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Michael Rogers

Meeting Report:

"Homeland Security:
Will Reorganization Make Us More Secure?"
November 21, 2002

Michael Rogers, Executive Director, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Homeland Security for the National Capital Area: The Task Force on Emergency Preparedness

(Summary)
On November 21 at the Eisenhower Institute, Michael Rogers discussed the issues regarding coordination of homeland security and emergency preparedness. Interagency cooperation and an integrated national strategy are crucial to having an effective task force on emergency preparedness, not just in the capital area but also across the rest of the United States.

Rogers began his speech by sharing his personal reactions to 9/11 and the steps the government needs to take in order to protect the regions from emergency situations. He also mentioned the changes in Council of Governments (COG) since 9/11 and what the organization has done to smooth the way for regional emergency preparedness.

"The planning and research we do at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments directly affects the region's economic development, its transportation system, the quality of it natural environment, and now, its security."

The Regional Emergency Coordination Plan

There was broad consensus after September 11 that emergency response at the Pentagon was effective but elsewhere in the region, communication, procedures and capabilities needed improvement. To address this concern, the Council of Governments, along with its federal, local, state and private sector partners developed the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan (RECP). The National Capital region is the first region in the country to prepare such a plan, which was organized around emergency support functions and other key resources that will be needed in the event of an emergency.

The RECP does not make decisions for governments, nor does it coerce officials into taking actions inimical to the public good. Rather, the plan enables better decision making in a regional context by providing real-time information. The system informs the region's emergency plans and enables a better sense of security.

COG used the Federal Response Plan to develop the methodology for The Regional Emergency Coordination Plan. It defines a regional incident as any situation with the potential to disrupt essential services, mobility, health and/or safety and has region-wide impact. The most striking example of this is, of course, 9/11.

Central to the success of the entire plan is the Regional Incident Communication and Coordination System (RICCS). The RICCS provides technology and the procedures for a notification system to alert regional and federal officials and important community representatives immediately after an emergency or incident has taken place. If an emergency occurred today, the incident would trigger a RICCS conference call between key regional decision makers. Notice would go out over telephone, pager, email or other available forms of communication.

One of RICCS most important functions is the continuity of communications during a crisis. The system allows participants to coordinate and deliver messages and information to subordinates and the public. Rogers cited the example of the recent sniper attacks in the Washington area. Throughout the crisis, police chiefs, school superintendents and chief administrative officials were in close contact. Officials' teamwork and continual communication through the RICCS system helped maintain order during a stressful period.

Rogers and several seminar participants acknowledged the need for a comprehensive approach to assuage public fears and put a mechanism in place for future plans. "We still don't have an integrated national strategy for homeland security a year after 9/11, and I hope that they have people organize the Department...while the Governor (Tom Ridge, nominee for the post of Secretary of the new department) ... is out there ... setting out a clear vision and strategy for homeland security in this country."

The Lack of Coordination and Organizational Conflicts

From the beginning of the process, COG worked with a broad range of first responders, government agencies and law-enforcement to put together a coherent plan. The diversity of the groups involved along with turf battles has made the process quite difficult. The problems that Rogers and COG encountered mirror, on a smaller scale, the difficulties facing the Department of Homeland Security.

Some of the problems of coordination resulted from the various agencies involved.
"We worked with the Office of Homeland Security from the very beginning." Additional players were FEMA, the Office of Personnel Management, the General Services Administration, the FBI, the Secret Service and the Military District of Washington. It fell to COG to manage those disparate organization as well as the regional governments. From the morass, COG had to coordinate and devise a feasible system of cooperation.

Emergency Preparedness Exercises

The RICCS system is kept current by frequent practice sessions and exercises. A regional leaders seminar was held in October to allow local officials to practice making decisions and communicating through RICCS in the event of an emergency.
In this particular exercise, several emergency scenarios (hurricane, explosion at the National Institutes of Health and biological attack at a large suburban mall) were presented and the attendees had to figure out what resources were available to work through the situations.

Additionally, the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan "includes a draft operation plan for responding to a bio-terror event." Rogers then outlined the manner in which a bio-terror event would be reported and handled by regional officials. "The initial case would be reported by a doctor or hospital to a local health department, which would notify the COG health officials committee."

At the behest of Congress, the Council of Governments conducted vulnerability assessments to plan for the future. Additionally, COG has been instrumental in training the disparate groups and agencies involved in the regional preparedness program. Rogers and the staff at COG have put on seminars and fostered dialogue to create a common vision for the future of emergency preparedness on the local, regional and national level. In fact, many areas are taking their cues from the work COG has done. Some of the planning in the Department of Homeland Security will be based on the success of the RECP and RICCS.