FOR A-PLUS WRITER ONLY

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________ Report Information from ProQuest June 28 2016 11:55 _______________________________________________________________ COLUMBIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

28 June 2016 ProQuest

Table of contents

1. REP. SUSAN W. BROOKS HOLDS A HEARING ON STATE OF PREPAREDNESS................................ 1

Bibliography...................................................................................................................................................... 25

28 June 2016 ii ProQuest

Document 1 of 1 REP. SUSAN W. BROOKS HOLDS A HEARING ON STATE OF PREPAREDNESS ProQuest document link Full text: HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE AND COMMUNICATIONS HOLDS A HEARING ON NATION'S STATE OF PREPAREDNESS SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 SPEAKERS: REP. SUSAN W. BROOKS, R-IND. CHAIRWOMAN REP. PETER T. KING, R-N.Y. REP. STEVEN M. PALAZZO, R-MISS. REP. SCOTT PERRY, R-PA. REP. MARK SANFORD, R-S.C. REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL, R-TEXAS EX OFFICIO REP. DONALD M. PAYNE JR., D-N.J. RANKING MEMBER REP. YVETTE D. CLARKE, D-N.Y. REP. BRIAN HIGGINS, D-N.Y. REP. BENNIE THOMPSON, D-MISS. EX OFFICIO WITNESSES: TIMOTHY MANNING, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR FOR PROTECTION AND NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS, FEMA MARK GILHARDUCCI, DIRECTOR, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES JEFFREY WALKER, SENIOR EMERGENCY MANAGER, LICKING COUNTY, OHIO JAMES SCHWARTZ, CHIEF OF THE ARLINGTON COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT KATHY SPANGLER, VICE PRESIDENT, U.S. PROGRAMS, SAVE THE CHILDREN [*] BROOKS: Good morning, the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness Response Communications, will come to order. I'd like to welcome our witnesses, everyone in the audience and those who are watching this webcast today, to our hearing today on our nation's state of preparedness. Before I recognize myself for an opening statement, I ask unanimous consent that the testimony of Director Troy Riggs, the director of public safety in Indianapolis be submitted for the record. Director Riggs is unable to testify today in person due a scheduling conflict. Without objection, so ordered. This month the 12th anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11. Earlier this week, we were once again reminded that tragedy can strike at anytime, and so our hearts do go out to all of those were affected by the shootings at the Navy Yard. And our thoughts also go out to the people of Colorado as they weathering historic flooding. So we'd like to thank the law enforcement, the first responders, members of the military and medical personnel who have, once again, responded to these tragic events. Since 9/11 and to this day, preparing for and protecting against terrorist attacks as well as other emergencies, has been a focus of our country, and I know that many of us here today have dedicated our professional lives to making this nation more secure. And make no mistake, over the past 12 years, we have made significant progress in improving the nation's ability to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from disasters. One needs only look at what happened very recently at the Boston Marathon bombings where we saw an extremely coordinated and effective response from first responders, law enforcement and medical personnel. Since 9/11, the city of Boston has used much -- have used federal grant dollars to improve their prevention and their response efforts. They've held training and exercises to test their plans. They promoted the use of interoperable communications across multiple jurisdictions and sectors, and we know that the actions of those Boston first responders that day, no doubt, saved many lives and mitigated damage. However, we also know, as always, there is more work to be done. And so this country still needs to develop a process that continues to define and effectively measure our effectiveness capabilities. FEMA has been assigned with this difficult task, and we know has been working toward this goal. In order to help measure our nation's preparedness, the administration in April 2011 publicly released the Presidential Policy Directive 8 of the National Preparedness Policy. PPD-8 required that the secretary of homeland security

