NORTH CAROLINA'S TERRORISM PREPARATIONS WELL UNDERWAY AS ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY APPROACHES

For Release: Immediate
Date: September 9, 2002

Renee Hoffman
NC CCPS Public Affairs Director
919-733-5027
Ext. 231

NORTH CAROLINA'S TERRORISM PREPARATIONS WELL UNDERWAY AS ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY APPROACHES

RALEIGH - One year after the September 11th terrorist attack, the State of North Carolina remains vigilant in its efforts to protect the safety and security of all citizens. The work begun last fall by Governor Mike Easley's Terrorism Preparedness Task Force, chaired by N.C. Crime Control & Public Safety (CCPS) Secretary Bryan Beatty, is showing dividends in terms of preparedness.

"When the attacks happened last September, North Carolina already had several years of anti-terrorism planning and training under our belts. But in the past year, we've made tremendous progress," said Beatty. "We stand ready to do whatever is necessary to reduce our vulnerabilities, protect our citizens, and respond to any incident that might occur."

Beatty is also the state's designated liaison with the U.S. Office of Homeland Security.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, Governor Mike Easley asked Beatty to pull together all the appropriate state agencies and determine where North Carolina needed to make improvements. The Task Force identified areas needing improvement in the categories of threat assessment, emergency response, training and public information.

The Governor requested and obtained the use of up to $30 million dollars from the state's Savings Reserve Account to meet immediate critical shortfalls in the state's terrorism response capabilities. By this past spring, projects totaling $15.2 million were approved and are now in progress. They include: development of a radiological, chemical and bio-terrorism attack information system; establishment of seven bio-terrorism teams; enhancement of state lab capabilities for both public health and veterinary medicine; increased dairy and food supply protection; tracking of pesticide and bulk fertilizer sales; establishment of a rapid response mobile laboratory for chemical incidents; the purchase of basic chemical protective equipment and training for state law enforcement officers; development of a web page of information for the public; and upgrades for the state's computer systems to prevent cyber-terrorism.

In addition, the General Assembly appropriated $1.9 million to CCPS to create medical assistance teams at the state and local levels; establish 11 urban search and rescue teams with special equipment and training for collapsed structures; and expand the state's already successful regional hazardous materials response teams.

While federal funds for terrorism preparedness are still being debated in Washington, D.C., some federal money has already been awarded to the state. The Centers for Disease Control awarded the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services more than $23 million for public health preparedness and response for bio-terrorism. The N.C. Emergency Management Division, part of CCPS, has qualified for $7.7 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, which will be used to complete funding of the medical assistance teams and other anti-terrorism equipment purchases for local government agencies.

Using a federal grant, the Governor's Crime Commission - in conjunction with the N.C. National Guard, the U.S. Attorney's Offices in North Carolina and the N.C. Justice Academy - has begun a two-year program to train all 35,000+ of the state's law enforcement officers in anti-terrorism. Training began in May and includes security briefings, overviews of terrorist operations, vulnerability assessment, prevention and intervention techniques, and incident response for law enforcement.

Other preparedness and security measures have taken place since last September.

New laws were passed to increase the penalties for use of a weapon of mass destruction and to create a biological agent registry - the first of its kind in the nation.

Instructions for handling suspicious mail were disseminated to all state and local governments, the emergency response community and the general public by the State Bureau of Investigation, in cooperation with the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service.

A Terrorism Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool for use by government agencies as well as business and industry was distributed by CCPS and N.C. Emergency Management, with the help of the N.C. Sheriff's Association and the N.C. Association of Chief's of Police.

The State Public Health system has begun the process of developing a statewide public health alert system to expedite the detection and response to any chemical or biological attack.

The N.C. National Guard was deployed by presidential order to provide additional security at commercial airports until the new federal security system was in place.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (NCDACS) has developed an advanced Multi-Hazard Threat Database Geographical Information System to deal with the threat of a Foreign Animal Disease that is available to support other state agencies as needed.

The NCDACS has conducted numerous briefings for livestock, food and dairy industry representatives on how to protect their products so that the food supply remains safe and economically viable.

Numerous departments of state government have created special task forces to study and make recommendations on all aspects of potential terrorist threats. These task forces have closely coordinated their activities and shared staff and specialists in terrorism and technical fields with the Governor's Terrorism Preparedness Task Force.

Some state government agencies are participating in national level strategic preparedness exercises in bio-terrorism readiness. For example, NCDACS is providing data and subject matter experts for exercises involving the Department of Defense, National Defense University, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

N.C. Emergency Management personnel who assisted with emergency operations at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have shared their 'lessons learned' with other State Emergency Response Team (SERT) members. "Even though a year has passed with no additional attacks, citizens throughout North Carolina need to continue to be vigilant," said Beatty. "This means being on the lookout for any unusual activity in your neighborhood or workplace. If something makes you suspicious, contact your local law enforcement agency." Citizens who want to know more about the state's preparedness efforts can visit the state's Safety and Security website at www.ncgov.com.

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