NCJ Number
189529
Date Published
March 2001
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This document explores the actions to improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response to terrorist incidents.
Abstract
In analyzing the lessons learned from the Oklahoma City bombing, FEMA identified three major actions that needed to be taken: (1) create guidance to facilitate agencies’ coordinated response to terrorist events; (2) ensure that State and local emergency plans mirror the Federal Response Plan; and (3) establish an adequate number of emergency response teams to deal with mass casualties. Improvements in these areas have been made across the board. FEMA has updated the Federal Response Plan to address how Federal agencies, States, and localities would work together to respond to an act of terrorism, and States are increasingly modeling their emergency operations plans on the Federal plan. Also, the number of teams available for emergency response to deal with mass casualties has doubled since 1995. To ensure that States are prepared to respond to a terrorist incident, FEMA assessed States’ capabilities for consequence management in 1995 and set up a system to continue monitoring those capabilities. In 1997, FEMA reported that States had the basic capabilities to respond to disasters but were not well prepared for a terrorist incident involving a weapon of mass destruction. The agency has also expanded terrorism preparedness training grants and systematically incorporated terrorism preparedness courses into its emergency management curriculum. On the Federal level, FEMA coordinates extensively with other involved agencies on key, national-level terrorism preparedness guidance and policy documents. Through FEMA’s efforts, and those of other agencies, the types, numbers, and complexity of terrorism preparedness exercises have increased significantly. 21 footnotes, 11 figures, 4 tables, and 4 appendices