Issue No. 34

Office of Safety and Security
Transit Security Newsletter

January 2003

of additional WMD. In-place sheltering may be required if the same area must be quarantined or if people are safer in a particular location.

Hazards Analysis. The hazards analysis section of an emergency plan should identify potential hazards, determine the vulnerability of an area as a result of hazards, and assess the risk of a hazardous materials release or spill. In the identification step, you should consider explosive, chemical, geological, and nuclear WMD as potential hazards. As you conduct your hazards analysis, identify potential targets and review their vulnerability to attack. Consider the population, accessibility, impact on daily life, economic impact, and symbolic value of areas at risk.
Terrorists and criminals who want to attack a particular group based on a conflict with their personal beliefs might target Federal, state, or local government offices and facilities, health clinics, or religious structures. Those who want to cause maximum casualties might target public gathering places (such as sports and entertainment complexes or tourist attractions), modes of transportation (such as buses and trains, including subways), routes of transportation (including bridges), or transportation facilities (such as airport terminals). To damage infra-structure and interrupt day-to-day functions, terrorists might target utilities or water and wastewater treatment plants. LEPCs should also consider emergency procedures in the event of multiple or simultaneous terrorist attacks.

Terrorists might target first responders (e.g., fire houses, police department offices, response vehicles, and individuals) to hinder them from re-sponding to another terrorist incident. Terrorists may seek to transform a target into a weapon by focusing on facilities that handle explosives, toxic, or volatile chemicals.

Because most public buildings and public areas must be accessible to everyone, they are highly vulnerable to attack. Other facilities, such as water treatment plants and industrial facilities, especially those with chemical or explosives storage, should have site security measures in place. You may want to discuss site security measures with these facilities to ensure that they are adequately protected. You may want to ask the facility the following questions:
Is the facility or critical equipment and chemicals protected by fences of buildings?

Do not, however, include details of security systems in the emergency plan because it is available to the general public.
Public works facilities and workers will assume a support role, if so requested by state and local agencies. This support role might include damage assessment, debris clearance, search and rescue, traffic control, restoration of lifeline systems, building inspection, provision of potable water and sanitation services, and flood control.

For more information on site security, read CEPPO’s Chemical Safety Alerts Chemical Accident Prevention: Site Security (EPA K-550-F00-002) and Anhydrous Ammonia Theft (EPA-F-00-005), available at www.epa.gov/ceppo/p-small.htm#alerts.

Mitigation Procedures and Ongoing Assessment. Mitigation procedures and ongoing assessment involve consequence management activities to assist and protect the public from further exposure to hazards presented by terrorist activities. Public health officials, HazMat teams, coroners, and/or medical exam-iners and criminal investigators should work together to mitigate residual hazards as well as identify potentially large numbers of fatalities. Federal assistance should be available to support this task.
Ongoing assessment activities may include environmental sampling of air, water and soil, and insect and animal screening for chemical, biological, or radiological agents.

The criminal investigation of a terrorist attack will be a joint effort that includes many agencies. In the event of a biological attack, an epidemiological investigation may also be performed to assess the distribution of cases and sources of out-break. The emergency plan could include a checklist of basic questions to ask when conducting interviews with victims in hospitals, sick officers, and other individuals in affected population groups. (It may be necessary to train people how to ask such questions appropriately in stressful circumstances.)

Equipment. Your emergency response should include standard operating procedures on when to use specialized WMD response equipment. Local responders should be trained to use, maintain, and calibrate this specialized equipment. The Department of Justice’s Office for State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support provides equipment grants and technical assistance to eligible communities. Visit its website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/terrorism/funding.htm for more information and grant application kits.

Training. The 1996 Nun-Lugar-Domenici (NLD) legislation authorized funding to form a domestic preparedness (DP) training initiative. This initiative was recently transferred from DOD to the Department of Justice and includes a range of specialized courses, from basic awareness to discipline-specific advanced-level training and exercises. Training is available for identified cities and is directed at a broad spectrum of emergency responders from a variety of response disciplines, including fire, HazMat, law enforcement, emergency medical services, public health, emergency management, and public works. Additional advanced-level courses involving the use of real time experiences, live agents, and explosives are taught at cutting-edge training facilities. For more information, contact the DPCRA Hotline at (800) 424-9346 or (703) 412-9810. Visit CEPPO at www.epa.gov/ceppo/.