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Your Employee Personal Perparedness Guide

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Department of Homeland Security Announces Support for Rail Hazmat Placards

April 8, 2005 -- Speaking at the National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner last night, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recommended continuation of the placard system for hazardous materials transported by rail.  The placards are designed to ensure the safety of citizens and first responders and the decision came after the completion of a comprehensive study that included input from first responders, rail operators and other key stakeholders.

"I'm pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security has completed a review of alternate technologies to the current Department of Transportation placard system,” said Secretary Chertoff.  “Based on that study and the input of the first responder community, we are recommending that the Department of Transportation maintain the placard system. This is a common sense approach to risk management.”

President George W. Bush signs HR 5467, The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for the Fiscal Year 2005, in the Oval Office Monday, Oct. 18, 2004. White House photo by Tina Hager.
President George W. Bush signs HR 5467, The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for the Fiscal Year 2005, in the Oval Office Monday, Oct. 18, 2004. White House photo by Tina Hager.

Improving Homeland Security

  • With strong bipartisan support President Bush created the Department of Homeland Security – the most comprehensive reorganization of the Federal government in a half-century. The Department of Homeland Security consolidates 22 agencies and 180,000 employees, unifying once-fragmented Federal functions in a single agency dedicated to protecting America from terrorism.
  • President Bush has nearly tripled homeland security discretionary funding.
  • More than $18 billion has been awarded to state and local governments to protect the homeland.
  • The Bush Administration developed a comprehensive National Strategy for Homeland Security, focused on six key areas: intelligence and warning; border and transportation security; domestic counterterrorism; protecting critical infrastructure; defending against catastrophic threats; and emergency preparedness and response.
  • The Administration developed national strategies to help secure cyberspace and the infrastructures and assets vital to our public health, safety, political institutions, and economy.
  • The President authorized the establishment of the United States Northern Command, to provide for integrated homeland defense and coordinated Pentagon support to Federal, state, and local governments.
  • For the first time, the President has made countering and investigating terrorist activity the number one priority for both law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The Bush Administration has transformed the FBI into an agency whose primary mission is to prevent terrorist attacks and increased its budget by 60 percent.

Improving Intelligence

  • President Bush proposed the most thoroughgoing reorganization of the intelligence community in more than a half-century. The President supports the creation of a National Intelligence Director to serve as his principal intelligence advisor. He will also establish a National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and strongly supports the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to reorganize congressional oversight for both intelligence and homeland security.
  • In his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush announced the creation of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) to synthesize information collected within the United States and abroad about possible terrorist threats.
  • The Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) was launched to consolidate terrorist watch lists and provide continual operational support for Federal, state, and local screeners and law enforcement.
  • The FBI has established a new Executive Director for Intelligence and specially-trained intelligence analysts.
  • The Department of Homeland Security Information Network is connected to all 50 states and more than 50 major urban areas, and allows information sharing among thousands of local agencies and the Homeland Security Operations Center.

New Tools to Fight Terrorism

  • President Bush won overwhelming support for the USA PATRIOT Act, a law that gives intelligence and law enforcement officials important new tools to fight terrorists. This legislation has prevented terrorist attacks and saved American lives.
  • The dramatic increase in information sharing allowed by the PATRIOT Act has enabled law enforcement to find and dismantle terror cells in Portland, Oregon; Lackawanna, New York; and Northern Virginia.
  • Warrants are now applicable across state and district lines, eliminating the need to obtain multiple warrants for the same person – a lengthy process that previously hindered counterterrorism efforts.
  • Law enforcement officials have been given better tools to fight terrorism, including roving wire taps and the capacity to seize assets and end financial counterfeiting, smuggling and money-laundering.
  • Judges are now able to impose stiffer sentences on terrorists.

Supporting First Responders

  • The President's 2005 budget reflects a 780 percent increase in funding for first responders since September 11th.
  • Since September 11th, more than a half-million first responders across America have been trained.
  • The Bush Administration has proposed doubling the level of first responder preparedness grants targeted to high-threat urban areas. The Urban Area Security Initiative enhances the ability of large urban areas to prepare for and respond to threats or acts of terrorism.