28 June 2016 Page 1 of 25 ProQuest

submit to the president a national preparedness goal and a new national preparedness system that will help achieve the goal. It's been over two years since PPD-8 was released, and we are still waiting to see the implementation of some of these critical components of the national preparedness system. Additional, as required by the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act and PPD- 8, FEMA released the second annual national preparedness report or the NPR in March of this year. This report does outline the progress being made in building and sustaining our nation's 31 core capabilities as defined in the national preparedness goal. It highlights several areas of national strength including planning, operational coordination and intelligence and information sharing. But it also draws, as it should, attention to areas in need of improvement including specifically cybersecurity, recovery focused core capabilities and public- private partnerships. FEMA has released four of the five national planning frameworks including prevention, response, recovery and mitigation. These frameworks provide processes and strategies to assist in achieving the national preparedness goal. In this hearing today, I'm interested in learning about the level of the involvement of the state and local organizations, what you've had in the developmental of these frameworks and how you are planning, if at all, to incorporate all of these frameworks into your daily operations. Additionally, I'm interested in learning when the final framework, the protection framework and the federal inter- agency operations plan might be released. Preparedness is not just a responsibility as we know of federal, state and local entities, but individuals, also, must take a role in preparing for disasters. September is National Preparedness Month, of which I'm a congressional co-chair, and it's important we promote those preparedness to our constituents, our communities and our stakeholders. This month, I have encouraged members of Congress to promote preparedness activities in their districts, but we know more must be done. According to a 2012 survey by FEMA, 46 percent of respondents reported being familiar with their local hazards, but only 39 percent said they have an emergency plan in their own household. This is actually quite discouraging if you think about it, if only 39 percent surveyed say they actually have a plan, and I'm hoping that with the preparedness goal and system, we can continue to educate individuals about the need to be prepared. After all, we know, and FEMA has said Director Fugate certainly said, "Winging it is not an emergency plan." We must be prepared. With unpredictable nature of disasters and emergencies, it's vital that we as a nation continue to hone our preparedness capabilities. As the Boston Police Commissioner, Ed Davis, stated at a House homeland security committee hearing recently. As he said, "The truth of the matter is nobody bats a thousand." We can't be fully prepared for every single scenario, but we have to strive to bat a thousand because lives count on it. Through this hearing, I hope to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of our nation's state of preparedness, and also gain a greater understanding of how our nation is working together to build resilience. I look forward to hearing the perspectives of our witnesses on this important issue. And I now recognize the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Payne, for any opening statement he may have. PAYNE: Good morning. I'd like to thank Chairwoman Brooks for holding this hearing and giving the subcommittee the opportunity to learn more about the national state of preparedness. Before we begin this hearing, I want to express my condolences to those who lost loved ones, the friends and co-workers as a result of the tragic events at the Navy Yard earlier this week. I also want to thank the first responders for their heroic efforts in that time of need. Last week, we commemorated the anniversary of September 11. In 12 years, we've made significant improvements in our preparedness capabilities from planning to communications to operational coordination. However, every day,

28 June 2016 Page 2 of 25 ProQuest

we are reminded of the work that still needs to be done. In the last year alone, we have witnessed incredible tragedies. Last year, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc along the east coast and in my home state of New Jersey. It displaced families, destroyed schools and businesses and disrupted the school year. In December, a shooter killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. In April, terrorists detonated explosives at the Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring many more. In May, tornadoes devastated Oklahoma. Two elementary schools were in the path of the tornado and, tragically seven children died at one elementary school. After each of these incidents, the national collective asked, "What could we have done differently?" We wonder how we could have prevented them. If prevention is not possible, we wonder how we could have mitigated the devastation. And if you're a parent, these tragedies cause you wonder about how best to protect your children. Earlier this month, Save the Children released its annual report card on protecting children in disasters. It found that 28 states including the District of Columbia, do not require schools place childcare facilities to include the four standards that the National Commission on Children and Disasters deemed essential. I'm proud to say that New Jersey is one of the few states that includes these four criteria. I encourage each member of the panel to review this report, to determine whether your states meet each of the four criteria. And if your state does not meet the standard, I would urge the members to call their state officials and ask why. And along with this individual advocacy, I believe that as a legislative body, this Congress can do and should do more. I'm introducing the Safe Schools Act legislation that will require states applying for a state homeland security grant funds, to certify that their schools have an emergency plan that meets the standard recommended by the 2010 commission on childrens disasters report. I want to thank Save the Children, and I apologize for not wearing one of my four Save the Children ties today for their support of my legislation and for all their hard work in making sure that our children remain a priority, the number 1 priority, in our disaster planning and preparedness efforts. I want to thank the witnesses for being here, and I look forward to their testimony, and I yield back my time. BROOKS: Thank you. Other members are reminded that opening statements may be submitted for the record. We are very pleased to have this very distinguished panel before us today on this important topic. I would like to begin by introducing our first witness, Mr. Tim Manning. He's the deputy administrator for Protection and National Preparedness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is not your first time testifying before this committee so welcome back. In this capacity, he oversees the national preparedness directorate, the grants program directorate, the normal continuity programs directorate, and the Office of National Capitol Region coordination. Mr. Manning to FEMA nearly two decades of emergency management experience including service as a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, and a rescue mountaineer. Next, we have Mr. Ghilarducci, Mr. Mark Ghilarducci is the director of the California governor's office of emergency services. As a member of the cabinet, Director Ghilarducci serves as the governor's homeland security advisor and oversees statewide public safety emergency management, emergency communications, counter- terrorism efforts, and a state threat assessment system, CSTAC. Prior to his appointment, Mr. -- am I saying it right? Ghilarducci has been involved in disaster emergency response and recovery activities resulting from hundreds of major incidents within California -- he served both nationally and internationally. He's testifying today on behalf of the National Governors Association and the governor's homeland security advisor's council. Next we have Mr. Jeff Walker, who is the senior emergency manager for Licking County, Ohio. Prior to this position, Mr. Walker was the director of the Licking County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for 13-1/2 years. He has served on countless committees including Ohio's Emergency Management Training Council, Ohio's severe weather awareness committee, and was appointed to FEMA's national advisory committee.

