The government's efforts to prepare emergency response workers for terrorist attacks are improving but still fall short, federal officials say.
Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said during a hearing Tuesday that many federal and local response teams would be able to respond to an attack involving nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. But he questioned how well the 43 agencies and departments that fight terrorism coordinate their efforts.Silence illustrated the point when Rep. Owen Pickett, D-Va., asked who, by law, is responsible for specialized emergency response training.
"Nobody has that responsibility today?" Pickett asked a panel of representatives of the FBI, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Defense Department and Energy Department.
The levels of expertise are often uneven and incompatible, and duplication, poor communication "and public complacency, sad as it is, threaten to weaken our overall capability," Skelton said.
All but the Defense Department gave themselves low marks when Pickett asked if they had met their own training goals. Most agreed they need more money to do so.
Still, the agencies have made progress since passage of a 1996 bill allowing the military to train law enforcement agencies against terrorism, officials said during the hearing before a House National Security subcommittee.