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Re: Dirty Bomb
Eric —
I believe the original question regarded a terrorist event involving radioactive material ... and you fell into the trap of confusing "Lead Federal Agency" under the FRERP with "Lead Agency" under the PDD's. Don't feel bad ... it happens to the best of us. You're absolutely correct that the LFA under the FRERP will be determined by "who owned or had knowledge" of the material. I don't think the FRERP is clear as to who might be the LFA in a terrorist event ... I believe that falls under "LFA's confer".
We ran into the confusion in terminology / response between the FRP (Federal Response Plan), FRERP, Stafford Act and the various PDD's as far back as 1996 in our "Mirrored Image" exercise prior to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. This exercise simulated several "dirty bombs" in an around Atlanta ... transportation centers, Olympic venues, etc. There was a LOT of confusion between "Lead Agency" and "Lead Federal Agency".
The question was whether an organizational structure exists, not whether response assets exists. We just got through with a MAJOR radiological exercise at Savannah River Site (SRS), working with the FRMAC, AMS (Aerial Measurement System), RAP teams from around the country, and yes, even an A-Team.
I'll send you about 20 pages of comments regarding the recent ingestion pathway exercise at SRS off-line ... not just mine, but from state participants in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina ... and quite a few from Georgia. It's not just my opinion ...
Jim Hardeman, Manager
Environmental Radiation Program
Georgia Environmental Protection Division
4244 International Parkway, Suite 114
Atlanta, GA 30354
(404) 362-2675
Fax: (404) 362-2653
E-mail: Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
>>> "Wagner, Eric" <WagnerEC@NV.DOE.GOV> 5/16/2002 11:56:18 >>>
>Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us wrote:
>To my knowledge, no "real" organizational structure like the one you
mention exists in the US. If someone has different information, please
advise.
For situations where an incident is determined to have a radiological aspect
where a State feels the need for Federal assistance they can request from
the DOE a RAP Team (Radiological Assistance Program). The US has multiple
regions with teams geographically dispersed so their arrival can be in terms
of a few hours. If your local first-responders aren't aware of this asset
available for their use I would encourage them to contact their State's
radiation control agency (or equivalent). If the incident requires more
support than one team can provide the state can request additional assets up
to and including a FRMAC (Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment
Center).
>Yes, I'm aware of the Presidential Decison Directives (PDD's) on weapons of
mass destruction ... Once it goes boom, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) is in charge of "consequence management", but they will rely
heavily on the assets of other federal agencies such as DOE, EPA, CDC, etc.
Actually if you take a look at the Federal Radiological Emergency Response
Plan (FRERP - see links below), FEMA only covers the non-radiological
aspects of an incident. The Lead Federal Agency (LFA) for a FRMAC is
determined by type of emergency. For terrorist acts see section 5C for the
role of the FBI.
> Under the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP), the
"health agencies" will also form something called "Advisory Team on
Environment, Food and Health" (A-Team) ... this is composed of personnel
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ...
probably both from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Despite being in the plan for more
than 6 years, and exercising at dozens of exercises, the feds have yet to
convince me that they can actually field a credible A-Team if they actually
had to.
I'd be interested in why you feel that they wouldn't be able to field a
credible A-Team? Off-list would be fine.
>Also, jurisdictional issues are quite unclear ... who's in charge, feds,
state or locals?
>From the Federal perspective, at least for the emergency phase radiological
response, it goes DOE->LFA->State. See the links at the end for more DOE
program information. Once the situation has stabilized the DOE and EPA
negotiate a transition and the EPA will replace the DOE for the intermediate
and long-term response.
--Eric
FRERP links
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/frerp/frerp.htm
http://www.dca.state.fl.us/fdem/bpr/EMTOOLS/Nuclear/frerp.htm
FRMAC links
http://www.nv.doe.gov/programs/frmac/default.htm
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