28 June 2016 Page 3 of 25 ProQuest

Mr. Walker currently serves as the president of the International Association of Emergency Managers and is testifying on behalf of that organization. As I understand you'll be heading Vienna soon to also appear at a conference. Thank you, Mr. Walker. Next we have Chief James Schwartz, who has been the fire chief for the Arlington County Fire Department since 2004. Prior to this appointment, he served in a variety of fire department positions including assistant chief for operations, responsible for all response-related activities including fire, EMS, hazardous materials and technical rescue, response incident management and operational training. He led the unified command effort for the Pentagon incident after September 11. He currently serves as the chair for the International Association of Fire Chiefs committee on terrorism, homeland security, and he is testifying on behalf of IAFC. And I must say, Chief, that we made the reacquaintance because we visited as a U.S. attorney appointed one month after 9/11. You were part of a presentation to a number of new U.S. attorneys at the Pentagon in November of '01, and I remember to this day, we went to the Pentagon (ph) and listened to you and the chief at that time, present to us what that scene was like, how you secured that scene, and what that horrible tragedy at the Pentagon. And it was a very powerful presentation to all of us in law enforcement to learn about what the fire services role is in a terrorist incident, and so good to see you again. I'd now like to defer to Ranking Member Congressman Payne to introduce our next witness. PAYNE: Thank you, Madame Chair. It's my honor and privilege to introduce Ms. Kathy Spangler, and she is the vice-president of the U.S. programs for Save the Children, where she focuses on improving educational outcomes for children living in poverty, through early childhood development, literacy, physical activity and nutrition. Additional, Ms. Spangler oversees Save the Children programs that are dedicated to protecting children during emergencies and disasters and focuses on preparedness and response efforts. Prior to joining Save the Children, Ms. Spangler served as the founding director of the National Partnerships for the National Recreation and Park Association. And it is really an honor to have her here to testify on these issues, so welcome. I yield back. BROOKS: Thank you. The witnesses full written statements will appear in the record and just to let you know, you have 5 minutes for opening remarks, and we'll start with you, Mr. Manning. MANNING: Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Brooks, Ranking Member Payne, members of the subcommittee. Good morning and thank you for having me here today. The administration remains committed to strengthening the security and resilience of the United States through a systematic preparation for the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk to the security of the nation. Much progress has been made fueled by FEMA's grant programs but with leadership at the state and local levels. Monday's tragedy at the Washington Navy Yard underscores the role state and local emergency responders maintain in keeping this nation safe. In March 2011, President Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive 8 on national preparedness. The body of work established pursuant PPD-8 creates a system that allows us to both build preparedness and to understand how well prepared we are by setting a goal, establishing a baseline, sending common and comparable terminology, measuring the capability gaps, and assessing our progress towards filling them. The normal preparedness goal released in September 2011 is the cornerstone of PPD-8 and defined a set of 31 distinct core capabilities across the mission areas needed to achieve the national preparedness. The national preparedness system is the instrument that the nation uses to build, sustain and deliver the core capabilities to achieve the goal. Implementation of the NPS is a whole community approach to homeland security and emergency management that supports building, sustaining and delivering the core capabilities through identifying and assessing risks, estimating capability requirements to meet those risks, planning to

28 June 2016 Page 4 of 25 ProQuest

deliver those capabilities and validating those capabilities through exercises and real world incidents and reviewing and updating each. The foundation of the National Preparedness System is identifying and assessing risks. To be truly prepared and to understand our progress towards the goal, we need to know what we preparing for. Communities should understand the risks with which they're faced. The Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment or THIRA process, helps communities identify those threats and hazards and determine capability targets and resource requirements necessary to address anticipated and unanticipated risks. The THIRA process gives communities their end state, capability targets based on their threats and hazards and resources required to meet those targets. And the state preparedness report measures the rate or change between current baselines and the end state identified in the THIRA. This SPR is an annual self-assessment and review of state preparedness based on the targets set in the THIRA. The national planning frameworks describe how the whole community works together to deliver the core capabilities needed to achieve the preparedness goal, as part of a unified and coordinated effort. There's one framework for each of the five mission areas, prevention, protection, mitigation response and recovery. The protection framework is very close to nearing completion. We're working closely with our partners across the department of homeland security and across the homeland security and emergency management community to ensure that the draft protection framework aligns with and expands, clarifies and advances the national strategic approach protecting critical infrastructure and the strategic guidance of the administration and secretary of homeland security. At the federal level, each framework has been supported by a mission area specific, Federal Interagency Operation Plans or FIOPs for short. These FIOPs describe how the federal government will deliver the core capabilities in each mission area in support of a response and state and local governments. The protection, prevention, mitigation, response and recovery FIOPs are under the final development and review, and we're confident in their completion and publication in the very near future. The National Preparedness Report then examines the preparedness across the nation. The first NPR released in 2012 included specific accomplishments in the context of the core capabilities identified in the goal. The 2013 NPR identified 65 key findings. Several of these findings focusing on overarching national trends and highlighting areas of national strength. The 2013 NPR found the nation continues to make progress building preparedness in key areas including planning, operational coordination, intelligence and information sharing and operational communication. Each of these was identified as also an area of strength in the 2012 NPR. The nation also made progress in suggesting areas identified for improvement in 2012, including cybersecurity, recovery focus, core capabilities like economic recovery and the protection of natural and cultural resources. The 2013 NPR also found the nation has made some progress in planning to address long-term challenges posed by climate change and extreme weather, but this remains an area of focus for preparedness initiatives nationally. This past year has given FEMA more opportunities than we would like to assess the preparedness through real world incidents. Hurricane Sandy, the Boston Marathon bombings, the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, and many others demonstrated how the nation's preparedness activities have had a positive effect on our response capabilities. Our efforts to train, equip and exercise public safety personnel, as well as the planning assistance we provided to our partners, all helped save lives. In conclusion, the National Preparedness System as envisioned by PPD-8, has contributed to our ability to focus on those areas where gaps exist in order to strengthen the public safety and the nation's security and

