We expect to provide additional policy and funding recommendations to congress and the federal government following the completion of those workshops. The public health systems preparedness and readiness to respond to a WMD incident is well behind the efforts undertaken by the fire and emergency services organizations. The principal reasons appear to be a lack of national program direction that provides for coordination with the National Domestic Preparedness Office, the Department of Justice and FEMA, inadequate funding for local and state preparedness activities, and a concentration of resources and funding towards metropolitan areas. The district level is the first level at which medical expertise of a consistent competency is present. Most, if not all, funding for equipment, personnel and training has been focused in major urban and metropolitan areas.
Terrorism knows no geographic boundaries.
NEMA believes every state must have a basic detection and response capability. There is little capacity to detect a biological event early and by the time detection and identification are confirmed by a CDC lab the threat will have escalated many times over. This is especially true in small, rural states. Sending samples to labs in other states is not an option in light of the tight time constraints associated with a biological event. There is a lack of coordination of information between the medical, emergency management and law enforcement communities.