[Senate Hearing 113-218]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
S. Hrg. 113-218
HOW PREPARED IS THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION FOR THE NEXT DISASTER
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HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT, INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
of the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 31, 2013
__________
Available via http://www.fdsys.gov
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Lauren M. Corcoran, Hearing Clerk
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS, AND
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MARK BEGICH, Alaska Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
Pat McQuillan, Staff Director
Brandon Booker, Minority Staff Director
Kelsey Stroud, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statement:
Page
Senator Begich............................................... 1
WITNESSES
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Representative in Congress from the
District of Columbia........................................... 3
Christopher T. Geldart, Director, District of Columbia Homeland
Security and Emergency Management Agency....................... 6
Kenneth J. Mallette, Executive Director, Maryland Emergency
Management Agency.............................................. 9
Barbara Donnellan, County Manager, Arlington County, Virginia,
and Chair, Chief Administrative Officers Homeland Security
Executive Committee, Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments.................................................... 10
James H. Schwartz, Fire Chief, Arlington County Fire Department.. 12
Alphabetical List of Witnesses
Donnellan, Barbara:
Testimony.................................................... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 41
Geldart, Christopher T.:
Testimony.................................................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 27
Mallette, Kenneth J.:
Testimony.................................................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 36
Norton, Hon. Eleanor:
Testimony.................................................... 3
Schwartz, James H.:
Testimony.................................................... 12
Prepared statement........................................... 52
APPENDIX
Peter Crane, Counsel for Special Projects U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, prepared statement................................. 57
Questions and responses for the Record from:
Mr. Geldart.................................................. 62
Mr. Mallette................................................. 64
Ms. Donnellan................................................ 68
Mr. Schwartz................................................. 70
HOW PREPARED IS THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION FOR THE NEXT DISASTER
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Emergency Management,
Intergovernmental Relations,
and the District of Columbia,
of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:02 p.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Mark Begich,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senator Begich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEGICH
Senator Begich. Thank you very much, Congresswoman. How are
you? I apologize. Unlike the House, at times, you never have
hard votes that people are confused on their positions, and so
I apologize for being delayed. We are still in the middle of a
vote as I speak right now. We are trying to get the right
number of votes. I will leave it at that, and I apologize. We
were down there working it.
Let me make my comments. I will try to be quick and brief.
And then I will turn it to the Congresswoman. I know you have
been patiently waiting, so I appreciate that very much.
The hearing, again, comes to order. Good afternoon. Welcome
to this hearing of the Subcommittee on Emergency Management,
Intergovernmental Relations, and the District of Columbia
(EMDC).
Today, I want to explore and examine the disaster response
and coordination of the Federal, State, and local entities in
the National Capital Region (NCR). We appreciate you all being
here and your willingness to participate in this discussion.
This is an important topic as we sit in our Nation's capital.
We must remember Washington, DC. and the surrounding region is
under near constant threat.
I would like to take a brief moment to thank the emergency
responders who work to keep the capital and surrounding region
safe from harm. They deserve our thanks for their service. The
sheer size of this metropolitan area, which includes
significant national security infrastructure, multiple State
and local governments, and broad scope of threats, makes this
for a unique and complex coordination challenge.
And to broaden this discussion to the national level, from
the recent terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon to natural
disasters like the wildfires burning across the country, it is
critical for the Federal Government to look proactively at our
disaster response capabilities and coordination with State and
local agencies instead of reactive once a disaster has
occurred.
Although the National Capital Region is unique in many
ways, improving coordination and communication in emergency
operations is a challenge that exists in most major
metropolitan areas across this Nation. Specifically in my own
home State of Alaska, we do a good job on Federal, State, and
local coordination for disaster preparedness and being prepared
for any type of disaster.
The University of Alaska, for example, of Fairbanks, held
successful emergency management exercises which tested
emergency responders and Emergency Operations Centers' (EOCs)
capabilities should the campus be a target of violence.
Volunteers from nearby Eielson Air Force Base joined, a great
example of civilian and Air Force members working together.
In March, the Alaska National Guard's 103 Civilian Support
Team held an exercise to test its ability to respond to a
chemical, biological, radiological threat to Southeast Alaska's
commercial fishing and agriculture industry. Many participants,
including the Coast Guard, U.S. Army, Alaska Division of
Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Sitka Fire
Department--this drill went very well and tested the
interoperability among very diverse stakeholders.
And Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), in my home town
of Anchorage just last month did an exercise to prepare for
incidents including aircraft malfunctions, injured personnel,
or terrorist attacks were held. After the exercise, service
members from different JBER entities were pleased with the
successful operation and said it helps solidify relationships
and remind people what exactly to do in an emergency.
When it comes to emergencies, preparation is key, and
response exercises in Alaska, the Lower 48 States, and the
National Capital Region are essential to saving lives when
disaster strikes. And throughout the disaster preparation
exercise and mitigation process, we must continue to look for
ways to streamline efforts to reduce costs, and I believe in
this time of declining budgets and fiscal uncertainty, we must
find more efficient ways of strengthening our interagency
partnerships.
It is no secret we can do more to modernize our approach to
disaster response. I think we can all agree this will be better
accomplished by coordinating all Federal, State, local, and
private sector efforts to adequately support but not replace
local operations.
As a former mayor, I know that cities and local governments
are well positioned to understand their individual concerns and
vulnerabilities. I think you will agree the private sector
should not be an afterthought, but should be involved in the
local planning, training, and exercising that leads up to
successful response and missions.
I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses about the
work in the Nation's Capital Region. This area is fortunate to
have the immense resources of the city, State, and Federal
Governments, but we know there are changes coming and more work
to be done.
Recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
announced a proposal to move the National Capital Region's
coordination office from FEMA headquarters here in Washington
to FEMA Region 3, located in Philadelphia. As most of you
probably know, this office is the key player in coordinating
Federal entities through its chairmanship of the Joint Federal
Committee. It has come to my attention that FEMA did not
adequately consult with the stakeholders from the National
Capital Region or congressional authorizers or appropriators
before making this decision. I have some real concerns about
this and hope, moving forward, that FEMA will be more
responsive to my requests for information and hope they will
work with the National Capital Region stakeholders to discuss
unresolved concerns.
Again, before we start, again, I want to thank all the
folks that will be lining up, and let me first introduce
Congresswoman Norton. Thank you very much for being here. We
appreciate you for being very patient. I apologize.
TESTIMONY OF THE HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, A REPRESENTATIVE
IN CONGRESS FROM THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Ms. Holmes Norton. Well, no apology necessary, Mr.
Chairman. I just hope you get the votes.
Senator Begich. Well, we are one short. We are working on
it.
Ms. Holmes Norton. I want to thank you for this hearing and
for inviting stakeholders from the region to come, in addition
to me. I may be wrong, Mr. Chairman, but I do not believe that
there has been a hearing on this office since the office was
set up after September 11, 2001, when we created the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS). So it is about time.
Of course, all are aware of the unprecedented attack--and I
am going to summarize my testimony and not read it to get
through it quickly--the unprecedented attack on this region, on
the Pentagon itself, and we believe but for the brave residents
who took down the plane in Pennsylvania that the Capitol itself
would have been attacked. The first time we were attacked on
our own shores in this way, it shook the Congress in ways that
it had never felt before.
Since that time, I am very pleased that we have not been
faced with an attack or anything close to it, and that has a
lot to do with the way in which we have proceeded with homeland
security. But this office was not set up just to prepare for,
respond to terrorist attacks. It also, of course, has the same
mission that the Department of Homeland Security has, to deal
with natural disasters, and, Mr. Chairman, as you must know
better than I, in this country, we have far more natural
disasters than, I am pleased to say, we have terrorist attacks.