28 June 2016 Page 5 of 25 ProQuest

resilience. Our ability to measure progress has also improved, and we look forward to working with Congress and all of the stakeholders to continue to reduce vulnerabilities the nation faces. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'm happy to answer any questions the subcommittee may have. BROOKS: Thank you, Mr. Manning. The chair now recognizes Mr. Ghilarducci for 5 minutes. GHILARDUCCI: Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Brooks, Ranking Member Payne, and the members of the subcommittee for allowing me the opportunity to appear before you today to provide a state's perspective on national preparedness intergovernmental engagement. First let me say that we have made significant progress since September 11, 2001, in our combined efforts to build and enhance the capabilities necessary to meet our nation's preparedness. It really is indisputable that federal investments have played a crucial role in this all hands on deck effort. However, there are ongoing and ever-changing threats and challenges which we must remain vigilant to and nimble enough to collectively understand and effectively address. Without this effort, the forward progress in our nation's level of preparedness will be in jeopardy due the challenges that exist or have emerged during the last several years, such as, ongoing and new homeland security threats or hazards such as cyber-terrorism and espionage, transnational criminal organizations, home grown extremists, and an increase and the frequency of complexity of natural disasters. As well are the inconsistent capability at state and local levels for multi-agency coordination and the necessity to establish and/or expand mutual aid capabilities. A suite (ph) of federal preparedness grant programs that are somewhat cumbersome and untimely and whose structure no longer aligns with the current economic or hazard and security based environments. A newly established doctrine on national preparedness, which has shown really early promise, but it needs time and ongoing fine-tuning to be truly effective in the long term. And lastly, a lack of emphasis, really, on pre-event disaster mitigation as part of the whole community effort to increase community resiliency and help reduce the physical and economic impacts of a disaster. So we need to continue to work together at all levels of government and the private sector to address these and the many other challenges that we face, to ensure that important gains our nation has made in overall preparedness are not reversed. Neither the federal government nor states can address any of these issues independently. In an era of constrained budgets, all levels of government must do more with less and must identify opportunities to leverage and optimize resources to meet the needs of our communities. And to achieve our shared goal of a more resilient and secure nation. I believe that one of the most significant avenues to help us get there, is through an effective multi-agency coordination and adequate and trained workforce and a robust mutual aid system. California, as you may know, has a long history of using its mutual aid system for responding to man-made natural disasters and other emergencies. We understand that no one agency, be it state or local, has enough resources to cope large-scale emergencies or complex disasters. For example, our strong (ph) mutual aid system recently was leveraged in fighting the rim fire near Yosemite National Park, which I'm sure you all saw, it made national news, through effective multi- agency coordination and situational intelligence sharing. Over 142 fire agencies, 24 law enforcement agencies, 36 county governments, and 13 state agencies were coordinated through my department with the federal government and deployed to the rim fire for over five weeks. A fire that's actually still burning and has consumed more than 255,000 acres making it the third largest in California's history. In addition, California dedicated emergency management professionals and first responders are often called upon by FEMA and other states to respond to disasters throughout country including catastrophic disasters,

