[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL COORDINATION:
HOW PREPARED IS PENNSYLVANIA TO RESPOND TO A TERRORIST ATTACK OR
NATURAL DISASTER?
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY
COMMUNICATIONS, PREPAREDNESS,
AND RESPONSE
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
__________
Serial No. 110-69
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
index.html
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800;
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Washington, DC 20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi, Chairman
LORETTA SANCHEZ, California, PETER T. KING, New York
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts LAMAR SMITH, Texas
NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut
JANE HARMAN, California MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon TOM DAVIS, Virginia
NITA M. LOWEY, New York DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
Columbia BOBBY JINDAL, Louisiana
ZOE LOFGREN, California DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, U.S. Virgin CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
Islands GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida
BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas DAVID DAVIS, Tennessee
CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania
YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
AL GREEN, Texas
ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado
VACANCY
Jessica Herra-Flanigan, Staff Director & General Counsel
Rosaline Cohen, Chief Counsel
Michael Twinchek, Chief Clerk
Robert O'Connor, Minority Staff Director
______
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, PREPAREDNESS, AND RESPONSE
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas, Chairman
LORETTA SANCHEZ, California CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania
NORMAN D. DICKS, Washington MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
NITA M. LOWEY, New York MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of BOBBY JINDAL, Louisiana
Columbia DAVID DAVIS, Tennessee
DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN, U.S. Virgin PETER T. KING, New York (Ex
Islands Officio)
BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina
BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi (Ex
Officio)
Craig Sharman, Director
Nichole Francis, Counsel
Brian Turbyfill, Clerk
Heather Hogg, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
(II)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
STATEMENTS
The Honorable Henry Cuellar, a Representative in Congress From
the State of Texas, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Emergency
Communications, Preparedness, and Response..................... 1
The Honorable Charles W. Dent, a Representative in Congress From
the State of Pennsylvania, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response........... 3
Witnesses
Mr. Robert French, Director, Pennsylvania Emergency Management
Agency:
Oral Statement................................................. 14
Prepared Statement............................................. 17
Ms. MaryAnn Marrocolo, Deputy Managing Director, Managing
Director's Office, Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management:
Oral Statement................................................. 27
Prepared Statement............................................. 29
Mr. R. Chadwick Paul, Jr., Chief Executive Office, Ben Franklin
technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania on behalf of Wall
Street West:
Oral Statement................................................. 31
Prepared Statement............................................. 33
Mr Jonathan Sarubbi, Regional Administrator, FEMA Region III,
Department of Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 5
Prepared Statement............................................. 8
Mr. Robert G. Werts, Program Manager, Northeast Pennsylvania
Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force:
Oral Statement................................................. 20
Prepared Statement............................................. 23
FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL COORDINATION: HOW PREPARED IS PENNSYLVANIA TO
RESPOND TO A TERRORIST ATTACK OR NATURAL DISASTER?
----------
Monday, September 10, 2007
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and
Response
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., at
the Fowler Family Southside Center, Northampton Community
College, 511 East Third Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 18015,
Hon. Henry Cuellar [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Member present: Representative Dent.
Mr. Cuellar. Subcommittee on Emergency Communications,
Preparedness, and Response will come to order now. Good morning
and I want to welcome everybody to our panel, of course our
members of the panel, to the audience. I understand, Charlie,
we got some students also will be coming in and I am so happy
that we got students coming in. And, also, as a graduate of a
community college I am going to thank you very much for holding
this. And I have always said that I do know community colleges
educate over half of our students and they play a very
important role and especially in this new changing technology.
I mean the world that we have, economy and the needs to make
sure that we are able to address our technology needs that we
have community colleges, they used to be junior colleges, now
community colleges are doing a great job. So it is always a
pleasure being here.
First I would like welcome all of you here as this
subcommittee examines how the Federal, State, and regional, and
local officials, first responders and the private sector are
working together to prepare the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
its communities and its residents to respond to a natural
disaster or a terrorist attack. I would like to first of all
thank my good friend Charlie for being such a good host.
Charlie and I have done some work together. We were in Iraq
last year. It was hot, came down to Laredo, my home town, it
was hotter. In Laredo down there in the border and, of course,
Charlie and I served together on the committee, a Ranking
Member and let me tell you, Congressman Dent, your Congressman,
Charlie has been a good member. He works very hard. He is very
diligent. He does his homework. And right after this, as you
know, we have to rush back to Washington to hear the status
report on Iraq, as you know, so we got to go back up there. But
Charlie has been doing a great job in making sure that we
discuss the critical security challenges that the northeastern
Pennsylvania faces and I am glad to be here with him on this
important issue. Charlie has been a good partner. We have
worked very well together in a bipartisan, who is the Democrat,
who is the Republic here. He is the Republican. I am the
Democrat. Okay. All right. We have worked in a very bipartisan
to address some of the important issues and I think that is the
way things should be done especially when we talk about
Homeland Security. Partisan issues should be set aside and we
should focus on what is good for the nation, what is good for
the State or the Commonwealth or for our local community and
Charlie has done that. So I really look forward to working with
him and doing other field hearings to other parts of the
country, also.
You know, too often people who spend too much time in
Washington lose touch what is going on in the real world and I
think this type of real hearings that we have, field hearings
are so important. I think it is important for members of the
Homeland Security Committee to travel around the country to see
what is being done by local officials. I would rather have
those ideas come up from the local governments or local
officials or private sector instead of Washington telling you
what the, you know, what the answers are. It should be the
other way and this is why we are here today. We are all very
well aware of the disasters that all disasters are local and
you can bear a large majority of the responsibilities for
protecting the citizens. While I continue to believe that more
dollars need to be allocated to many of our first responders,
grant programs, as you know, of the Subcommittee that we are in
that is where the dollars are at. A majority of the
preparedness dollars will always come from the local level that
is the partnership that we work together.
All right. During this hearing we will look forward to
discussing such issues that how reforms to FEMA are changing
preparedness at the local level. How grant funds administered
by the Department of Homeland Security are being utilized. How
citizen preparedness efforts can be more effective, and whether
we are doing enough in the areas of public health preparedness.
I also look forward to discussing the issue of evacuation
planning. Northeastern Pennsylvania is in a very unique
geographic area. You are in close proximity to both New York
and Philadelphia and would clearly feel the effects and the
need to be prepared for a large-scale evacuation of those
cities.
In closing, Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding
of New Orleans exposed significant flaws in our Government's
ability to prepare for, mitigate against, respond to and
recover from this type of major disasters. The committee is
determined to work closely with State and local officials as we
reform FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security to ensure
that this never happens again. Some progress has been made but
more challenges still remain and we have a lot of work to do
and this is why I want to thank all the witnesses here today
because we certainly want to gather the information. We
certainly want to learn from you as we do our work.
At this time the Chair is happy to recognize the Ranking
Member of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications,
Preparedness, and Response, the gentleman from Pennsylvania,
Mr. Dent, for an opening statement.
Mr. Dent. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here.
Thank you for the kind words and all the courtesies you
extended us just by being here today. I very much appreciate
that. And it was just about two years ago this time, two years
ago two weeks, I guess, that Chairman Cuellar and I spent time
in Iraq together flying over the country at 200 feet for a few
hours. That was an experience from Kirkuk to Baghdad, and about
a year ago this time, he and I were on the border and he
represents Laredo, Texas, the largest inland port in the United
States. That and I guess the Port of Detroit. On the southern
border it is the largest inland port I had a great experience,
and again, spent a good part of the day in a helicopter with
him. I won't tell you what happened in that helicopter but it
was just as hot as Iraq and we didn't have to wear body armor
in Laredo. But it was a great experience and I got a chance to
visit his community and his constituency and it is really quite
a dynamic area, Laredo, Texas. You really get to understand the
impact of trade just by visiting a community like Laredo, Texas
and the farsighted leadership in his community. Chairman
Cuellar has been a tremendous leader in the Congress. We were
elected together back in 2005 and I really enjoyed that
opportunity to spend time with him down in his hometown. And
you really learn a great deal about of America if you visit a
place like Laredo, that is one thing I will tell you. I'd,
also, like to thank all the students who are here today,
delighted that you have joined us, as well as many in the first
responder community.
This Subcommittee often discusses important issues about
first responders, preparedness, and community engagement while
we are in Washington. It is not often, however, that we are
able to hold this type of a field hearing right here in our
community to talk about two issues that are important to all of
us: natural disasters and acts of terrorism. And, of course,
living here in Pennsylvania, you know, we are a very flood-
prone State as you can well imagine and this community has
suffered three significant floods over the past two years. And
that is something that we keep a great deal of watch on as
members of this Subcommittee in addition to terrorism. We look
at both man-made and natural disasters as a part of our
mission.
Therefore, I am extraordinarily pleased that we are seizing
this unique opportunity here in Bethlehem, particularly since
September is designated as National Preparedness Month. And
today's hearing will bring together representatives of key
Federal, State, and local agencies involved in emergency
management planning, preparedness for a pandemic or other
public health emergency, evacuation and shelter plans--and
given, our proximity to New York, that is obviously a very
significant concern, as well as our proximity to Philadelphia
and, of course, in ensuring that our firefighters, police,
emergency managers receive the proper training and equipment to
effectively fulfill their duties. So I look forward to hearing
from these witnesses on how they are working together to
coordinate their various planning efforts and resources to
strengthen our overall preparedness.
We, also, have with us a representative today from Wall
Street West, my good friend, Chad Paul, who needs no
introduction here. He is with Ben Franklin Technology Partners.
Wall Street West is a new initiative designed to make sure that
the financial services community is fully prepared to continue
operations in the wake of a disaster ocurring in the New York
metropolitan area. And so that is an extraordinarily important
initiative that I think many of us want to learn more about
that. The Securities and Exchange Commission has had a great
deal to say about that particular issue and we will hear more
from Chad Paul about that. But I look forward to discussing
this unique effort by Wall Street West and, you know, how it is
going to strengthen the preparedness and resiliency of the
business community and how it could potentially impact our
Lehigh Valley.
Again, I once more want to thank our good friends here at
Northampton Community College for allowing us to hold this
hearing on the south campus. And, also, thanks too for bringing
the check, the $1.2 million and the EDA Grant, that is nice
that you brought that here. And, of course, I should, just by
way of a commercial, note that Northampton Community College is
very active in local emergency preparedness and response
efforts. Not only does the college offer a degree program in
emergency services, but it also has developed a program to
deliver emergency response training based on the National
Incident Management System. This approach has fostered greater
coordination between local government and the community and has
received attention as a possible national model to promote what
we refer to as NIMS, the National Incident Management System,
compliance. So thank you to Northampton Community College for
your leadership in that area.
And, again, thanks to the all witnesses here today. We look
forward to receiving your testimony. Again, speciall thanks to
my good friend, Henry Cuellar. We have been able to work, I
think, in a wonderful bipartisan manner in Washington and it
has been, you know, when we talk about business it is not about
Republicans or Democrats. It is about doing what is best for
this country and for our communities and for the security of
our homeland. So with that, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you, Mr. Dent. And, again, really
committee rules any other members of the subcommittee that are
not present here may submit their opening statements for the
record. Also, for any of the witnesses or anybody that needs to
say anything I know we got our staff here and I certainly want
to thank our staff for the work that they have done for putting
this together. The other thing is as we get started the first
field hearing of the subcommittee for this Congressional, this
Legislative Session is here. This is the first one that we have
had, the first field hearing so it really speaks very highly of
the work that Mr. Dent has done and I certainly want to
recognize him for his work.
At this time I would welcome our panel of witnesses. Our
first witness is Mr. Jonathan Sarubbi who is a Regional
Administrator for FEMA Region III for the Department of
Homeland Security. Mr. Sarubbi was appointed to this position
in March of 2007. He spent 26 years in the Coast Guard
specializing in marine safety, port security and collusion
response. Welcome.
Our second witness is Mr. Robert French who is the Director
of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. Mr. French was
appointed by Governor Edward Rendell on July 20, 2007. He has
been directly involved in emergency management operations for
more than 30 years. Again, welcome.
Our third witness is Mr. Robert Werts and is the Program
Manager for the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counter
Terrorism Task Force. Prior to being in this position he was a
member of the Pennsylvania State Police for nearly 35 years.
Welcome.
Our fourth witness is Ms. MaryAnn Marrocolo who is the
Deputy Manager Director for Emergency Management for the City
of Philadelphia. Before that she spent over seven years with
the New York Office of Emergency Management pending her tenure
there as the Assistant Commissioner for Planning and
Preparedness. Welcome.
Our fifth witness is our last witness is Mr. Chadwick Paul
who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Franklin
Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania. He is appearing
this morning on behalf of the Wall Street West. Welcome.
Again, to all of you we are very pleased to have you here.
Without any objections the witnesses' full statements will be
inserted in the record. I now ask each witness to summarize his
or her statement for five minutes beginning with Mr. Sarubbi.
STATEMENT OF JONATHAN SARUBBI, REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA
REGION III, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Mr. Sarubbi. Good morning, Chairman Cuellar and Congressman
Dent. It is indeed a pleasure to be here this morning to talk
about FEMA preparedness, mitigation, and response and recovery
activities within Region III. My name is Jonathan Sarubbi and I
am privileged to serve as the Region III Administrator for the
Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management
Agency in Philadelphia. Thank you for inviting me to appear
before you today. My objective is to highlight for you the
steps FEMA in Region III have taken to strengthen the region
and improve our relationships with our Federal, State and local
partners. I will also discuss our readiness for natural and
man-made disasters.
As a Regional Administrator I oversee FEMA's all-hazard
preparedness and emergency management efforts in Delaware, the
District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West
Virginia. Helping me to carry out my duties are nearly 90 full-
time employees along with more than 400 disaster reservists.
Since 2002 Region III has responded to and assisted with the
recovery from 46 major disaster declarations and 11 emergency
declarations providing more than $1.1 billion in assistance to
over a quarter of million residents. During the same period 11
disaster declarations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have
resulted in the distribution of just 386 million in disaster
assistance to nearly 50,000 families, State and local
governments and some private non-profit entities.
FEMA Region III has been working diligently to build a
strong, capable and responsive region. This progress is
exemplified in the work we have done in the terms of
partnerships, training, exercises, gap analysis and citizen
preparedness. Let me briefly elaborate on these efforts. The
worse time to build relationships is during a disaster. Region
III is working aggressively to enhance communication with
Federal, State and local leaders. We maintain a wide variety of
relationships with emergency management officials from all
levels of government and law enforcement, ranging from State
emergency management agencies to antiterrorist task forces such
as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism
Task Force and the Antiterrorism Advisory Counsels established
by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Additionally, FEMA and the Department of Defense have taken
major strides to ensure that the Federal and military response
is coordinated and seamless especially at the regional level.
Region III's defense coordinating element serves as the single
point of contact for the command and control of active duty
forces assigned to respond in an emergency operation. FEMA's
Regional III's exercise officer coordinates our preparation or
excuse me, participation in Federal, State and local exercises
as well as handles our assistance to other agencies in the
planning, execution and evaluation of their exercises. Region
III has participated in and facilitated many all-hazard
exercises including oil and hazardous material spills, agro-
terrorism, terrorism and pandemic flu exercises.
One of the most visible and successful exercises was the
2007 Liberty Down exercise held on February 8, 2007. Partnering
with the Philadelphia Federal Executive Board and the
Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Task Force, this exercise
tested and evaluated the ability of organizations to activate
their continuity of operations plans during a natural
emergency. Approximately 600 participants from 102 Federal,
State and local agencies as well as the private sector
participated in this event. It was one of the nation's largest
and most successful continuity of operations planning
exercises. Building on this event a full-scale exercise is
being planned for 2008.
The old paradigm we are waiting for State and local
governments to be overwhelmed before providing Federal
assistance is a thing of the past. We are leaning forward to
anticipate the need or the needs of our State and local
partners and to fill them as quickly as we can. One of the ways
which we are preparing for this proactive response is by
partnering with our States in something we call a gap analysis.
Since March we have been working closing with our hurricane-
prone States using a consistent set of measures and tools to
evaluate strengths and vulnerabilities. The focus of the
assessment is on debris removal, interim housing, sheltering,
evacuation, commodities distribution, medical communications
and fuel needs. As a part of this initiative we have entered
into partnerships with State and local agencies far beyond our
traditional emergency management agencies to rely--to really
understand their roles in disasters and their capabilities. To
accomplish this Region III deployed a task force to Delaware,
the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. As this
assessment tool is further developed into an all-hazards
program we anticipate similar efforts with the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Another initiative that is equally important is our citizen
preparedness. FEMA is working to build a culture of
preparedness in America. DHS and FEMA administers three main
initiatives to achieve this goal, the Ready Campaign, FEMA's
community preparedness informational materials, and the
Citizens Corps. Region III has emphasized individual
preparedness in press releases, Congressional advisories,
public service announcements, region-wide displays in
libraries, and even in customer bill inserts through the Cox
Communications Cable Network. Stressed are three key points: be
informed about the types of emergencies that could possibly
occur, assemble an emergency supply kit, and have a family
communications plan.
