Since the 1980’s, Federal, State and Local budgets for fire and rescue services have always been at the bottom of the list.  In 1993, after the first attack on the World Trade Centers, and in 1995 after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, local officials started to increase their budgets to prepare for future terrorist attacks.  After September 11, 2001 every local jurisdiction in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area has requested funds to better prepare for future chemical, biological and weapons attack. I think one of the ironies of September 11, is that lawmakers have to wait until after the fact to look more closely at preparing for and responding to man-made disasters. 

In Maryland, in an emergency legislative hearing lawmakers called on public health and safety officials and local experts to provide a frank assessment of the state's readiness. Two serious concerns were discussed: 1) the inability of multiple government agencies to communicate with one another at the scene of a disaster and 2) the lack of capacity at many area hospitals to handle the injuries or illness that could follow a sizable terrorist incident. 

One of the major issues was the trouble in communicating with multiple area police and fire crews.  Even though there has been improvement, most counties in the metropolitan area have trouble communicating when responding to large incidents together. Rescue crews from the District and Arlington and Montgomery counties were unable to talk with each other on their radios.  It is essential that first responders be able to communicate with each other in real time.

In Virginia, Gov. James Gilmore who chairs the National Commission on Cyber terrorism announced the formation of a panel to assess the threat of terrorist strikes in the commonwealth. This new Virginia panel will assess the level and nature of the potential effects of terrorism on the state's economy, businesses and work force.  Develop and implement a long-term economic response.  Coordinate the provision of federal, state and private funding.  Provide technical assistance to affected businesses and communities.
Serve as a catalyst for public and private partnerships to promote economic growth.

Governor-elect Mark Warner has suggested the creation of a Cabinet-level agency, the Virginia Counter terrorism Strike Force. This strike force would coordinate counter terrorism efforts at the highest levels of state government and would be prepared for action at a moment's notice.  This agency’s most important aspect would be its commitment to coordinated response.  In addition, it would coordinate local responses. Local law enforcement, emergency services and fire and rescue operations are always the first responders on the scene of an attack.  The strike force further would be responsible for appropriate follow-up. A critical component for preparing for future emergencies is reviewing what we learned from prior ones.
Congress is currently considering the first $80 million in requests for the Washington Metro region, including $45 million for the purchase of emergency equipment, $19 million for chemical sensors in Metro stations and $20 million for equipment that would improve communications between rescue workers.  "We must be prepared for more terrorist attacks on important federal installations in the region," said U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-VA). "We can't expect our local jurisdictions to bear the full burden."

One of many concerns of local budget directors and elected officials is what do they need to combat terrorism, because no one really knows how the next attack will come.  Their uncertainty leaves officials caught between spending limits and the urge to confront every conceivable nightmarish scenario. Fairfax County wants a $500,000 mass casualty unit -- basically a large truck fitted to carry first-aid equipment.  Experts on terrorism agree that the lack of clear equipment guidelines, as well as poor coordination among local departments, could lead to financial waste and unpreparedness. "There has to be some sort of minimum capabilities that everyone must have, and no one has tried to address that," said Brian Houghton, the research director for the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, a nonprofit group funded by Congress.

Since September 11, 2001 area emergency planners are looking for money from a combination of local, state and federal sources. Fairfax has requested $25 million, Prince William $3.6 million, Arlington $21 million, the District $250 million, Prince George's $156 million and Montgomery about $47 million.  In Fairfax County the breakdown would be $5.8 million for mass casualty and disaster response unit.  This would include radio and satellite phone, specialized hazardous materials gear, computer and specialized hazardous material detectors.  The police are asking for $3.3 million to improve and enhance SWAT vehicles, biological masks, and satellite phones.  The Disaster Operations Center is seeking $10-$14 million for a new facility to house public safety and disaster operations center.  The Health Department is seeking $2.5 million for an epidemiology unit, including hazardous material suits, medications, training and 20 new medical personnel.  The Community Services Board is requesting $900,000 to crisis counseling and intervention after a disaster. Fairfax County is also seeking to hire a security manager to evaluate and enhance security facilities.  One of the main concerns for these local governments are the location of federal buildings, the CIA in McLean, and NIH in Montgomery County, which are consider as potential sites for terrorist attacks. 

In Montgomery County one of the items the agencies agree on is the mobile command unit -- basically a 40-foot mobile home filled with computers, phones and a conference table.  Arlington County is asking for two and Fairfax one. Prince William officials want to replace theirs, and the state of Maryland wants one. But with a price tag of $500,000, it is doubtful that each county would receive the necessary funds. 
The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service received at least $596,000 to purchase such protective gear for its "first responders," who would rush to the scene of an attack. Much of the money came from the federal government in grants awarded in 1998 and 1999. But with Congress poised to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars more to prepare jurisdictions across the country, Montgomery County's experience shows that money alone won't buy preparedness and that properly equipping the nation's front-line defenders could take a while. Although Montgomery County emergency officials have had several years to get ready, much of the equipment purchased has yet to be deployed, the result of internal debate and delays. Some equipment is unworkable, and officials are considering sending it back. Other items, such as hundreds of gas masks, were ordered only this month and have yet to arrive.
Unlike many smaller departments that could soon find themselves awash in money and lost in a world of gadgetry, Montgomery County's Fire and Rescue Service has long been training for a biological or chemical attack. So have personnel in the District, one of 120 cities to receive special training and funding under a 1996 domestic preparedness program passed by Congress. But at a D.C. Council hearing last week, the chiefs of the D.C. police and fire departments acknowledged that they lack crucial emergency equipment. They have sought federal money to purchase, among other things, masks and suits to protect against an unconventional terrorist attack.  They also agree that top on their list is to develop a better communication system throughout the metropolitan area. 
Police agencies in the region still do not operate on the same radio frequencies. On Sept. 11, for example, Arlington officers could not speak directly by radio with their counterparts elsewhere in the region.