28 June 2016 Page 6 of 25 ProQuest

such as, Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. My team coordinates these out-of-state resource request through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact or EMAC agreement. And California receives EMACS's agreements regularly and most recovery, members of my team returned from providing onsite assistance to Alaska in response to their flooding disaster, and we sent multiple resources to New York and New Jersey and Connecticut following Superstorm Sandy. So I believe our -- really, our mutual aid system is one of the best in the world and, although, all 50 states are signatory to EMAC, the recent 2013 National Preparedness Report showed that many states are not accounting for critical resources in neighboring states as a part of their capability assessment. A shared awareness is critical for states to ensure what assistance can be leveraged via interstate mutual aid during times of crisis. The fiscal support is important in ensuring and promoting a shared awareness of regional assets and capabilities to ensure that this is done in a coordinated and effective way. So the governors and the members of (inaudible) stand ready to serve as equal partners with both the federal government and with local communities to improve the nation's preparedness system, to make federal investments more efficient by recommending changes and improvements in performance metrics, and hoping to reform preparedness grant programs to build state capabilities to achieve that goal of a more secure and resilient nation for our future. I thank you for the opportunity to testify before the committee today on behalf of California National Governors Association, and I look forward to working with you to create a prepared and resilient country. Thank you very much. BROOKS: Thank you, Mr. Ghilarducci. The chair now recognizes Mr. Walker for 5 minutes. WALKER: Chairman Brooks, Ranking Member Payne and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide testimony on this important topic. I'm Jeffrey Walker, the president of the International Association of Emergency Managers to the U.S. Council. I served 13-1/2 years as director of the Licking County, Ohio, office of homeland security and emergency management. We appreciate the opportunity to talk about the gains that have been made in preparedness, the remaining challenges, some local perspectives on capability and the further steps needed to enhance them. At the local government level, emergency managers play an essential role bringing together the stakeholders, public, private and non-governmental organizations for a cohesive and workable plan and response to a disaster. They have the responsibility to ensure horizontal coordination between the departments of local government and vertical coordination between local, state and federal government. They are responsible for making sure that all missions of emergency management, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, are able to be accomplished at the local level. (inaudible) some tools that allow emergency managers to perform their vital role in national preparedness. The federal emergency management agencies, Emergency Management Performance Grants is vital funding to local emergency managers and has been called the "backbone" of emergency management systems. The EMPG is fundamentally different from the post September 11, 2001, homeland security grants. It goes back to the 1950s, requires a 50/50 cost match, and requires various performance measures. All disasters start and end at the local level which emphasizes the importance of building and sustaining this capability at the local government level. The EMPG funding should not be invested exclusively in state governments alone. Funding from EMPG frequently makes a difference as whether or not a qualified person is present to perform these duties in a local jurisdiction. One of the challenges of local emergency managers is to get individuals and families to take action to be well- prepared. We welcome FEMA's efforts to bring a more scientific basis to this effort. FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, provides vitally needed training. The crown jewel of emergency management training and doctrine has made progress over the past three years

28 June 2016 Page 7 of 25 ProQuest

in the development of programs for state and local emergency managers, particularly, the development of the Emergency Management Professional Program which includes national emergency management foundations, leadership and executive academies. IM (ph) USA is an active participant in developing the national planning system curriculum. We look forward to the final product which will be focused on moving planners from all disciplines to the same common operating picture and lexicon, which will increase awareness of their impact on emergency management. Congress frequently hears about federal programs being rolled out without consulting with stakeholders. There has been extensive consultation with stakeholders making this program stronger. Emergency management capabilities are being built across our nation at the local government level. For example, the locals in the state of Mississippi have built a strong partnership to prepare for a wide array of hazards. Mississippi passes through a minimum of 60 percent of its allocated EMPG funding to local government emergency management offices and spends the remainder on programs designed for local support. After Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi locals identified their highest priority mitigation actions, and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency worked with them and FEMA to fulfill those priorities, particularly, generators, shelters and safe rooms. Another capability, local capability, is a metropolitan medical response system. Every MMRS jurisdiction has its success stories. Success as an ongoing critical analysis can be attributed to the MMRS planning, training and coordination, which has been replicated across the U.S.. Since 2012, MMRS has not been funded as a department of homeland security stand-alone program, but it is allowable expense to be decided at the state and local level. Many of these valuable programs are facing extinction. In these challenging economic times, it is important to know what the return on investment is for our preparedness dollar. We know what a prepared community should look like. IM (ph) USA released a paper titled, "Preparedness, a Principled Approach to Return on Investment," which is available on our website. The paper articulates a framework based on the principles of emergency management that could be derived -- could drive meaningful objectives and measures for preparedness grants as we try to reach that goal. In conclusion, the assessment of our nation's preparedness is neither simple nor straightforward. We continue to make progress towards the goal a prepared community with our key partners at the local, state and federal levels of government, private enterprise and non-governmental organizations. Thank you. BROOKS: Thank you, Mr. Walker. The chair now recognizes Chief Schwartz for 5 minutes. SCHWARTZ: Thank you, Chairman Brooks, Ranking Member Payne, for this opportunity to be here this morning with you and talk about this important topic. The International Association of Fire Chiefs represents the leadership of the nation's fire, rescue and emergency medical services including rural volunteer, metropolitan career, and suburban combination departments. I'd like to thank the subcommittee for this opportunity to share with you some thoughts about our nation's preparedness. Local fire and emergency services are critical players in any effective system of national preparedness. They respond to all hazards including earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and mass casualty events. They also provide a diversity of other services including emergency management, community education about family and personal preparedness, building code enforcement, protection of critical infrastructure and information sharing about threats and risks to their jurisdictions. The nation is better prepared today than it was 12 years ago. Evidence of this fact can be found in the response to natural disasters like the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, and the Superstorm Sandy, as well as mass casualty events, like the April 15th bombing in Boston. Jurisdictions are developing capabilities to fill those gaps based on lessons learned from these and many other