Strengthening Defenses Against Biological, Chemical, and Radiological Weapons

  • President Bush signed into law Project BioShield, an unprecedented, $5.6 billion effort to develop vaccines and other medical responses to biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological weapons.
  • The Bush Administration is investing more than $7 billion across all aspects of biodefense. In the last three years, the Administration has created the BioWatch program to monitor major cities for a biological release, procured sufficient smallpox vaccine for all citizens, and significantly increased stocks of antibiotics against anthrax.
  • State and local health systems have been provided more than $4.4 billion to bolster their ability to respond to public health crises.
  • The Bush Administration undertook several initiatives to detect radiological materials being smuggled into our Nation, issuing thousands of portable radiation detectors to border control personnel and installing radiation detection portals at ports of entry.
  • Security and research to protect the Nation's food supply from terrorists has increased, adding millions of dollars in funding and hundreds of food inspectors.

Improving Aviation, Border, and Port Security

  • To support improved border and transportation security, funding levels have increased by $9 billion since September 11th.
  • Aviation security has been improved from the curb to the cockpit. Hardened cockpit doors have been installed on all US commercial aircraft. Flight deck crews are being trained to carry guns in the cockpit. Thousands of air marshals are being deployed daily. All checked baggage now is being screened. And canine teams are now positioned at every major airport to search for explosives.
  • Over the last three years, nearly $15 billion has been devoted to strengthening aviation security.
  • The visa issuance process has been tightened to better screen foreign visitors; the US-VISIT program was created to use cutting-edge biometrics to check the identity of foreign travelers; and the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System was created to verify foreign student activity in the United States.
  • New Coast Guard vessels and specialized maritime security units have been added.
  • The Container Security Initiative was developed to allow US inspectors to screen high-risk shipping containers at major foreign ports before they are loaded in ships bound for America.
  • The National Targeting Center was created to vet passenger lists of aircraft and container shippers to identify high-risk individuals and shipments. Today, 100 percent of high-risk cargo containers are examined by US inspectors.

Helping Victims of the September 11th Attacks

  • The Administration implemented a $40 billion emergency response package to begin the recovery from the attacks and to protect national security.
  • President Bush signed legislation that sped compensation to the family of each fallen police officer, firefighter, and rescuer.
  • The President, working closely with Congress, created the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which established a streamlined claim process for victims of the September 11th attacks to receive compensation. The Fund will provide a total of about $7 billion in financial aid.
  • More than 10,000 business owners across the Nation were approved for more than $1 billion in disaster loans to help deal with the economic consequences of the attacks.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge joined Homeownership Alliance President Rick Davis (left), Fannie Mae Executive Vice President Ken Bacon (center),and Independent Community Bankers of America Executive Vice President Karen Thomas (right) in Washington, DC. DHS Photo/Barry BahlerPreparedness Guide for Homeowners AvailableJan

January 26, 2005 -- Secretary Ridge, with the Homeowners' Alliance, announced a new emergency preparedness guide. "During the last three years, we have spoken often about protecting our nation--protecting our states--protecting our cities. Today we'd like to reiterate the importance of protecting our homes. Our mission to prevent, prepare for, and respond to terrorist attacks and other emergencies is a national mission that requires every citizen’s effort. We cannot protect the homeland if we do not protect the hometown; we cannot protect the hometown until we protect the home.

Some citizens might think: we’ll leave preparedness and protection to the professionals--first responders, law enforcement, governors and mayors--much the way a person might leave the plumbing, painting or electrical jobs in their homes to professionals. Well, what we have been saying, and will continue to say, is that you cannot hire out the protection of your home and family; it is a personal hands-on job. So we are pleased to join the Homeownership Alliance today to announce the Emergency Preparedness Guide for homeowners."

An Overview of America’s Security Since 9/11

The country has made great strides toward improving the security of our homeland since September 11th. Whether by land, sea, or air, it is now substantially more difficult for terrorists to enter the United States; homeland security professionals are sharing information like never before; and America’s citizens are better prepared for a natural disaster or terrorist attack. A snapshot of the ways we are safer today:

Curb to Cockpit:

Air travel is safer now than ever before due to the layered security DHS has put in place – hardened cockpit doors on 100% of large passenger aircraft, vulnerability assessments at over 75 of the nation’s largest airports, 100% of all checked baggage is screened, deployment of thousands of federal air marshals and a professionally trained screener workforce which has intercepted more than 12.4 million prohibited items since their inception. In addition, a robust screening system is in place for all international flights into the United States, and all passenger names for domestic flights are checked against an expanded terrorist watch lists.