Here, we have had, for example, since September 11, 2001,
the so-called Snowmageddon, the worst snow anyone can recall--
--
Senator Begich. I experienced that.
Ms. Holmes Norton. You were here then.
Senator Begich. Yes, I was here. [Laughter.]
Ms. Holmes Norton. Not to mention the earthquake. Who ever
heard of an earthquake in this region?
The entire region is affected. It is a region without
walls. So major disasters and terrorist attacks that occurred,
for example, in Virginia essentially occurred in the District
of Columbia. Our first responders were in Virginia. We have to
prepare as if the attack occurred precisely in a particular
jurisdiction.
The region was picked out for a special office for a reason
that should be clear. An attack on the region is an attack on
the Nation itself because this region is the seat of the
Federal Government, of all of its headquarters, agencies, and
many secure officials. And it was felt that after going through
9/11, the least we should do would be to coordinate and have an
office to coordinate our preparedness, our response, our
recovery from natural and, heaven forbid, terrorist disasters.
Mr. Chairman, I must tell you, I was stunned to receive
word from my staff that there were some officials from the
Department of Homeland Security who wanted me to take a call
about how they were about to move the office that was set up to
protect the National Capital Region to another region
altogether, to Philadelphia. I refused to take that call. I had
not been consulted. For someone from the Federal Government to
call and say, this is what we intend to do and we just thought
we ought to let you know it did not seem to me to be the
appropriate way to consult with Congress, and so I tried to
find out whether other Members of Congress or stakeholders had
been consulted and could not find that they had.
So, I wrote to the appropriators, who I knew were
considering the Homeland Security appropriation, and asked for
language which they have now included in their appropriation,
barring any kind of move, until the Congress is satisfied that
any such move would not jeopardize the National Capital Region.
I am very concerned, Mr. Chairman, of the failure of this
office to follow the quite explicit mandate in the statute, for
example, to coordinate the activities for disaster preparedness
related to the entire region. We have not seen much evidence of
that. And the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report,
which I cite in my testimony, indicates that the office, the
National Capital Region Coordinator Office, views its duty as
to act as a coordinator for other Federal agencies instead of
coordinating with the regional officials, the stakeholders, the
people who run the counties and--there is only one big, large
city, the District of Columbia--the ones who would have to
respond to an attack. And the GAO makes a number of
recommendations that I summarize in my testimony.
Mr. Chairman, the statute is very clear, that we set up
this office because we have a region that has a large city. It
has small towns. It has huge counties, like Fairfax and
Montgomery. It has land or terrain, vastly different. The whole
point was not to tell a region what to do, but to coordinate
with the stakeholders in the region so as to prepare for
attacks. And we do not know how the office got off to
coordinating with Federal agencies. We have no objection to
that. Our objection is to the failure to follow the statute and
the coordinating mandate of the statute.
Mr. Chairman, in light of the recent attack in Boston, we
could not be more serious about this office. The point of this
office is to help the region expect the unexpected, and we are
not going to be able to do this, we are not going to be able to
share on these matters as we should if the coordinator is not
coordinating. It is important that the coordinator have a
direct relationship also with the Secretary. This is, after
all, the National Capital Region.
So I urge you, Mr. Chairman, and the members of this
important Subcommittee to work with other Members of the House
and Senate and the appropriators to ensure that the National
Capital Region Office addresses the needs that Congress created
it to meet and that it consults continually with Congress, and
especially concerning any proposed changes.
May I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. Congresswoman, thank you very much. And I
will tell you, also as an appropriator--I sit on both here, in
the Appropriations Committee and on the Subcommittee on
Homeland Security, so you can rest assured.
When I was mayor, the city's size, geographic size, was
1,900 square miles, so you can imagine the many different areas
we had kind of--it was unified, but it still had communities
within that considered themselves small town cities, even
though they were part of the same municipality. So we ran our
Emergency Operations Center with all the different agencies and
private sector in a coordinated manner, not a, ``this is what
we want to do,'' because we had far-flung communities 50 miles
away, almost, that were still in our city.
So when you think about the logistics, and I am very
sensitized to what you have just described in your testimony,
and you can rest assured in the role I have here, but also the
role I have in the Appropriations Committee as the language we
have been able to put into the bill, we will be hearing your
message clear.
Ms. Holmes Norton. Well, thank you very much for that. I
did not know you were a member of the Appropriations Committee,
as well, Mr. Chairman, and I certainly appreciate having your
watchful eye on both these Committees.
I must say, this is a city 10 miles square, so when you
tell me a city 50 miles----
Senator Begich. Nineteen-hundred.
Ms. Holmes Norton. But, I tell you, that is a city the size
of this region.
Senator Begich. Right.
Ms. Holmes Norton. So I think you can understand exactly
what I am talking about.
Senator Begich. Very good. Again, Congresswoman, we greatly
thank you for being patient, and your testimony, and your
representation for the area here.
You are right, I think this might be one of the first times
this office has had a hearing. We have tried to be very active
in this Committee around emergency preparedness, but also the
D.C. region issues. As you know, we moved a couple judges out
and a few other things because we want to become very active,
but also a participant in making sure the D.C. region has what
they need.
And this is one area where I think, my former mayor roots
are coming out. The fact that why local stakeholders are not
included is a surprise to me. So that is why we wanted to have
this discussion, and also talk about what you said very
clearly, and that is it is not just about the terrorist
attacks. We hope none happen. But it is the natural disasters
that are more frequent, may they be storms, may they be
earthquakes, snow, floods, the list is long, and we have
experienced--since I have been here, I have to say, in 4\1/2\
years, I have seen more disasters here from snow and trees
falling down and power out for a week in this region, and it is
actually somewhat surprising to me.
So, being Chair of this Committee, maybe I can at least
lend a little bit of help and support.
Ms. Holmes Norton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much, Congresswoman.
Let me move to the next panel, if we could, and we will let
the transition occur here. Staff will do their magic by putting
names up there and then you will know exactly where you are
sitting. Again, we want to thank all of you for being very
patient, and I apologize because the issue that is on the floor
is one that I am actively involved in, so I am getting e-mails
in regards to our activity, so I apologize.
As everyone sits down, I will do a quick introduction and
then we will just kind of go down the row here, if that is OK.
Christopher Geldart is the Director of the District of
Columbia's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency,
serving as the Homeland Security Advisor to the Mayor and
Emergency Management Director. Again, we appreciate you being
here today.
We also have Kenneth Mallette, who is Executive Director of
the Maryland Emergency Management Agency and is responsible for
coordinating the State's response in any major emergency or
disaster and coordinating the integration of Federal grant
programs and others.
Barbara Donnellan is the County Manager of Arlington
County, Virginia, representing the Metropolitan Washington
Council of Governments, where she serves as Chairwoman of the
Chief Administrative Officers Homeland Security Executive
Committee. You all have long titles.
James Schwartz is the Fire Chief of the Arlington County
Fire Department, a very short title and it is self-describing.
Chief Schwartz has been in Arlington County for more than 27
years.
Let me, if I can, just start with you, Christopher, and if
you can keep your testimony as tight as you can, and then we
will go into some questions. But I appreciate you all being
here today.
TESTIMONY OF CHRISTOPHER T. GELDART,\1\ DIRECTOR, DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Mr. Geldart. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, Chairman
Begich. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today to discuss incident response coordination in
the National Capital Region and how we work with public and
private partners at all levels of government to enhance
regional preparedness.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Geldart appears in the Appendix
on page 27.