Building upon the agencies Get Ready 1907 hurricane
awareness campaign, Region III held a Safety and Health Expo on
June 14, 2007, on the historic grounds of Independence Mall in
Philadelphia, bringing together more than 40 vendors from
Federal, State and local agencies as well as the private
sector.
Also, Region III's Citizen Corps program works daily to
support State and local efforts. In the region, there are 144
Citizen Corps county councils and 60 local councils. Here in
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania there are 46 Citizen Corps
county councils and four local councils. Since 2003, the
Department has provided Pennsylvania Citizen Corps programs
with more than $3.7 million which has resulted in education and
training of Commonwealth citizens.
As I speak, Citizen Corps councils throughout the nation
are fully engaged in events for Ready Campaigns National
Preparedness Month. This year's campaign is developed around
four weekly themes meant to engage and educate families,
neighborhoods, and citizens across the region. This week's
theme is business preparedness.
Let me now discuss the impact of recent legislation reforms
on FEMA's mission. The post-Katrina Management Reform Act of
2006 which was signed into law on October 4, 2006, has
significantly expanded FEMA's mission and authorities. In
April, several key programs from the former Department of
Homeland Security's preparedness directorate transferred into
FEMA, including the Ready Emergency Preparedness Program,
Citizens Corps, Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, the
Office of National Capitol Region Coordination, and the Office
of Grants and Training. These programs are currently managed at
the headquarters level, however, there are working groups
currently working to integrate these programs responsibilities
into the regional offices across the country. This
restructuring has resulted in a new FEMA, strengthening our
all-hazards operational framework and coordination
capabilities.
We will soon bring aboard a Federal Preparedness
Coordinator or FPC. The FPC's primary role will be to
coordinate the establishment of regional, domestic, all-hazard
preparedness goals and play a vital role in information sharing
and relationship building. The FPC will particularly improve
the region's readiness by strengthening links with State
Homeland Security Advisors, Fusion Centers, Joint Terrorist
Task Force.
In addition to the FPC we are increasing our disaster
operations and disaster assistance staffs to strengthen our
capabilities and expertise in those areas. We are also finding
ways to better utilize skilled staff we have, for example,
implementing a specialized planning unit to coordinate
contingency planning across the region.
Responding to the many lessons emerging from the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA has invested heavily to improve its
capabilities in several areas to better prepare for and respond
to disasters. These include communications in disaster
operations, disaster assistance, logistics management, and
operational planning. My written testimony expands on these
areas in greater detail but given their importance let me
briefly highlight a few of them.
Within the regional office we are making technological
improvements to enhance our ability to coordinate with our
Federal, State and local partners during an incident by
upgrading our Regional Response Coordination Center. The Center
is the central location where Federal agencies locate forming a
regional command center to coordinate the regional disaster
response. Enhancements include an upgraded computer system and
extended audiovisual systems for situational awareness which
increase the reporting capability throughout the regional
office. Our video teleconferencing capabilities will be
upgraded in the near future allowing FEMA headquarters national
response coordination to contact with the RRCC in real time.
To meet the needs of catastrophic incident a new policy
allows States to request a Pre-Disaster Emergency Declaration
when they are threatened by a natural or man-made incident that
could result in a major disaster. This new form of declaration
would make Federal aid available in advance of a disaster and
would provide equipment, supplies, and advance deployment of
those response teams.
Lastly, the Regional Advisory Council and the Regional
Emergency Communication Coordination Working Group are being
established and will advise me on all aspects of emergency
response management and communications. Both groups will
consist of representatives from all levels of government,
Federal, State, and local, as well as the private sector.
In conclusion, I believe real progress has been made in
strengthening FEMA's regions and as a result Region III
continues to enhance its capabilities to respond to disasters
of any kind. Ultimately, the new FEMA we are creating will keep
the American people better prepared across the spectrum of all
hazards and safer than they were before.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to answering
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Jonathan Sarubbi follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jonathan Sarubbi
INTRODUCTION
Chairman Cuellar, Ranking Member Dent, and members of the
Committee.
My name is Jonathan and I am privileged to serve as the Region III
Administrator for he Department of Homeland Security's Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Philadelphia.
Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to highlight
for you the steps FEMA and Region III have taken to strengthen the
region and improve our relationships with our Federal, State and local
partners to ensure we are prepared to respond successfully to future
disasters. Let me begin with a brief overview of Region III and my role
as the Regional Administrator.
Overview of Region III
As the Regional Administrator, I oversee FEMA's all-hazards
preparedness and emergency management efforts in Delaware, the District
of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. As
the primary FEMA representative and coordinator for this region, I
oversee the development, implementation and execution of all of FEMA's
programs and initiatives, and work with State and local partners and
the private sector to build a strong, capable, and responsive region.
Helping me to carry out my duties are nearly 90 dedicated full-time
employees along with more than 450 disaster reservists, commonly known
as Disaster Assistance Employees. Our Defense Coordinating Element
(DCE) from U.S. Army-North, is co-located with us in Philadelphia. The
DCE is a full-time, seven-person element that interacts daily with
Region III personnel and leadership to provide expertise and support to
our ongoing planning efforts.
Let me also briefly share with you the scope of disaster assistance
provided by Region III since 2000. We have responded to and assisted
with the recovery from 46 major disaster declarations and 11 emergency
declarations. In so doing, we have provided assistance to over a
quarter of a million residents, disbursing over $1.1 billion in Federal
assistance.
Pennsylvania alone has received 11 major disaster declarations for
severe storms and flooding. Of these, nine were major disaster
declarations and two were emergency declarations. Through the
Individual Assistance Program, $13 3.6 million was awarded. Under the
Public Assistance Program, $253.3 million was awarded to eligible State
and local governments as well as some private nonprofit organizations.
Legislative Reforms Strengthen FEMA/Region III
The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (PKEMRA),
which was signed into law by President Bush on October 4,2006, calls
for a major transformation by integrating preparedness and grant
missions with legacy missions to create what we refer to as ``New
FEMA''. This transformation will, in part, strengthen FEMA's 10
regional offices and strengthen our all-hazards operational framework
and coordination capabilities. All of these actions are consistent with
the for a New FEMA. Working groups are reviewing our structure and key
processes to develop a regional implementation plan that will integrate
these programmatic organizational changes seamlessly at the regional
level.
Many of the changes associated with the New FEMA are already being
implemented within Region III. This includes communication,
collaboration and alignment with new organizational elements at the
Headquarters level. We frequently coordinate programs and exercise
activities with them, sharing information, and participating in joint
events such as annual Grants Monitoring Visits and the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force's Tri-State
Preparedness Conference. We expect that the New FEMA structure will
allow us to formalize these relationships and enhance our coordination
in order to provide more seamless support to Pennsylvania and the
country as a whole.
Pennsylvania consistently leads the nation in funds received
through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program. FEMA staff
support fire AFG applicants by offering workshops which help prepare
organizations to write their grant proposals, by offering technical
assistance, and by monitoring grants. Under the FY 2006 AFG Program,
2,344 awards were made totaling $194,429,925. During that time, one
significant award was made to Lancaster County through the Upper
Township Fire Department, representing more than 80 fire departments.
This grant, which totaled $1 million, the maximum allowed by law, will
be used in an effort to address the population growth and increased
risk experienced by Lancaster County. The project's scope includes the
purchase and execution of a multi-band frequency and standardized
communications equipment to replace obsolete and inoperative
communications equipment. The outcome will be an interoperable 800MKZ
system to talk directly with other emergency services disciplines, such
as police, EMS, emergency management, local municipalities, State or
Federal agencies.
Another of the specific changes coming very soon is the hiring of a
Federal Preparedness Coordinator, or FPC. Region III is in the process
of selecting a strong and experienced leader to fill this position. The
FPC's primary role will be to improve the region's all-hazard
preparedness posture by strengthening links with State Homeland
Security Advisors, fusion centers, and joint terrorism task forces. One
of the key responsibilities will be to develop integrated plans and
courses of action based on risk and capabilities assessments to enhance
the region's readiness preparedness to prevent, protect against,
respond to, and recover from all hazards.
Responding to the many lessons emerging from the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, FEMA has invested heavily to improve its
capabilities in several areas to better prepare for and respond to
disasters. These include, among others, communications and disaster
operations, disaster assistance, logistics management, operational
planning, and other preparedness initiatives.
First: Communications and Disaster Operations.
We are making technological improvements to enhance our ability to
coordinate with our Federal, State, and local partners during an
incident. For example, we are upgrading our Regional Response
Coordination Center (RRCC), which is the central location where Federal
agencies co-locate forming a regional command center during a disaster
to coordinate regional response under the current National Response
Plan (NRP). We have upgraded our computer system and extended the video
teleconferencing systems to increase situational awareness, thereby
increasing reporting capacity throughout the regional office. This new
system allows for local IT personnel to readily replace systems in the
event of unit failure. The extension of the RRCC audio visual system to
all conference rooms allows for staff and our Federal partners
throughout the office to view current situational updates and
participate in briefings without leaving their work locations.
Additional enhancements are under contract to add monitors for
increased situational awareness and upgraded video teleconferencing
capabilities. These enhancements will allow the National Response
Coordination Center to connect to the RRCC in real time providing FEMA
Headquarters and the region with the most current situational
assessment for decision making purposes.
We are also in the process of hiring a full-time subject matter
expert in field deployable emergency communication systems to promote
our ability to communicate effectively during disasters and
emergencies.
To further enhance disaster response capabilities, FEMA is
developing the next generation of rapidly deployable interagency
emergency response teams--Incident Management Assistance Teams, or
IMATS. The primary mission of a FEMA or IMAT will be to rapidly deploy
to an incident or incident-threatened venue and provide leadership to
meet the emergent needs of State and local jurisdictions and support
the initial establishment of a unified command. When not deployed, the
teams will train with Federal, State, local, and tribal partners and
provide a training capability to elevate State and local emergency
management capabilities. The teams will also engage in consistent and
coordinated operational planning and relationship building with State,
local, and other stakeholders. Eventually, each FEMA region will have
an IMAT team. Currently, FEMA is recruiting for positions on the teams
that will be assigned to FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and
Regions IV, V, and VI. FEMA expects to establish a team in each
remaining Region by 2010.
PKEMRA also provides for the creation of a Regional Advisory
Council (RAC) and a Regional Emergency Communications Coordination
Working Group (RECCWG), which are both being established in Region III.
Both groups will consist of representatives from all levels of
government. While the RAC will advise me on all aspects of emergency
management within Region III, the RECCWG will advise me on all aspects
of emergency communications. I am in the process now of reviewing the
nominations of candidates to serve on these committees. This RECCWG
will, of course, fully support the ongoing communications improvements
that the Commonwealth is already developing, including the roll out of
the statewide voice and data interoperability across the State's 800
MHz Public Safety Radio Network connecting key State agency
headquarters and field operations, the 67 county emergency managers and
9-1-1 centers, State health department locations, and Pennsylvania
State Police consolidated dispatch centers across the State. In the
Commonwealth allocated more than $18 million of DHS funding for
additional interoperable communications investments. Pennsylvania will
also receive more than $34 million from the DHS/Department of
Commerce's Public Safety Interoperable Communications grant program
(PSIC) to further their capacity throughout the Commonwealth. FEMA is
committed to assisting with this progress wherever possible.
Second: Disaster Assistance.
To meet the needs of a catastrophic incident, we have enhanced our
ability to register up to 200,000 disaster victims and inspect up to
20,000 homes per day. Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs) will be
employed during these large-scale disasters. DRCs are facilities that
provide on-site disaster assistance to victims, allowing them to
register for temporary housing, grants, and other aid.
When States are immediately threatened by a natural or man-made
incident that could result in a major disaster, States can now request
a pre-disaster emergency declaration. This new form of declaration
would make Federal aid available in advance of a disaster, and would
provide equipment, supplies, and the advance deployment of response
teams. In concert with our forward leaning posture, we are implementing
policies that will allow us to anticipate the States' needs and to fill
them quickly.
To help enhance awareness and increase the preparedness and
readiness levels of our State, tribal and local partners for future
disaster operations, FEMA Region III has been very proactive, forward
leaning and diligently to implement an aggressive education and
training program for State, tribal and local officials through
consultation and collaboration with various components of the Public
Assistance program at both, the Headquarter and regional level. Our
ongoing training and outreach efforts are intended to strengthen our
existing relationships with State and local governments, while
enhancing readiness capabilities of agencies and individuals involved
in response and recovery operations, and provide the necessary tools to
encourage more decisive actions during the grant award process.
Third: Logistics.
To be effective, we must be able to get what we need, where we need
it, when we need it. Along these lines, a Logistics Management
Directorate has been established at FEMA Headquarters and is to develop
a system for full asset visibility. Region III logistics personnel have
been trained to operate key components of a new system called Total
Asset Visibility, which will enable them to submit requests for
resources and to track the locations of shipments.
We are ready to answer the call to deliver the commodities and
capabilities that the States request. Partnerships with the Defense
Logistics Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, General Services
Administration and others are allowing us to strategically plan for
this storm season and to lessen reduce the amounts of pre-positioned
commodities, yet still be confident that we can meet requirements.
There are two logistics centers located in our region--Cumberland,
Maryland and Frederick, Virginia. They are fully stocked for this storm
season. We also have agreements with 10 National Guard and Department
of Defense bases to establish Federal staging areas to receive and
distribute commodities to State-operated points of distribution. One of
these is located at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station outside of
Philadelphia, where major air-oriented response and recovery operations
will be conducted.
Fourth: Operational Planning.
The establishment of an all-risk Planning Unit in FEMA Region III
has been a long standing regional priority. Effective July 30,2007 in
an effort to create a unified and concentrated focus, Region III stood
up a Planning Unit within our National Preparedness Division. This unit
will coordinate externally with our partners and internally with
regional functions in producing operational and contingency plans and
managing assessments. Placing the Planning Unit in our National
Preparedness Division will draw on the synergy of the existing
Continuity of Operations Program, exercises, National Incident
Management System (NIMS), and agency grant programs that form the core
components of regional preparedness. The overall emphasis of this team
will be on all-hazards planning and will produce a more robust field
organization with increased capability to deliver frontline services.
With the impending addition of emergency response operations and
planning staff, we will greatly enhance our situational awareness and
planning capability, as regional monitoring via the RRCC will be
increased to 24-hours, 7-days a week.
Regional Preparedness Activities
Under the New FEMA, we are strengthening coordination with other
DHS components, incorporating the concept of preparedness into all FEMA
programs, and enhancing our ability to partner with State and local
emergency management organizations, as well as the private sector.
Through our partnerships and programs we are significant progress daily
in preparing Region III for disasters--both natural and man-made. I
will elaborate on these efforts:
Citizen Preparedness
FEMA is working to build a culture of preparedness in America. DHS
and FEMA administer three main initiatives to achieve this goal--the
Ready Campaign, community preparedness informational materials, and
Citizen Corps.
Ready is the Department's public awareness campaign to encourage
people to take simple steps to make themselves and their families
prepared for emergencies. Understanding that assistance may be several
days away after a catastrophic disaster, citizens have an important
role in preparing for the first 72 hours following an incident. Region
III has emphasized individual preparedness in press releases,
congressional advisories, Public Service Announcements, wide displays
in libraries, and even in customer bill inserts through the Cox
Communications Cable Company. We stressed three key points: be informed
about the types of emergencies that could occur, assemble an emergency
supply and have a family communication plan.
Building upon the ``Get Ready '07'' hurricane awareness campaign,
Region III held a Safety and Health Expo on June 14, 2007 on the
historic grounds of Independence Mall in Philadelphia, bringing
together more than 40 vendors from Federal, State and local agencies as
well as the private sector. The expo provided an opportunity for
vendors to provide information on safety, health, and citizen
preparedness.
Region III's Citizen Corps program works daily to support State and
local efforts. In the region, there are 144 Citizen Corps county
councils and 60 local councils. Here in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, there are 46 Citizen Corps county councils and 4 local
councils. Since 2003, the Department has provided the Pennsylvania
Citizen Corps Program with $3,760,025 and the program has used that
money efficiently to educate and train Commonwealth citizens. Since
2004, Pennsylvania Citizen Corps volunteers have logged thousands of
hours executing events and presenting information about emergency
preparedness to over 179,000 Pennsylvania citizens. Outreach has been
conducted at county and safety fairs, senior expos, and open houses at
schools. Audiences have ranged the gambit from Chambers of Commerce to
Girl and Boy Scout troops, daycares, and senior centers. Pennsylvania
Citizen Corps Councils have trained 3,441 citizens in Community
Emergency Response Team (CERT) training since 2004. During that same
time period 8,427 citizens received other emergency preparedness
training, including Damage Assessment, Pandemic Flu Preparedness,
American Red Cross training, training, and NIMS, among others.