28 June 2016 Page 8 of 25 ProQuest

events. If I could cite a couple of examples. On September 11, 2001, the national capitol region was capable of putting two mass casualty units on the scene of the Pentagon during that crisis. Today, we have 23 units across the region that are standardized and completely interoperable. In addition to that, we have ambulance buses which were a lesson out of the Katrina emergency where we realized that we needed the capacity to move large numbers of patients. These buses can move up to 25 patients at a time. And an issue that has obviously been spoken about a little bit this morning and is very relevant to our timing here, active shooter capabilities. In the northern Virginia region of the national capitol area, we are in the process of training 3,000 police officers in the techniques of tactical emergency casualty care, which takes the lessons of the war theatres of Afghanistan and Iraq and teaches police officers and firefighter EMS personnel how to treat trauma wounds in the field to save lives. In addition, some departments have created capabilities to insert medical providers into an indirect threat zone before a shooter is subdued, and we look forward to that particular capability being rolled out across the country over the next several months. The National Preparedness System depends on local fire and EMS resources to be adequately staffed, equipped and trained. However, the great recession cost federal, state and local budget cuts that have affected the nation's response capabilities. A couple of examples cited by research from the National Fire Protection Association. Fifty-one percent of all fire departments do not have enough portable radios to equip emergency responders on a shift. This is down from 77 percent in 2001, and 75 percent in 2005. Forty-eight percent of all fire departments are responsible for EMS have not formally trained all their personnel to provide that service. This percentage is down from 54 percent in 2001. And 65 percent of all fire departments that are responsible for hazardous materials response have not formally trained all their personnel to national standards, and this is down from a percentage of 73 percent in 2001. The IAFC believes that taxpayer funds can and should be used effectively to improve national preparedness. In order to help grantees use better federal grants, the IAFC recommends that FEMA develop a system for grant recipients to share information about the successful, and occasional not so successful, uses of grant funds in order to harness information about what we do next. It seems not very efficient when somebody has created something very successful to not promote that to be replicated in other communities across the country. The nation's information sharing efforts are another area in which national preparedness can be improved. The nation has developed an information sharing regime with 78 fusion centers around the nation. Many of these fusion centers lack standardization and are in various stages of implementation. They must continue to focus on collaborating with all stakeholders including fire and EMS departments and, in addition, it is important to make sure that these centers provide information for end users, local fire, EMS and law enforcement personnel. The Joint Counter Terrorism Assessment Team at the National Counterterrorism Center is another information sharing tool for local public safety. This is an effort by NCTC to include local responders in the intelligence community, so that there is not only a greater awareness in local communities of what the intelligence community is producing, but a higher level of understanding within the community about what locals need in order to make better preparations. It's important that local stakeholders also have a role in the PPD-8 process. From fire to emergency services perspective, all of the resources, equipment and personnel, are owned by local jurisdictions. We are concerned that the state-centered approach identified in the THIRA and National Preparedness Grant Program proposal and look forward to working on improving these efforts in the near future. Fires remain a major threat to the nation. Overseas terrorists deliberately used fire as a weapon during 2008

28 June 2016 Page 9 of 25 ProQuest

attacks in Mumbai and at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in 2012 to cut access and draw media attention. Al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, has urged its followers to use fire as a weapon here in the United States to cause damage and fear. Firefighting will remain a major component of an effective national preparedness system, and we urge the committee to consider this oversight by FEMA as it reviews PPD-8 progress. On behalf of the leadership of the nation's fire and EMS departments, I want to thank you for this opportunity to be here this morning to talk about this important topic, and I look forward to your questions. BROOKS: Chief Schwartz. The chair now will recognize Ms. Spangler for 5 minutes. SPANGLER: Chairwoman Brooks, Ranking Member Payne, and the esteemed members of the homeland security committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on this critical issue. Unfortunately, I must report to you that when it comes to protecting our nation's children from disaster, America is not prepared. Over the past year, we've seen incredible destruction and high profile school tragedies that remind us how vulnerable children are during disasters, and that they can strike anywhere and at any time. However, too many states are failing to take basic actions essential to protect our children. It's like they're stuck in a pre-Katrina mindset. Do you know how long it took to reunite the last child with their family post-Katrina? Six months. And after eight years, many states still fall short on their reunification planning. Any given work day, 68 million children are separated from their families. If a disaster strikes a school or a childcare center, what happens to these children. Are schools and child care centers doing all they can to prepare for emergencies. Is government requiring them to meet even minimum standards. More often than not, the answer is no. After Katrina, Congress authorized the National Commission on Children in Disasters and led by Save the Children. It recommended hundreds of steps that should be taken to protect children. We condensed those recommendations into four minimum standards. They are that states require all child care centers to have an evacuation and relocation plan, a family reunification plan and a plan for children with special needs. And that they require all schools K- 12 to have a disaster plan that account for multiple hazards that can occur. This month, we released our sixth annual disaster report card and found that 28 states in the District of Columbia still fail to meet at least one, if not all four, of these minimum standards. And six states and the District of Columbia fail to even require multi-hazard plans for all schools. So with so many states failing to act, it's up to the federal government to do what it can to protect children. That's starting to happen. The Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families has proposed a new rule requiring childcare providers that receive subsidies through the Child Care and Development Block Grant to verify that they have an emergency plan that meets two out our three child care standards. We're hopeful that HHS will amend the rule to include all three. Today, we express our profound gratitude to Ranking Member Payne, and Ranking Member Thompson, for introducing legislation that takes the same approach to motivate state action on the fourth standard to better protect children in schools. Their legislation titled, Safe School Act, would require each state applying for the state Homeland Security Grant Program through the Department of Homeland Security to certify that they already require schools to have multi-hazard emergency plan. If ever there was a year when we saw the variety of emergencies that can occur in states, it's this one. This act is a critical first step to protecting children in schools. I encourage you all to co- sponsor this legislation and to encourage your colleagues to do the same. Save the Children has three recommendations today. First, pass the Safe School Act. Second, make child care mapping an eligible activity under the state Homeland Security Grant Program. One of the areas where the gaps in protecting children is most glaring is around child care. After the Oklahoma tornadoes and Hurricane Sandy, Save the Children helped damaged and destroyed child care centers reopen. These centers often have little access to emergency recovery funds. Yet their services are desperately needed by families who have lost