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Specifically, I would like to discuss the unique character
of the NCR, as the Nation's Capital, home of hundreds of
thousands of Federal employees, a hub for mass events like
marathons, demonstrations, ceremonies, and Presidential
Inaugurations, and a major target for manmade and natural
disasters. I also appreciate the opportunity to highlight the
critical nature of special event planning and our efforts in
regional coordination in preparedness and response.
I would like to add some context to the District of
Columbia's role within the National Capital Region. The 68
square miles of the District is home to approximately 632,000
residents. It is the destination for 17 million visitors
annually, the center of all three branches of government, and
headquarters to 12 of the 15 executive cabinet level Federal
agencies. The District of Columbia hosts a plethora of special
events every year, and each is subject to a full and individual
preparedness and response effort.
I chair the Mayor's Special Events Task Group, which brings
together all District public safety entities and relevant
Federal agencies to address public safety and other logistical
concerns surrounding special events. Annually, the group
coordinates over 100 special events, including the Presidential
Inaugurations. More than 800,000 people attended the 2013
Presidential Inauguration, and in 2009, 1.2 million attendees
set the record for largest attendance for any event in
Washington, DC.'s history.
We also know very well the kind of public safety plan that
goes into marathon events, like the Boston Marathon. The
District holds multiple races each year, including the Marine
Corps Marathon, the Nike Women's Half Marathon, and the
Nation's Triathlon.
In addition to our unique character as a special events
hub, the District of Columbia is a nucleus for Federal
employees. More than 300,000 Federal employees work in the
District of Columbia every day. This character creates a
distinct synergy between the Federal Government as an employer
and the emergency planning and response efforts we do as a
city. Because of this synergy, the District of Columbia must
maintain a close working relationship and continuous link with
Federal entities, such as the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, in order to coordinate information
such as governmental closings, liberal leave, early dismissals,
shelter in place, and evacuation.
The region has developed people, processes, and tools
necessary to effect a coordinated incident response. For threat
and warning, the region has invested in four Fusion Centers,
the Washington Region Threat Analysis Center, the Maryland
Coordination Analysis Center, the NCR Intelligence Center, and
the Virginia Fusion Center. The Directors of these Fusion
Centers have regular meetings to share pertinent information,
best practices, and joint intelligence projects. We closely
coordinate joint threat assessments for inauguration planning,
Fourth of July, and any special events that warrant
collaboration.
For situational awareness, the District's Joint All Hazards
Operations Center housed at the District of Columbia Homeland
Security and Emergency Management Agency, is a 24/7 Emergency
Operations Center that facilitates the District and assists in
coordinating regional situational awareness. During an
incident, the NCR, through the region's Emergency Managers,
uses the Incident Command System as a primary means for
coordinating responses from the Incident Commander on the
ground through the region's EOCs.
The region has also developed inherent capabilities for
interoperable communications, both data and voice, which
enables a highly coordinated response amongst jurisdictions. In
addition, the region performs mutual aid operations on a daily
basis and has the means to scale mutual aid for larger
disasters. The NCR has developed unique capabilities, including
nine Type 1 bomb squads, swift water rescue, and HAZMAT teams
and associated equipment. The region has also outfitted every
firefighter in the NCR with two sets of personal protective
equipment.
The region has developed the capability to track patients
throughout an incident, from initial triage all the way through
unification to their families, and to assist in managing
hospital bed numbers. The region is also working on the ability
to link our Computer Aided Dispatch systems.
The region conducts numerous training and exercises to
ensure these capabilities can perform to standard, health and
medical point of distribution exercises, Incident Command
System drills, functional exercises, and communication
training. We recently conducted a 4-day exercise that tested
our response capabilities in the event of a ten-kiloton
improvised nuclear device detonation. This exercise tested the
close coordination amongst regional partners at the State,
local, and Federal level.
In addition to the people, process, and tools for
preparedness and response to be effective, the NCR also
requires unique administrative and collaborative efforts. Two
critical entities in this are the Metropolitan Washington
Council of Governments and the National Capital Region
Coordination Office, each with distinct yet complementary
functions. the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
(MWCOG), serves as a convener of the participating NCR
governance bodies and the responders that work for them across
the region.
MWCOG has a key role in providing information sharing and
coordination during incident response, convening conference
calls for senior leaders across the region. For example, MWCOG
conducts snow calls prior to predicted snowstorms to allow the
region's leadership to discuss potential action plans and
develop clear regional understanding of response needs. MWCOG
is a liaison for these calls, not an agenda setter or
decisionmaker, but it is a pivotal role.
In the past, the National Capital Region Coordination
Office has provided the key connection and coordination point
with the local Federal entities in the NCR, those agencies with
buildings and employees within the National Capital Region
which would be affected by a natural or manmade disaster in the
region. The office has a pivotal role like MWCOG in
coordination during a response. For example, during a number of
real world and planned special events, the NCRC Director has
convened key DHS and FEMA officials with Regional Homeland
Security advisors and Emergency Management Directors,
Governors, and mayors to share information and action plans.
The NCRC's Watch Desk within the National Watch Center is
pivotal and singular in providing Federal agencies and their
Emergency Operations Centers with information from the Regional
Operations Centers.
Having held positions in the NCR for the last decade, and
as a current Homeland Security Advisor and Emergency Management
Director for the District of Columbia, I believe that the
region has come a long way in producing the capabilities and
capacity to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover
from events that could affect our region. Our unique region has
formed organizational structures that, though still developing,
have enabled a District, a State, and a Commonwealth, and three
branches of Federal Government to plan, train, and respond
together in an effective manner.
From an emergency management perspective, the NCR is one of
the most challenging regions in the country. The region will
continue to have challenges going forward, and as the Director
of DC's Emergency Management Agency, I feel confident in the
relationships and professionalism of my partners from all
levels of government in responding to and meeting those
challenges.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much. Kenneth.
TESTIMONY OF KENNETH J. MALLETTE,\1\ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
MARYLAND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Mr. Mallette. Thank you, Chairman, and on behalf of
Governor Martin O'Malley, I want to thank you for the
opportunity to share my thoughts regarding preparedness and
response capabilities in the NCR.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Mallette appears in the Appendix
on page 36.
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As you indicated earlier, the Maryland Emergency Management
Agency is the lead agency in our State for coordinating
preparedness efforts and responses to major events. Our local
police, fire, and emergency medical services are often the
first to respond to emergencies, but when their resources are
exhausted and they need additional capabilities, they turn to
the Maryland Emergency Management Agency for assistance.
Maryland works very hard every day with local and regional
response partners to strengthen the NCR's ability to respond. I
serve on the region's Senior Policy Group, along with Homeland
Security Advisors and the heads of emergency management for
Maryland, Virginia, and my counterpart, the District of
Columbia, as well as the Director of FEMA's Office of the
National Capital Region Coordinator. This group meets regularly
to identify gaps in the region's response capabilities, sets
targets and goals, evaluates the progress and participates in
preparedness exercises and training.
As an Emergency Manager, situational awareness is among our
most important responsibilities. Thanks to strategic
investments of Homeland Security grants within the region, the
response agencies are able to share real-time information on
emergency response activities through our Web-based emergency
management software system. We monitor the region's roadway
conditions using a system known as the Regional Integrated
Transportation Information System (RITIS). Our public health
responders use a biosurveillance tool called ESSENCE to detect
the presence of biological agents and other infectious public
health threats.
