Center of Excellence

By Eileen Sullivan, CQ Staff

First-responder training should become more accessible for state and local agencies under a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that allows training at state-accredited institutions.

Until now, DHS-approved first-responder training was provided by only a few institutions across the country. This made it difficult and costly for state and local agencies to send their first-responders away for training, officials have said.

The new Cooperative Training Outreach Program (CO-OP) will roll out in three phases over the next year, according to a DHS press release Wednesday.
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By Benton Ives-Halperin, CQ Staff

Lawmakers expressed frustration Thursday with the plodding pace of a national plan for protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure.
In a wide-ranging discussion, members of the House Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection and Cybersecurity Subcommittee reviewed efforts to secure and protect critical facilities such as dams and nuclear power plants. In particular, the panel wanted to know when a final national infrastructure protection plan would be ready.
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By Caitlin Harrington, CQ Staff

Members of Congress, Pentagon officials and outside security experts have said there is a vacuum in the nation’s disaster response apparatus. The gap came into sharp relief following Hurricane Katrina; first-responders were quickly overwhelmed, and federal officials were slow to react.

Now, a former Virginia governor and chairman of a blue-ribbon panel on terrorist attacks is launching a nonprofit organization that aims to help fill the void.
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Training availability Notice for all SAAs:

The Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute at Kirkwood Community College http://www.hmtri.org/hmtri/index_hmtri.htm is now offering a Biological Agents of Terrorism course online and via CD.
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By Caitlin Harrington, CQ Staff

Private businesses, which own at least 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure, need a security-wise system to ensure that information sharing continues during a national emergency, according to a new report.

Two professors at Harvard University — Lewis M. Branscomb and Viktor Mayer-Schönberger — say the best way to ensure communications stay open during a crisis is to create a market incentive to secure information networks.
Information security has become a hot-button issue since Sept. 11, 2001, when newspaper Web sites clogged with so many users that they became unreachable and telephone lines jammed with calls. Since then, experts have worried about the security of telecommunications networks, financial transaction systems, and other information-sharing outlets.
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By Eileen Sullivan, CQ Staff

A new tool is on the market to help law enforcement identify suspects when photographs or surveillance footage alone cannot do the job.

The program, called Forensica, is Animetrics’ latest facial recognition software. The program will use regular photographs and videos to create a three-dimensional view of a person’s head, according to Lisa Ludwig, Animetrics’ vice president of marketing and business development.
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By Tim Starks, CQ Staff

New York lawmakers backing a move to permanently change the first-responder grant distribution formula as part of a reauthorization of the 2001 anti-terrorism law began a media blitz Wednesday in anticipation of a showdown next week.

A House-Senate conference on a renewal of the anti-terrorism law known as the Patriot Act (PL 107-56) is expected to convene early next week, with House floor action to follow by week’s end, Rep. Nita M. Lowey, D-N.Y., said in a delegation conference call with reporters.

The debate over distributing homeland security funding to police, firefighters and other responders has repeatedly pitted small-state lawmakers against those from states such as New York and California that have more high-profile terrorism targets.
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October 24, 2005 9:00 AM to 4:00
Pierce County Library Administrative Offices

Due to high demand for this seminar advanced registration is required:
Registration Form

Description: This seminar will look at very successful partnerships that have crossed the lines in public and private agencies resulting in mutual cooperation, early notification, and planning to prevent, respond to, and mitigate criminal and terrorist activities.

This will be an open forum with presentations and question and answer periods from Washington State and Private Industry Officials. The intent of this seminar is to inform participants of on going efforts in Washington State to foster successful partnerships across traditional public and private boundaries a changing paradigm in our State.
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By Tim Starks, CQ Staff

The Senate on Friday cleared the fiscal 2006 Homeland Security appropriations bill, a measure that would boost border security spending but cut first-responder grants and radically change how they are distributed.

With the Homeland Security Department in the spotlight as the leading federal entity responding to Hurricane Katrina, Republicans and Democrats debated the spending levels and priorities of the $31.9 billion conference report (HR 2360 — H Rept 109-241).
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For a copy of the NIMS Compliance Implementation Plan in MS Word format, go to: http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/Homeland Security/opportunities/resources.php.

Developed by the Secretary of Homeland Security at the request of the President, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) integrates effective practices in emergency preparedness and response into a comprehensive national framework for incident management. The NIMS will enable responders at all levels to work together more effectively to manage domestic incidents no matter what the cause, size or complexity. The benefits of the NIMS system will be significant!
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With an estimated 1700 fires being reported by U.S. college
campuses annually, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the College
Parents of America (CPA) are urging every campus community
to take time and focus their attention on fire safety.

Over 90 percent of the reported fires in college dormitories,
apartments, classroom buildings, fraternities and sororities
occurred where smoke alarms were present. However, only 27
percent of these buildings have automatic sprinklers
installed. Within these buildings, the causes of fires range
from arson or suspected arson, cooking related incidents,
and smoking.
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