28 June 2016 Page 10 of 25 ProQuest

everything, and for children who have experienced an event that is terrifying in their young lives. One Oklahoma child care director told us, as parents and staff pulled children from the rubble after the tornado destroyed her center, first responders raced down the street right past them to a nearby destroyed hospital. Nobody stopped to help them because nobody even knew a child care center, with infants and young children, was there. Federal support for child care mapping will help ensure that this does not occur again. Our third recommendation would require FEMA to report annually on the amount of homeland security grant funds that are being dedicated to the needs of children. Save the Children has successfully advocated for such a report from FEMA via the annual appropriations process. We can announce today that this reporting has shown, that out of the $14 billion in homeland security preparedness grants, for fiscal years 2004 through 2010, only 16 states put funds toward protecting children. And the total investment was less than $10 million. In other words, only 0.7 percent of emergency preparedness funds were invested to the needs of children. We need to start tracking this allocation every year. To do that, we recommend a long-term authorization directing FEMA to complete this task annually. Once we shed light on how little is being done to protect the most vulnerable among us, our children, we can encourage states to rectify this shameful oversight. Congress has the power to act now to protect children before the next disaster strikes. We urge you to do so. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today and welcome any questions you may have. BROOKS: Thank you, Ms. Spangler. I now am going to recognize the gentleman from New Jersey for questions. I understand he may need to step out a bit and so I wanted to make sure that he got his questions in. Mr. Payne? PAYNE: Well Madame Chair, I appreciate that consideration. Let me start with Mr. Manning. The 2013 NPR boast nationwide adoption of NIMS in 2012. That's really encouraging, but I'm hearing that NIMS is not being enforced in New Jersey. Have you heard about any problems enforcing NIMS in New Jersey? MANNING: Congressman, I'm not aware of any specific problems in New Jersey, but it's something I'd be very happy to look into and get back to your office on. PAYNE: Yes, I'd appreciate it. We had conversations at a forum several weeks ago with first responders and heads of homeland security in my district, and that has been -- that issue has been raised by several different entities in terms of that, you know, what should I tell them in terms of it not being enforced? MANNING: Well Congressman Payne, I believe that NIMS has been the national doctrine for the preparation for coordination (ph) in response to disasters for many years now. It's enforcement or the manner in which it's used is one that varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. And the basic doctrine of the incident command systems span of control, unity of command, and the organization of responding to a disaster is one that has had widespread distribution. Not one that I've heard that there's concerns with the New Jersey, and I will look closely into it. I know there have been questions from time to time about its applicability in the day-to-day organizational structure of emergency response organizations, and the current position of the administration is that NIMS is an organizational -- the incident command system specifically is an organizational structure specifically created for response to a multi-agency or a large emergency or disaster and not one necessarily to be used to organize the administrative function of an organization. That may be the case there. I'd be happy to look into it and report back to your office. PAYNE: That will be fine (ph), thank you, sir. Ms. Spangler, you know, over the course of past year man-made and natural disasters have had a tremendous impact on children, as you stated. Save the Children supported efforts in Hurricane Sandy, Newtown and the tornado in Oklahoma. What are the most important lessons learned related to children that the organization learned during -- as a result of these disasters? SPANGLER: Thank you for the question, Congressman Payne. It has been an extraordinary year, and we have been on the ground in partnership with FEMA and the Red Cross and other partners in each of these disasters.