Every jurisdiction in the NCR has systems in place to push
emergency information to the public through text messages,
social media, and traditional public communications means.
The NCR jurisdictions also recognize the importance of
preparedness training and exercises to ensure that first
responders and executive leaders are ready when events and
disasters occur. Last year, Maryland Emergency Management
Agency helped lead a series of workshops throughout the NCR to
identify specific emergency level response training and
preparedness needs. The resulting training and exercise plan
will help us build the specialized skills needed to respond to
terrorist attacks or natural disasters in the future.
Active engagement with Federal agencies in the NCR is
critical to the region's ability to effectively respond. As you
know, for more than 10 years, FEMA's Office of the National
Capital Region has served as a single point of contact for the
NCR local emergency managers to help them coordinate response
plans with the hundreds of Federal departments, agencies, and
offices that operate in their jurisdictions, including at least
23 in Maryland.
As home to the Nation's Capital and many Federal assets
that are critical to maintaining continuity of government, the
NCR should continue to have access to FEMA resources that are
dedicated to meeting the region's preparedness needs. Although
I am pleased that the Office of the National Capital Region
will continue to have a presence in the region, I believe that
the Office will be better able to serve the NCR's jurisdictions
by being able to report to and draw resources from the highest
levels within FEMA headquarters.
It is not difficult to imagine the attacks of this year's
Boston Marathon happening at any one of the major public events
that draw thousands of participants to the National Mall each
year. The tools and capabilities that Boston effectively
deployed in response to the bombing--interoperable voice
systems, specialized bomb and the Chemical, Biological,
Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) detection
equipment, and information sharing platforms--are similar to
the response capabilities that the NCR has invested its
resources for the past 10 years.
Although we can never predict with complete certainty how
emergency events will unfold, the NCR is well positioned for
responding effectively to notice and no-notice events.
Mr. Chairman, again, thank you for allowing me to testify.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much, Kenneth. Barbara.
TESTIMONY OF BARBARA DONNELLAN,\1\ COUNTY MANAGER, ARLINGTON
COUNTY, VIRGINIA, AND CHAIR, CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS
HOMELAND SECURITY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON
COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS
Ms. Donnellan. Good afternoon, Chairman Begich, and thank
you for the opportunity to testify this afternoon.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Donnellan appears in the Appendix
on page 41.
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As you have stated, for the last 2 years, I have served as
Chair of the Chief Administrative Officers Homeland Security
Executive Committee at the Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments, COG. In this role, I have worked closely with the
Senior Policy Group to manage homeland security programs in the
National Capital Region. I am very pleased to be here with my
colleagues from the region because our homeland security
coordination work is detailed and continues throughout the
year. All of us have become not only colleagues, but good
friends. We know these relationships are critical to enhancing
the safety of this region.
The terrorist attacks of 2001 required us to reassess how
we were working together to address the security needs of the
NCR. There is no doubt that as the seat of Federal Government,
we will continue to be a high-priority target for those who
seek to do harm.
Additionally, the unique nature of the NCR, which spans two
States, the District of Columbia, 14 local jurisdictions, and
nearly 240 Federal agencies, requires the full integration of
Federal, State, regional, and local efforts. To accomplish this
integration, we established a regional governance structure to
coordinate planning, emergency management operations, and
funding across the NCR. Importantly, this structure has also
provided for enhanced coordination with the private and
nonprofit sectors. They are important partners in our
preparation efforts.
Working through COG and in coordination with the Office of
National Capital Regional Coordination (ONCRC), we have
developed one of the most robust regional homeland security
programs in the Nation. Guiding our work is the NCR Homeland
Security Strategic Plan. Initially, it was developed in 2006
and it was updated in 2010. It provides the strategic framework
for our efforts and our investments.
The NCR's Strategic Plan identifies four goals. One, to
ensure the interoperability of communication capabilities. Two,
to enhance information sharing and situational awareness.
Three, to enhance critical infrastructure protection. And four,
to ensure the development and maintenance of regional core
capabilities.
Flowing from this Strategic Plan, we have developed an NCR
Investment Plan to accomplish our strategic goals. We have an
Annual Work Plan to guide our investments, and we are
continuing to work on a Performance Measurement Plan to monitor
and evaluate our progress.
After every major event, not only across this country but,
indeed, throughout the world, we are constantly reevaluating
our plans and our capabilities to assess our ability to
prevent, respond to the threats that we face each day. Each
event provides us with an opportunity to ask the important
question: Are we prepared for this type of an event, and how
would we respond to it if it occurred? This evaluation includes
not only manmade disasters and events, but natural ones, as
well. We in the NCR have seen our share of those in the last
few years, as was mentioned--the earthquake in August 2011,
followed by Hurricane Irene several weeks later, the derecho,
and then Hurricane Sandy. These events also teach us important
lessons and help us to identify areas where additional
attention is required, particularly in the area of critical
infrastructure protection.
I want to thank Congress for recognizing the Federal role
required for our region and for providing Federal funding to
support the significant investment in regional emergency
management programs that have been vital to our work. This
funding has been critical as we seek to address the unique
homeland security and emergency management needs of our region.
You continue to direct support to the essentials for
maintaining and continuously improving the readiness of the
NCR.
An issue of considerable concern to the local jurisdictions
in the region is the future of the ONCRC and FEMA's
announcement to reorganize the Office program delivery and
communication functions. We understand that FEMA has agreed to
put the plan on hold in order to receive input from its
regional partners. We look forward to this opportunity to work
together to develop the best design for the ONCRC to meet the
goals of this region, consistent with the congressional intent.
In closing, I would like to emphasize again that because of
planning, coordination, and exercises we have sponsored, as
well as our cooperation with the Federal, State, and community
partners, the NCR is significantly better prepared for the next
emergency and all other threats and hazards that may come our
way.
Again, I would like to thank you for holding this hearing
today and for your continued support for the NCR. We look
forward to continuing work with this Committee and the Congress
to meet the homeland security needs of our region. I am very
pleased to answer any questions.
Senator Begich. Thank you very much.
Thank you again, all of you, for being here today. James.
TESTIMONY OF JAMES H. SCHWARTZ,\1\ FIRE CHIEF, ARLINGTON COUNTY
FIRE DEPARTMENT, ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Mr. Schwartz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to
take the opportunity to thank you for your interest and
attention to preparedness efforts in the National Capital
Region. I also appreciate the opportunity to be here today
representing the first responders of the National Capital
Region as we work to secure the region for our citizens,
businesses, and visitors.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Schwartz appears in the Appendix
on page 52.
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I would like to note, as you have heard from some of my
colleagues, that the region has a very special set of working
relationships among the different disciplines and different
governments here. We use those relationships every day of the
week, and it is those relationships that have been and will be
leveraged for the next event that we might experience here,
whether it be a Boston-like attack, a coastal storm, or
something more catastrophic.
The National Capital Region is well versed in managing
large-scale events, from those that occur without warning to
those that involve the coordination of dozens or even hundreds
of agencies in support of national special security events.
On September 11, 2001, the Arlington County Fire Department
was the lead agency for the response to the attack on the
Pentagon. I served as the Incident Commander in a unified
command effort recognized nationally and internationally as a
model of intergovernmental and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The success of that response was the result of many lessons
learned from previous tragedies in the region, including the
importance of mutual aid, the need for joint planning, and the
use of the Incident Command System, which after September 11,
2001, became national doctrine.
Since September 11, 2001, the NCR has developed hundreds of
new regional capabilities, most of which have been enhancements
to the foundation of resources and services funded by local
governments throughout the region. Allow me to provide a few
examples of ways the NCR has improved its preparedness for a
host of hazards.
