The National Capital Region's Homeland Security Plan

Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States, and thus one of the two or three most likely targets of future terrorist attacks. Since Sept. 11, 2001, obvious loopholes in local security have been well covered. Fighter patrols, mostly provided by the National Guard, have stood sentry over the capital since that day, and security guards and patrols around government buildings have been stepped up.

However, a cohesive area emergency plan has been slow to be formulated. It was a exactly a year after the attacks, on Sept. 11, 2002, that the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, representing 17 local counties in Virginia and Maryland as well as the District of Columbia, released the region's first Regional Emergency Coordination Plan (RCEP), apparently the first in the country. It was prepared by the Council of Governments with input from the White House Office of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other involved bodies. The plan is not yet in force, but is moving through the formalities of being approved by the 17 different local authorities, and then the process of coordination with separate plans, such as a Defense Department bio-terrorism proposal, as well as local and state governments who run separate agencies with potential roles in homeland security.

Major Issues

The plan identifies 15 specific 'emergency support functions,' beginning with transport and communication, and names the involved agencies and potential tools available for responding to an emergency situation. One unusual feature is the suggestion that in an emergency, the cars of private motorists should be filled to capacity to evacuate a disaster area, regardless of individuals' destinations. However, given enough time, the area has many resources that could be marshaled to assist an evacuation - over 8,500 government buses, 852 rail cars and 53 locomotives. An annex to the report deals specifically with that tricky issue, and the report notes that several local jurisdictions have already started developing evacuation plans. Tactics such as the car maximum capacity provision, and set-aside routes are also covered.

The centerpiece of the whole arrangement is intended to be the Regional Incident Communication and Coordination System, or RICCS, which will eventually provide a 24-hour, seven-days a week communications capability. The system is hosted on an interim basis by the D.C. Emergency Management Agency's Emergency Communications Center, at least for notification and conferencing calls. At some point, two more RICCS sites will be established, one each in Maryland and Virginia. The impetus for the system was boosted immediately after last year's terrorist attacks, when arranging a teleconference amongst regional leaders took 10 hours; the aim for the system now is 30 minutes. Most involved agency heads can initiate a conference call. In use since Spring 2002, the system has been tested several times and been used to notify officials of several incidents, including a downtown Washington political demonstration.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has been working on a bio-terrorism initiative, which will have to be tied into the plan. The regional emergency plan advocates a four-step disease alert system. However the plans for a Department of Homeland Security included $420 million for a National Bioweapons Defense Analysis Center, which was to be transferred from the Defense Department. Of the money, $120 million to be used to build a facility to study bio-terrorism, and the remaining monies to be split four ways to build bio-defense networks around four cities that would eventually serve as national models for bio-defense practices. Washington was one of the chosen cities because of its obvious target potential, as well as because it has already received considerable money for bio-defense. The aim is to create what the Defense Department called a "system of systems," Anna Johnson-Winegar, deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for chemical and biological defense, said in July. "It would include bio-detection, using information from medical surveillance systems and environmental sensors and integrating the data into one comprehensive system." The RECP calls for a four-level disease alert system in the Washington region, and initial meetings are underway to compare the two initiatives.

The RICCS system saw its latest use in the series of demonstrations in Washington, which occurred over the Friday and weekend of Sept. 27-29, 2002. While the lower number of protesters than expected and the mass arrests of 649 people were largely responsible for the success of the authorities' reaction, the regional communications network did play its part. However, the Washington RICCS system has yet to be faced with a major disruptive terrorist attack. The plane crash into the Pentagon last September did not have anything like the effect on Washington that the crashes into the World Trade Center did, as the New York's emergency operations center was destroyed in the attack. It remains to be seen how the Emergency Coordination Plan will fare in the event of a more testing incident than that involving peaceful protest, and how it will be eventually tied into the defense of the Washington area against non-conventional, chemical or biological threats.

The RICCS system and the council of governments it serves will also be making ready to coordinate with a number of federal and local resources also available for homeland security duties in the greater Washington D.C. area. Among the medical resources available is the Arlington-based Metropolitan Medical Response System, the District of Columbia hazardous materials team, a Coast Guard presence, and National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams.

The Coast Guard started to run patrols of the waterways around Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Not having had vessels in the district area previously, boats were bought in by trailer from Annapolis, Md., and stopped, searched, and checked a total of 2,000 boats in intermittent patrols around Washington in the year after the attacks. However, a better arrangement was needed, and thus on Sept. 7, 2002, the first of 26 'homeland security boats' that the Coast Guard will deploy nationwide was unveiled near Coast Guard national headquarters in the southwest of the district. The vessel is 25 feet long with a crew of four, and is able to move around under the area's low bridges and through shallow waterways. It has a top speed of 44 knots - around 51 miles an hour. Its two gun mounts can both accommodate M-60 7.62mm heavy machine guns. It is supported by an older, 41-foot vessel, and both are berthed at an undisclosed local military installation.

While the waters in the area were already patrolled by district and Maryland police vessels, the Coast Guard have a jurisdictional advantage. Coast Guard vessels can demand to board any boat, while the police must first have some probable cause, or evidence that a crime has been or about to be committed.

There are also three Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams in the wider national capital region. The 34th Civil Support Team, at Blackstone, Va., and the 35th Civil Support Team, at Charleston, W.Va., are both federally mandated units. The 34th CST was certified as ready for operations on Jan. 28, 2002. The 35th Civil Support Team was authorized in 2001 and is not fully operational yet, though it is expected to be certified in early 2003. The District's National Guard is also forming a civil support team though it is not federally mandated, and is supported with state funds. Because it is relying on state funding it will not go through the same certification process, and thus not be declared operational in the same way.

Sources

Guy Gugliotta, A First Step on U.S. Biodefense, Washington Post, July 14, 2002; Page A10

David A. Fahrenthold, Coast Guard Starts Patrol of Potomac, Washington Post, Sept. 7, 2002

Spencer S. Hsu, COG Officials Unveil Emergency Plan for Region, Washington Post, Sept. 12, 2002

Manny Fernandez and Monte Reel, Against War: A Peaceful March, Washington Post, Sept. 30, 2002.

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Regional Emergency Coordination Plan Summary, Sept. 11, 2002, www.mwcog.org/homeland_plan/RESF_download.htm.

Colin Robinson CDI Research Analyst crobinson@cdi.org

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