for grade plus

Specially Suit

BY WILLIAM MATTHEWS

IT WAS 15 DEGREES AND SNOWING heavily when a train hauling 109 tank cars fi lled with crude oil derailed and exploded in the West Virginia town of Mt. Carbon last February. Flames shot hundreds of feet in the air, a house was incinerated, and oil from 19 ruptured tank cars poured into Armstrong Creek, which fl ows into the Kanawah River, the area’s drinking-water supply.

Authorities evacuated hundreds of residents and shut down a nearby water-treatment plant. Among the emergency responders called to the scene was the West Virginia National Guard’s 35th Civil

Support Team. Th e CST’s job was to sample the Kanawah River’s water for evidence of contamination.

Last winter and into the spring, the H5N2 virus swept through poultry farms in a dozen Midwestern and Western states, ultimately aff ecting more then 33 million chickens, turkeys and ducks.

In Wisconsin, 2 million birds either died of the virus or were destroyed to prevent its spread. By April, so many birds were being hauled to burial sites and incinerators that state agricultural authorities turned to the Guard to decontaminate farm equipment, dump trucks and front-end loaders that were used to dispose of the diseased birds.

Soldiers with the 457th Chemical Company, which is part of

Guard CBRNE units were created to respond to America’s w

And while no such attack has occurred, these unique forces a

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ed

the state’s CERFP—a Chemical, Biological, Radiologi- cal, Nuclear, high-yield Explosive (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package—were activated. Th ey donned protective suits and used military-grade pressure wash- ers, 175-degree water and powerful disinfectant to kill any H5N2 virus before vehicles were permitted to leave the bird-fl u hot zone.

In September, Guard CERFPs and CSTs from nine states helped law enforcement agencies provide security when Pope Francis visited Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia.

Th ese specialized Guard emergency-response teams routinely augment security for events ranging from Su- per Bowl and World Series games to NASCAR races, political conventions, state fairs and holiday parades.

CSTs are also called when local police confront sus- picious packages or vehicles and unidentifi ed liquids and powders, says Lt. Col. Jonathan Ebbert, the Nation- al Guard Bureau’s Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team branch chief and program manager.

Michigan’s 51st CST was called in June when a man wearing plastic coveralls and brandishing a jar

RESPONDERS

The Wisconsin Guard’s 457th Chemical Company decontaminates a vehicle at a poultry farm. A member of the New Jersey Guard’s 21st CST pulls a wagon full of detection gear during an exercise.

worst nightmare.

are in high demand

TECH. SGT. MATT HECHT

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he claimed contained anthrax robbed a bank in Battle Creek. New Mexico’s 64th CST was called when a man who police said

had consumed 1.5 pounds of prairie-dog poison was brought into a Taos hospital. Th e poison, reacting with stomach acid, created toxic gas that contaminated the hospital’s emergency department. Th e patient was secluded in a hazardous-materials tent and died four hours later. Two health-care workers were hospitalized.

CSTs responded to 143 such incidents during 2015, and provided “standby” support for 1,108 other events, such as football games, parades and other large assemblies of people, according to NGB.

Although the CSTs are kept busy, they aren’t doing the task for which they were created, which was to respond to an attack against an American city by chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons.

“America’s worst nightmare. … We have not had one of those, thank God,” says Lt. Col. Chris Bricker, the administrative offi cer for Ohio’s 734th Troop Command and executive offi cer for the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) Region 5 Homeland Response Force (HRF).

But the Guard still must be prepared to respond to “the worst possible tragedy that could face the nation,” he says.

Growing Response

Th e 22-member CSTs date back to 1998 when the fi rst 10 teams were created during a time of mounting trouble.