With regard to mass casualty incidents, we have deployed a
total of 23 Mass Casualty Response Units, each carrying
supplies for between 50 and 100 victims. We have also deployed
10 ambulance buses throughout the region. These buses are
capable of carrying 20 non-ambulatory or 25 ambulatory
patients. And all of these resources are used in the region
through a Mass Casualty Incident Plan applied the same way in
each of the jurisdictions.
The region has also implemented, or is in the process of
implementing, a patient tracking system that, as you heard from
Mr. Geldart, will assist in the distribution of patients and
the tracking of those patients from incident scene all the way
through medical care and assist in the family reunification
process.
The region has embarked on the implementation of Tactical
Emergency Casualty Care (TECC), which seizes on the lessons of
combat medicine for trauma care learned in the fields of
Afghanistan and Iraq and adapts them for civilian use. TECC has
already been taught to several fire and EMS departments in the
region, and as we speak, thousands of law enforcement officers
are being taught the techniques and being equipped with
individual kits that can be used when they or a fellow officer
are injured.
In a further effort to prepare for the unthinkable, we have
studied the 2008 Mumbai attack and some departments have
developed a capability for EMS personnel to enter an area where
casualties from an active shooter may lay before the gunman is
subdued. This capability includes the use of TECC and the
extraction of victims to a casualty collection point where more
advanced medical procedures can be provided out of harm's way.
Again, as you heard from Mr. Geldart, the NCR is the home
to seven local and two State bomb teams. Unique among this
effort in the National Capital Region is that these teams are
highly integrated. They are interoperable, with standardized
equipment and procedures, and they provide backup to each other
through the region's system of mutual aid.
While these and many other resource capabilities represent
significant capacity, it is important to observe that these
discrete capabilities are useful only when deployed under an
effective Incident Management System. The region's successful
response to the 9/11 attacks was largely due to two factors:
The Incident Command System was already well understood in the
region and practiced daily for smaller incidents, and key
leaders, especially at the operational levels, had grown to
know and trust each other. This continues today.
In closing, I would like to emphasize that the NCR has made
significant improvements to its preparedness efforts,
especially over the last 12 years. It is worth acknowledging
that there is more to be done, and each investment that we make
must be regularly evaluated for its currency, and we must
continue to ensure that the capabilities that we have developed
are well maintained and can be properly executed when
necessary. The strength of the NCR continues to be the strong
relationships that have existed and continue to be fostered in
recognition of the special nature of our region.
Again, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for
your interest on this topic today and I look forward to
answering your questions.
Senator Begich. Thank you again, all of you, for your
testimony. I have a few questions, but I again thank you for
doing this.
Let me, if I can, maybe--this is kind of a general
question, maybe for any of you to answer. I know when I was
mayor, we did something that I thought was very successful and
actually kind of increased our capacity of emergency response,
and I think you have all identified it is not just terrorists
but it is all the other pieces that are somewhat more frequent,
which we do not like, but the fact is they are more frequent,
these natural disasters.
We set out on a course to train every single one of our
municipal employees in emergency preparedness in the sense of
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and some other
additional training. CPR was the core, and then if someone
wanted to advance up, we would do that. We had 3,000 employees,
and the goal was that we could turn the dial very quickly for
those that were available to at least have some training that
we did, and CPR was the first, to make sure that everyone had
that training.
In any of your regions, are you experimenting with anything
like this, or have done something like this? I just think about
how many government workers live in this region, and when there
is a disaster--one I remember distinctly is the snow disaster,
when people just were stuck on the freeway and some people just
got out of their cars. To me, that was crazy, but that was what
people did. But, any thought on that, how to activate so
everyone is kind of a partner, but not one you can call on them
when you want? Does anyone want to comment on that?
Mr. Geldart. Sure. I will take a stab at it.
Senator Begich. OK, maybe start. Sure.
Mr. Geldart. So, Mr. Chairman, in the District of Columbia,
we have 32,000 employees at the District Government level. Many
of them do CPR training, and our D.C. Fire and Emergency
Medical Service is going around and doing that and we are
rolling it out even more. So that is the start point. We also
have many that are trained to come work within our ICS
structure, so within the EOC and other areas to help out, as
well.
We do specialty bomb training and situational awareness
training, just general awareness, because our Department of
Public Works (DPW) crews, our Department of Transportation
(DOT), Traffic Control Officers (TCOs), are out on the street
all the time when we are doing special events. So we utilize,
and Cathy Lanier, our Chief of Police, pushes that out there to
them, to have a watchful eye.
Senator Begich. Got you.
Mr. Geldart. Is there something that does not look right?
What does a suspicious package look like? What does a
suspicious individual look like? And they really become eyes
and ears for the Metropolitan Police Department in that sense.
And it is a great point you bring up, though, sir. We had
Joe Bruno and Kelly McKinney come down from New York City to
brief the region on the after-action from Hurricane Sandy and
what they did well and what they think they could have improved
on, and one of the things they mentioned in there was the
amount of training, and I think New York is something crazy
like 300,000 employees----
Senator Begich. It is unbelievable.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. Or something like that, but all
of them are, to a certain extent, trained, but also become
volunteer workers, if you want to call it that, emergency
workers----
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. For the city when something bad
happens. So it is a very good point and I think that is being
picked up by a lot of the municipalities right now.
Senator Begich. Very good.
Any additional comments? Barbara.
Ms. Donnellan. Just a couple thoughts. That is a very
ambitious goal, to get the CPR for that. We have close to 3,700
employees, as well, and I would say that we do not do it to
that degree, but what my staff is involved in is incident
command.
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Donnellan. So we do train them so that when we set up
for an emergency, I have people from all walks of life----
Senator Begich. All the different agencies are involved.
Ms. Donnellan [continuing]. Every single agency involved,
and then they have to retrain different teams----
Senator Begich. Right.
Ms. Donnellan [continuing]. Because you need more than 24
hours if it should continue on.
Senator Begich. Right.
Ms. Donnellan. So we do that. But in addition to that, we
have a robust volunteer program where we train the community as
the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), the citizens in
the community to help us to go out and do that.
Senator Begich. Yes.
Ms. Donnellan. And the other thing is, we are doing more of
this, and Jim can talk to what he has just mentioned to me
about teachers, but another way of thinking about it is the
active shooter issue. Houston had done an incredible tape on
how to respond to active shooter in a workplace----
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Donnellan [continuing]. And we modified that tape,
because it is a little bit scary, and put a nice introduction
to it to say, unfortunately, we live in these times and it is
important for you to know this information. We hope it never
happens. And I was anxious about putting that out to the entire
workforce, but I did. And when I got responses back, they were
thrilled to have that knowledge on how to respond. And
sometimes it is just the training and the thinking that goes
into the beforehand that helps employees think about things and
how they can help the community, as well.
Senator Begich. That is great. We actually have a bill that
I have introduced--the President has taken it up in one of his
packages--on mental health first aid for, basically,
individuals within educational environments--universities, K
through 12, post-secondary--and the whole goal is that they get
the skills. I actually took this idea from what they do in
Memphis, I think it is Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) where we
got the idea to train our police officers on emergency response
when someone has a mental illness, because you may have a
different kind of response. And in the school setting----
Ms. Donnellan. Absolutely.
