of go to some of those concerns down the road, but I don’t know how far along they are on 

the IPAWS, but—— 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes, and I didn’t come prepared to address 

IPAWS. 

Senator PRYOR. Yes. I mean, the only point there really is that 

a lot of times, we think in terms of traditional communication—— 

Mr. SCHRADER. Right. 

Senator PRYOR [continuing]. And certainly cell phones and the 

Internet, for that matter, and all this other stuff that has come online, that is all sort of non-traditional but can be a very effective, 

very immediate and cheap way to get the word out to people. 

Mr. SCHRADER. Yes. 

Senator PRYOR. So anyway, I have other questions and I think 

what I will do in the interest of time is to maybe submit some of 

those for the record. What we are going to do here is we will keep 

the record open for 2 weeks. Some Senators may want to submit 

other questions in writing. 

But I do want to thank you all for being here. It has been very 

helpful. The local preparedness, not just on the organizational level 

and the government level but on the individual level, on the citizen 

level, is very important to making sure that we are doing all that 

we can to respond and prepare for disasters. 

What I will do then is I will adjourn the hearing, but with the 

understanding that we will probably have a few questions in writing and we would love for you all to get those responses back in 

the next couple of weeks. So thank you for doing this. 

We are adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:44 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

(21) 

A P P E N D I X 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH 

Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Sununu, I commend you both for convening 

today’s hearing regarding community preparedness. In 95 percent of emergency situations, bystanders or victims themselves are the first to provide assistance. Given 

this fact, I think today’s hearing is extremely important. 

I believe it is every person’s civic responsibility to be prepared for natural and 

man-made disasters, and I appreciate our witnesses appearing to discuss our level 

of readiness. I especially want to thank Mr. Decker for testifying today. Mr. Decker 

and I have worked together on a number of emergency issues facing Ohio, including 

winter storms, floods, and tornadoes. I have always been impressed with his emergency management expertise and believe he will share some useful information and 

recommendations with the Subcommittee today. 

Again, Chairman Pryor, thank you for calling today’s hearing on preparedness, an 

issue of critical importance to communities throughout the United States. 

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