Pennsylvania Citizen Corps is currently to bring both Campus CERT and
Teen CERT programs to Pennsylvania.
Partnerships
The worst time to build relationships is during a disaster. Region
III is working aggressively to improve communications with Federal,
State and local leaders. We maintain a wide variety of relationships
with emergency management officials in all levels of and law
enforcement, including:
State Emergency Management Agencies
The Anti-Terrorism Advisory Councils (ATAC) (including
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh)
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Counter
Terrorism Task Force
The Pittsburgh ``Region 13'' Regional Counterterrorism
Task Force
The Regional Response Team (RRT)
The Area Committee (AC) and Area Maritime Security
Committee (AMSC) Continuity Of Operations (COOP) coordination
with the Federal Executive Boards (FEB) (Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh)
Delaware Valley Fusion Center
In May of this year, the Regional Interagency Steering Committee
(RISC) meeting and Response and Recovery/Mitigation Summit were held at
the Philadelphia regional office. More than 100 Federal and State
officials attended. Region III holds RISC meetings semiannually to
share information on Agency policies and procedures and to discuss
initiatives that relate to disaster operations/assistance and
mitigation. RISC members represent the agencies that would respond to a
major disaster under the current National Response Plan.
Additionally, FEMA and the DoD have taken major strides to ensure
that Federal and military response is coordinated and seamless,
especially at the regional level. Region III's Defense Coordinating
Element (DCE) serves as the single point of contact for the
coordination and validation of civilian requests for support and for
the command and control of active duty forces assigned to response
operations. The Region III DCE has been active throughout the region.
In Pennsylvania, the DCE participated in three major exercises over the
last year in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. The
Defense Coordination Officer, Colonel James met personally with the
Director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in April and
the Pennsylvania Adjutant General in May.
National Response Plan and National Incident Management System
Pennsylvania Emergency Management is the lead agency for
implementation of NIMS and the current National Response Plan (NRP)
within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and we are committed to
supporting PEMA. Pennsylvania faces many unique challenges in
implementing NIMS. Their primary challenge is the fact that their 2,567
municipalities often lack dedicated staff assigned to emergency
management. Region III has frequent interaction with the PEMA NIMS
Coordinator, providing technical assistance and clarifying NIMS
guidance. The PEMA Coordinator participated in the quarterly Region III
NIMS Conference calls and the 2007 NIMS Implementation Workshop.
Additionally, PEMA has included the Region III NIMS Coordinator in
their Statewide NIMS implementation conference calls.
As I am sure you are aware, the NRP is in the process of being
revised and will be superseded by the National Response Framework.
Federal, State, local communities, the private sector, and non-
governmental organizations have submitted more than 3,000 comments for
consideration so far, with the final 30-day comment period beginning
this week. As this document is distributed for comment,, we will again
facilitate delivery of this product to the Commonwealth and provide
opportunities for comment.
Exercises/Training
FEMA Region III's exercise officer coordinates our participation in
all Federal, State and local exercises, as well as handles our
assistance to other agencies in the planning, execution, and evaluation
of their exercises. Region III has participated in and facilitated many
all-hazards exercises, including oil and hazardous materials spills,
agro-terrorism, terrorism, Pandemic and Avian flu planning. One of the
most visible and successful exercises was the ``2007 Liberty Down.''
On February 8, 2007, we joined the Philadelphia Federal Executive
Board (FEB), and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Task Force to
host ``Liberty Down,'' an exercise designed to test and evaluate the
ability of organizations to activate their continuity of operations
plans during a natural emergency. The exercise focused on the
capability of the Federal community to communicate and work effectively
with various State and local agencies responsible for emergency
services and safety. Approximately 600 participants 102 State, local,
Federal agencies, and the private sector participated in this event--
one of the nation's largest and most successful COOP exercises. The FEB
and group are already forward to building on this event with a full-
scale exercise to follow in 2008. Pittsburgh is currently planning a
similar event for 2008.
Mitigation
On May 1, 2007, Regiion III's Mitigation Division was restructured
to better manage the full range of mitigation programs and to allow the
organization to effectively fulfill its response duties. There are now
three branches: Rick Analysis; Floodplain Management and Insurance; and
Hazard Mitigation Assistance.
Through the Agency's Flood Map Modernization Program and many grant
programs, Region III is working diligently to reduce impacts to the
region by mitigating risks to life and property.
The Flood Map Modernization program is a collaborative effort
between FEMA and its partners to modernize existing Flood Insurance
Rate Maps. These flood maps are used to identify and manage flood risk.
The goal is to map the areas where 92 percent of America's population
lives--covering 65 percent of the land area in the United States. As of
today, in Pennsylvania, FEMA has issued effective maps for the counties
of Pike, Northampton, Lehigh, Union, Snyder and Lycoming. In 2008,
preliminary maps will be released for Montour and Northumberland
counties. Soon thereafter, in 2009 and 2010, maps will follow for
Wayne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna, Wyoming, and Bradford and Sullivan
Counties.
As of FY 2007, FEMA has authority for five Hazard Mitigation
Assistance grant programs with unique statutory authorities, program
requirements and triggers for funding. The programs are the Hazard
Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM), Flood
Mitigation Assistance (FMA), Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL), and
Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC). They all share a common goal-to assist
State and local communities in their efforts to reduce the loss of life
and property from natural hazard events.
In Region III, we have approved or are in the process of approving
mitigation grants in the following programs:
Under the HMGP, for the disaster declaration issued on
June 30,2006, due to severe storms and flooding, grant awards
totaling $1,408,609 (Federal Share) have been provided for the
acquisition of 23 flood-prone properties in various communities
in Lycoming County: Montgomery Borough, Hepburn Township,
Loyalsock Township, Old Lycoming Township, Lewis Township,
Muncy Creek Township, and Muncy Borough.
The HMGP for the disaster declaration issued on June
30,2006, due to severe storms and flooding, as a grant award
pending for the acquisition of 14 properties in the Susquehanna
County communities of Great Bend Borough, Great Bend Township,
New Milford Township, Liberty Township, Hallstead Borough,
Franklin Township, Borough of Lanesboro, Oakland Township and
Harmony Township. The total for this grant award is $1,727,160
(Federal Share).
In the FMA program, we have awarded $290,475 for an 1-
home acquisition project in Hepburn Township, Lycoming County.
Since 2005, through the PDM program, Region III has
approved mitigation-planning grants for $48,000 in Montour
County, $27,000 in Snyder County and $171,000 in Lackawanna and
Counties.
Gap Analysis
One major initiative that is at the core of FEMA's preparations for
hurricane season is our Gap Analysis tool. Since March, the Agency has
been working closely with hurricane-prone States and territories, using
a consistent set of measures and tools to evaluate strengths and
vulnerabilities. The focus of the assessments is on debris, interim
housing, sheltering, evacuation, commodity distribution, medical,
communication, and fuel.
Partnerships have been crucial throughout this initiative. Region
III deployed task forces specifically to four States, and partnered
with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to handle the
medical portions of the Gap Analysis and to identify and resolve
special medical needs. Also, the Army Corps of Engineers is providing
modeling to Region III for 14 storm tracks. While the Commonwealth has
not specifically partnered in this project, we hope that Pennsylvania
will benefit from some of the information and modeling we are
developing. We expect this information to assist us in identifying
vulnerable facilities and populations, ensuring shelters and staging
areas are in safe locations in all of our States including
Pennsylvania.
The old paradigm of waiting for State and local governments to be
overwhelmed before providing Federal assistance is a thing of the past.
We are now leaning forward to anticipate the needs that the State
cannot meet and to fill it them quickly. Over the months since the
start of the assessments, our relationships with State agencies (beyond
the emergency management agencies) have strengthened tremendously,
resulting in greater traction in identifling capabilities and
shortfalls. As this assessment tool is further developed into an all
hazards program, we anticipate joining in similar efforts with the
Commonwealth.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I believe Region III is well prepared to respond to
major disasters of any kind. Real progress has been made in
strengthening the regions, and as a result, we:
Are better aligned and focused on helping the mid-
Atlantic prepare before an event strikes.
Have stronger operational systems and plans in place
to improve response and coordination.
Are to find new ways to help communities recover and
rebuild after an event strikes.
Are committed to working hand-in-hand with our
partners at every level of government as well as those in the
nonprofit and private sectors.
Are dedicated to fostering a culture of personal
preparedness.
Ultimately, the new FEMA we are creating will keep the American
people better prepared across the spectrum of all hazards, and safer
than they were before, and will as well as make our services in
partnership with State and local governments and the private sector
more reliable and accessible.
Thank you for time, and I look forward to answering your questions.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Sarubbi. I
now recognize Mr. French to summarize his statement for five
minutes.
STATEMENT OF GENERAL ROBERT FRENCH, DIRECTOR, PENNSYLVANIA
EMERGENCY AGENCY
Mr. French. Good morning, Chairman Cuellar and Congressman
Dent. On behalf of Governor Rendell, I thank you for the
opportunity to discuss Pennsylvania's disaster preparedness,
response and recovery programs. My name is Robert French and I
am the Director of PEMA.
As we all know, tomorrow marks the anniversary of the
tragic events that occurred six years ago in New York City,
also at the Pentagon, and certainly right here in Pennsylvania
in Somerset County. Very few events in the history of this
nation have so dramatically impacted and forever altered our
American way of life. The personal freedoms that stood as the
foundation of this nation were compromised and changed. These
terrorist attacks also dramatically impacted community
preparedness programs nationwide. This sequence of events has
forced us to recognize and to address limitations within our
first responder programs and emergency preparedness programs
overall.
Two weeks ago, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi marked
the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, as you well have
felt the impact in your local area. The impact of the Category
5 hurricane on the Gulf Coast actually raised questions
nationwide regarding our collective ability to respond to and
recover from catastrophic disasters.
Mr. Chairman, those two seemingly unrelated events have in
common a devastating impact on our communities, the residents,
and our first responders. And these two events have
dramatically changed emergency preparedness policies and
programs at the Federal, State, county, and community level. In
many cases these changes are ongoing.
By State government standards, PEMA is a relatively small
agency, approximately 160 members. Our overall mission includes
developing and administering the Commonwealth's comprehensive,
all-hazards emergency preparedness and response program. In
order to accomplish this goal, we develop essential
partnerships with multiple State and Federal agencies, county
and community emergency managers, first responders, elected
officials, critical infrastructure providers, and a host of
other public and private sector partners who play a vital role
in our on-going efforts to ensure public health and safety in
our communities. PEMA also employs and deploys the best
available technologies in support of that critical mission.
While we are technologically and in some cases
programmatically advanced over many other State emergency
management agencies, the true key to our success rests with out
State and Federal partners, the 67 county emergency management
officials, 2,500 plus municipal managers, and more than 100,000
first responders across the State. Our role is to plan,
coordinate, and manage the Commonwealth's emergency
preparedness program. Its effectiveness is based upon our
partners to which great dedication is provided.
While most of our communities face a multitude of potential
hazards, as Congressman Dent mentioned earlier, flooding is our
number one potential disaster here in Pennsylvania. Since 2004,
the Governor proclaimed 10 disaster emergencies and five major
disasters were designed by the President releasing Federal
disaster assistance for victims in our affected communities. In
all, 65 of our 67 counties were included in these Federal
declarations and several more than once. More than 60,000
families and businesses were affected, and approximately 2,000
communities lost essential public service and infrastructure
needs. The overall estimate of impact exceeded $500 million.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with our Federal and local
government partners and first responders are also hard at work
capabilities to address man-made events. The Regional Counter
Terrorism Task Force model was launched in 1998 here in
Pennsylvania due to the growing threat and the use of the
weapons of mass destruction. There are nine Regional Task
Forces in the Commonwealth. They comprise the 67 counties. Each
Task Force meets regularly to discuss plans and procedures for
all-hazard preparedness. In order to accomplish this task under
the umbrella of the Regional Task Forces we are creating
partnerships that include all aspects of our communities,
elected officials, first responders, business and industry,
hospital and the medical community, education, critical
infrastructure, the volunteer community, the news media, and
many others are working together to ensure the safety of our
neighborhoods.
We are working closely with the Governor's Homeland
Security Advisor, and other State agencies involved in homeland
security planning and preparedness in order to ensure a
coordinated effort at the State, county, and community level
exists. Collectively we regularly meet with the Regional Task
Forces as we provide and proceed with the implementation plan
for Pennsylvania. Since 1999 we have invested more than $350
million in Federal funds to help our Regional Task Forces
acquire equipment, prepare plans, and conduct training and
exercises for and with our community first responders. PEMA
serves as the State administrative agency and manager to help
in this important Task Force program.
The true all-hazards value of the Regional Counter
Terrorism Task Forces and their weapons of mass destruction
equipment cache was demonstrated at 5:28 a.m. on January 31,
2005, when 13 cars from a Norfolk Southern Railroad train
derailed along the Allegheny River in the Creighton section of
East Deer in Allegheny County. Four of the cars fell into the
river. Two of those tankers that ended up in the river were
filled with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, a caustic concentrated
gas that turns into hydrofluoric acid when mixed with water.
Hydrogen fluoride can cause burns to the skin and eyes, and may
be fatal if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Responders
were fortunate that the cars were under water. That prevented
the gas from impacting responders and residents down wind.
Local officials said, however, that death tolls could have been
very significant had that gas escaped. For the first time all
responders at the site were wearing appropriate protective gear
to help protect them. In many cases this equipment was
purchased by PEMA and shipped to Region 13 through the Regional
Task Force in Pittsburgh. The source of the funding was the
Federal Terrorism Preparedness Funding that has been provided
to us.
Effective communication is one of the greatest challenges
to our community emergency response program. Major incidents
involve multiple response organizations from many areas. Many
use different radio systems on a range of varied frequencies
which makes communications and coordination almost impossible.
PEMA is working with our 800 MHz statewide radio project system
to develop an interoperable communications capability that will
allow incident commanders at the scene of a disaster to
communicate effectively with all responders. We have installed
800 MHz radios in every 911 center in our counties, and are
actively engaged in developing methodology to allow
interoperability communications within each county among all
first responders.
And finally, we are very aware of the limited funding and
need to do more with less. It is our goal to maximize the
application of funding that we do receive, both from State and
Federal government. I am confident that by working closely with
our partners at the Federal, State, county, and community
level, we can support our first responders and protect our
communities against the unknown.
At the end of the day, Mr. Chairman, after a lot of hard
work and careful investigation in this comprehensive regional
program which includes necessary equipment, planning, training
and exercises, Pennsylvania's communities are safer and more
secure. With your support we will continue to make things even
better in Pennsylvania.
It has been a pleasure to address you today. I will be
happy to respond to any questions that you might have. Thank
you very much.
[The prepared statement of Robert French follows:]
Prepared Statement of Robert P. French
Congressman Dent and members of the sub-committee on Emergency
Communications, Preparedness and Response, on behalf of Governor
Rendell, I thank you for this opportunity to discuss Pennsylvania's
disaster preparedness, response and recovery programs.
Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the tragic events that occurred
six years ago in New York City, the Pentagon and Somerset County
Pennsylvania. Very few events in the history of this nation so
dramatically impacted and forever altered our American way of life. The
personal freedoms that stood as the foundation of this nation were
compromised and changed. These terrorist attacks also dramatically
impacted community preparedness programs nationwide. And this sequence
of events forced us to recognize and address limitations within our
first responder and emergency preparedness programs.
Two weeks ago Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi marked the second
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The impact of this category five
hurricane on Gulf Coast communities in these three states raised
questions nationwide regarding our collective ability to respond to and
recover from catastrophic disasters.
Mr. Chairman, these two seemingly unrelated events have in common a
devastating impact on communities, residents and first responders. And
these two events have dramatically changed emergency preparedness
policies and programs at the federal, state, county and community
level. In many cases, these changes are on-going.
By state government standards, PEMA is a small agency with
approximately 160 personnel. Our overall mission includes developing
and administering the commonwealth's comprehensive, all-hazards
emergency preparedness and response program. In order to accomplish
this goal, we develop essential partnerships with multiple state and
federal agencies, county and community emergency managers, first
responders, elected officials, critical infrastructure providers, and a
host of other public and private sector partners who play a vital role
in our on-going efforts to ensure public health and safety in our
communities. PEMA also employs and deploys the best available
technologies in support of this critical mission.