Senator Begich [continuing]. It is a whole different
situation. And the idea is to deaccelerate the situation as
quickly as possible, protect the people that are there. And the
idea of this mental health first aid, which has been endorsed
by many of the mental health groups, the White House has picked
up on it--we put some funding, actually, in the appropriations
bill this cycle to try to push that out to the schools to give
some tools. And it is not to say, here is how it should be
done, but here are some resources to schools to prepare your
teachers or others not to be the manager of the incident, but
understand how to deal with an incident when it may occur in
your classroom or in your setting. And it is for police
officers, first responders, educational institutions. And so it
is very interesting that you are doing that.
Ms. Donnellan. Yes.
Senator Begich. Any other quick comment on that? Kenneth,
and then I am going to jump to another couple questions.
Mr. Mallette. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Just one thing is that, as
you are familiar with, the Community Emergency Response Team
program, this is the last year that FEMA will be funding that
program, and it has been a very successful program, not only
for local jurisdictions, but many----
Senator Begich. Can I interrupt you? How long has FEMA been
funding that, do you recall right offhand?
Mr. Mallette. Since 2003, I think.
Senator Begich. Two-thousand-three. And this is their last
fiscal year----
Mr. Mallette. Fiscal year.
Senator Begich. This Fiscal Year we are in right now----
Mr. Mallette. Is the last year that they are going to fund
that program. But we have really taken that program to not only
the public sector, but also the private sector. Many large
businesses are putting together Community Emergency Response
Teams. And so it has been a very effective program and we are
going to try to use some State and local funding. But that is
one of the most successful programs. And also COOP, Continuity
of Operations, where we are teaching people to take on not only
their primary role, but also a secondary role during emergency
response.
Senator Begich. Would you all agree that funding that FEMA
has utilized for the CERT teams have been helpful?
Mr. Schwartz. Very much so.
Ms. Donnellan. Yes.
Senator Begich. Very much so. I mean, it is always--with
our tight budgets--everyone has them--but it seems like the
limited amount of money that goes through that program augments
what you are doing locally, the private sector as well as
State. So you think that money is a helpful piece of the
equation.
Mr. Mallette. Absolutely.
Mr. Schwartz. Yes.
Senator Begich. Let me ask some specific ones, and then let
me kind of focus for a minute on Mr. Geldart and the District
of Columbia, and that is, tell me--you kind of mentioned it,
but I want to get more specific here--with the utility folks,
do you do joint training? They are always the ones we hear
about on the radio, not necessarily in D.C., I would say in
Maryland and Virginia. But do you have joint training exercises
for how they can respond in case of a disaster, natural and/or
manmade, terrorist? Any----
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir. So, Mr. Chairman, we started post
the derecho, under the Mayor's leadership, did a task force
that looked at how do we start to deal with the issue,
specifically with inside the District of Columbia, of power
reliability and resiliency for storms and for other things.
That has run its course. We have a report that came out from
that we are working with the Potomac Electric Power Company
(PEPCO) on. They are our sole provider for power inside the
District of Columbia.
However, we started a process off of that in working with
the power companies that started back about a year ago now,
where we sat down with the operations folks on the power
company side, those that do restoration, those that bring in
the crews when we have large-scale disasters and large-scale
outages, and we sat down with them to start the dialogue to
say, look, we are missing something here between the emergency
management folks, those that are working response on the
government side, and you all on the private sector side.
Something is not happening, because we can be doing a better
job.
And so we sat down with them and we came up with a couple
of areas where we thought it could really make some
improvements, in which we had a discussion-based exercise held
at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments with all
of not only the members here within the NCR, but then also
actually going up the 95 corridor all the way up to New York
City, because the power providers----
Senator Begich. Right. It is the whole grid.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. Do not know those kind of
boundaries. Right. So we took it in a true regional context,
the I-95 Corridor Region, and sat down with them and basically
came up with two areas. One involves fleet movement for mutual
aid response from within the power companies themselves.
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Geldart. So, wherever they get trucks from and crews
from and things like that, that will come in to do the repairs.
Senator Begich. Got you.
Mr. Geldart. How do we help them, from a public sector
perspective, get their people here quicker--weigh stations,
toll booths, all those kinds of things they have to traverse
through the region to get to the most affected areas. So how
can we, as the public sector, those that own those toll booths
and those weigh stations and other things, how can we help them
move quicker? That was one thing we are taking on.
The second one was the power companies provide an Emergency
Liaison Officer to us in our Emergency Operations Centers. They
should be able to give us much better information on estimated
time for recovery, when we can be back up, what exactly is
down, and a better coordination of--we do well on this, but a
better coordination of what are our key, most important things
we need restored and when, so our prioritization list.
Senator Begich. I just have an additional question on the
utility one, and then I have just a thought on snow, and I am
going to then move down.
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich. But on the issue on the utility, you folks
in the District of Columbia are now doing underground--you are
on some pathway to do undergrounding, if I recall this right.
Is that----
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich. And I know in Anchorage, what we did many
years ago required the utility, which they get cost recovery
through their rate structure--I think it is 4 percent a year
for our utility lines--because we were finding with heavy snow
or weather conditions--icing, mostly----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. That the lines could come down
instantaneously or create other situations. We have been very
successful in that, and new construction----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. Is all required underground.
Mr. Geldart. Absolutely.
Senator Begich. Can you just give me a little flash point
on that----
Mr. Geldart. Sure.
Senator Begich [continuing]. And what is going on there.
Mr. Geldart. And that was a very big part of the
conversation, and there is a full plan within the----
Senator Begich. Utility companies hate it, because it costs
them money. I know that, but----
Mr. Geldart. They were actually----
Senator Begich. They understand the repairs are better, to
have them not have to go out there in freezing cold weather,
so--it is a mixed view, I know, sometimes.
Mr. Geldart. Sure. The bigger issue really is, it is easier
for them to run a line and put a new pole up than to dig it
underground.
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart. So you will have less, potentially, frequent
power outages, but potentially longer time for recovery because
they have to find where it is underground. So there is a
tradeoff and all.
Senator Begich. Except, I would say, the new, and they call
them Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems--
--
Mr. Geldart. Yes.
Senator Begich. Unbelievable technology.
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich. And today, they can track them--I know we
do this, because we have to----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. With weather conditions. Our
depths are probably much deeper----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. There than where we have to
plant those lines here, water, sewer, and others.
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich. The SCADA systems are unbelievable now.
Mr. Geldart. And that is a huge help----
Senator Begich. So, is that moving along at----
Mr. Geldart. Yes, it is.
Senator Begich. So you feel like there is acceptance?
Everyone is participating? They recognize----
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich [continuing]. This is a long-term value.
Mr. Geldart. And so there is a long-term plan that has come
out of that and how we are going to do it and where do we start
to do undergrounding, and then took into account those areas
that you start to do that work on, when you start to do that,
where does it become fragile and where should we work on first,
vice second, in case of emergencies and things like that, so--
--
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. We have looked at that.
Senator Begich. Let me throw out one thought and then I am
going to go down the line here, and I am going to watch our
time. And again, I apologize. We started late. This is just
one--coming from snow--I never thought I would actually be in
this position to be able to say this, so you are here, I am
here. This is a great opportunity.
So, I experienced a snow--it is very unique how you manage
snow here, not necessarily you, but----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich. Let me just pause there for everyone's own
thought on that. But it always surprises me, when we had that
big snowfall, and we had a couple others, but that one big one,
the way snow removal occurs, which causes more problems for
emergency vehicles and other things. And it seems logical,
because we--and I say ``we'' collectively in the District
here--if there is a snow coming, we send people home. I mean,
basically, everyone starts to abandon the city. And what is
unique about that is every government parking lot is now empty.
