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An act of terrorism is not only the direct physical action caused by an individual or a group but is also the psychological weapon, which threatens the quality of life for every citizen in this country. History has taught us that citizen's reaction to these events greatly depends on their confidence in those in government to manage these threats, investigate them thoroughly and to successfully prosecute those responsible. Public confidence is also judged by the speed, which the community is allowed to return to normal activities.

Last Friday's exercise was extremely successful and I want to thank all of the personnel who participated in this exercise - a job well done. I also want to thank Congressmen Shays, DeLauro and Tierney for their leadership and support of this important mission. After last Friday's exercise, I also want to point out the importance of first response. The quicker the response with the containment of any devices, the better chances we will have.

Therefore, the specialized training and equipment prepared law enforcement, fire services and emergency services to respond to these events are urgently needed. Additional training and planning has enabled us to manage not only actual criminal actions, but threats of such actions and hoax devices with a minimal disruption and impact to our communities.

The State of Connecticut consists of 169 Towns of which the State Police is the primary law enforcement agency for just under half the communities. The State Police Emergency Services Unit is responsible for providing bomb squad response to 166 of these communities. The only cities that have bomb squads are the cities of Hartford, Stamford and New Haven. The State Police responded to 419 calls for service in 1999. These calls were for a variety of suspicious packages, hoax devices and over 50 live improvised explosive devices. Our service is provided 24 hrs a day with an average response time of approximately one-hour. This response provides a minimal disruption to the normal activities to the citizens of this state. In addition, our Traffic Squad, Fire Marshals Office and Forensic Laboratory are also ready to assist any state or local requests for emergency services. Last year, Governor Rowland and Connecticut legislators took the initiative and authorized special bonding to build a ESU facility in Cheshire. A more centrally located facility to give a shorter response time and to handle all of the emergency requests from the state and local communities.

During the past year there have also been five threats of biological weapons and one attempt to create the deadly toxin, Ricin. These events are becoming more prevalent because of the increase in public and media attention to the subject and the limited ability of first responders to safely identify and mitigate these threats.

In 1996 the Federal Government chose 120 cities throughout the country to fund training for domestic terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. There were no cities in Connecticut included with this plan.

The Federal government has been successful in warning of the possibility of a domestic attack involving a weapon of mass destruction. The Federal response to such an event is well planned, but is delayed and relies on the capabilities of State and Local first responders to take immediate and positive action until help can arrive. As a law enforcement agency and a first responder, I would request assistance from the Federal Government in acquiring the needed assets to accomplish this mission.

Therefore, I respectfully request the allocation of additional funding for the training of state and local police, fire services personnel and emergency services personnel. In addition, we should provide funding for the personal protective equipment such as respirators and protective suits. Specialized transportation vehicles and detection equipment should also be considered. Additional training for special canine unit and forensic laboratory capability for explosive scenes and biological mass destructive weapon scene search should also be considered. A detailed list is attached.

1. Personnel protective equipment - All WMD environments require the use of respiratory protection. Military air purification respirators that were designed for this purpose cannot be used in most states because they conflict with OSHA regulations that require all such respirators be NIOSH approved. Assistance is needed to defray the cost of purchasing respirators that are in compliance with these regulations.

Respirators must be provided to all perimeter personnel as well as those conducting evacuations and manning decontamination sites.

Self-contained breathing apparatus or re-breathers must be provided to those responders working in level A or B suits. There must be a sufficient quantity to support the operation and backup personnel as needed.

Protective clothing for all responders working in a hot or warm zone must be provided. This may be as simple as tyvex suits or as elaborate and expensive as full-encapsulated level A protective suits.

One suggestion that came from the recent exercise was the state purchase and maintain a sufficient number of suits to be able to provide protection to local agencies and avoid duplicating such an inventory with every department in the state. This equipment would be immediately available to agencies requesting it.

 

2. Detection Equipment - The most immediate need in any hazardous release is to be able to immediately detect, identify and monitor a substance. The field identification of a substance must be performed by two separate and different types of detectors to insure accuracy. Currently there are detectors available for many WMD agents but they are expensive. There is also a need to have these detectors not only in hot or target zones, but they must be available in decontamination areas and treatment facilities to insure hazards are not spread to medical personnel.

Field monitors for WMD agents are invaluable for early detection but positive analysis of any chemical or biological substance requires positive laboratory testing and additional equipment is needed to accomplish this task.

 

3. Specialized transportation vehicles - The containment of any suspected WMD device that can safely be removed from an area prior to functioning, not only mitigates the damage that it may inflict but can greatly impact the disruption such a device would generate in a community. Total containment vessels capable of withstanding explosive force as well as preventing the leakage of any chemical or biological material are available. This would allow the immediate removal and rendering safe of any suspected device. Such a tool would enhance domestic preparedness in handling actual WMD devices and would minimize the disruption caused by any hoax device.

An Emergency Response Vehicle dedicated to responding to WMD incidents would reduce the response time of getting needed equipment to the scene. The vehicle would contain needed personnel protective equipment as well as monitoring and detection equipment. This vehicle should be self-contained and have communication capabilities of relaying real time information back to the incident command center.

1. Specialized canine training for additional bomb detection dogs.
2. Forensic Lab Equipment and Training for handling the bomb explosive scene investigation.