WASHINGTON, DC -- According to a Council on Foreign Relations study released on June 29, the United States, "is drastically underfunding local emergency responders and remains dangerously unprepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil, particularly one involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-impact conventional weapons."
The council, a New York-based private world affairs advocacy organization, recommended the federal government spend an additional $98 billion over the next five years above and beyond the $27 billion it said plans to spend. The report recommends an additional $36.8 billion for the fire service alone to strengthen hazardous materials preparation and response, including equipment and training.
The report goes on to say that if the nation does not take immediate steps to better identify and address the urgent needs of emergency responders, the next terrorist incident could be even more devastating than 9/11.
"This report only confirms what many of us have been saying for years - most communities in the United States are ill-prepared to deal with terrorist incidents," said NVFC Chairman Philip C.Stittleburg. "The NVFC was privileged to be a participating organization in the Council's Emergency Responders Action Group."
The council's task force was led by former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H), with Jamie Metzl, a former National Security Council and Senate Foreign Relations Committee official, directing the project. The commission also included former White House adviser Richard Clarke, former FBI and CIA director William Webster and former military officials, business leaders and Nobel laureates.
To address the lack of standards and good numbers, the Task Force made the following recommendations:
- Congress should require that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) work with state and local agencies and officials and emergency responder professional associations to establish clearly defined standards and guidelines for emergency preparedness. These standards must be sufficiently flexible to allow local officials to set priorities based on their needs, provided that they reach nationally-determined preparedness levels within a fixed time period.
- Congress should require that the DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services submit a coordinated plan for meeting identified national preparedness standards by the end of FY 2007.
- Congress should establish within DHS a National Institute for Best Practices in Emergency Preparedness to work with state and local governments, emergency preparedness professional associations, and other partners to share best practices and lessons learned.
- Congress should make emergency responder grants in FY04 and thereafter on a multi-year basis to facilitate long-term planning and training.
- To deal with the problem of appropriated funds being sidetracked and stalled on their way to Emergency Responders, the Task Force also recommended:
- The U.S. House of Representatives should transform the House Select Committee on Homeland Security into a standing committee and give it a formal, leading role in the authorization of all emergency responder expenditures in order to streamline the federal budgetary process.
- The U.S. Senate should consolidate emergency preparedness and response oversight into the Senate Government Affairs Committee.
- States should develop a prioritized list of requirements in order to ensure that federal funding is allocated to achieve the best possible return on investments.
- Congress should ensure that all future appropriations bills for emergency responders include strict distribution timelines.
- The Department of Homeland Security should move the Office of Domestic Preparedness from the Bureau of Border and Transportation Security to the Office of State and Local Government Coordination in order to consolidate oversight of grants to emergency responders within the office of the Secretary.
To view the report go to: http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=6086