Port to Port:

New security measures specifically tailored to the individual port are now in place at every port in America. These layered measures begin overseas by screening cargo before it’s loaded on ships in foreign ports. Homeland Security screens 100% of high risk cargo by targeting suspect cargo using a set of specific indicators.  Every port in America has submitted a security plan which includes security measures such as surveillance cameras, background checks on port workers.   The Department is also moving forward to implement “smart” technologies for cargo containers.

Secure Borders and Open Doors:

The Department of Homeland Security has launched the US-VISIT system which links databases to provide valuable information to port of entry officials and consular officials overseas and creates a database of pictures and finger scans of everyone entering the United States with a non-immigrant visa (and soon to include visa waiver travelers).  This new tool means that we have a much better idea of who is entering our country. If a traveler’s finger scan hits a match on the terrorist watch list, the Department is able to stop them from entering the country at the border. Over 200 people have already been turned away from our borders using this new system.

Increased Information Sharing:

Several information sharing vehicles exist today that did not exist before September 11, 2001. The Homeland Security Information Network, which is available in all 50 states, makes threat-related information available to law enforcement and emergency managers on a daily basis through a web-based system. Members of the private sector now receive threat-related information through the HSIN system. In addition, members of 35 different Federal agencies are now all co-located together in DHS’s new 24-hour Homeland Security Operations Center, which allows the information coming from various sources to be synthesized together and then shared with other federal partners such as the FBI and the Department of Defense. In addition, nearly 100 bulletins and other threat related communiqués have been sent to homeland security professionals across the country.

Citizen Preparedness:

September is National Preparedness Month. More than 80 partners and all 56 states and territories are making individual and family preparedness a priority across the nation by hosting events, offering training sessions and distributing information. In addition, the public education campaign Ready and its Spanish language version Listo educates and empowers American citizens to prepare for and respond to potential terrorist attacks and other emergencies.  Ready, the most successful public service campaign launched in Ad Council history, delivers its messages through the www.Ready.gov and www.Listo.gov websites, radio, television, print and outdoor PSAs, brochures and a variety of partnerships with private sector organizations. Ready Business will be launched later this month to encourage small- to medium-sized businesses to take steps to safeguard their employees and assets while preparing for business continuity in the event of a disaster.  Also, more than 1,300 communities around the country, encompassing 50 percent of the U.S. population, have established Citizen Corps Councils to engage citizens in preparing, training and volunteer service, including delivering the important messages of the Ready campaign.  

Interoperability:

DHS’s Safecom program provides long-term technical assistance to federal, state, tribal, and local programs that build and operate radio systems, and the RapidCom program focuses on the immediate development of incident-response interoperable emergency communications in high-threat urban areas. RapidCom will ensure that high-threat urban areas have incident-level, interoperable emergency communications equipment by September 30, 2004. The program will establish communications interoperability in these urban areas for an incident area approximately the size of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers on September 11th.  At the incident area, all emergency personnel from various regional jurisdictions will be able to communicate using existing equipment that is made interoperable by a patch-panel device, interconnecting various models of equipment that would otherwise not be compatible.

Emerging Technologies:

Homeland Security’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) invests in the private sector, funding revolutionary new technological advances to make America safer. HSARPA has already delivered significant advances in radiological and nuclear detection, biological and chemical countermeasures, and ongoing projects include waterway vessel tracking technology and new cargo security technologies for advanced container security. There have also been great strides made in harnessing scientific advances in biometrics to strengthen travel security and to help detect and counter identity theft. Through the Homeland Security Centers of Excellence program, the Department is creating university-based partnerships to research issues essential to our security, with Centers already established on risk and economic analysis of terrorism, animal disease defense, and food security (and proposals are currently being received for a fourth Center focusing on the sociological and behavioral aspects of terrorism).

BioWatch/BioShield:

An environmental monitoring system, BioWatch, monitors air samples on a frequent basis in major urban cities nationwide, providing early warning of a potential bio attack which would allow treatment before people get sick. Homeland Security is also deploying and evaluating mobile automatic air testing kits that house biological and chemical sensors for even quicker reporting. This program links the earliest detection possible with efforts to develop medical countermeasures and a program called BioShield that ensures vaccines, drugs and medical supplies are ready for rapid distribution.

