Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Sinews of Preparedness
http://vlg338.blogspot.com/2010/04/s...paredness.html
Recently, many MSM article and blog postings have discussed the postponement of NLE V [National Level Exercise] by the Administration and DHS. There are enormus implications that can be implied by this postponement. The most critical is that this Administration, like all before it, fails to understand that the sinews of preparedness are built with exercises, from table tops to full scale exercises, and with the personnel including appointees that will actually be called on to run the civil domestic crisis management system or be in the chain of command for civil crisis events. Failure to be prepared only makes it more likely that military dominated organizations, which tend to ad hoc despite extraordinary funding, will drive the crisis response with huge implications for the civil sector and federalism. Essentially, NO administration since the dawn of the nuclear age has created an adequate White House Domestic Civil response organization and chain of command. During the days of the Federal Civil Defense Program created by Public Law 920 of the 81st Congress [repealed in 1994] the reality was no civil domestic crisis response planning and preparedness just turn it over to the military post attack. This was UnConstitutional, lazy, and not in keeping with the democractic (actually US is a Republic) traditions of our society. The nuclear priesthood enjoyed their power in their secret temples and had no one to watch over what they were planning. See Plans D and Other than D which died on the formation of FEMA in 1979! If accomplishing creation of such a system is just is too difficult from a public administration standpoint the day in which the ambitious military takes over civil crisis management and response comes that much closer.
Posted by The Vacation Lane Group at 11:26 AM
Labels: military/Civil relationships
1 comments:
El Gallego said...
There are several points that may have been overlooked in any analysis of recent events concerning the National Level Exercise program:
1) The SECDHS (Napolitano) was Governor of Arizona and had a very negative impression of the exercise series as a result of TOPOFF 3 (the NLE predecessor).
2) The preparedness planning effort at FEMA for the New Madrid Seismic Zone scenario is behind schedule. In fact, the scenario for 2010 was to have been 'New Madrid' but was postponed to 2011 due to planning shortfalls.
3) The exercise planning effort itself at FEMA is lackluster. The planners are great at having meetings which are nothing more than 'dog and pony' briefing sessions with little or no interaction on the part of planners from other agencies.
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2010 (NLE 10) -- May 17-21, 2010
DRILL REPORT: National Level Exercise 2010 (NLE 10) -- May 17-21, 2010
NLE 09 which occurred at the end of July last year, had an unprecedented amount of military movement and training for martial law. This year's National Level Exercise will be fully integrated with Eagle Horizon 2010, a drill focusing on continuity of government (COG--also known as Rex 84, and the implementation of PDD-51). NLE 09 did not have this added component.
-- Silver
When: May 17-21, 2010
Where: FEMA Region 8 (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah), FEMA Region 9 (California, Nevada, Arizona), National Capital Region
Who: FEMA, DHS, Department of Transportation, NORTHCOM, NORAD
Contracted Companies: L3 Communications, Bridgeborn, Ogilvy Public Relations
Scenario: An improvised nuclear device detonation in a major US city. This is a "domestic terrorism" focused drill. Response to such destruction and COG plans enacted. Summary of NLE 10 here. Summary of Eagle Horizon 2009 (for reference) here.
Dates are from the Department of Transportation website, quoted below. All other sites merely say "May 2010." Dates are always subject to change, etc.
Training and Exercise Program
Summary: The program objective is to sustain a robust training and exercise program based upon all-hazards emergency management to meet all preparedness, response, and recovery needs, including those for COOP/COG and the regional emergency transportation program. This program integrates the requirements of the National Response Framework (NRF) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) into DOT policies, plans, and programs. Additionally, it tests and validates these documents through training and exercises. The Program Manager participates in the planning, conduct and evaluation of inter-agency exercises and prepares DOT representatives (up to and including the Secretary, as appropriate) for participation in major exercises. The Program Manager also represents the Department at all interagency training and exercise meetings and the Homeland Security Council (HSC) Domestic Readiness Group (DRG) Exercise and Evaluation Sub-Policy Coordination Committee (E & E Sub-PCC) meetings. Lastly the Program Manager is assisting in the development of DOT training requirements for the new National Security Professional Development program (under Executive Order 13434) and Reconstruction/Stabilization training requirements of National Security Presidential Decision (NSPD - 44).
Partner Agencies: Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other Federal departments and agencies.
Stakeholders: Operating Administrations, DOT Senior Officials, and Interagency community.
Major Projects:
* Key Exercises and Events for 2010
o Principal Level Exercise 4-09: October 21, 2009; Major Earth Quake in San Francisco, CA.
o Tier II Support to Vigilant Shield Exercise: Early November, 2009; Support to Canadian 2010 Winter Olympic Games
o Principal Level Exercise 1-10: November 10, 2009 (Asst Sec) and December 4, 2009 (S-1); Support for the 2010 Winter Olympics
o SONS 2010: March 22-24, 2010; Spill of National Significance Exercise
o National Level Seminar II: April 7, 2010; Recovery from an Improvised Nuclear Device – IND – Attack
o Tier II Support to Exercise Liberty RadEX (EPA): April 26-30, 2010; Recovery from an Radiological Dispersal Device – RDD – in Philadelphia, PA
o Principal Level Exercise 2-10; April 22, 2010; Response to an Improvised Nuclear Device - IND
o Principal Level Exercise 3-10: June 17, 2010; Recovery from an Improvised Nuclear Device-IND- Attack
o National Level Exercise 1-10 and Eagle Horizon 10; May 17-21, 2010: Improvised Nuclear Device-IND and Continuity deployment exercise
o Principal Level Exercise 4-10: July, 2010: Topic to be Assigned by the National Security Staff
o Cyber Storm III: September 2010; Cyber attack on government computer networks and national infrastructure control systems
* Key Training Focus for 2010
o National Response Framework (NRF)
o National Incident Management System (NIMS)
o National Security Professional Development (Training and Education)
o DOT Emergency Response Team (ERT) Specialized Training
o Reconstruction and Stabilization (R&S)
o Continuity of Operations Planning and Government (COOP/COG)
o National and DOT Pandemic Influenza Plan H1N1 control procedures
o DOT Regional Emergency Transportation Coordinator and Representative Training (RETCO and RETREP)
o Specialized Training for Transportation Intelligence Analysts
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