MCPF Monthly Meeting
Tim welcomed the
membership to the meeting. Thank
you Frank Arnold for hosting the meeting this month.
·
The meeting began with
introductions.
·
The minutes for October
were reviewed and approved. There
were no comments or corrections to the October Minutes.
·
Treasury Report:
Randy Till reported that in checking we have $2241, in savings we have
$2206.
·
December 1999 Meeting:
The December meeting will be at the American Red Cross on Lindburg on
Thursday, December 09, 1999. The
presentation and discussion topic will be Y2K planning from a personal and
family perspective. The American
Red Cross will speak as well as local utility companies and Bank of America have
been invited.
·
Board Elections for Year
2000: Please vote and turn
your vote in during the meeting. The
votes will be tallied during the meeting. The
next board meeting is scheduled for December 02 at 3 pm at Enterprise
Rent-A-Car. Both old and new
officers should plan to attend.
·
New Business: The board has
discussed purchasing polo shirts for $20/each with an MCPF logo on the chest of
the shirt. There is a set-up fee.
If anyone would like to buy a shirt see Tim Woerther.
Group funds will be used to finance the set-up fee and keep an inventory
of shirts as guest-speaker gifts. If
you have any concerns or suggestions, please contact a board member.
·
Congratulations to the
newly elected MCPF Board for the Year 2000:
President: Tom Roessler
Vice President: Dean Donley
Secretary: Anna Bathon
Treasurer: Angie Swartz
Membership Director: Deane Adam
Program Director: Mike
Smiley
Library Liaison: Tim Woerther
Tim Bonno will continue to serve as President Emeritus.
Subject:
Weapons of Mass Destruction
By:
Patrick McCarthy, Senior Agent in Charge, Special Services Inc.
Domestic
Preparedness Awareness Course
Today we will talk
about weapons of mass destruction. In
1896 a bomb was thrown during a political rally in Spain.
The bomb missed the politicians and hit and killed many people.
In Japan there was a subway chemical bomb.
Terrorism is the
threat of violence to achieve a political end.
Terrorism is violence by individuals or groups for effect.
Fear is the intended effect. Over
the last one hundred years there has been a distinct shift in social and
political structure. The US
is a natural target. OK City was a
surprising target, we must not think that terrorism cannot happen here.
This topic is
applicable to the private sector as well as the public sector.
In the interest of preventing terrorism we have given up some of our
constitutional rights. An example is allowing personal searches before boarding an
airplane.
Nuclear
devices/material, biological weapons, and chemical weapons
There are everyday
HAZMAT incidents involving toxic materials resulting in mass casualties and or
injuries. When terrorism is
involved the scene becomes a crime scene. In
this case local, state and federal authorities become involved.
There is chaos and mass hysteria. Resources
are overwhelmed. Secondary devices
are often designed to kill responders.
The FBI is the lead
agency involved in the incident. It
is important to understand the IC System to understand the coordination of
response events.
Much of the
instruction used to educate people about terrorism is military in nature.
There are many
recent NBC events that we have heard about in the news.
Targets and
indicators of NBC terrorist events are important to recognize for the purpose of
recovery planning.
The potential impact
and likelihood of biological agents is very high in comparison to using nuclear
weapons.
Since 1970 there
have been numerous events, ex: saran gas incident.
Who makes these threats? Lone
individuals, identified groups, non-aligned groups, internationally sponsored
groups, doomsday cults, and insurgents.
NBC terrorism is
attractive to the terrorist for many reasons.
Chemical and biological weapons are used because they are easy to make
and inexpensive. Small quantities
cause wide-spread damage, these types of weapons are hard to detect, hard to
track the source and they can be spread by air.
There are
limitations to NBC weapons. In the
open the terrorist needs large quantities, and the execution of the event may
take advanced skill. There are
delayed effects. The use of NBC
weapons can be counterproductive to some terrorists interests.
These NBC agents can
come from homes, labs, military installations, etc.
How do we know there
has been an NBC attack? Check the
symptoms of the victims, look for mass casualties, a casualty pattern.
Also look for dead animals or birds, speak with the victims, strange
smells.
The outcome of these
incidents is mass casualties, local authorities are overwhelmed, the city
routine is disrupted, causes panic and confusion, and finally a loss of faith in
government and the emergency response system.
The fallacies of
planning are: “it can’t happen to us”, “NBC agents are so deadly the
victims will all die anyway”, “and there is nothing we can do.”
None of these are true. You
need to plan for the incident and those that are involved in the incident and
survive.
Terrorist groups
have means, motive and opportunity. NBC
weapons have far-reaching effects. Recognizing symptoms may be the first clue.
Mass casualties may result, both physically and psychologically.
Chemical Agents
Know the signs and
symptoms and how to protect yourself. These
agents are generally liquid, but disseminated as aerosols or gas.
This is influenced by weather conditions.
The concentration will vary based on weather and proximity to the origin
of the agent. It is difficult to
distinguish between contamination and second location of attack.
Patrick covered numerous symptoms of various chemicals (chlorine, mustard
gas, sarin, cyanide) including
blistering, burning, SLUDGE, etc.
You can protect
yourself and you can detect the existence of these agents.
There are first aid measures.
Biological agents
are also a hazard. These are more
hazardous than chemicals. There are
a range of effects from biological agents.
These are obtained from nature. They
are relatively easy to produce and have delayed effects. The multiply and overcome the body’s immune system.
Some can cause epidemics. The
larger the crowd the greater the potential impact by the terrorist.
Toxins are not
contagious, examples include anthrax, plague, Q fever, small pox,
ebola, etc.
Biological attacks
are detected through the process of calling 911 and EMS responses and the
medical community. There may be a trend.
To protect against
biological agents you need a protective mask, clothing, decontamination (wet,
strip, flush, cover).
Radiation causes
sickness as well but slower. The
impact is delayed. This is less
attractive for terrorists. You do
not want to become contaminated by being exposed to or ingesting radiation.
Again one need to decontaminate the exposed individual.
Agents are
disseminated using many devices, direct deposit, breaking devices,
bursting/exploding, spraying and vectors(contaminated insects, food, water,
clothing). These are all mechanical
devices.
Potential terrorist
targets: enclosed spaces, large crowds at high profile events, critical
facilities and infrastructure, high payoff, accessible facilities (materials in
transit), facility of interest to a terrorist cause.
This should be a consideration in your disaster recovery plans.
Responder actions
should be not to touch, cover or move the device, and then to make proper
notification and stay upwind of the attack site.
Patrick
McCarthy can be reached at Pgm1822@spec-serv.com
for more information. Additional
information can be found at www.nbc-prepare.org
and on the FBI web site.