For many years, Pennsylvania's emergency management agency and
programs have been held in high national regard. We were one of the
first emergency management agencies in the nation to integrate first
the computer and then satellite technology into our disaster
preparedness, tracking and management protocols. PEMA is also one of
the few states in the nation to receive national certification, which
was the result of pier review reflected against very demanding
standards.
While we are technologically and in some cases programmatically
advanced over many other state emergency management agencies, the true
key to our success rests with our state and federal partners, the 67
county emergency managers, 2,500 plus municipal managers and more than
100,000 first responders across the state. Our role is to plan,
coordinate and manage the Commonwealth's emergency preparedness
program. Its effectiveness is based in great measure on the dedication
and skill of our partners.
It is essential to understand that all disasters occur at the local
level. The same holds true for initial disaster response. That is why
Pennsylvania aggressively maintains a comprehensive training and
exercise program for all 67 county emergency managers
While most of our communities face a multitude of potential
hazards, flooding is the number one disaster potential in Pennsylvania.
Permit me take a moment to recap the events of the past three years.
Since 2004, the governor proclaimed 10 disaster emergencies and six
major floods were designated by the president to receive federal
disaster assistance. In all 65 of our 67 counties were included in
these federal declarations, several more than once. More than 60,000
families and businesses were affected and approximately 2,000
communities lost essential public infrastructure or services. The
overall estimate of impact exceeds $400 million.
It is important to note that PEMA with our county and community
partners are directly involved in supporting and initiating response to
disasters and their impact on Pennsylvanians. Last June for example
flooding in the northeast triggered more than 1,300 rescues, many by
the National Guard and State Police with support from U.S. Coast Guard
helicopters.
Once the initial response phase passes, PEMA turns its attention to
the recovery phase of the disaster. If the President issues a
declaration of major disaster, PEMA and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) establish a Joint Field Office to facilitate
the recovery. The primary purpose of the Joint Field Office is to help
Pennsylvania residents, living in a disaster-designated county, who
suffered damage to get assistance from FEMA and other federal
agencies..
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with our federal and local
government partners and first responders are also hard at work
developing capabilities to address man-made events. The Regional
Counter-Terrorism Task Force model was launched in 1998 due to the
growing threat of the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. There are
nine Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Forces comprised of all 67
counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Each task force meets
regularly to discuss plans and procedures for all-hazards preparedness.
The member counties appoint a task force leader and determine who will
hold positions in various task force committees. The emphasis for the
task force model has been predicated on a ``bottoms up'' approach with
ownership built-in to foster success.
The task forces have several planning assumptions that guide their
thinking. These assumptions include: at the start of an event, local
resources will be overwhelmed; emergency responsibility lies at the
municipal level; significant state response will take at least four
hours and significant federal response will take at least eight hours.
These planning assumptions require that local and county officials be
the initial responders in an incident, while the state though PEMA will
provide response resources if requested.
In order to accomplish this task, under the umbrella of the
Regional Task Forces, we are creating partnerships that include all
aspects of our communities. Elected officials, first responders,
business and industry, hospitals and the medical community, education,
critical infrastructure, the volunteer community, the news media, and
many others are working together to ensure the safety of our
neighborhoods.
Mr. Chairman, PEMA maintain 24/7 communications with the counties
through their 9-1-1 centers and county emergency management offices. On
average about 5,000 incidents are reported to the state's Emergency
Operations Center (EOC) every year through the Pennsylvania Emergency
Incident Reporting System (PEIRS). PEIRS is a Web-based, software
application that provides tools for reporting and managing critical
events that affect a variety of agencies and organizations.
We are working closely with the Governor's Homeland Security
Advisor, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Department of Health,
National Guard, Department of Environmental Protection and Agriculture
as well as and other state agencies involved in homeland security
planning and preparedness in order to ensure a coordinated effort at
the state, county and community level. Collectively we regularly meet
with the Regional Task Forces as we proceed with the implementation of
Pennsylvania's statewide strategy. The Task Force program was
formalized into state law in 2002 and serves as the foundation for the
Commonwealth's Counter-Terrorism Preparedness Program.
There are many elements that go into protecting the commonwealth
from man-made emergencies. One of the primary keys to keeping the state
safe is communication. There must be open lines of communication on all
levels of government. The counties must make the state aware of
problems and issues they face regarding the goal of protecting the
commonwealth. In turn, PEMA and OHS along with other state agencies
like the Pennsylvania State Police, Departments of Health,
Environmental Protection, Transportation, Military and Veteran's
Affairs, Education and Agriculture have a responsibility to offer
support to counties so they can more effectively prepare for a
potential attack. That support includes assisting county emergency
managers to develop plans to minimize threats to our security. Another
form of support comes in the commonwealth's ability to secure federal
funding for homeland security initiatives on the state, county and
local level. Since 1999, we have invested more than $400 million in
federal funds to help our Regional Task Forces acquire equipment,
prepare plans and conduct training and exercises for and with community
first responders. PEMA serves as the State Administrative Agency and
manages this important program on behalf of the Task Forces and first
responders.
While we are making significant progress in helping prepare our
communities for response to terrorist events, it is important to
remember that we are creating a statewide all-hazards preparedness
platform that has application for a wide range of natural and man-made
threats.
The true all-hazards value of the Regional Counter-terrorism Task
Forces and their Weapons of Mass Destruction equipment cache was
demonstrated at 5:28 a.m. on January 31, 2005 when 13 cars of a Norfolk
Southern Railroad train derailed along the Allegheny River in the
Creighton section of East Deer, Allegheny County. Four of the cars fell
into the river. Two of the tanker cars that ended up in the river were
filled with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, a caustic concentrated gas
that turns into hydrofluoric acid when mixed with water. Hydrogen
fluoride can cause burns to the skin and eyes and may be fatal if
inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Responders were fortunate that
the cars were under water that prevented the gas from impacting
responders and residents down wind. Local officials said that the death
toll could have been significant had the gas escaped. For the first
time, all responders at the site were wearing appropriate protective
gear to help protect them. In many cases this equipment was purchased
by PEMA and shipped to Region 13, the RCTTF in Pittsburgh. The source
of the funding was federal terrorism preparedness funding.
A number of the elements key to our success are already in place
Effective communications is one of the greatest challenges to our
community emergency response program. Major incidents involve multiple
response organizations from many areas. Many use different radio
systems on a range of varied frequencies, which makes communications
and coordination almost impossible. PEMA is working with our 800 MHz
radio project staff to develop interoperable communications
capabilities, which will allow incident commanders at the scene of a
disaster to communicate effectively with all responders. We installed
800 MHz radios in every county 9-1-1 center and are actively engaged in
developing methodology to allow inter-operable communications within
each county among all first responders.
Working with our federal, county and community partners, we are
moving to the next level in the areas of technology applications, data
management and information dissemination. Given the challenges we face
as a nation, it is imperative that we continue to harness the resources
of modern technology as an important tool within our overall
preparedness program.
An example of this type of initiative is the dramatic
transformation of our statewide satellite-based Emergency Alert System,
which began four years ago. With the support of radio and television
stations and cable system operators across the state, emergency
management officials can alert residents to approaching severe weather
conditions or accidents that present threats to community safety. The
most common EAS alerts involve flood and tornado warnings. Rail and
highway accidents involving dangerous materials as well as accidents in
the work place can impact neighborhoods. The EAS program provides
elected officials and emergency managers the capability to provide
reliable, rapid, widespread public warning.
Directly related to this vital program is Project Amber which
allows the State Police to alert area residents when a child has been
abducted. With the cooperation and support of the broadcast community,
PEMA is converting this statewide network from a less than reliable
off-air monitoring system to a state-of-the-art computer controlled
interactive digital network.
And finally, we are very aware of the limited funding and need to
do more with less. It is our goal to maximize the application of the
funding we receive, both from the state and federal government. I am
confident that by working closely with our partners at the federal,
state, county and community level, we can support our first responders
and protect our communities against the unknown.
At the end of the day Mr. Chairman, after a lot of hard work and
careful investment in this comprehensive regional program, which
includes necessary equipment, planning, training and exercises,
Pennsylvania's communities are safer and more secure. With your
support, we will continue to make things ever better.
It has been a pleasure addressing you today and I would be happy to
respond to questions.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you, Mr. French. Thank you for your
testimony. I now recognize Mr. Werts to summarize his statement
for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT G. WERTS, PROGRAM MANAGER, NORTHEAST
PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL COUNTER TERRORISM TASK FORCE
Mr. Werts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to
Pennsylvania.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you.
Mr. Werts. As you can see at--
Mr. Cuellar. By the way, I have a brother, you were 35
years in the State Police?
Mr. Werts. That's correct, sir.
Mr. Cuellar. Edwin had 30 years in the State Police. He
just retired.
Mr. Werts. He is just a rookie.
Mr. Cuellar. He is my younger brother. Appreciate that.
Mr. Werts. As you can see, I have spent almost my entire
adult life in service to my nation, my State, and my community.
Most of that time the 35 years with the Pennsylvania State
Police and, certainly, the last four years with the Northeast
Regional Counter Terrorism Force, I have been dealing with
public safety and preparedness. The Task Force has accomplished
much over the last four to five years. Actually, a great deal
more than I can possibly tell you about in the allotted five
minutes. So, please, refer to the written statement I have
provided for more detail. In addition, I will be happy to
answer any questions that you may have.
What I would like to do now is to give you an understanding
of how the Task Force is organized, how it operates, some of
our accomplishments, and some of the future goals. The Task
Force area comprises eight counties in northeast Pennsylvania.
Those counties are Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Monroe,
Northampton, Pike, Susquehanna and Wayne County. The Executive
Committee is made up of the eight Emergency Management Agency
Directors for each county.
The Task Force is further organized in a number of
subcommittees representing such areas as hospitals, EMS, mental
health, public health agencies, communications, volunteer
organizations, such as The American Red Cross, the Salvation
Army, and local churches. We have a school committee that is
made up of the 46 public and two parochial school districts in
the Task Force area, 1200 fire, rescue, and hazmat agencies,
law enforcement, urban search and rescue teams, and we have a
coroners committee. These committees meet on a monthly basis
and discuss equipment, training, and other resources necessary
to deal effectively in preventing, mitigating, responding to
and recovering from a terrorist event or natural disaster.
The following is only a partial list of some of the
equipment that the Task Force has purchased for first
responders: 2400 Millennium gas masks for every municipal
police officer in the Task Force area, 1200 Positive Air
Purifier Respirators and personal protection equipment for
police and Emergency Medical Service agencies, 371 GPS systems
for EMS unit in the area, four hostage negotiator phones for
SWAT, four bomb robots, two bomb containment vessels, and three
trucks to move that equipment tool. Two fully inflatable Surge
hospitals with trailer, eight decontamination units, one for
each county, and another 18 for each hospital and two command
post vehicles.
Just as important as the equipment is the training which we
have provided to our first responders. Again, this is only a
partial list of some of the training that the agency has taken
part in. During 2006 and 1907 a series of six exercises were
conducted to test the efficiency and effectiveness of fire,
hazmat, EMS, law enforcement, coroners, and hospitals. During
the course of the exercise, 3,401 individuals participated in
responsive and recovery events. This represents 285 public
safety, public health and hospitals, law enforcement, and
governmental agencies. The National Tactical Officers
Association regularly provides training for law enforcement
officers in such areas as terrorism awareness, homicide
bombers, crisis negotiation, and others. A separate two-day
course of instruction for law enforcement, school personnel,
and hospital personnel, in news media relations has also been
offered. We feel it is vital that those persons responsible for
informing the public during a crisis have the training and the
ability to do so properly. NIMS training for municipal
officials is on-going and, also, a program dealing with
violence in schools, crisis management, and NIMS training has
been offered to and presented at a number of public schools.
The planning area; the Task Force has begun planning on a
number of possible scenarios that would have a detrimental
affect to our area. First is evacuation. While it is necessary
to plan on evacuating residents from this area, it is more
likely that this region of Pennsylvania would be the location
where evacuees from major cities such as New York and
Philadelphia would attempt to flee to in the event of a man-
made or natural disaster. It is possible that within one hour
of a disaster in New York the Pocono Mountains would begin to
see a huge increase in traffic. It should be noted that nearly
one-third of the population of Monroe County alone now commutes
to New York City. This along with other evacuees could cause
gridlock on our interstates, much the same as was seen in Texas
during Hurricane Katrina. Issues such as interstate highway
ramps closures the utilization of tanker trucks to fuel
vehicles, staging areas for evacuees to report to prior to
their assignments to a specific shelter are just a sampling of
subjects presently being discussed in order to formulate an
effective plan.
The strategic national stockpile; in the event of a
terrorist group attacking with weapons of mass destruction such
as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive
devices, or a major natural disaster, the affected counties
within the Task Force area would rapidly deplete the local
cached pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. If this occurs it
is essential that a re-supply of large quantities of essential
medical material be deployed within 12 hours. The Task Force is
presently involved in the planning of Points of Distribution or
PODs. Locations have been determined and we are presently
conducting meetings to identify the persons responsible to
ensure the distribution of these medicines is completed within
the timeframe set by the Federal Government, the Center for
Disease Control, and the Department of Health and Human
Services.
Pandemic influenza; the same responsibilities as mentioned
in the previous paragraph will also have to be met with respect
to the vaccination of large numbers of people during a
pandemic. However, along with the responsibility of ensuring
the proper distribution system is in place the Task Force has
the added issue that the only facility in the world that
manufactures this vaccine is located in our area. In addition
to the foregoing preparation the Task Force has also been
involved with the manufacturing company, the Department of--the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, State and municipal law
enforcement agencies, and others in developing a buffer
protection plan and other security measures regarding the
transportation, storage, and dispensing of this vaccine.
It should be noted that the Task Force has brought together
members of the law enforcement committee, the school committee,
hospital committee, along with local public health officials,
doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to develop a comprehensive
plan to effectively manage the dispensing of medications to a
large number of people if either of the above events occur.
Multi-Agency Command Center; the Pocono International
Raceway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania is the site of two
NASCAR events during the year. These races, the Pocono 500 and
the Pennsylvania 500, each attract in excess of 160,000 people.
Due to the potential of a terrorist incident or a natural
disaster at the raceway, and at the request of the owner of the
track, the Monroe County Office of Emergency Services and the
Task Force has assisted the track with developing an emergency
plan. As part of that plan the MACC concept is utilized. This
concept brings together a number of Federal, State, county and
municipal agencies. There are three objectives to the MACC,
first to ensure the safety of the fans, spectators, drivers,
and all attendees at these events. Secondly to provide a
capability of central unified command and control as specified
in NIMS. And, finally, to provide a central location for
coordination of Federal, State, local, non-governmental, and
private sector organizations with primary responsibility for
threat response and incident support. Numerous agencies are
represented in the MACC and please refer to my written report.
It should be noted that since the participation of the Task
Force and the utilization of the MACC concept that NASCAR now
considers the Pocono International Raceway one of its most
secure sites.
I realize that the goal of this committee is to determine
whether or not we are prepared for a natural disaster or
terrorist attack. The answer to that question is not a simple
yes or no. The truth is as long as we have bad weather,
earthquakes, flooding, snowstorms, and the like, and as long as
there are persons or groups who hate America and Americans and
everything we stand for, preparing will never end.
Six years ago tomorrow the nation found our how prepared we
were to deal with these situations. It was further emphasized
during Hurricane Katrina and the devastation and death that
occurred in the Gulf States. Lessons were learned the hard way.
Have we made progress? Yes, by leaps and bounds. Is there more
to do? Definitely yes. The Task Force is equipped and trained
agencies to respond to disasters whether man-made or natural.
In most instances the cost to train and quip these first
responders would have been impossible for these agencies to
shoulder. The cooperation between Federal, State, and municipal
agencies has improved dramatically. Planning to deal with these
crises has been on-going and will continue.
I know that all of this takes a tremendous amount of money
and that there is a limit to funding. I would advise caution
when determining the amount of funding that is designated to
specific areas through the Department of Homeland Security.
While I agree that major cities throughout the nation are
more likely to be targeted by terrorists, they are not more
likely to be the casualty of a natural disaster. In addition,
we have learned here in Pennsylvania rural areas, because of
their remoteness and the ability of terrorists to conceal their
plotting, are more likely to be chosen to complete their
planning.
Bombs or other weapons of mass destruction that
accidentally detonate prior to their final delivery point
become the problem of that particular municipality.
Consequently, rural areas are required to do as much planning
to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from an attack as
urban areas and major cities.