Integrated Planning:

The Department of Homeland Security has led the development of the National Response Plan (NRP), which consolidates and reconciles multiple national-level incident response plans into a single, focused, universally understood strategy.  This effort includes the development of a new catastrophic incident response protocol that will greatly accelerate the delivery of critical federal assistance to domestic venues suffering from a mass casualty/mass evacuation incident.

More Money:

The 2005 budget request of $40.2 billion for homeland security is $9 billion (29%) over the 2003 level and $20.4 billion over the 2001 level -- an increase of 103% over the 2001 level of homeland security funding. Furthermore, from FY 2002- FY 2004 $13.1 billion has been earmarked for first responder and public health terrorism preparedness -- an increase of 900% over the $1.2 billion spent in the previous three years.  

More Training: For FY 2004, Homeland Security has trained 205,480 first responders (451,634 since FY 2002.)  Also, DHS initiated the National Incident Management System (NIMS) ) and established the NIMS Integration Center, which ensures that Federal, state, and local governments and private-sector organizations are all using the same criteria to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from a terrorist attack or other major disaster.

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The Homeland Security Advisory System is a means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to federal, state, and local authorities and to the American people.

For individuals interested in actions they may take in response to the increased level of threat of terrorist attack: See the Citizen Preparedness Guide or visit the American Red Cross.

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Homeland Security Advisory System (color-coded alerts)

Understanding the Homeland Security Advisory System

The world has changed since September 11, 2001. We remain a nation at risk to terrorist attacks and will remain at risk for the foreseeable future. At all Threat Conditions, we must remain vigilant, prepared, and ready to deter terrorist attacks. The following Threat Conditions each represent an increasing risk of terrorist attacks. Beneath each Threat Condition are some suggested Protective Measures, recognizing that the heads of Federal departments and agencies are responsible for developing and implementing appropriate agency-specific Protective Measures:

1. Low Condition (Green). This condition is declared when there is a low risk of terrorist attacks. Federal departments and agencies should consider the following general measures in addition to the agency-specific Protective Measures they develop and implement:

  • Refining and exercising as appropriate preplanned Protective Measures;
  • Ensuring personnel receive proper training on the Homeland Security Advisory System and specific preplanned department or agency Protective Measures; and
  • Institutionalizing a process to assure that all facilities and regulated sectors are regularly assessed for vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks, and all reasonable measures are taken to mitigate these vulnerabilities.


2. Guarded Condition (Blue). This condition is declared when there is a general risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the Protective Measures taken in the previous Threat Condition, Federal departments and agencies should consider the following general measures in addition to the agency-specific Protective Measures that they will develop and implement:

  • Checking communications with designated emergency response or command locations;
  • Reviewing and updating emergency response procedures; and
  • Providing the public with any information that would strengthen its ability to act appropriately.

3. Elevated Condition (Yellow). An Elevated Condition is declared when there is a significant risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the Protective Measures taken in the previous Threat Conditions, Federal departments and agencies should consider the following general measures in addition to the Protective Measures that they will develop and implement:

  • Increasing surveillance of critical locations;
  • Coordinating emergency plans as appropriate with nearby jurisdictions;
  • Assessing whether the precise characteristics of the threat require the further refinement of preplanned Protective Measures; and
  • Implementing, as appropriate, contingency and emergency response plans.


4. High Condition (Orange). A High Condition is declared when there is a high risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the Protective Measures taken in the previous Threat Conditions, Federal departments and agencies should consider the following general measures in addition to the agency-specific Protective Measures that they will develop and implement:

  • Coordinating necessary security efforts with Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies or any National Guard or other appropriate armed forces organizations;
  • Taking additional precautions at public events and possibly considering alternative venues or even cancellation;
  • Preparing to execute contingency procedures, such as moving to an alternate site or dispersing their workforce; and
  • Restricting threatened facility access to essential personnel only.


5. Severe Condition (Red). A Severe Condition reflects a severe risk of terrorist attacks. Under most circumstances, the Protective Measures for a Severe Condition are not intended to be sustained for substantial periods of time. In addition to the Protective Measures in the previous Threat Conditions, Federal departments and agencies also should consider the following general measures in addition to the agency-specific Protective Measures that they will develop and implement:

  • Increasing or redirecting personnel to address critical emergency needs;
  • Assigning emergency response personnel and pre-positioning and mobilizing specially trained teams or resources;
  • Monitoring, redirecting, or constraining transportation systems; and
  • Closing public and government facilities.