USEMSA Update Report - Congressional Gilmore Commission Findings

[Guest guest]

The following press release is being forwarded to you by the Project USEMSA

Task Force. The Gilmore Commission today recommended to the President of

the United States and Congress the establishment of the Federal office for

Emergency Medical Services, EMS funding, and enhancement of EMS response

capacity for acts of terrorism (pg 27-28, Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic

Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction,

December 15, 2003).

This is the foundation of Project USEMSA's mission. Now we have a federal

commission supporting or mission by their findings and detailed research.

Please send this to as many supporters of Project USEMSA. We should have

the a congressional bill drafted soon. Please go to www.ProjectUSEMSA.org

for the most recent updates and how you can help. I encourage you to

download a copy of the Gilmore Report. If you have any questions, please

drop me a note.

Dr. Don Walsh, Co- Chairman

Project USEMSA

Dr. W. Walsh

(DrDonWalsh@...)

Chairman

National Task Force to Establish the USEMSA

5245 West Ardmore Avenue

Chicago, Illinois 60646-6520

E-mail (ProjectUSEMSA@...)

Fax

____________________________________________________

News Release

FOR RELEASE

Monday

December 15, 2003

GILMORE COMMISSION CALLS FOR IMPROVED HOMELAND SECURITY STRATEGY

The United States needs an improved homeland security strategy to strengthen

security in communities facing the greatest risk, improve the use of

intelligence, increase the role of state and local officials, and sharpen

disaster response capabilities, a federal commission said today.

In a report <http://www.rand.org/nsrd/terrpanel/> to President Bush and the

Congress, the commission-chaired by former Virginia Gov. S. Gilmore

III and known as the Gilmore Commission-says the creation of the Department

of Homeland Security has resulted in improved planning and readiness. But

the report concludes that the overall national homeland security strategy

should be directed by a White House-level entity that " must have some clear

authority over the homeland security budgets and programs throughout the

federal government. "

The Gilmore Commission says that an existing entity-the Homeland Security

Council-is best equipped to craft a new strategic policy that could then be

carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, other federal agencies

and a host of state, local and private groups that also must be involved.

The Homeland Security Council is made up of the secretaries and heads of

federal departments and agencies with homeland security responsibilities,

supported by its own staff in the White House.

The formal title of the federally chartered Gilmore Commission, created in

1999, is the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for

Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction. The RAND Corporation

provides staff support to the commission.

The 17-member Gilmore Commission will disband in early 2004 now that its

final report is complete. Since it began, the panel has made 144

recommendations, with 125 being adopted by the Congress and various

government agencies.

The commission says that by providing long-term guidance to federal, state,

and local government officials, an improved homeland security strategy can

help create a " new normalcy " that acknowledges the threat of terrorism will

not disappear, but still preserves and strengthens civil liberties.

" There will never be a 100 percent guarantee of security for our people, the

economy, and our society, " Gilmore writes in the report's cover letter. " We

must resist the urge to seek total security-it is not achievable and drains

our attention from those things that can be accomplished. "

The commission calls on the president to create an independent, bipartisan

oversight board to provide counsel on homeland security efforts that may

impact civil liberties, even if such impacts are unintended. The commission

says the board is needed because of the potential chilling effect of

government monitoring conducted in the name of homeland security.

The report expresses concern about protecting freedoms guaranteed by the

First Amendment to the Constitution, which could be violated by government's

increased reliance on sophisticated technology that has vast potential to

invade personal privacy.

The Gilmore Commission urges policymakers to move beyond simply reacting to

the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The report calls for forward-thinking

efforts by government at the federal, state and local levels, and by the

private sector as well.

Despite an encouraging start in the effort to protect the nation against

terrorism, the report warns that " the momentum appears to have waned as

people, businesses, and governments react to the uncertainties in combating

terrorism and to the challenge of creating a unified enterprise. "

The Gilmore Commission says that one important element of a national

strategy for homeland defense should be to empower state and local

officials,who have been drafted into the homeland security efforts in an

inconsistent manner.

To ease the confusion experienced by local and state governments and others

seeking aid from the Department of Homeland Security, the commission calls

for creation of a single grant-making entity in the department to streamline

a funding process that now involves many units.

Another Gilmore Commission proposal designed to assist localities calls on

the Department of Homeland Security to revise its color-coded Homeland

Security Advisory System to include a way to notify local and regional

emergency responders about threats to their specific jurisdictions. A

revised alert system also should include training to show emergency

responders preventive actions necessary at different threat levels, the

commission says.

A RAND survey of 918 state and local emergency response agencies (such as

law enforcement departments, fire departments, emergency medical services,

hospitals, emergency management agencies and public health agencies)

conducted for the Gilmore Commission found that state-level organizations

are relatively positive about federal homeland security efforts up to now.

However, the survey found that local response organizations are less

satisfied.

Most state and local emergency response organizations want the Department of

Homeland Security to improve coordination, information-sharing and

communication among all levels of government, which could help unify state

and local efforts with federal programs, the RAND survey found.

" There are 55 states and territories; with the lack of clear articulated

vision from the federal level, each one has been moving to combat terrorism

in its own way, " the report says.

The Department of Homeland Security needs to take a stronger role in

developing standards for local emergency responders, including technical

systems as well as training and exercise needs, according to the Gilmore

Commission report.

For example, at least six federal departments and a number of other

organizations are involved in developing standards for emergency

communication systems and equipment. The involvement of so many entities

makes it difficult for state and local officials to know what equipment to

buy and increases the chance of incompatible systems, the Gilmore Commission

found.

While the RAND survey found that state and local emergency response

organizations want more federal funds for their homeland security efforts,

the Gilmore Commission cautioned against increasing aid without first

developing a mechanism that would give priority to the regions where the

risk is greatest and without implementing measures to make sure money is

being spent wisely.

" The system does not have to be built on the premise that every community in

America must have the same type and the same level, based almost exclusively

on population considerations, of response capabilities " the report says.

" The panel firmly believes that one size does not fit all. "

Risk assessments that look at a variety of factors-including

population-should eventually become the basis for allocating funding, the

Gilmore Commission recommends. Those efforts should be backed up by the

creation of an improved mutual aid system that allows for a quick and

effective response should disaster strike, the commission says.

According to the report, too little intelligence information is shared with

state and local officials, despite improvements in the ways the government

handles such information. The RAND survey found that only about half of

local law enforcement agencies and half of state and local emergency

management organizations have received guidance from the FBI about the type

of information they should collect about suspected terrorist activity and

pass on to the FBI.

The Gilmore Commission recommends that to improve intelligence sharing, the

president should: designate a federal authority that can speed up the

granting of security clearances for state, local and private officials;

provide training to allow these officials to use intelligence information;

and overhaul the current classification system to improve the dissemination

of critical intelligence.

The commission also reiterates its recommendation of a year ago that the

president establish a Terrorist Threat Integration Center independent of the

FBI, CIA or the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate intelligence

about potential terrorist attacks in the United States.

Members of the Gilmore Commission represent fire services, emergency medical

services, law enforcement, emergency management, public health, the medical

community and local government. They include former senior federal officials

and senior retired military officers. One of the members was Ray Downey, who

died in the collapse of the second World Trade Center tower in the Sept. 11,

2001 terrorist attacks. Downey was deputy chief and chief-in-charge, special

operations, for the New York City Fire Department.

The Gilmore Commission report <http://www.rand.org/nsrd/terrpanel> is the

product of a series of meetings and workshops that the commission has held

over the past year. In addition, the report includes findings from several

research projects conducted by analysts at RAND, and detailed results from

RAND's nationwide survey of state and local emergency response entities.

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