In 1993, al-Qaida terrorists set off a bomb in a parking garage beneath the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six and wounding 1,040. In 1995, home-grown terrorists bombed a federal

offi ce building in Oklahoma City, killing 168. Anarchist “Unabomb- er” Ted Kaczynski was mailing increasingly sophisticated bombs to 16 victims. A bomb killed one and wounded 111 during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Th e militia movement was in full swing and groups ranging from the white supremacist Aryan Na- tion to sect leader David Koresh challenged the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

Abroad, the collapse of the Soviet Union stoked fears for the se- curity of Soviet nuclear weapons. North Korea was smuggling nucle- ar technology to buyers around the world and al-Qaida was on the rise, urging its followers to mount mass-casualty attacks on airports, skyscrapers, nuclear-power plants and stadiums.

Amid all this, President Bill Clinton issued Presidential Decision Directive 62, which created 10 specially designed National Guard Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection, or RAID, teams to support state and local authorities in response to attacks by weapons of mass destruction.

Th ere was one team for each FEMA region. Aft er the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress, spurred by NGAUS, increased the number of teams, by then called CSTs, to 57, including at least one for each state and territory. Th e larger, 197-member CERFPs, pronounced “serf-Ps,” were fi rst fi elded in 2004.

“It was envisioned that we would respond to massive nuclear, bi- ological and chemical attacks,” says Lt. Col. Ricky Th omas, the com-

SPECIALLY SUITED

DRESSED & READY Members of the Kentucky Guard CERFP head to a simulated hot zone to conduct search-and-extraction operations during an exercise at Camp Blanding, Fla., last year.

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mander of the 10th Civil Support Team based in Washington state. In the absence of such an attack, the day-to-day role of the CSTs

has evolved. “What we have found is, more and more we are responding to rogue

individuals,” Th omas says, and the teams are called when law enforce- ment agencies discover homemade explosives or homemade poisons, such as ricin, and for “white powder” incidents when unknown, pos- sibly deadly substances are discovered and must be identifi ed.

In 2006, Congress expanded CST responsibilities beyond WMD attacks to include industrial accidents and manmade or natural di- sasters that cause or threaten catastrophic loss of life or property.

Th at change has encouraged local authorities to call on CSTs to assess mishaps such as the West Virginia train wreck, possible con- tamination in a federal offi ce building in Vermont in May, a train derailment in Tennessee in July, possible water contamination in Washington, D.C., and the discovery of ricin produced by a college student in Oshkosh, Wis.

Early on, an entire 22-member CST would typically respond when local authorities called for help with incidents like those. But as the calls have increased, CSTs have refi ned their response prac- tices and now are more likely to send a smaller strike team made up of the CST members whose special skills and equipment match the needs for a particular incident, Th omas says.

“We do 10 to 12” such responses a year, he says. “In the last two or three years, we’ve seen activity steadily in-

crease,” says Lt. Col. Eric Leckel, the commander of the Wisconsin Guard’s 54th CST.

Th e increase comes in part because CSTs have done a good job of establishing relationships with police, fi re departments, the FBI and other emergency response agencies, and letting them know about the CSTs’ capabilities and whom to call in an emergency.

But tight municipal budgets are another factor. “Th ey utilize us quite a bit because we come at no cost to them,” Th omas says.

For example, aft er the terrorist attacks in Paris in November, Se- attle police ordered tighter security for Seahawks football games, but had no extra money to pay for it. Th e police turned for help to the 10th CST, which augments local law enforcement free of charge.

Just south of Seattle, the Pierce County sheriff ’s department and a local Energy Department offi ce sought CST assistance to train personnel how to respond to explosive and radioactive materials. Th at, too, was provided at no cost to the local agencies.

Helpful as they are to localities, such missions are also benefi cial to the Guard, says Lt. Col. Dwayne Eckman, the deputy chief of the

The number of standby missions for Civil Support Teams increased from 352 in 2010 to 1,108 in 2015.

TALL TASK First Lt. Brad Wieberg, a member of the Missouri Guard’s 7th CST,

surveys for radiation at Kauff man Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 20, 2014, the day before

the fi rst game of the 2014 World Series.

SENIOR AIRMAN PATRICK P. EVENSON

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SPECIALLY SUITED

Guard Bureau’s CBRN Response Enterprise Office. They provide great training opportunities in “a real-world venue with local first responders,” he says.