In addition, I am referring now to northeast Pennsylvania,
once a terrorist attack or a natural disaster occurs, residents
of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia would most likely
evacuate to rural areas of the Commonwealth, in this case, the
Pocono Mountains. These evacuees would need food and sheltering
for an undetermined amount of time. While emergency services in
these cities would be dealing with the aftermath of the attack
it will be the rural areas that will be required to deal with
the human suffering. Sheltering centers, hospitals and other
medical facilities would be overrun. Law enforcement agencies
that normally deal with thousands of people would now be
dealing with hundreds of thousands if not millions.
Through funding from the Department of Homeland Security
our region is more secure and our communities are safer than
ever before. For that to continue and improve the programs and
funding must continue. There is much more work that needs to be
done and it will require additional supplies and training. The
first responders in this region are dedicated and hard working,
and many of them are volunteers. Our goal needs to be to
protect our region and the people who live here, as well as
make sure all emergency personnel have the tools they need when
disaster strikes.
Once again I would like to express my sincere appreciation
for this committee for giving me the opportunity to discuss the
Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force,
our work, our accomplishments and our needs. And if there are
any questions I will be happy to respond. Thank you, sir.
[The prepared statement of Robert G. Werts follows:]
Prepared Statement of Robert G. Werts
Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you for
the opportunity to speak here today. I believe it is important that you
have at least some knowledge of the individual who sits before you and
offers testimony on such a vital issue as Homeland Security.
I have spent my entire adult life in service to my nation, my state
and my community. I served 5 years as a Navy Corpsman with the Second
Marine Division, which was followed by nearly 35 years as a member of
the Pennsylvania State Police, where I rose from Trooper to the rank of
Lt. Col. and served as the Deputy Commissioner of Operations. I am
presently employed as the Program Manager for the Northeast
Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force (NEPRCTTF).
The NEPRCTTF area comprises eight (8) counties in northeast
Pennsylvania. Those counties are Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Monroe,
Northampton, Pike, Susquehanna and Wayne. The Task Force was formed
under an Inter Governmental Agreement signed by the governing bodies of
each of the counties. Authority is derived from Title 35 and Act 227.
The Task Force Executive Committee is comprised of the eight Emergency
Management Agency Directors in each county.
The Task Force is further organized in a number of sub-committees.
Those committees are:
Hospitals--which represent the 18 hospitals in the task force
area; the EMS work Group; Mental Health agencies and the Public
Health work group which includes The Pennsylvania Department of
Health and the Municipal Health Bureaus
Communications--The 911 Directors of each county along with the
Communications Utility Group make up this sub-committee.
Support Services Committee--is comprised of Volunteer
Organizations, such as The American Red Cross, the Salvation
Army and various churches in the area.
School Committee--this is made up of the 46 public and 2
parochial school districts.
Fire/Rescue/Hazmat Committee--over 1200 fire, rescue and hazmat
agencies are represented by this committee.
Law Enforcement Committee--comprised of members of Federal Law
Enforcement Agencies, the Pennsylvania State Police and nearly
150 municipal law enforcement agencies, corrections officials,
sheriffs departments, bomb squads and Special Weapons and
Tactics (SWAT) Teams.
The Urban Search and Rescue--a complete company trained and
equipped that exactly mirrors the FEMA Team and consists of 33
members is available to respond within the Commonwealth when
needed.
Coroners--comprised by the eight county coroners.
The committees meet on a monthly basis for the purpose of
discussing equipment, training and other resources necessary to deal
effectively in preventing, mitigating, responding to or recovering from
a terrorist event or natural disaster.
EQUIPMENT
It is vital that our first responders are properly equipped and
trained. If I may I would like to provide this committee with a partial
list of some of the equipment that the Task Force has provided to first
responders.
2400 Millennium Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear
(CBRN) Gas Mask Kits for every police officer in the Task Force
area.
1200 Positive Air Purifier Respirators (PAPR) with Personal
Protection Equipment (PPE) for police and EMS agencies.
9 Hostage Negotiator Phone Sets for the area Police SWAT Teams.
4 Bomb Robots, 2 Bomb Containment vessels and 3 trucks to move
this equipment.
2 fully equipped inflatable ``Surge'' hospitals, with trailers.
8 complete Decontamination Units, one for each county. 32 Fire
Companies are in the process of being trained to use this
equipment. In addition decontamination units have been
purchased for all 18 hospitals in the area.
The equipment necessary to stand up one complete USAR Team.
2 Command Post buses.
Equipment necessary for the eight (8) county coroners to deal with
an incident involving mass casualties.
371 GPS systems for each EMS Unit in the area.
TRAINING
This is, as I mentioned, only a partial list of equipment that the
Task Force has provided to first responders. Just as important as the
equipment is the training which we provide to these agencies.
We recently concluded a series of six ``Exercises'' to test the
efficiency and effectiveness of fire, hazmat, EMS, Law Enforcement,
Coroners and Hospitals. The Task Force retained Cocciardi and
Associates, Inc. to develop, present and evaluate a series of county
based full scale counter-terrorism exercises during 2006-07. A
validated Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) terrorism scenario was
developed through the use of a mock terrorist group. This scenario was
then applied to each NEPRCTTF county. During the course of the
exercises, 3,401 individuals participated in response and recovery
events, representing 285 public safety, public health and hospitals,
law enforcement and governmental agencies. Two-hundred seventy-five
(275) critical tasks were reviewed and evaluated representing more than
1,600 required actions during the series of exercises. One hundred
twenty-five (125) improvement actions were recommended and four (4)
best practices were noted.
In addition to the foregoing the National Tactical Officers
Association regularly provides training in such areas as:
Terrorism Tactics--Homicide Bombers
Terrorism Intelligence Profiles
Protective Operations--Dignitary Protection
Basic SWAT Training
Basic Crisis Negotiations
Hostage Rescue Training
Tactical Emergency Medical Support
Critical Incident Management
High Risk Transport--Corrections
Advanced Crisis Negotiations
Workplace Violence--Response
All 18 hospitals have upgraded their required personnel to Hazmat
Technician level through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
training.
A separate two day course of instruction for Law Enforcement,
School Personnel and Hospital Personnel in News Media Relations has
been offered to insure those persons having the responsibility of
informing the public, during a crisis, have the training and ability to
do so properly.
Training in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) has been
attended by municipal/public officials.
A program dealing with Violence in Schools in conjunction with
Crisis Management and NIMS training has been offered to and presented
at a number of the public schools in the task force area.
PLANNING
The Task Force has begun planning on a number of possible scenarios
that would have a detrimental affect on the area.
Evacuation--while it is necessary to plan on evacuating residents
from this area, it is more likely that this region of Pennsylvania
would be the location where evacuees from the major cities, New York
and Philadelphia, would attempt to flee to in the event of man-made or
natural disaster. It is possible that within one hour of a disaster in
New York, the Pocono Mountains would begin to see a huge increase in
traffic. It should be noted that nearly one-third of the population of
Monroe County now commutes to New York City. This along with other
evacuees could cause ``grid-lock'' on our Interstates, much the same as
was seen in Texas during Hurricane Katrina. Issues such as Interstate
Highway ramp closures, the utilization of tanker trucks to fuel
vehicles and staging areas for evacuees to report to prior to their
assignment to a specific shelter are just a sampling of subjects
presently being discussed in order to formulate an effect plan.
Strategic National Stockpile--in the event of a terrorist group
attacking with weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical,
biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive devices, or a major
natural disaster, the affected counties within the task force area will
rapidly deplete the local cached pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.
If this occurs it is essential that a re-supply of large quantities of
essential medical material be deployed within twelve hours. In counties
that have no Department of Health it falls to the Director of Emergency
Services or the EMA Director to have in place a plan for the
distribution of these medical materials. The task force is presently
involved in the planning of Points of Distribution (PODs). Locations
have been determined and we are presently conducting meetings to
identify the persons responsible to insure the distribution of these
medicines is completed within the time frame set by the Federal
Government, the Center for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
Pandemic Influenza--the same responsibilities as mentioned in the
previous paragraph will also have to be met with respect to the
vaccination of large numbers of people during a pandemic. However along
with the responsibility of insuring the proper distribution system is
in place, the NEPRCTTF has the added issue that the only facility in
the world that manufactures this vaccine is located within our area. In
addition to the foregoing preparations, the task force has also been
involved with the manufacturing company, the Department of Homeland
Security, state and municipal law enforcement and others in developing
a buffer protection plan and other security measures regarding the
transportation, storage and dispensing of this vaccine.
*Note: It should be noted that the Task Force has brought
together members of Law Enforcement Committee, the School
Committee, the Hospital Committee along with local public
health officials, doctors, nurses and pharmacists to develop a
comprehensive plan to effectively manage the dispensing of
medications to a large number of people if either of the above
events occurs.
Multi-Agency Command Center (MACC)--The Pocono International
Raceway (PIR), located in Long Pond, PA is the site of two NASCAR
events during the year. These races, the Pocono 500 and the
Pennsylvania 500, each attract in excess of one hundred and sixty
thousand people (160,000). Due to the potential of a terrorist incident
or a natural disaster at the raceway, and at the request of the owner
of PIR, the Monroe County Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the
NEPRCTTF has assisted the PIR with developing an Emergency Plan. As
part of that plan the MACC concept is utilized. This concept brings
together a number of federal, state, county and municipal agencies.
There are three objectives of the MACC. They are: To insure the safety
of the fans, spectators, drivers and all attendees at these events; To
provide capability for Central Unified Command and Control as specified
in NIMS and; To provide a central location for coordination of federal,
state, local, non-governmental and private sector organizations with
primary responsibility for threat response and incident support. The
following is a list of the agencies represented at the MACC.
Federal: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation
Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Civil Support Team,
the FBI's Law Enforcement On-Line (LEO).
State: Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Emergency
Management Agency, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation,
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Office of
Homeland Security, Easter Pennsylvania Regional EMS Council.
County: Monroe County Office of Emergency Services, Monroe
County 911 Center, Monroe County Planning Commission, Carbon
County Office of Emergency Services, Urban Search and Rescue-PA
Company Three.
Municipal: Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department,
Tunkhannock Volunteer Fire Department, Tunkhannock Township
Emergency Management Agency.
It should be noted that since the participation of the NEPRCTTF and
the utilization of the MACC concept that NASCAR now considers the
Pocono International Raceway one of its most secure sites.
We are also pleased to report the Communication Committee recently
completed a project consisting of connecting the eight county 911
centers together via secure microwave radio connectivity. By design
they used a majority of existing infrastructure which was already in-
place and owned by the eight counties. In addition we partnered with
the Eastern Pennsylvania Emergency Medical Services Council's
``Medcom'' system and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Since we used the existing infrastructure this allowed us to expand
the connection beyond our region and now we have direct and secure
communications with: Berks and Schuylkill Counties as well as access to
sixteen hospitals and seven aero-medical helicopter programs through
Medcom.
Furthermore there was a communications network created for the
eight county emergency management officials so they too would have a
secure communications link. The system is used on a daily basis for any
and all situations which require interaction between counties and/or
regions.
It seems the main question that the members of this committee are
most interested in hearing an answer to is, ``How prepared is
Pennsylvania to Respond to a Terrorist Attack or Natural Disaster?''
Six years ago tomorrow the nation found out how prepared we were to
deal with these situations. It was further emphasized during hurricane
Katrina and the devastation and death that occurred in the Gulf States.
Lessons were learned, the hard way. Have we made progress? Yes, by
leaps and bounds. Is there more to do? Definitely yes! The task force
has equipped and trained agencies to respond to disasters, whether man
made or natural. In most instances the cost to train and equip these
first responders would have been impossible for these agencies to
shoulder. The cooperation between federal, state and municipal agencies
has improved dramatically. Planning to deal with these crises has been
on-going and will continue.
I realize that all of this takes a tremendous amount of money and
that there is a limit to funding. I would advise caution when
determining the amount of funding that is designated to specific areas
through Department of Homeland Security.
While I agree that major cities throughout the nation are more
likely to be targeted by terrorists, they are not more likely to be the
casualty of a natural disaster. In addition, as we have learned here in
Pennsylvania, rural areas, because of their remoteness and the ability
of terrorists to conceal their plotting, are more likely to be chosen
to complete their planning.
Bombs or other weapons of mass destruction that accidentally
detonate prior to their final delivery point become the problem of that
particular municipality. Consequently rural areas are required to do as
much planning to prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from such an
attack as urban areas and major cities.
In addition, and I am referring to Northeastern Pennsylvania at
this point, once a terrorist attack or a natural disaster occurs,
residents of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia would most likely
evacuate to the rural areas of the Commonwealth. In this case the
Pocono Mountains.These evacuees would need food and sheltering for an
undetermined amount of time. While emergency services in these cities
would be dealing with the aftermath of the attack, it will be the rural
areas that will be required to deal with the human suffering.
Sheltering centers, hospitals and other medical facilities, would be
overrun. Law Enforcement agencies that normally deal with thousands of
people would now be dealing with hundreds of thousands if not millions.
Through funding from the Department of Homeland Security our region
is more secure and our communities are safer than ever before. For that
to continue and improve, the programs and funding must continue. There
is much more work that needs to be done, and it will require additional
supplies and training. The first responders in this region are
dedicated and hard working, and many of them are volunteers. Our goal
needs to be: to protect our region and the people who live here as well
as to make sure all emergency personnel have the tools they need when
disaster strikes.
Once again I would like to express my sincere appreciation to this
committee for giving me the opportunity to discuss the Northeast
Pennsylvania Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force, our work, our
accomplishments and our needs.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you, Mr. Werts, for your testimony. At
this time I now recognize Ms. Marrocolo to summarize her
statement for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF MARYANN E. MARROCOLO, DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR,
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
Ms. Marrocolo. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and
Congressman Dent. I want to thank you for the opportunity to
testify on the important subject of emergency preparedness in
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
My name is MaryAnn Marrocolo and I am the Deputy Managing
Director for Emergency Management in the City of Philadelphia.
I have been in this position since November of 2006. Prior to
that I was the Assistant Commissioner for Planning with the New
York City Office of Emergency Management where I worked from
1999 until 2006.
Today I am going to discuss with you the importance of
developing detailed operational plans to support emergency
response, focusing specifically on evacuation. I will discuss
with you why plans fails, offer you an approach to planning
that can minimize these failures, and describe how this
approach is being applied in the City of Philadelphia.
First I want to focus on operational planning. I will now
read to you several excerpts from after action reports that
highlight some of the issues with planning for and coordinating
a large-scale response operation. And I am only going to
discuss two or three. There are several in my written
testimony. Command and control were impaired at all levels of
government. Another example would be a general lack of
knowledge by key individuals and agencies concerning the
incident management system, disaster response, and recovery
planning and implementation, and emergency management functions
in general led to coordination--led to confusion and
frustration among responding agencies. There was a failure to
heed past lessons learned from exercises and actual events. The
response lacked the kind of integrated communication and
unified command contemplated in the directive both within and
among individual agencies. And finally, most senior management
and elected officials interviewed were well distanced from, and
in some cases ignorant of salient pieces of the plan. These are
from after action reports dating as far back as Hurricane
Andrew, and any of these items could have come from any of
those reports.
These examples of post-disaster hindsight bring to light
three key issues with emergency planning. Number one, plans do
not clearly define roles and responsibilities. Number two, key
decision-makers and response personnel are often distanced from
and, therefore, unaware of the plans they are expected to
execute. And number three, plans fail to adequately communicate
to the end user what is to be done.
We must end the practice of learning the same lessons at
every disaster, but how? The increasingly complex emergencies
we face require plans that clearly articulate options, roles
and tasks. First, plans must be simplified. Too often they are
wordy and conceptual, failing to answer the basic who, what,
when, where and how that is essential to organize and execute a
response. Second, plans must be organized into strategies that
link options and tasks. Third, plans must link roles to tasks
beyond the boots on the ground response. This means that all
roles, whether they are executives, emergency managers,
personnel in the Emergency Operations Center, personnel
operating at the scene, and personnel operating at agencies
behind the scenes need to be clearly defined and connected
together in the plan. Plans should not be written by a planner
locked in an office for days on end. Plans must be developed
through an inclusive and collaborative process that is highly
organized and structured.
Following Hurricane Katrina, Mayor John F. Street
challenged leaders inside and outside of government to closely
the ability of Philadelphia to respond to and recover from a
catastrophic disaster. Following an exhaustive study the
Mayor's Emergency Preparedness Review Committee released a
report detailing over 200 recommendations to close identified
gaps in preparedness. Today I have provided you a copy of the
executive summary of that report and a full copy of the report
on a CD in a packet that should be in front of you. This
inclusive and important task and transparent look at the city's
emergency preparedness should be commended and replicated. It
is not often that those in power turn the microscope on
themselves to not just tout what is done well but what needs
improvement, and then follow-up with funding to implement the
needed changes.