After the deadly release of the chemical nerve agent sarin in a Tokyo subway and the Oklahoma City bombing, both in 1995, Montgomery County officials set aside $126,000 in 1998 to prepare first responders for a biological or chemical attack. In 1998 and 1999, the county also received two federal grants totaling $470,000 for the same purpose.
The county's hazardous materials team is the best prepared, and its members are the only Montgomery firefighters with "Class A" vapor-tight suits that allow wearers to enter a hot zone -- the epicenter of an attack -- to determine the nature of the attack and try to contain it. But the 70-member team has only 12 such suits, with eight more on the way, Stephan said. By contrast, Fairfax County's team has 29 suits and at least 20 more ready to go, according to Capt. Craig Buckley.

Montgomery County has done many things right. For instance, it has purchased and distributed condensable "escape" masks. If emergency workers enter a building without knowledge that a chemical release has occurred, they can quickly slip the masks over their heads and get out of harm's way.  The county also used federal money to buy chemical accessory kits, which include, among other things, duct tape to close gaps in firefighters' clothing. But officials announced the availability of those kits on Sept. 28 -- 17 days after the Sept. 11 attacks.  Regardless, the vast majority of Montgomery's suits are still nestled in shipping boxes like the ones in Chevy Chase, according to District Chief Ted Jarboe, who is in charge of the purchasing. He finished ordering the gas masks just days ago. To date, only 300 go-bags are actually ready to go, Jarboe said.

In the moments immediately after September 11, terrorist attacks, Montgomery County's disaster managers gathered in an emergency operations center on the first floor of the County Council's Office Building that was so crammed it was difficult to hear one another over the din. As county workers turned to phones on their desk to call loved ones, the county's land-line system became so overloaded that telecommunications specialists had to send out an e-mail asking employees to try to refrain from using the phones and to keep their conversations short. Cell phones became practically useless.  Montgomery County officials all agree that county needs to move its emergency operations center to a location that is better equipped to handle large numbers of people that need to communicate simultaneously in separate conferences.
Long before September 11th, officials identified a number of potential terrorist targets in Montgomery. A section of its emergency operations plan is devoted solely to terrorism. Though planners never imagined that terrorists would use a commercial plane as a weapon, the plan does envision the use of an explosive, biological or chemical weapons and arson. County emergency workers last practiced responding to a simulated attack about a year ago.  The county also has a number of volunteer ham operators on call to facilitate communications between disaster managers should an emergency take out land-line and cell phone capacity. In an emergency, the volunteers can be dispatched to hospitals or other critical places, and county officials also have a limited number of cell phones that can also operate as two-way radios.
The agencies that supply water to Fairfax, Arlington and District residents have beefed up security and surveillance at treatment plants and have increased testing of water samples in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The FBI issued an advisory to water agencies after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, saying that the agencies should take additional security measures although no specific threats had been made. The fear is that someone could dump chemicals or biological agents into the water supply.  Officials said the likelihood is remote that terrorists would create massive health problems by introducing a pathogen or toxin throughout a local water supply. The large volume of water they would have to poison is one thing that makes such a doomsday scenario improbable. 
"If someone were to throw a balloon full of Agent X into one of the open spaces at a treatment plant, the dilution would be the first thing working against them," said Thomas P. Jacobus, general manager of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Washington Aqueduct.  The District facility treats and distributes more than 180 million gallons of water a day and distributes it to more than a million customers in Arlington, Falls Church and the District, Jacobus said. One water analyst said poisoning a body of water such as the Potomac River in Washington would require a truckload of a harmful agent, an amount easily detectable by plant sensors.  The Fairfax County Water Authority, which has more than 1 million customers, held a closed-door meeting Sept. 20 to discuss heightened security. As part of a precautionary plan, officials ordered chemists to test water samples more often.  "We're sampling the water . . . as we're treating it and sampling it as it's coming out of the plant," said authority spokeswoman Sandy Farrell. 

As funds are distributed for EMS and Public Safety over the next year, local counties will be able to equip their EMS personnel for any biological, chemical or terrorist attack.  The most important aspect of responding to future attacks is for the local jurisdictions to work together to enhance their drills and implement a multi-jurisdictional response scenario.  These scenarios will need to incorporate local, state and federal officials.