Standby Missions

Even as they are drawn into more law enforcement and security missions, the roles for CSTs and CERFPs remain limited. Their job is “to enhance the capabilities of first responders not to duplicate their capabilities,” NGB officials say. The CSTs stand by, ready to advise incident commanders, assist first responders, assess hazards and identify unknown materials.

Three CSTs were on just such a mission during the 2013 Boston Marathon when two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three and wounding scores. They “responded to the bombing in minutes,” letting first responders know that “no chemical, biological or radiological hazards were present. This enabled the responders to continue providing lifesaving care without the fear of additional WMD threats,” the Guard Bureau says.

The number of standby missions has increased year by year, from 352 in 2010 to 1,108 in 2015, according to the Guard Bureau. And in the current environment, Guard officials expect even more stand- by missions in 2016, says Lt. Col. Jonathan Ebbert, the chief of the WMD-CST Branch at the Guard Bureau.

Attacks by Islamic State terrorists on cafes and a concert hall in Paris in November killed 130. That same month, terrorists bombed a Russian airliner over Egypt killing 224 and suicide bombers struck in the crowded streets in Beirut during rush hour killing 43. Ter- rorists have struck mosques and markets, buses, hotels, museums and beaches. The Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace reports a nine-fold increase in terrorism-related deaths since 2000.

The mayhem is prompting authorities to step up security in the United States, and that, in turn, will drive up requests for help from the Guard’s CSTs, Ebbert says.

CSTs are kept ready around the clock to respond to incidents no later than three hours after being called. Each CST is headed by a three-member command team that oversees five specialized units: an eight-member survey unit; a four-member medical unit; a four-member operations unit; a two-member communications team; and a logistician.

Seven CST members are officers and 15 are noncommissioned officers. All CST members are full-time Guardsmen. Typically, 80 percent are Army Guard and 20 percent are Air Guard.

When a CST arrives at an incident site, the survey team deter- mines what biological, chemical or radiological agents are present. This team uses more than a dozen portable sensors for detecting and collecting samples of chemical and biological agents and radiation. Samples can be analyzed in a truck-mounted Analytical Laboratory System that can identify more than 150,000 compounds, including most chemical-warfare agents as well as biological organisms, such as anthrax, smallpox and ricin.

The CSTs have mobile unified-command suites filled with com- munications gear to establish secure and nonsecure communication via satellites, military and nonmilitary radios, cellphones, voice-over Internet and video teleconferencing. The command suite can com- municate with federal, state and local emergency responders and subject experts worldwide.

Each CST has a physician assistant and a medic, whose main job is to provide medical care for CST members and offer advice on how to treat victims exposed to chemical, biological or radiological agents. They are not equipped to provide mass-casualty care.

NATIONAL GUARD CBRNE FORCES

CIVIL SUPPORT TEAM MISSION: Rapidly identify chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear substances, assess consequences; advise incident commanders on response measures and assist requests for follow- on military support. PERSONNEL: 22 (all full time) divided among six sections: command, operations, communications,

administration/logistics, medical/ analytical and survey DEPLOYMENT SPEED: Advance team deploys within 90 minutes of notification; main body within three hours NUMBER: 57 (at least one in every state, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia, with two in California, Florida and New York) FIRST FIELDED: 1999 CBRNE ENHANCED RESPONSE FORCE PACKAGE MISSION: Provide immediate response capability to include casualty search and extraction, medical triage and treatment, ambulatory and nonambulatory decontamination, and fatality search and recovery. PERSONNEL: 197, including 10 full-timers, from existing Army and Air National Guard units DEPLOYMENT SPEED: Advance team deploys within six hours of incident; main

body within 12 hours NUMBER: 17 (at least one in each FEMA region) FIRST FIELDED: 2004 HOMELAND RESPONSE FORCE MISSION: Provide command and control of CSTs and CERFPs in each Federal Emergency Management Agency region, incident site security and life-saving response capability. PERSONNEL: 577, including 150 full- timers. Life-saving and security elements (approximately 370 personnel) come from existing Army and Air National Guard units DEPLOYMENT SPEED: Advance team deploys within six hours of notification; main body within 12 hours NUMBER: 10 (one in each FEMA region) FIRST FIELDED: 2011

Source: NGB

AT A GLANCE

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For a larger response, the Guard main- tains 17 CERFPs, which each have 197 members each. Most personnel are tradi- tional Guardsmen who have other Guard assignments. Th e CERFPs are organized, trained and equipped for major catastroph- ic incidents, the Guard Bureau says.