I would now like to focus attention on the issue of
evacuation planning. There are two types of evacuations, no-
notice and forecasted. No-notice evacuations are dynamic events
where the hazard, safe areas, and protective actions are
unknown until the time of the event. Forecasted evacuations are
essentially the opposite.
Regardless of the type of evacuation, people in danger and
some who are not but perceive they are will evacuate on foot,
by car, or by bus, subway, or rail if it is available to them.
Depending on the type of incident some modes of transit may not
be available which will shift demand. For example, in New York
City one of the things that we often saw is that when the
subway became unavailable people would shift their transit to
the ferry system. So plans must be able to accommodate for the
shift in demand.
Thus evacuation plans must address all hazards, be flexible
and scalable to the event. Further, these plans must be
coordinated and connected across agencies to provide the
greatest flexibility should one or more modes of transit become
unavailable. Finally, evacuation plans must be regional in
nature as evacuees often do not stop at the invisible political
boundary.
In April 2007 the Philadelphia Office of Emergency
Management launched a project to develop a Citywide Evacuation
Plan, the foundation of which is identifying evacuations
routes. To ensure the routes were operationally sound and
addressed the needs of those that would use them as well as
those that would have to manage them, a work group was formed
that included representatives from the public safety and
transportation agencies, as well as community members and the
private sector.
Through this work group we have successfully identified
evacuation zones and routes for emergency vehicles,
pedestrians, and mass transit vehicles, and private vehicles.
In conjunction with this we have undertaken two projects to
develop tactical evacuation plans, one for our Sports Complex
Special Services District and one to coordinate high-rise
building evacuation. Both of these projects were done in the
same manner as identifying the routes, by bringing together the
right people and utilizing a structured process to achieve a
result. Currently, we have arranged the first meeting with our
partners in New Jersey to broaden the scope of our routing
efforts.
Within southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia is part of
the Southeastern Regional Counter Terrorism Task Force. This
Task Force is also working to coordinate evacuation plans
across jurisdictions in the State of Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and Delaware.
In conclusion, developing sound operational plans is
essential to an organized and coordinated emergency response.
The planning process I described above produces documents that
clearly articulate options, roles and tasks, and resonate with
the personnel charged with implementing them. Coupled with this
is the buy-in necessary for the plan to work. This process is
being actively employed by the City of Philadelphia in the
development of the Citywide Evacuation Plan as well as many
other plans.
Once again, thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am
happy to answer any questions that you may have.
[The prepared statement of MaryAnn E. Marrocolo follows:]
Prepared Statement of MaryAnn E. Marrocolo
Opening
Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. I want
to thank you for the opportunity to testify on the important subject of
emergency preparedness in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
My name is MaryAnn Marrocolo and I am the Deputy Managing Director
for Emergency Management in the City of Philadelphia. I have been in
this position since November 2006. Prior to that, I was the Assistant
Commissioner for Planning with the New York City Office of Emergency
Management where I worked from 1999 until 2006.
Today I am going to discuss with you the importance of developing
detailed operational plans to support emergency response, focusing
specifically on evacuation. I will discuss with you why plans fail,
offer you an approach to planning that can minimize these failures, and
describe how this approach is being applied to evacuation planning in
Philadelphia.
Part 1_Operational Planning
I will now read to you excerpts from several after action reports
that highlight some of the issues with planning for and coordinating a
large-scale response operation:
There was a failure to have a single person in charge
with a clear chain of command
Command and Control was impaired at all levels of
government
There was an inability to cut through bureaucratic red
tape
A general lack of knowledge by key individuals and
agencies, concerning the Integrated Emergency Management
System, disaster response/recovery planning and implementation,
and emergency management functions in general, led to confusion
and frustration among responding agencies
Leaders were not well versed in protocol and therefore
failed to successfully implement the National Response Plan,
and with it, the National Incident Management System
There was a failure to heed past lessons learned from
exercises and actual events
The response operation lacked the kind of integrated
communications and unified command contemplated in the
directive, both within and among individual responding agencies
Information that was crucial to informed decision-
making was not shared among agencies
Most senior management and elected officials
interviewed were well distanced from, and in some cases
ignorant of, salient pieces of the plans
These examples of post-disaster hindsight bring to light three key
issues with emergency planning:
1. Plans do not clearly define roles and responsibilities
2. Key decision-makers and response personnel are too distanced
from and therefore unaware of the plans they are expected to
execute
3. Plans fail to adequately communicate to the ``end user''
what is to be done
We must end the practice of learning the same lessons at every
disaster, but how?
The increasingly complex emergencies we face require plans that
clearly articulate options, roles and tasks.
First, plans must be simplified. Too often, they are wordy and
conceptual; failing to answer the basic who, what, when, where, and how
that is essential to organize and execute a response.
Second, plans must be organized into strategies that link options
and tasks.
Third, plans must link roles to tasks--beyond the ``boots on the
ground response.'' This means that all roles, whether they are
executives, emergency managers, personnel in the Emergency Operations
Center, personnel operating at the scene, and personnel operating at
agencies behind the scenes need to be clearly defined and connected
together in the plan.
Plans should not be written by a planner locked in an office for
days on end. Plans must be developed through an inclusive and
collaborative process that is highly organized and structured.
Part 2_Evacuation Planning
I would now like to focus attention on the issue of evacuation
planning. There are two types of evacuations: no-notice and forecasted.
No-notice evacuations are dynamic events where the hazard, safe areas,
and protective actions are unknown until the time of the event.
Forecasted evacuations are essentially the opposite.
Regardless of the type of evacuation, people in danger (and some
who are not, but perceive they are) will evacuate on foot, by car, or
by bus, subway, or rail. Depending on the type of incident, some modes
of transit may not be available, which will shift demand.
Thus, evacuation plans must address all hazards, be flexible, and
be scalable to the event. Further, these plans must be coordinated and
connected across agencies to provide the greatest flexibility should
one or more modes of transit become unavailable. Finally, evacuation
plans must be regional in nature as evacuees often do not stop at the
invisible political boundary.
In April 2007 the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management
launched a project to develop a Citywide Evacuation Plan, the
foundation of which is identifying evacuation routes. To ensure the
routes were operationally sound and addressed the needs of those that
would use them as well as those that would have to manage them, a Work
Group was formed that included representatives from public safety and
transportation agencies as well as community members and the private
sector.
Through the Work Group, we have systematically identified
evacuation zones and routes for emergency vehicles, pedestrians and
mass transit, and private vehicles.
In conjunction with this, we have undertaken two projects to
develop tactical evacuation plans: one for the Sports Complex Special
Services District and one to coordinate high-rise building evacuation.
Both of these projects were done in the same manner as identifying the
routes: by bringing together the right people and utilizing a
structured process to achieve a result.
Currently, we have arranged the first meeting with our partners in
New Jersey to broaden the scope of our routing efforts.
Within Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia is part of the
Regional Counter-terrorism Task Force. The Task Force is also working
to coordinate evacuation plans across multiple jurisdictions in the
state of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Summary
In conclusion, developing sound operational plans is essential to
an organized and coordinated emergency response. The planning process I
described above produces documents that clearly articulate options,
roles, and tasks and resonate with the personnel charged with
implementing them. Coupled with this, is the buy-in that is necessary
for the plan to work.
This process is being actively employed by the City of Philadelphia
in development of the Citywide Evacuation Plan, the first step being
identifying evacuation zones and routes.
Once again thank you for the opportunity to testify, I am happy to
answer any questions you may have.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you very much, Ms. Marrocolo. At this
time I would like to recognize Mr. Paul to summarize his
statement for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF R. CHADWICK PAUL, JR., PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BEN FRANKLIN TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS OF
NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Paul. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. And
good morning, Charlie. My name is Chad Paul and I am President
and Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Franklin Technology
Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I appreciate your
inviting me to testify today. I appreciate the opportunity to
share our efforts regarding business preparedness as it relates
to the financial services arena.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve recommended that
financial services firms develop more reliable backup
operations outside the New York City power grid, watershed and
geographic proximity. Far enough from New York City to meet the
SEC recommendations, yet close enough for the industry required
synchronous data transfer. The northeast Pennsylvania region is
uniquely situated to provide a complete backup of the New York
financial markets in the event of another disaster.
Governor Rendell submitted a Wall Street West proposal for
northeast Pennsylvania in 2006 to the U.S. Department of Labor
and the Workforce Investment for Regional Economic Development
or WIRED grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to
Ben Franklin Technology Partners in January of 1906. Wall
Street West has become a $40 million initiative and is managed
by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania.
It involves a variety of Federal, State and private funding
sources. Nearly 15 million in state funds are leveraging up to
25 million in Federal and private investments.
The Workforce Development piece will help northeastern
Pennsylvania create the talent pool of workers for skills that
will be needed by the financial services industry as they move
facilities to Pennsylvania. The four-year Federal WIRED grant
includes nine counties and provides workforce development
initiatives to support both business attraction as well as
training. The Wall Street West project will develop career
ladders and incumbent worker training to help those workers
advance.
Synchronous data transfer between the primary and backup
sites is requisite for many financial services companies.
Another part of Wall Street West, the construction and the
deployment of high-speed fiber optic connectivity from lower
Manhattan to northeast Pennsylvania, will provide the necessary
infrastructure for the region's well-trained workforce. In June
2007 Governor Rendell along with Wall Street West, announced an
agreement with Level 3 Communications to build this fiber optic
network.
We are creating a fiber network that will meet the
requirements of one of the most demanding information
technology environments in the world; the safe and secure
transmittal of America's financial transactions, all at
incredible speed.
While providing better connectivity with New York and
northeast Pennsylvania we will also interconnect with an
already robust fiber optic infrastructure that covers all nine
counties included in the Wall Street West initiative, including
Carbon, Berks, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe,
Northampton, Pike and Wayne Counties.
Ben Franklin and its partners have leveraged Federal and
State grants to fund the Wall Street West fiber optic
infrastructure. The funding sources included $1,000,000 from
the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development
Administration with a check that was presented by Charlie and
Assistant Secretary Sandy Baruah from Economic Development
Administration, as well as grants from various State funding
sources like the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority,
the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic
Development, and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and
Industry.
One example of an early success is SECCAS LLC, which is the
leading provider of compliance solutions for financial firms in
New York, relocated its backup and disaster recovery facilities
to Scranton in April 2007, and they are expected to create at
least 10 well-paying jobs in Lackawanna County.
When not managing Wall Street West I run Ben Franklin
Technology Partners of Northeast Pennsylvania. We link
companies with universities, funding, and other resources to
help them prosper in today's technology-based economic
innovation society. We were created by the Commonwealth in 1983
to play a leadership role in strengthening regional economies,
building the State's technology economy, and creating and
retaining high-wage, high-skilled jobs. I am pleased to say we
worked closely with Congressman Dent when in his role in the
State House and in the State Senate when he served there.
Since 1983, Ben Franklin has started over 360 companies,
developed almost 700 products and services, created almost
12,000 new jobs, and retained almost 20,000 new jobs.
It has been my pleasure to have the opportunity to testify
for you and I welcome the committee's questions.
[The prepared statement of R. Chadwick Paul, Jr., follows:]
Prepared Statement of R. Chadwick Paul, Jr.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee. My name
is Chad Paul and I am President and Chief Executive Officer of Ben
Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Thank you
for inviting me to testify today. I appreciate the opportunity to share
our efforts regarding business preparedness as it relates to the
financial services arena.
WALL STREET WEST
Overview
In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the Securities and
Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve recommended that financial
services firms develop reliable backup operations outside the New York
City power grid, watershed and geographic proximity. Far enough from
New York City to meet SEC recommendations, yet close enough for
synchronous data transfer, the Northeastern PA region is uniquely
situated to provide a complete backup of the New York financial markets
in the event of another disaster.
Governor Ed Rendell submitted a ``Wall Street West'' proposal for
northeastern Pennsylvania in 2006, and the Workforce Investment for
Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant was awarded by the U.S.
Department of Labor Education and Training Administration to the Ben
Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Wall Street
West is a $40 million initiative, managed by the Ben Franklin
Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, involving a variety
of federal, state and private-funding sources. Nearly $15 million in
state funds are leveraging up to $25 million in federal and private
investments.
Workforce Development
The WIRED grant will help northeastern Pennsylvania to create a
talent pool of workers with skills for the financial services industry.
The three-year federal WIRED grant involves nine counties and provides
workforce development initiatives to support business attraction in the
financial services sector, as well as other technology-based sectors.
The Wall Street West project will develop career ladders and incumbent
worker training to help workers advance.
Fiber Connectivity
Synchronous data transfer between primary and backup sites is
requisite for many financial services companies. Another part of Wall
Street West, the construction and deployment of high-speed fiber optic
connectivity from lower Manhattan to northeastern Pennsylvania, will
provide the necessary infrastructure for the region's well-trained
workforce. In June 2007, Gov. Rendell, along with Wall Street West,
announced an agreement for Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT) to
build this fiber optic network.
``We analyzed and compared a number of proposals, and
negotiated with vendors to obtain the best possible price
without sacrificing the best-of-class performance and quality
that our financial services prospects will demand,'' said Chad
Paul, Ben Franklin President and CEO at the announcement event.
``We are creating a fiber network that must meet the
requirements of one of the most demanding information
technology environments in the world: the safe and secure
transmittal of America's financial transactions, all at
incredible speed.''
While providing better connectivity between New York and
northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wall Street West fiber network will also
interconnect with an already robust fiber-optic infrastructure that
covers all nine counties covered by the Wall Street West initiative,
including Carbon, Berks, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe,
Northampton, Pike and Wayne.
``Northeastern Pennsylvania is already home to a number of
financial firms, and this initiative is essential to continuing the
area's advancement and economic growth,'' said Gov. Rendell. ``It will
also strengthen New York City's status as the financial capital of the
world by providing firms there with mission-critical data back-up.''
Funding the Infrastructure Ben Franklin and its partners leveraged
federal and state grants to fund the Wall Street West fiber optic
infrastructure:
--U.S. Economic Development Administration
Engineering and Design Planning for Infrastructure
$1,000,000 total awarded
Sandy K. Baruah, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Economic Development, and U.S. Representative Charles
W. Dent presented two checks to the Ben Franklin
Technology Partners on May 29, 2007 for the Wall Street
West Fiber Network. Congressman Dent advocated for the
grant application for high-speed fiber optic
connectivity that was submitted by BFTP/NEP. This
connectivity will provide the necessary infrastructure
for synchronous data transmittal between New York City
and northeastern Pennsylvania. Ben Franklin is leading
the creation of this fiber network, and this grant is
the first federal grant funding of the fiber network.
--Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority
Infrastructure for Fiber Connectivity
$3,000,000 total awarded for 2006--07 and 2007--08
--Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
Community Conservation Program
Fiber for Wall Street West
$500,000 total awarded through June 2009
--Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
World Trade PA
Fiber for Wall Street West
$3,000,000 total awarded through June 2010
Early Success: SECCAS
SECCAS LLC, the leading provider of compliance solutions for
financial firms, relocated to Scranton in April 2007, and is expected
to create at least 10 well-paying jobs in Lackawanna County within
three years. ``These jobs could have gone to New York, New Jersey or
Maryland,'' Gov. Rendell said. ``This project is another great example
of how our competitive business environment and strategic investments
are working to grow our economy.''
For more information about the Wall Street West initiative, visit
www.wallstreetwest.org.
About the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania
The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania
(BFTP/NEP) links Pennsylvania companies with universities, funding, and
other resources to help them prosper in today's knowledge-based economy
through innovation. The Center is a non-profit corporation that is part
of a four-center, state-funded economic development initiative. The Ben
Franklin program was created by the Commonwealth in 1983 to play a
leadership role in strengthening regional economies, building the
state's technology economy, and creating and retaining high-wage, high-
skilled jobs.
BFTP/NEP's strategy encompasses three key areas:
1. Developing early-stage, technology-oriented companies;
2. Helping established manufacturers creatively apply new
technology and business practices; and
3. Promoting an innovative community-wide infrastructure that
fosters a favorable business environment for high-growth
companies.
Since 1983, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern
Pennsylvania has achieved the following results:
Started 366 new companies
Developed 698 new products and processes
Created 11,648 new jobs
Retained 19,622 existing jobs
The northeastern center is headquartered on the campus of Lehigh
University, Bethlehem, and at regional offices in Wilkes-Barre,
Lewisburg, and Reading. Visit www.nep.benfranklin.org
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you, Mr. Paul, for your testimony and I
want to thank all the witnesses for their testimony. At this
time what the panel will do is we will ask some questions. I
will start off with some questions for each of the panel and
then pass it on to the Ranking Member. So if you would allow me
I will start off with Mr. Sarubbi. Can you, we understand now
that the National Response Plan which is now being called the
National Response Framework has been delayed and they have
been--there has been some concern by some of the State and
local emergency managers about the level of input. Could you
answer two--one question with two parts, how is FEMA working to
ensure that the State and local input has been included in the
final draft, number one. And number two, what sort of direction
are the State and local governments going to be given under
this framework?