Why do we not have a plan that says, for citizens, like
Zone 6, Zone 3, whatever, these are your designated parking
locations in a snow disaster. So, they are empty. Do not park
on the street. You will park in this area, because mostly it is
in this dense zone here. So, then the snow removal can move
much quicker, because in some cases, it took a week because you
had to wait for it to melt.
Mr. Geldart. Sure.
Senator Begich. And every day, I walked by these empty
parking lots and it just made no sense. Is that something--
because those are federally controlled--is there something we
can help you with, with the General Services Administration
(GSA)? It just seems those massive parking lots, and they are
empty and everyone is jammed up on the--I call it the war for
the parking spaces, because you shovel it all out----
Mr. Geldart. That is right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. And then you have someone
standing out there----
Mr. Geldart. That is right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. Protecting your parking space
because you know someone might sneak in. It is the most amazing
thing. But then trash stops getting picked up. Emergency
vehicles become very problematic.
Mr. Geldart. Sure.
Senator Begich. Is there a thought there, or are you
thinking of that, or is there something we can help you with
our friends at GSA that sometimes I know is--we have to have
long conversations at times with them.
Mr. Geldart. Sure, and----
Senator Begich. I am being polite. Any thought there?
Mr. Geldart. Sure. That is--using the Federal parking lots
would be a great idea, either for the cars or the snow, either
way you want to do that.
Senator Begich. Right. Yes.
Mr. Geldart. But it really does come down to, those are not
our areas.
Senator Begich. OK.
Mr. Geldart. And we cannot authorize----
Senator Begich. But is it an asset that, if you are in this
region----
Mr. Geldart. That would be great.
Senator Begich. Because I am just thinking of all those
cars, they could all park in there. And I saw an emergency
vehicle. I said, there is no way if someone had a heart attack,
I mean, your vehicles, your paramedics, or your fire truck,
forget it. Paramedic, maybe----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich [continuing]. Because of the dimension of
the vehicle. But forget a fire truck.
Mr. Geldart. We have actually--there has been a lot of work
that has been done since that large snowfall in the way in
which we do snow removal throughout the city. Bill Hallin, who
runs our Department of Public Works, has done a lot of good
work with his folks. We actually have a--they call him the Snow
Czar--a gentleman that is what his job is.
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart. And he is actually up in at Emergency
Management Institute (EMI), teaching something on that right
now to other cities, on some of the changes that they have
done. So I think they have looked at that. The thought of using
Federal parking lots----
Senator Begich. And it is just temporary. You move the cars
off----
Mr. Geldart. Sure.
Senator Begich. You are there until your street is cleared.
Then you can go back and park there.
Mr. Geldart. Sure, and the one thing that I have learned in
being in the job here and being in the region, getting the
availability to use the parking lots may become a lot easier
than convincing people that they need to park there instead of
right in front of their homes, so----
Senator Begich. I understand, where they cannot get to
their home because they have four feet of snow----
Mr. Geldart. Right.
Senator Begich. But just a thought. And if it is worthwhile
and your Snow Czar or you think it is of value, please let me
know----
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich [continuing]. And I would be happy to
followup. It is always--literally, I walked past them. I
thought, my God, there is a lot of real State there that is
sitting there. And I, of course, was thinking, well, it is
Federal jurisdiction. They probably cannot touch them. And yet
they are fenced off and locked down. It makes no sense. So just
a little food for thought.
Mr. Geldart. Yes, sir.
Senator Begich. Let me, if I can, go to a couple, and
Barbara, you had mentioned this, and all of you kind of
mentioned this, but what do you think in regards to the Federal
grants that we are issuing, and you noted one that is a
concern. We just had a hearing on Federal grants and how that
is working. Any of you could really answer this, but I know in
some of your testimony, you talked a little bit about it.
But do you think the grants are successful? Are we or you
measuring them in a way that we can really determine, these
grants are working? As you know, there is criticism from some
of my colleagues that we give these grants, we do not know what
the results are, and they want more. Do you think we have--and,
really, anyone could answer this--the right tools in place, or
should we look at some additional tools to determine the
effectiveness of the multiple grants that we give out. Even
though it is a diminishing amount, and I recognize that, is
there something we could do better here from FEMA or
partnership with the stakeholders on this?
Ms. Donnellan. It is interesting. We have spent the last
couple years at COG trying to really figure out what is the
right thing to be spending money on and how this grant could be
best utilized based on how we have used it in the last number
of years. And this year, particularly, we did not fund
everything that came through that was asked for in past years.
We wanted more information and what is the data to justify
certain things. And also, I have been having a conversation
with my local counterparts to say, as Federal funds diminish,
what really is sustainable that we must continue to have
funding for that we may have to pick up if there is no Federal
funds?
The difficulty, though, is there is always going to be
needs that have not been met yet----
Senator Begich. Correct.
Ms. Donnellan [continuing]. Such as cybersecurity or things
like that we are beginning to embark on a little bit more----
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Ms. Donnellan [continuing]. Which has to do with power
grids and different things like that, as well.
But one of the things that I think the Chief might talk to
is--that FEMA could do, and you mentioned something earlier
which I thought was interesting, was the mental health, kind of
response to that. What would be helpful is if we could know
what best practices are throughout the country that are really
successful so that you can say, well, this Urban Area Security
Initiative (UASI) fund really makes sense to use for these
certain things, and that when we have success, like there are a
number of things that we have done that we think are really
credible and really would be helpful in instances, we can share
that information.
Or if there is something that is a total failure, why--no
one tells us and says, well, that failed in three other cities.
You should not do it. That would be helpful, as well.
Senator Begich. So, FEMA kind of supplying kind of the best
practice list.
Ms. Donnellan. Yes.
Senator Begich. Chief.
Mr. Schwartz. Yes, Mr. Chairman. What I would say is what
we have somewhat lost sight of is the fact that the original
intent of these grants was not just to help resource local
governments in service to their communities, but to create,
really, a nationwide architecture of preparedness----
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Schwartz [continuing]. So that both vertically and
horizontally, we were more connected in developing an adequate
system of prevention, response, recovery.
Senator Begich. Can I give you a thought there, just to
interrupt you----
Mr. Schwartz. Sure.
Senator Begich. And that is, I am thinking of when I was
mayor, my friend Martin O'Malley was mayor, and I remember when
Hurricane Katrina happened, we could not--he had a heck of a
time trying to get the coordination, because they wanted to
bring supplies from Maryland down South and he just gave up and
decided just to go do it, which I thought was great. And mayors
did that.
Mr. Schwartz. Right.
Senator Begich. We just said, we could not--well, what is
the best way to do this and how to create this, and that really
did not exist then, a national----
Mr. Schwartz. Well, in that particular instance, it was the
Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) that people were
trying to work through, and I give a lot of credit. EMAC has
refined a lot of the obstacles that I think were----
Senator Begich. Right, but that is part of the overall
national architecture, is that right?
Mr. Schwartz. It is certainly--yes. It is an
acknowledgement that resources in Maryland may end up in
Louisiana----
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Schwartz. Or resources in California need to go to
Texas.
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Schwartz. But to Ms. Donnellan's point, the ability
for, whether it is a UASI jurisdiction or just a State
administering their statewide grant programs, to know what has
been successful or what has not been so successful would be
extremely useful. It would create much more efficiency. We
might not be wasting money on very good efforts that we simply
do not know have already been tried somewhere else.
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Schwartz. I think as importantly, FEMA could identify
some priorities, in consultation with the stakeholders, and
incentivize through the grant programs--as an example, the
patient tracking program that I talked about.