More Capability

Although a CERFP can’t respond as quickly as CSTs, they off er a wider array of capa- bilities, including search and extraction, decontamination, medical care for victims, and command and control.

Th e next level up from CERFPs are the Guard’s 10 Homeland Response Forces. Each of these 577-member units is “built around a CERFP with some additional forces” for force protection and command and control, according to the Guard Bureau.

HRFs are designed to manage the operations of multiple CERFPs and CSTs. Th ere is one in each of the 10 FEMA regions nationwide. And like other Guard CBRNE assets, they are under the control of the governors.

Elements of Washington state’s HRF responded to a mudslide in March 2014 that buried most of the rural town of Oso in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, killing 43. It was one of the deadliest landslides in U.S. history.

Units in the HRF were activated, but not until three days aft er the mudslide occurred, a delay that prompted criticism of civilian authorities in charge of emergency response. Guard offi cials said they off ered assistance on Saturday, the day the disaster occurred, but their help wasn’t accepted until Monday.

Th en within hours, HRF search-and-extraction team members were wading through chest-deep muck in the hope of fi nding survi- vors. Decontamination teams cleaned rescue workers, dogs and ve- hicles caked with mud and contaminants from the slide, and medical personnel were on hand to treat any rescued victims.

Ultimately, though, the mission focused on the HRF’s fatality search-and-recovery team. “Th ey were pulling out remains and parts of remains” from the devastated area, says Eckman of the Guard Bureau.

As the mission of the CSTs, CERFPs and HRFs evolves, so does the technology they use.

In 2016, the CSTs expect to begin receiving their fi rst “CBRN- equipped robots.” Looking like miniature tanks, these Talon IV ro- bots are veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars reconfi gured for domestic emergencies, Eckman says.

Th ey are to be sent in ahead of CST personnel to sniff out the presence of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats.

Th e CSTs want them especially for venturing into areas that might be contaminated by radiation. While protective suits that can shield troops against chemicals and biological agents, radiation is a much more dangerous foe.

“Aft er Fukushima, we saw the need for robots and began to get this requirement validated,” Eckman says. In Fukushima, Japan, in

2011, a tsunami devastated the city, killed 16,000, and fl ooded a nuclear power plant, causing at least three reactors to melt down and release radiation. Radiation levels grew too high to permit humans to enter the facility, so robots were sent in instead to measure radiation and take photos.

Th e Guard also expects to receive better command-and-control soft ware so it can track the location of forces in real time. And it is de- veloping a next-generation version of its portable analytical laboratory.

Despite the increasing optempo or because of it, CST command- ers say they have no problems recruiting new members.

“We do have people beating down the door wanting to join,” says 1st Sgt. Nicholas Sosa of Wisconsin’s 54th CST. A position on the CST is one of the most high-profi le, high-optempo jobs in the Wisconsin Guard, he says. Th e last time there was an open job, he says, “we had 10 individuals who were all fully qualifi ed who applied for the job.”

Many applicants have bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as other specialized training, CST commanders say.

In Washington, a recent vacancy on the CST attracted job appli- cants from as far away as Nebraska and Missouri.

Th omas says. “Landing a CST job is very competitive.”

WILLIAM MATTHEWS is a Springfi eld, Va.-based freelance writer specializing in military matters. He can be contacted via [email protected].

DELICATE WORK Sgt. Andrew Marxman, of the Arizona Guard’s 91st CST, uses detection paper to determine the hazard during a simulated shooting and hazardous-material release last year.

S TA

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“What we have found is, more and more we are responding

to rogue individuals.” —Lt. Col. Ricky Thomas 10th Civil Support Team

Washington National Guard

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