There are many federal alert systems in America, and each is tailored and unique to different sectors of our society: transportation, defense, agriculture, and weather, for example. These alert systems fill vital and specific requirements for a variety of situations in both the government and commercial sectors.
There are many federal alert systems in America, and each is tailored and unique to different sectors of our society: transportation, defense, agriculture, and weather, for example. These alert systems fill vital and specific requirements for a variety of situations in both the government and commercial sectors.
The HSAS provides a national framework for these systems, allowing government officials and citizens to communicate the nature and degree of terrorist threats. This advisory system characterizes appropriate levels of vigilance, preparedness, and readiness, in a series of graduated threat conditions.
The protective measures that correspond to each threat condition will help the local government and its citizens decide upon what actions they should take to help counter and respond to possible terrorist activity. Based on the threat level, federal government agencies will implement appropriate protective measures. State and municipalities are encouraged to adopt compatible local response systems.
State and local officials will be informed in advance of national threat advisories whenever possible. The new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will convey relevant information to federal, state, and local public officials, as well as to the private sector. Heightened threat levels can be declared for the entire nation, or for a specific geographic area, functional, or industrial sector. Changes in assigned threat conditions will be made whenever necessary by the DHS.
These threat conditions characterize the risk of a possible terrorist attack based on the best information available. Protective measures are the steps that should be taken by government and the private sector to reduce their respective vulnerabilities. The HSAS contains five threat conditions with associated suggested protective measures. They are:
- Green: low condition
- Blue: guarded condition
- Yellow: elevated condition
- Orange: high condition
- Red: severe condition
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has been at threat condition orange, high condition, only a few times. Recent HSAS warnings have been regional and/or functional in their nature and scope. When the nation goes to threat condition orange, and this threat level is not limited to specific geographic areas, public officials in cities should take steps so citizens know that their municipal officials are making an effort to protect them.
To achieve this goal, there are several common sense measures that local public officials should take so their citizens and business persons know they are being properly protected against a possible terrorist attack, regardless of its actual likelihood. These public officials include elected officials (mayors and city council members), appointed officials (city managers, police chiefs, fire chiefs, public works directors, etc.), and other emergency personnel. The suggested measures they should take include the following:
- Police and fire personnel should maintain a heightened sense of awareness while responding to, and working at, incident scenes.
- Appropriate city officials (city manager, police chief, fire chief, and public works director) should review local emergency response plans and be prepared to activate their emergency operations center.
- City managers (as well as police chiefs, fire chiefs, and public works directors) should communicate and coordinate with their respective counterparts at other levels of government in case a coordinated response is needed.
- Police chiefs should closely monitor all available security and intelligence data from federal, state, and other local law enforcement agencies, as appropriate.
- Police personnel should inspect building and parking areas for suspicious packages.
- City managers should ensure that employees should be especially watchful for suspicious or unattended packages and articles received through public and private mail delivery systems.
- City managers should work closely with their police chiefs to consider controlled access to all municipal buildings, other significant facilities, and critical components of the public infrastructure.
- City managers and police chiefs should ensure that appropriate security measures are in place and are functioning properly.
- Police chiefs should make sure that police officers closely monitor all municipal reservoirs and watershed areas, wastewater treatment plants, and other sensitive public facilities.
- Local municipal officials should work closely with their county officials in an attempt to report and detect all transmittable diseases.
- The city manager should place all emergency management and specialized response teams on call-back alert status. This is also applicable to police and fire chiefs.
- The police chief should limit access points at critical facilities to essential personnel only. Entry control procedures should be strictly enforced.
- The police chief should ensure the enforcement of the restriction for the parking of vehicles away from sensitive public buildings
- The police chief should increase defensive measures around key structures and for major public events.
- Both the police and fire chiefs should make sure that critical response vehicles are stored in a secure area or in an indoor parking facility, if one is available.
Municipal officials should also issue recommended precautions for citizens and business persons. These measures should be decided upon in advance of a heightened state of alert. The suggested guidelines for these two groups are highlighted below:
Citizens should be encouraged to:
- Resume normal activities but expect some delays, baggage searches, and restrictions as a result of heightened security at public building and other facilities.
- Continue to monitor world events and local circumstances, as well as local government threat advisory warnings.
- Report all suspicious activities at or near critical public facilities to local law enforcement agencies by calling 9-1-1.
- Avoid leaving unattended packages or brief cases in public areas.
- Inventory and organize emergency supply kits and discuss emergency plans with family members. Reevaluate the family meeting location based on the national threat level.
- Consider taking reasonable personal security precautions. Be alert to your surroundings, avoid placing yourself in a vulnerable situation, and closely monitor the activities of your children.
- Maintain close contact with your family and neighbors to ensure their safety and emotional well-being.
- Announce threat condition “high” to all employees, and explain any special actions you require of them as their employer.
- Place company emergency response teams on notice, as appropriate.
- Activate the company’s operations center, if suitable to the occasion.
- Monitor world and local events, passing on the latest information to your employees.
- Ensure that appropriate security measures are in place and functioning properly.
- Instruct employees to immediately report suspicious activities, packages, and people, to their supervisors.
- Search all personal bags and parcels, and require employees to pass through a metal detector, if one is available.
- Restrict vehicular access and parking close to company-owned buildings.
- Inspect intrusion detection systems, lighting, security fencing, and locking systems, to make sure that they are all working properly.
- Inspect all deliveries and consider accepting shipments only at off-site locations
- Remind employees of heightened security policies and proper building evacuation procedures.
The time for public officials to prepare a response plan, such as the one described above, is before the nation goes on a heightened state of alert. A community’s guidelines should be put in written form, and distributed to the mayor and city council, all department managers, emergency management personnel, citizens, as well as the local chamber of commerce since procedures for the private sector are included. This information should also be posted on a city’s website, published in local newspapers, and placed as a public service message on a city’s public-access cable television channel. A city newsletter would also be a good vehicle to promote these community safeguards. These latter vehicles are excellent ways to inform citizens about your state of “readiness.”
It is also a good idea to inform citizens and business persons of homeland security-related websites. These would typically include, at the federal level, the Department of Homeland Security (http://www.dhs.gov) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (http://www.fema.gov). At the state level, the State Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Health Services should be listed. It is also good idea to list the International Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org), as well as the city’s website. Homeland security updates can easily be provided to everyone using a city’s website.
The goal is to spread-the-word to citizens about your city’s state of preparation for the next heightened state of national alert – for both residences and businesses. Citizens and business persons expect their public officials to be looking out for safety and health under such circumstances. Simple guidelines for communities, citizens, and business persons, such as those described above, represent a common-sense approach to being prepared to safeguard and protect your community during a disaster, whether natural or man-made. Take steps now to make sure your city is prepared!
Roger L. Kemp, PhD, is a career city manager, having served in California, New Jersey, and Connecticut. He is the editor of “Homeland Security for the Private Sector: A Handbook” (McFarland, 2007). Dr. Kemp also served on the USDOJ’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council. He can be reached at rlkbsr@snet.net.
"Appeared in DRJ's Summer 2008 Issue"