Senator Begich. Yes, that is interesting.
Mr. Schwartz [continuing]. To the best of my knowledge is
fairly unique. Nobody else in the country has tackled this yet.
Senator Begich. No, I was going to say, I am unfamiliar
until you brought it up.
Mr. Schwartz. And, quite frankly, we tried it once and it
did not work. So we spent some money and did not get the
results that we wanted. We went back, retooled it, and I think
we have hit that sweet spot now. The ability of other
jurisdictions to take what we have done, perhaps incentivized
by FEMA--FEMA says, look, this grant cycle, we really want to--
we are going to earmark a portion of our grant money for people
that pursue patient tracking projects, and here is an example
of where it was example----
Senator Begich. Got you.
Mr. Schwartz [continuing]. Go talk to the National Capital
Region, or something, a different kind of project that might
have been created in another area of the country. Where does
that information get shared and how do we really take advantage
of what has been successful and, quite frankly, again, what has
not panned out quite so successfully.
Senator Begich. It is an interesting idea. I know when I
participated as mayor to the U.S. Conference of Mayors that we
shared a lot. Mayors will sit down, because we have to deal
with this stuff. When I was mayor, there was no one else to go
to. You were it.
Mr. Schwartz. Yes. And do not get me wrong. There are a lot
of professional groups that do share that information.
Senator Begich. Yes, but FEMA seems like they could have a
real role here, is what you are saying.
Mr. Schwartz. Correct. Yes.
Senator Begich. Kenneth, did I see you wanted to say
something on that?
Mr. Mallette. Yes, Mr. Chairman. One of the things that is
probably going to be a challenge, as we have seen through a lot
of, especially last year, the national-level exercise that FEMA
sponsors, is this concept of mission ready packages----
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Mallette [continuing]. So that these issues--so if a
county or a city, and you as a former mayor want to send, or
Governor O'Malley when he was a mayor of Baltimore City, hey, I
want to send resources to Louisiana, have a mission ready
package that is available that is prepackaged----
Senator Begich. That they can just push right out the door.
Mr. Mallette. And just goes, a package that includes not
only the resources, but the stuff that first responders and
myself, as a former first responder, do not want to deal with,
is the administrative nightmare that goes with that. And so
when you have this mission ready package, it is to produce
resources, but it is the cost tracking of the resource so that
we can then backtrack through the Emergency Management
Assistance Compact to be able to ultimately pay for that.
Senator Begich. Very good. Christopher, and I apologize,
you are probably the last person to speak, only because our
time is tight and I already am now again backed up, but go
ahead.
Mr. Geldart. I just wanted to----
Senator Begich. Yes.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. Pick up on a little bit of what
Jim said, because I think he is right on. The purpose of these
grants really was to build that national capability. The
Federal Government has capabilities to do certain things.
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart. They do not have a Federal Fire Department.
They do not have Federal teams that we are building at the
State, and the State does not have the teams that we are
building at the local level. It is just kind of the way the
process works.
So, looking at how do you measure the successful
expenditure of these funds, or how do you look at it being
successful going forward, I think that is really it. I mean, we
are not running into anything new on the disaster front.
Senator Begich. Mm-hmm.
Mr. Geldart. You have a hurricane. You are getting flooded.
You are getting wind and water.
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart. If you have a terrorist attack----
Senator Begich. It is pretty standard to know what you are
begging.
Mr. Geldart. You pretty much know the consequences of these
things.
Senator Begich. Yes.
Mr. Geldart. So, looking at the measurement of the
capability that has been built and which it can be shared
nationally, I think, I would agree with Jim wholeheartedly with
that. And EMAC is not the sole answer, because as a city, when
New York City was going through its trials and tribulations
with Hurricane Sandy, here I am a city and I have the mission
ready packages put together and I know Joe Bruno up there, the
Emergency Manager----
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. And I am calling him and telling
him, I want to send you this stuff, and I can send it to you.
Just get your stuff through EMAC, because the District is the
only major metropolitan area that is a signatory to EMAC.
Senator Begich. Got you.
Mr. Geldart. So I can send that. But if I need that from
New York City, they cannot send to me. And until the State
says, that team from inside New York City now is a State asset
somehow, that is the only way they can EMAC that to me. That is
why the Conference of Mayors is so on, how do I send stuff city
to city?
Senator Begich. Right.
Mr. Geldart. And I was in Maryland when Mayor O'Malley sent
stuff down to----
Senator Begich. So you know that experience.
Mr. Geldart. I was part of the State team that helped him
get that EMAC mission to do it. So it is a problem that still
exists out there, and we have come to John Madden, who is now
the Chair----
Senator Begich. Yes.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. Who is the President of NEMA----
Senator Begich. From Alaska, yes.
Mr. Geldart [continuing]. Who I am going to be out in your
area with him next month.
Senator Begich. Oh, good.
Mr. Geldart. And we have talked to him about how do big
cities help other big cities and not so big cities when things
like this happen, because EMAC does not work for everybody.
Senator Begich. Well, I would say this to all of you. I
have some more questions, but I will probably send some of
these to you. But I would be very anxious--the danger was for
the Chairman of the full Committee to put a former mayor as
Chairman of this Subcommittee, because I lived this for many
years, and I will just throw one last idea, which I know some
cities are doing.
We worked an agreement with Home Depot, Sam's, Lowe's, for
the first 72 hours. We gave them a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)
list, a list of product they cannot sell until we determine to
release it, because what was happening, as you know, in
disasters, people, oh my God, they go in and buy every piece of
plywood that you might need. So we actually have a list, a
predetermined pricing so there is no gouging or anything, but
also a predetermined list, and as our first responders
determine they do not need a certain product level, they let
the Emergency Management Team know, of the private sector in
our EOC, to cut those loose. We did this probably about 9 years
ago, 10 years ago, and it has worked very well.
One of the best parts of it is, as you know at the private
sector, they keep an inventory better than anyone in the world.
They know exactly where everything is at any time, where it is
on the road. They have it GPS-ed all the way down. And we
determined to use their warehousing capacity to supplement our
work, and it did not cost us a dime. There were agreements we
just signed as a community member. So there is no retention fee
or any of that some people might think you have to have.
And I think there is a lot of innovation out there. And you
are right, we know what is coming, water, wind. We know. It is
just what we do with the assets.
And I think what we are going to try to do here is, with
this Office, again, having this hearing, is to try to
understand what their role should beg in a more expansive way,
understanding they did not engage with stakeholders at the
level they should have, and finding--and I like some of these
ideas of what more can they do to make a difference for not
just this region, but for the rest of the country in regards to
emergency response. So your information, your testimony is
helpful and I really appreciate that.
We will keep the record open for 14 days. I will submit
some additional questions, I hope you do not mind answering. It
will be helpful for us.
And you should not hesitate, as people in this region, that
if you see areas that we could help, maybe the crazy parking
lot idea I have or whatever it might be, you should not
hesitate to let us know and we will do what we can, because for
all the reasons you all stated in each one of your testimony,
the amount of assets that we have here as a public, and as
Congresswoman Norton said, I mean, it is an unbelievable place
and we have to do everything we can, and it is a big court. I
mean, when you described how many different communities and
cities, I just was a mayor. Nineteen-hundred square miles was a
lot, but we only had 300,000 people, so it was somewhat easier,
and this is much more complicated with the layering that goes
on. So, please do not hesitate to work with our Committee as
you see ideas that we should be exploring with FEMA or just the
regional efforts that we are doing.
Thank you all very much for being here today. This meeting
is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:12 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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