Biological and Chemical Weapons

Department of Homeland Security Established

CBW Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 1 (January 2003)

Months of contention over the structure of a new department seeking to unite US responseand preventative capabilities against terrorist attacks ended in late November with the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. President George Bush signed the bill into law on 25 November. In addition to addressing the security of US borders, transportation systems and critical infrastructure, the new Department of Homeland Security aims to provide unified oversight of activities related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks.

The new department is divided into four directorates. Those with primary responsibilities relating to unconventional terrorist attacks are the Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response and the Directorate of Science and Technology.

The goal of the Directorate of Emergency Preparedness is to coordinate and unify US emergency response capabilities. To accomplish this mission, the directorate encompasses the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile, the National Disaster Medical System, and the Metropolitan Medical Response System, formerly overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services. FEMA is tasked with the primary leadership role within this directorate.

FEMA’s chief responsibility is to coordinate all mitigation, planning, response and recovery efforts by reducing long-term risk to people and property, training members of the emergency management profession, conducting emergency operations, and rebuilding communities following an emergency.

Other efforts to increase preparedness include the consolidation of existing federal emergency response plans into one unified, national strategy; the development of interoperable communications that allow response personnel to communicate with one another; and the close coordination of federal, state, and local first responders in all issues, including the development of a comprehensive national incident management system.

The Directorate of Science and Technology is designed to oversee research, testing, development, and procurement issues with regard to weapons of mass destruction countermeasures. Entities transferred to the Directorate include the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s advanced scientific computing program, and the Defense Department’s newly created National Bio-Weapons Defense Analysis Center. New programs will be established within the Directorate. The federal Homeland Security Institute will perform vulnerability assessments and evaluate security measures and the Center for Homeland Security will lead a university-based system for enhancing homeland security. Under a system similar to the current Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the new Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency will support the development, testing and deployment of advanced homeland security-related technologies.

Although the primary responsibility of the Directorate of Science and Technology is to research, develop, and test countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction, it also has a variety of other crucial tasks. The directorate will oversee exercises and drills for all levels of unconventional attack response teams, sponsor non-governmental research and development into vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics for exposure to chemical and biological agents, and strengthen national surveillance systems that can identify biological attacks more quickly.

Congress has confirmed former Governor and Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge as secretary of homeland security. President Bush nominated Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Asa Hutchinson as undersecretary for border and transportation security, but has yet to fill the remaining undersecretary slots. In total, the Department will comprise approximately 170,000 employees.

President Bush requested $33 billion and $36 billion for the Department in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Experts predict that it could take at least a year to organize the Department, and likely several additional years before it can operate smoothly and efficiently.

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