Agroterrorism: A Guide for First Responders

8. The National Response to an Agricultural Incident

8 the national response to an agricultural incident F ollowing the issuance of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 on February 28, 2003, changes to the emergency management community have been occurring at a rapid pace and continue to do so. Among the developments that resulted from HSPD-5 are the National Incident Management System and the National Response Plan. Interagency plans and many other supporting documents and guidelines are evolving at a pace of one or two a week. Therefore, it is paramount to search for the most current reference documents . This chapter is intended to provide a guide to the primary documents that have shaped the world of emergency response since September 11, 2001. The most significant changes in the emergency management community since September 11, 2001, by virtue of the release of HSPD-5 and the advent of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are the development of NIMS and the National Response Plan. As a result of these new components, the response that would come in the wake of a highly contagious animal or plant disease would be much different than what has been seen before. Local, state, and federal responders and agencies alike should pay attention to this chapter. The investigators into the failures of the Hurricane Katrina response agree: one of the most significant failures was the ignorance within the response agencies about the emergency plans, including the NRP. The National Response Plan combines several previously existing plans and supporting documents—including the Federal Response Plan, the U.S. Government Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan, Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan, Mass Migration Response Plans, and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan—into a comprehensive, all-hazards emergency response plan that directs federal response assistance to state and local jurisdictions. The National Response Plan goes beyond the Federal Response Plan because it defines the response in terms of a national effort, instead of the federal-led effort of previous eras. This plan and Homeland Security Presidential Directives 7, 8, and 9 provide guidance for the pro- tection of the agriculture sector. The National Response Plan was approved and promulgated by the secretary of homeland security and other federal government department and agency heads during December 2004. The National Animal Health Emergency Response Plan for an Outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease or Other Highly Contagious Animal Diseases (NAHERP) and the Animal Emergency Response Organization: RolesandResponsibilities(AERO)providethefoundationfortheconcept of operations for the response to a highly contagious animal disease and will eventually become an interagency plan for the response to an incident involving agriculture.1 Additionally, NAHERP and AERO provide the foundation for agriculture-related annexes to the National Response Plan, presented as NRP’s Emergency Support Function No. 11: Agriculture and Natural Resource Annex, and the hazard-specific incident annex for food safety and agriculture response (still pending at the time of writing). These annexes are intended to address the outbreak of a highly contagious disease, regardless of whether the outbreak is due to intentional introduction or natural occurrence. The annexes may be activated in conjunction with other annexes if the situation requires it. Each document has a purpose. The HSPDs provide policy-level direction and guidance from the president to the departments and agencies of the federal government. The National Response Plan describes the various responses that would involve resources of the federal government in cooperation with state, tribal, and local governments and private and nongovernmental organizations. It also describes the concept of operations for how federal government departments and agencies will assist states and local governments. The AERO document is a self-described practical field resource that focuses on the activities of the emergency response organization at the national, regional, and local levels (including states) during animal health emergency.2 NAHERP is an interagency plan that describes the authorities, policies, situation, planning assumptions, concept of operations, and federal resources for responding to a highly infectious disease, such as foot-and-mouth disease.3 homeland security presidential directives As noted, major new components of the nation’s procedures for emergency response have come into being as a result of a series of presidential directives. Key aspects of the directives are profiled next. 114 chapter 8 hspd-5: management of domestic incidents HSPD-5 was written in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks . It directs the formation of a...