Mr. Sarubbi. Certainly, Mr. Chairman, as you know since
September of 2006 the National Response Plan has undergone a
considerable revision. We have had over 700 people representing
Federal, State and local governments, as well as the private
sector and NGO's given an opportunity to comment on the plan
and to be involved in the changes that are made to it.
As we speak the plan is being rolled out for additional
comment, for a 30-day comment period actually starting today.
This plan as a result of the changes that it has undergone is
now being called the National Response Framework. These changes
are made to better align the document with its purpose to guide
unification of national response efforts. Our Congressional
Affairs folks will be happy to brief the committee on the
changes that have taken place with the plan and our intended
course of action for now. Essentially, the National Response
Framework will be opened for public comment for 30 days, and
Federal, State, local officials will be given opportunity to
comment and provide feedback and that could result in
additional changes to the document.
Mr. Cuellar. Okay. But here in your area you have given the
local folks the opportunity to get that input of reaching out.
I mean we can open it up but we are reaching out to them to
make sure they get actively involved.
Mr. Sarubbi. Yes, sir, we will promote and advise people of
this additional comment period and they will be given ample
opportunity not only through the Federal Register but also
efforts that we will make within the region to make sure that
all of our folks who are in the region have that opportunity to
comment on it.
Mr. Cuellar. Okay. Thank you, sir. Mr. French, as you know
the presence of high-risk, critical infrastructure in the State
or open area is a major factor in determining risk-based
funding allocations. Under the State Homeland Security Grants
program and the Program Area Security Initiative, can you
please describe the consultation process that your State
undergoes with Homeland Security to identify the lists of those
critical infrastructure?
Mr. French. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. The Office of Homeland
Security and our office Emergency Management Agency have worked
together. We have a four-pillar approach in Pennsylvania which
includes our Pennsylvania State Police, as well. But through
the Office of Homeland Security we have identified over 200
critical infrastructure pieces in the Commonwealth. And from
that what we have done is worked through the investment
justifications for the grants for this particular year, and we
have made a change to the way we had previously issued grant
monies, and that includes the critical infrastructure. This
year we are taking a percentage of the overall grants applying
it to critical infrastructure. Also, as you know, the UASCEs
get their own specific slice of that particular grant program
but we are trying to ensure that both per capita and critical
infrastructure are primary considerations in our award of the
grants. And that is an evolution that is going on here in
Pennsylvania.
Mr. Cuellar. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Werts, the communications
between police and fire departments in northeastern
Pennsylvania is very important as it is in any part of the
country. Could you tell us what efforts are under way to
improve the ability to communicate during an emergency and how
those efforts are being funded?
Mr. Werts. Yes, sir. First of all, we are dealing with the
800 MHz system and trying to implement a great deal of that. In
addition, in my written testimony I think there is an entire
statement in there regarding some of the issues that our
communication committee has looked at with respect to trying to
implement cross communications between various agencies
including hospitals, if you will. That has been met with a
certain amount of success so far. It is something that is
utilized on an ongoing basis. We have a system in place now
where at least the EMA directors in each of the counties in the
area and outside of the area actually in some cases, can
communicate with another regarding emergency responses. So I
think there is a lot of work that still has to be done
regarding this. There are some bumps in the road, if you will,
that have to be overcome but I think we are working towards a
successful communication set-up.
Mr. Cuellar. How much do you know of the $1 billion that
Congress has set aside for this type of communications?
Mr. Werts. None, but I will take as much as I can get.
Mr. Cuellar. Charlie needs to do another check presentation
it seems in the near future. All right. Ms. Marrocolo, could
you tell us in your opinion what is the appropriate role of the
Federal Government in encouraging or mandating the method by
which State and local governments train and manage emergency
response operations?
Ms. Marrocolo. That is a very good question. I think that
the Federal Government can provide guidance and provide, and
assist in the development of consensus-based standards for
things like developing plans, incident management and training,
and those types of standards and guidance could then be applied
to different jurisdictions based on the individual needs of
that jurisdiction. I think a cookie-cutter approach to
emergency planning or to emergency management or to training
and exercises at the Federal level would probably produce an
inefficient result, an ineffective result at the local level
given the differences between just in the State of
Pennsylvania, the resources I have available in the City of
Philadelphia are far different than what you are going to see
in some of the counties in the more rural parts of the State.
And so to say that we should be held to the same standard or
that the same standard should apply in the same way to every
jurisdiction, I think, would be ineffective.
Mr. Cuellar. Okay. All right. Last question and then I will
pass it on to Mr. Dent. As you know, cooperation between the
Department of Homeland Security and the private sector is
necessary to maintain this healthy economy while enhancing our
nation's homeland security efforts. This is one reason why
Congress created the Private Sector Office of the Department.
Have private sector representatives in the northeastern
Pennsylvania participated in the training and exercise plan by
the State or in the Department of Homeland Security and in what
way?
Mr. Paul. That would be an area that is outside of my
expertise, Mr. Chairman. We have met as Wall Street West with
Deputy Secretary at Homeland Security specifically to discuss
the application of this project. But because our focus is sort
of laser-focused, if you will, on this particular project I am
unaware of those meetings.
Mr. Cuellar. Okay. Let me at this time pass on the line of
questioning to Mr. Dent and again, as you know, everything is
being recorded and we want to get all the information. It is
not only the testimony that you provide orally but also the
written testimony that we will take, of course. The questions
and the answers are important to use as we gather this type of
information so we can take it back. So at this time I will pass
on the line of questioning to Mr. Dent.
Mr. Dent. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to all of you
for providing this excellent testimony. I wanted for you to
think about a few things. First, I was pleased to hear all the
comments about evacuation planning that have been ongoing in
the event that some kind of catastrophic event, man-made or
natural disaster would occur in the New York metropolitan area.
And the one thing that I wanted to follow-up on in that vein
was this, in the event of a biological attack in the New York
metropolitan area, how would that affect evacuation planning?
Obviously, if there is some kind of a blast, if it were some
kind of a horrible detonation, people would want to get out of
the blast zone and leave. But in the event of a biological
attack involving some type of highly contagious pathogen like
smallpox when maybe human movement is not the ideal thing in
many States--if it happened in New York, New Jersey, or
Pennsylvania some areas wouldn't want to receive people
obviously who may be infected. So if you could maybe, you know,
Bob Werts or General French might want to just talk about that
issue. How would a biological attack impact us in the event of
evacuation planning? How would this be different from other
types of attack?
Mr. Werts. Well, you know, we have kicked around the idea
of quarantine and exactly how far law enforcement can go to
quarantine individuals or prevent them from moving from one
point to another. And that is certainly a subject that is up
for debate and will be for quite some time. You know, is lethal
force going to be utilized to enforce a quarantine? And I don't
have the answer to that, Charlie, I really don't. I know that
in talking about some of the things that New York City would
evacuate their people from, in other words, the city turning
around and saying okay, we need to evacuate. There are very few
things that it is my understanding that they would actually do
that. A tidal surge they would have to evacuate the city. And
the problem is that most people, and as you know, the Poconos
now has become the second Manhattan, if you will.
Mr. Dent. You said a third of the, I guess, the commuters
go--a third of the residents are working in New York City or is
that the New York metropolitan area? I am just curious.
Mr. Werts. The New York area.
Mr. Dent. New York area.
Mr. Werts. New York area.
Mr. Dent. So they could be in New Jersey or Manhattan or--
--
Mr. Werts. We have people who commute to like Newark and
those areas also. But there is a huge influx of people that
would be expected to come home, if you will. And, you know, if
it gets to a situation where at least we have some type of
notice that this is going to occur we can possibly deal with
some of it, checking people at, you know, some of the, you
know, one of the advantages we have is we have a river between
New York or Pennsylvania and New Jersey. You could, in fact,
set-up some sort of monitoring system at those cross points.
This would be a tremendous task to try and achieve. I mean we
would have traffic backed-up right into the city if we tried to
do that because you would have people trying to leave the city,
some coming home, some relatives who live in the city with
their people that live here trying to get our area. It would be
a huge task to try and perform.
Mr. Dent. Yeah, and as a follow-up to that question, too, I
guess, I just want to think about something here in terms of
traffic patterns. How would you, you know, have you--how much
thought have you given to that? Obviously, you might have to
shut down the flow toward that area and utilize those
highways--the eastbound highways would become westbound
highways and probably, of course, on the 78 and 80 corridors,
and probably on 95, as well. How much thought and planning has
gone into that in coordination with our friends in New Jersey
and New York?
Mr. Werts. One of the things that in the meetings that we
have had regarding evacuation we have invited members of the
New Jersey State Police and the New York State Police to attend
and they, in fact, have attended. One of the things you run
into in this sort of mass evacuation is the fact that, and I
think it has been touched on here, recently we--our Task Forces
have gotten together to discuss evacuation because those people
are going someplace. And if they are going someplace that
someplace better know they are coming. Otherwise you are going
to just have the problem someplace else, if you will. And we
have discussed the fact that, you know, should we, in fact,
close ramps of the interstate and keep people moving west. And
to a certain extent there are some of those ramps that, yes,
can be closed. We now run into the additional problem, if you
will, that I have somebody that is coming home who wants to get
off at that ramp.
Mr. Dent. Right.
Mr. Werts. I have people that, you know, are now running
out of gas----
Mr. Dent. Correct.
Mr. Werts. --for their vehicles.
Mr. Dent. Like Houston, you know.
Mr. Werts. And that is--and these are the things that we
have discussed. I want to make it very clear that we have
discussed these things. We realize these issues are out there.
Do we have the answers at this point? No, we don't.
Mr. Dent. Okay. Well, thank you, I am just glad that you
were all engaged in planning and preparing for this. And I know
it is a massive undertaking, heaven forbid, we should ever have
to actually effectuate such a plan, but it is just encouraging
to see that so much attention has been given to it and that we
will be as prepared as we possibly can be.
Mr. French. And, Congressman, if I might.
Mr. Dent. General French, I know I wanted your comment on
that.
Mr. French. Just as an additional thought on that not in
the New York City scenario that you just described but we also
have the capitol region from D.C. that those similar ongoing
plans are currently underway because we anticipate that flow of
traffic as well to come into the Commonwealth and so the
infrastructure that is available the highway network is a
situation we are aware of and we are continuing to develop
plans for the national capitol region, as well, so two major
metropolitan areas obviously potential to affect Pennsylvania.
Mr. Dent. Thank you, I know that will put a lot of pressure
on south central Pennsylvania sure.
Mr. French. Yes, sir.
Mr. Werts. Charlie, if I could just add one other thing.
You know, this concept of these Task Forces I think is very
important in this because, I think, with the breakdown of the
regional application to these scenarios, if you will, is a lot
easier to handle. In other words if we in the northeast get
together with the southeast we can come up with some sort of
planning. Rather than trying and look at this thing so broadly
that you really can't get a hold on it, if you will. I mean I
think obviously the State has got to be involved in this but I
think the regional concept and the regional way we are handling
a lot of this speaks well to making these things, getting them
accomplished, if you will.
Mr. Dent. I also would like to follow-up to--on the issue
of biological attack and, Bob, you mentioned in your testimony
too that the vaccine plant is obviously located within your
jurisdiction up there----
Mr. Werts. Yes.
Mr. Dent. --the Sanofi Pasteur, and how much interaction
have you had with them? Has their proximity to us helped us in
our planning in terms of having the various countermeasures,
whether it is smallpox or other things in terms of that?
Mr. Werts. Well, I think one of the things that the fact
that they are there I don't think it makes it any easier, if
you will. We have the added responsibility, as I mentioned, of
doing a buffer protection zone and dealing with the law
enforcement agencies, et cetera, in protecting that. And it is
not only that installation it is a number of other
installations that are in the area that we won't talk about.
Mr. Dent. Sure. Right.
Mr. Werts. They have been very receptive to our suggestions
in implementing some security procedures and we have tried to
work them. We have had meetings almost on a weekly basis with
the folks at Sanofi and that is ongoing.
Mr. Dent. Encouraged to hear that. I just wanted to kind of
shift over to the issue of interoperability and perhaps,
General French, you might be able to just give us some insights
as to how you feel Pennsylvania has done in terms of
interoperable communications. I have been working with some of
our local police who are here today and other first responders
in terms of trying to, you know, secure funding for various
programs here to help facilitate interoperable communications
among law enforcement, as well as other first responders. And
as you know, the Commonwealth is in the process of deploying
the 800 MHz interoperable system throughout the Commonwealth,
and simultaneously State officials are working with Sprint
Nextel to re-band commercial networks operating on these same
frequencies. Would you be able to provide us with a status
update regarding these efforts and how the re-banding effort
with Sprint Nextel is affecting the rollout of the Statewide
system?
Mr. French. Yes, sir. The 800 MHz system is continuing to
evolve and in particular our void right now is mostly in the
northern corridor in the center part of the State, the most
rural region. But the 800 MHz system is continuing with
additional cell towers, additional resources to be implemented
throughout the Commonwealth. I know when we had the snow
emergency back in February that one of the only means we had
for us all to communicate across the Commonwealth was the 800
MHz system. And I know personally from being up on I-80 that it
was very successful and the means to communicate with. One of
the other things we have done is try to ensure that the various
kinds of communications equipment that exist today and the
various organizations one are identified, and two utilized. And
for example, I will take one that I am probably most familiar
with and that is the Guard I-6 Kits. What happened in that
particular case was, and we actually deployed one of our teams
to Texas as well as to Mississippi, but what that suite of
equipment allows you to do is merge into one system a common
communicator so that if a local law enforcement official has a
certain type of communication equipment and a county official
has a different piece of equipment, this allows you to put them
together and both can communicate then through that kind of a
communication suite. So those are a couple of examples of the
direction that we have been able to employ here in the State in
times of emergency.
Mr. Dent. I attended a briefing some time ago down in
Montgomery County and this question should probably be directed
more to Ms. Marrocolo, it seemed that in the southeast quadrant
of the State, the five counties have been doing pretty well
with respect to interoperability and at the time, I wish I
could recall the exact statement, but it seemed that most
municipalities have become interoperable within that five
county area. There might be more challenges up in the
northeast, given the number of counties and municipalities, and
we have also mountainous issues here too, that I am sure affect
the communications systems but I guess, that is what I am
trying to understand. How interoperable are we in the
southeast, maybe compared to our area up here in the northeast?
Ms. Marrocolo, could you just talk about that a little bit?
Ms. Marrocolo. Sure, I know that the Regional Counter
Terrorism Task Force has invested an enormous amount of money
in promoting interoperability in the five-county region, in
fact, beyond the five-county region to an 11-county, three-
state area. Our most recent project is the installation of
microwave communication towers that will connect the 11-county
Greater Delaware Valley region, which is the five counties in
southeastern Pennsylvania, the five counties in New Jersey and
then New Castle County, Delaware, so that all of the public
safety answering points in that five-county area will be able
to communicate with each other through this microwave
communications project that we are installing through Homeland
Security grant funding. So I think that is one kind of macro-
level project on a more micro-level we work very closely to
integrate our 800 MHz radio systems through the purchase of, I
would like to, I guess the best way to be to put it is kind of
band-aid solutions to a very complicated infrastructural
problem. On scene tactical communications can be achieved
across multiple radio systems or even phone systems by
purchasing certain technology that you can then bring to a
scene and integrate at the response. That is, you know, that is
not ideal. That is a good stop-gap until you can solve these
bigger, more complicated infrastructural problems which are
extremely expensive.
Mr. Dent. Bob or General French do, either of you want to
add to that in terms of how we are doing in the rest of the
State?
Mr. French. I would just mention that we not only used some
of these systems during the emergency crisis but it was just,
we were just talking about it here even at the Pocono Raceway.
The I-6 get the 800 MHz radios can be used to help in terms of
non-emergency situations but critical to the needs of the local
community as well, so a lot of application there.
Mr. Dent. Okay. Now, finally I want to just turn to Chad
Paul who is working on the Wall Street West initiative. And I
would like to, I just want to ask you, how could this Wall
Street West initiative serve as a model for preparedness for
the private sector both in New York and the rest of the
country? Could you envision some kind of a similar partnership
like this, a public-private partnership, in industries other
than financial services? And if so, could you think of any
right now? I mean, I understand the financial services and why
this all makes sense and we are outside the blast zone, beyond
the watershed.
Mr. Paul. Of course, our initial focus is the fact that
America's financial industry was shut down for four-plus days.
Mr. Dent. Right.
Mr. Paul. Because of this event and we are looking to make
sure the people in their planning process are thinking about
what is the real impact of the backup in disaster recovery
facilities that they are installing? So, I guess, the first
lesson I would say that needs to be applied to more than just
financial services is rather than thinking that you have solved
the problem because you have a backup and disaster recovery
plan or a location understanding the survivability of that
backup and disaster plan. Immediately after 9/11 the financial
services industry embarked upon the creation and construction
at the cost of hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars
of backup facilities that are all within the New York
metropolitan area. They built them in Brooklyn, in the Bronx,
on Long Island, in north Jersey, where they are served by the
same watershed, the same power system, the same transportation
system and all of them literally are within what the Federal
Government euphemistically calls the blast zone----
Mr. Dent. Right.
Mr. Paul. --which is about a 60-mile radius of the city. So
I guess the number one lesson is not getting comfortable with
the fact that you got a location and a plan but that you
understand the survivability of that location.
Mr. Dent. Thank you. And I often think, too, that here we
are seated at the--my father worked in this building for many
years, actually with Bethlehem Steel, and there was a time when
he always said in this country that the steel industry was
critical to our nation's national defense. And today in this
world, here we are in eastern Pennsylvania and we still have a
very important industry sector that is critical to our nation's
homeland defense. I would argue that, perhaps, the
pharmaceutical industry is as critical to our homeland defense
as any. And given our proximity to central New Jersey and to
the Philadelphia region and all that goes on there and, of
course, up in the Sanofi plant that we all know so well, the
only vaccine manufacturer in the United States, you know, that
industry is one that could be critical to us in terms of
survivability in the event of something catastrophic. I don't
have an answer today but I have been thinking about that in
terms of a similar initiative to Wall Street West. For
instance, what if, you know, that sector is impacted and, of
course, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania it has a very
significant presence. So with that I thought at this time that
I would go back to the Chairman on the second round of
questioning if he has additional questions.
Mr. Cuellar. Yes, and I think one of the things as you know
the standard format is there are a couple of Congressman here,
we ask questions, that is usually the way Congress works. But I
am going to ask you to just bear with me on this little
exercise because I think it is important that you also have an
opportunity to ask me some questions. We might not answer them
but we will get you to ask some questions but I do see, you
know, that we do have some first responders in the audience so
what I am going to do is I am going to ask starting off with,
you know, I will go one-by-one and ask you what do you think
Congress should be doing? And I am just going to, you know, get
you off the script and just give you an opportunity to give you
that opportunity to go ahead and start off that way. So, Mr.
Sarubbi, I know you are with FEMA so we will make it an
official request to ask that question.
Mr. Sarubbi. Do I have to go first?
Mr. Cuellar. Give Mr. Werts here probably would be the
first person to do that. He got the quickest response and I
like that so Mr. Werts why don't you go first.
Mr. Dent. He wasn't shy when he was either.
Mr. Werts. Well certainly the fact that, you know, money is
always the root of everything. And first of all I think the
concept of the Task Forces should be maintained. I think that
is certainly something that should be ongoing. It is not
something that I think should just fall by the wayside because
as I said before there I think there are a lot of things that
we can do regionally and we do very well. We tend to relate to
one another a little bit more easily and more readily when we
are dealing in this type of an environment. I think the other
thing that, and I know this isn't just in Pennsylvania but in
many areas of the nation, our volunteers, you know, our EMS
people, our fire people, I don't think we can lose site of the
fact that they are volunteers, you know. And most of these
companies, these fire companies go out and they survive on, you
know, bingo and selling items, you know, to buy a new truck.
They need direct help from, you know, from Congress from the
United States. And I think that is extremely important. The
fact that we have as many law enforcement agencies in the
Commonwealth as we do certainly attests to the fact that there
is a need for law enforcement. And don't forget the fact that
these agencies require ongoing support from you folks to make
sure that they can do the job that they have to do. And that is
the everyday job. Today we are sitting here talking about some
worse case scenarios where these folks are going to be pushed
to the very limit, you know, without snapping, if you will. I
mentioned in here about evacuations where law enforcement
agencies are going to deal with two or three times the
population that they may deal with on a daily basis. There is a
lot of planning that has to be done by the agencies to make
sure that they have a plan in place so that they can deal with
this effectively. That takes time and it takes money for them
to be able to do that and I hate to bring everything down to
the dollar but unfortunately that is the life we live in today.
Mr. Cuellar. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else, any of the
four? I won't pick on anybody but if you want to add anything
an opportunity to turn around and ask us questions, sure.
Notice we haven't responded we are just on the listening mode
today. Yes, sir.
Mr. Paul. Congressman, the House Financial Services
Committee has been reticent to make these guidelines or
recommendations requirements on the part of the financial
services industry even though they are well aware that the
existing backup in disaster recovery facilities don't meet
these guidelines, and in the event of an explosion of a small
tactical nuclear weapon or a biological agent being spread in
New York or any number of those kinds of serious disaster
scenarios the backup facilities that exist today would not
function or would not function well. What will it take to get
Congress to require the securities and financial industry to,
in fact, embrace these guidelines and recommendations as if
they are, in fact, requirements?
Mr. Cuellar. And that is a good point which leads to one
thing that we see in Congress and is the fact that we have
different committees with different jurisdictions. We are
talking about homeland committee here but then if it touches
another area then you have another chairman that comes in and
says, whoa, that is our jurisdiction so the, you know, I think
our Chairman Bennie Thompson has done a good job in working
with other chairmen on other issues. I know that the, what is
it, the infrastructure committee, transportation is one that,
you know, we have gotten together and worked out some, you
know, some of those issues on that so this is a good point that
we are going to be conversing on then.
Mr. Paul. Thank you. And one other item if I may is what
will it take to get the Department of Homeland Security to
commit some funding to this project so that, in fact, we can do
it faster?
Mr. Cuellar. Well, it really is not Homeland Security it is
up to the Congress, no just kidding, no, no. Yeah, no, well, I
will have Charlie answer that one. Just kidding. It is a good
point.
Mr. Dent. Just a follow-up, I guess, and just on what you
said Mr. Chairman about the jurisdictional issues--one of the
key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission was to consolidate
many of the these jurisdictional disputes and, you know, the
Department of Homeland Security will often complain to us about
the number of hearings they must attend in Congress, the
multiple committees. The issue of terrorism risk insurance is
under the Financial Services Committee as are many of the
issues dealing with Wall Street West. All Homeland Security
issues--I serve on the Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee and the Homeland Security Committee--we both have
jurisdiction over FEMA, for example, and different aspects of
that agency, but these are continuing challenges. And the one
issue that I wanted to raise with, I guess perhaps, the three
in the center here, General French, Mr. Werts and Ms.
Marrocolo, deals with the issue of post-Hurricane Katrina.
There was a lot of analysis and assessment at the time about,
you know, what should the Federal role be in the event of a
major incident like we saw there? In that case it was a
naturally occurring incident, a hurricane. And, you know, what
should the role of the Federal Government be versus that of the
State and local governments? I mean it was pointed out, General
French, in your testimony that you have 150 people at the PEMA.
FEMA has a few thousand, about 2,500 employees----
Mr. Sarubbi. Yes, about 2,600 employees.
Mr. Dent. --2,600 employees. Obviously, the State and
Federal Governments have many other assets that they deploy to
the scene but there were a lot of questions and comments at the
time about this layered system of response--local, State, and
Federal. Was that the best model? Should we be federalizing
many of these types of responses? I heard from many governors
not long after 9/11, after Katrina, that that would be a
mistake. I was just curious what your thoughts were. Should we
maintain this layered system of response? You know, obviously,
at the local levels where you have so many of the assets in
terms of first responders, FEMA doesn't have a police
department or a fire department but our local communities do.
And so I would just like to get your thoughts and maybe,
General French, you would like to start us off on that.
Mr. French. Yes, sir, I will be glad to. Thank you. I use
an example that while it is not a catastrophic one as Katrina
or others that you might have mentioned but I will use a local
example that just happened here in the last month in which we
had an emergency here in the Lehigh Valley that had the
potential of being a very catastrophic element of NBC warfare
that we talked about potential there for a radiological weapon
when first identified. When the report first came in the local
agencies began to work that obviously immediately. They have
the best feel for what is happening on the ground because they
are right there.
Mr. Dent. Which incident are you referring to?
Mr. French. When we had the FedEx situation that arose and
handled very well by the local incident commander, Chief
Stevenson, I believe was his name, who initially working with
the on-site here at the hospital, Lehigh Valley.
Mr. Dent. St. Luke's, I think, St. Luke's Hospital.
Mr. French. St. Luke's, yes, sir. While that was taking
place and was the local responders were using their available
resources, there was a chance for the communication element to
take place where the situational awareness was known all the
way up through to the State level as far as what was happening
at the local level. Our county level emergency managers were
tuned into that, in fact, on-site as it progressed but we
continued with the local incident manager being in charge. That
in itself as the day went on and as we went through the entire
protocols turned out to be, I think, the best way to deal with
that because you have situational awareness at various levels.
It is not you are totally in the dark at the county or at the
State or at the Federal level. But speaking in that regard when
it came time to bring the additional resources to bear there
wasn't a delay in when that, those additional resources could
actually be engaged but rather because of the situation
awareness we were able to respond at, I think, an appropriate
time. Because as it turned out it was expeditiously identified
through some sophisticated testing that was done at a higher
level than what the incident commander had. So I think Rob
French's opinion is that when you have an emergency if you can
treat that at the most local level that is probably going to
end up getting you the best result.
Mr. Dent. Thank you. Bob or Ms. Marrocolo, do either of you
have a comment on that?
Mr. Werts. I have known.
Ms. Marrocolo. I mean I think where you have seen large
breakdowns in the response is where organizations that
typically don't provide direct services or have a direct role
like in incident mitigation, when they try to step-in and take
control of the incident and I think, you know, I think you said
it best. All disasters are local. Locals are the first to
respond and the last to leave in any emergency and they have
the most direct experience dealing with the issues in that
community. And I think I agree with General French that to the
extent that you can you want to keep control of an incident at
the local level and that is, you know, management of the
resource requests, control of how information flows up and down
the chain, I think that that is essential. When that leaves the
local level it becomes very difficult for people that are not a
part of that response structure to integrate. A lot of what we
do is not just writing plans on paper. It is building the
relationships so that at three o'clock in the morning when you
are standing behind a big cloud of smoke, you know the person
across from you and you can work together. And to bring in
outsiders in the middle of a mess like that can become very
difficult for them to succeed. And, in fact, in many ways it
sets-up organizations to fail. And so I think one of the things
that Congress should be doing is strengthening that local
response structure by doing things like by promoting guidance
and standards. And I think through the development of guidance
and standards, you know, consensus-based standards not just
something that comes down from the top. You know, there can go
a long way to helping local governments develop the plans and
the processes that they need to be prepared.
Mr. Dent. Bob, do you have any final comments?
Mr. Werts. Charlie, I have to agree with both of my
counterparts here at the table. These things have got to be
started and maintained at a local level. For something, you
know, such as the FedEx thing for all of a sudden that we know
that the Feds aren't going to jump into this. It is just not
going to happen. And I see no reason to try and reinvent the
wheel here. We have a system in place. There is some--are there
some difficulties? Yes, but I think that there are things that
can be easily overcome. Communication is paramount in these
things. It is important that, you know, the local incident
commander makes sure that the county is aware of it. The county
has to make sure that PEMA is aware of it so that when it is
necessary for those other assets to be brought in they can be
brought in as quickly as possible. I don't think you really
have to change it. I have to agree that maybe there is some.
Mr. Dent. I am glad to hear you feel that way because I
think there was sort of a knee-jerk reaction right after
Katrina that there seemed to be a feeling that the Federal--
that the Federal level needed to be more engaged directly. And,
I think, one of the governors who came in to see us shortly
after that said the only disaster greater than Katrina would be
to federalize emergency response. One of the governors did make
that comment very clearly in citing the fact that he said, you
know, in which hurricanes will you choose to respond and in
which ones should I be? Basically, it would take him off the
hook. He and the locals, in other words, in terms of
preparedness, and it would be a Federal responsibility. And I
was just pleased that that is your sense that we ought to
maintain that system and even strengthen it. So, I guess, the
other final comment would be, what is the lesson that I think
you all learned from Katrina about this layered system of
response? What worked and what didn't? What did we do right?
What didn't we do right? What do you think we can do to
strengthen that State and local system? I mean we obviously
realize FEMA had many challenges and difficulties during
Katrina, but we also saw some of the challenges at the State
and local level, and if there are any lessons you learned out
of that, what were they as professionals in the field?
Mr. Sarubbi. I am sorry. Could I just make a couple
comments on the Federal response? Under the old paradigm and as
previous speakers have pointed out all responses are local.
Mr. Dent. Right.
Mr. Sarubbi. And what would happen is, of course, the first
responders would respond. When they get overwhelmed the State
would come in. When they get overwhelmed then the Federal
Government would come in. And usually by that time the Federal
Government got involved it was really too late. With our new
posture in leaning forward we are trying to be in a position
where we can provide assistance to the State and local folks in
a more timely fashion. And we have done that through a number
of avenues in terms of increasing our ability to gain
situational awareness. For example, the General spoke about
this FedEx incident. We were monitoring that very closely.
Should the Federal Government need to step-in we were prepared
to do that. We have also implemented new procedures that will
allow Federal assistance to come more quickly in terms of being
able to expedite the declaration process. And even, also.
Mr. Dent. You mean in terms of amendments to the Stafford
Act, is that what?
Mr. Sarubbi. Yes, sir, I am sorry, yes, sir. The Stafford
Act Declaration process, for example, for both man-made and
natural disasters. And we are also able to, new procedures in
place to provide Federal support even if there isn't a
declaration. Now if there isn't a declaration and we do provide
Federal support the State would have to reimburse FEMA for that
but it does give them the opportunity to access those Federal
assets and dollars.
Mr. Dent. Are there any, and maybe that is probably a
better question and you started to address it. Is there
anything that we ought to be doing to address the Stafford Act
to help make this system better? Any changes beyond those that
have already been made in terms of bringing the preparedness
function back into FEMA and other changes we made last year?
Mr. Sarubbi. I don't know if there is anything that needs
to be done to amend the Stafford Act. I think I just want to
thank you for your support that you have given FEMA in its
efforts to rebuild itself. Under Chief Paulson's vision of new
FEMA we are becoming more forward leaning and becoming a more
nimble organization. And I think we are well on our way to do
that and now that we have had preparedness back into FEMA we
are able to better prepare ourselves and our State and local
partners through being able to have greater oversight over
grants and the training and exercises and planning. All those
things have helped build solid relationships and helped provide
the right resources to the folks that need them the most. But
as I said I think the procedures that we are putting in place
in terms of enhancing our situational awareness capabilities
and our ability to be there to support our State and local
partners much more quickly than we ever have before are
working. And we just need more time to do that and funding and
so, continued funding and so forth.
Mr. Dent. Mr. Chairman, I don't want to belabor this. I
just am very appreciative of all the folks who provided
testimony today, and as the Chairman mentioned, he and I are
going to be heading from here right down to Washington. General
Petraeus has a little hearing today too, beginning at 12:30 for
six hours and, of course, we scheduled our hearing before he
was scheduled. But so we are going to make sure that we catch
part of that at some point today. He and Ambassador Crocker are
coming, in but thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back to you at
this time.
Mr. Cuellar. Thank you, and first of all I certainly want
to thank Congressman Dent. As I mentioned he is an outstanding
member and I look forward to working with him for a long time.
I want to thank all of the witnesses, also, that we have here.
Your testimony was right on line and I think what we need to do
is learn from each other and make the process better, and make
it work better. And I think everybody is in agreement that the
local part of it is so important and I think the relationships
that you all establish working with each other is so important
because I don't think we want to be exchanging business card in
the middle of a disaster like has happened in the past. And I
think that was a mistake but we are learning and it is a
process and this hearing is going to go a long way because you
know everything has been taken down and we will be reviewing
this. Finally, to the people out there in the audience let me
just say this. I think Homeland Security is everybody's
responsibility. We all have a responsibility to all work with
our local and State and Federal officials and I think as long
as we do this as a team this will be in the best interest of
our country. So at this time I want to thank all of the
witnesses again for their valuable testimony and, of course,
our members we might have some additional questions and if we
do send you something in writing we will ask you to submit that
to us as soon as possible. Hearing no further business the
hearing is adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:50 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]