28 June 2016 Page 11 of 25 ProQuest

For us what has been so amazing to watch is the fact that child care facilities are not considered part of the core strategy. That there is very little data -- it took us weeks to identify the damages associated with child care centers. I think it's incredibly important to recognize that for communities to recover, getting child care centers back up and operational is critical to family well-being, it's critical to the economic well-being of a community, and it's an area that I think we've really failed to identify before, during and after. Many of these child care facilities are operating. They're not necessarily non-profit, but they operate on very small margins, and they're not eligible for emergency recovery funds. And so we have done the best we can with our partners to help them recover and get back operational, but we think that the mapping strategy around child care would be incredibly important for emergency management. It would be important for the states to be able to provide necessary resources to help communities recover more quickly. In long term, it will allow us to reach out more directly to child care providers on the preparedness front. PAYNE: OK. It's been about three years since the National Commission on Children and Disasters released their report to Congress. In your opinion, what ways has the federal government been most successful in implementing the recommendations of the report? SPANGLER: A few ways. We would really give credit to the federal agencies for their support in this work, in particular, our partnership with FEMA and the focus on child friendly materials and services at shelters. You may know that we will work with shelter partners to implement child friendly spaces to provide psychosocial support for children to have a normal environment as much as it possibly can be and to allow their families to begin to restore through the process of registration and recovery. So FEMA has instituted new regulations that do support greater access to materials and equipment in those settings. And certainly FEMA has also been focused on through Mr. Fugate's direction on leadership in terms of children and the task force that's associated with children's efforts, and so we are really pleased with the effort that FEMA has put forward in these past few years to support that. We also would say that we're partnering with the Department of Education, (inaudible) Sandy Hook, as well as previous disasters to support efforts to support preparedness in schools. Multi-hazards preparedness is a very important part. We saw in Sandy Hook that reunification and relocation were issues that caused some strife for families in those immediate moments following the tragedy. And those are areas that even for a school that was prepared and drilled as we believe that Sandy Hook was, in the fog of a disaster, it still is a priority that we train and we drill, so we're working with the Department of Education on that as well. PAYNE: Thank you and, you know, as a child of the 60s I can remember having fall-out shelters in the schools, and we -- fire drills, and so, moving forward with this legislation, it just bothers me that, I mean, we even have to raise this issue and people haven't thought about, what about the children, especially after what we saw in Sandy Hook and the tornado. The Sandy Hook incident was -- you know, just a terrible act of violence, but the natural disaster, us not being prepared for that, I don't see why it should be such an issue, and maybe we have to take to the American people if we can't get, you know, this body to act. Let's take it parents and see how they feel, and they can push their representatives in this way. So I really thank you for all your efforts. Your report was enlightening and is really helping us determine how to move forward and making sure our children, I'm a father of triplets, they're older now, but I try to put myself in other peoples' situation and what would I do if it was my children. And I think this is just really a refining of what we've done in this country to be prepared for a disaster. So this should be the next step. We have a national preparedness, now what are we doing for our children. So I thank your efforts, and I ask unanimous consent to submit the 2013 Save the Children national report card and support letter from Save the Children to the record.

28 June 2016 Page 12 of 25 ProQuest

BROOKS: Without objection, so ordered. PAYNE: Thank you, Madame Chair. BROOKS: Thank you. I now will recognize myself for 5 minutes of questions. And these really are directed more to Mr. Ghilarducci, Mr. Walker and Chief Schwartz. It really appears to me that the national preparedness report is a very federal and state drive report that tries to capture where the nation is regarding our preparedness capabilities. And according to that report, as I said in my opening statement, planning, intelligence, information sharing, operational communications are all considered national strengths and things that have improved. Where as cybersecurity, which you certainly mentioned, Mr. Ghilarducci, and public-private partnerships still remain challenges. I'm curious in your opinion and as the people most in tune with your communities and you've mentioned, response is local. When we have emergencies, whether they are natural disasters or man-made, the response is always local, and you are most in tune with your communities. Do you feel that the strengths and weaknesses identified in these reports are accurate? Are they detailed, and are they accurate? You have mentioned, you know, some of -- and so I'd like to kind of drill into what you think are the strengths and weaknesses and more probably with respect to our weaknesses, and you have mentioned in your opening statement some of those weaknesses, but I'd like for you to share a bit of what you think with respect to that report, the strengths and weaknesses. Mr. Ghilarducci? GHILARDUCCI: Thank you, Madame Chair. You know, the report and the strengths that were identified, sort of try to capture a one size fits all through the country as we've been put (ph) this effort forward and developing capabilities, so from that context, I think it's understandable, and we're trying to put a parameter around this. But really from where we're engaging, you know, with our stakeholders, with our partners, leveraging those relationships with public-private partnerships or private sector, for example, with community based organizations, is absolutely critical if we're going to actually have a comprehensive whole community capability. And that's one area that more could be done in including all the way up to engaging the business community in our decision makings and incorporating them into our operation centers as a partner and being able to adjudicate different issues that come up during disaster operations. In addition, that replays into -- into the whole context of cybersecurity and the need to build a platform, a baseline, for which we are all on the same page with regards to cybersecurity, and how we're going to be able implement those mitigated efforts to protect ourselves as local communities, as the industry, business and industry, and as education, academia and government. So that we're all working together because really -- in cybersecurity, really, it's the weakest link that's going to exploited, and when that happens, then the system can be fully impacted. So again, this area of bringing in subject matter experts in different organizations and stakeholders that have -- and in the case of cyber, pretty much everybody is impacted by this, has a role and a would benefit from a capability to develop and get them into that process as we move forward. As we've done our planning efforts we've used the THIRA and the THIRA is a good tool. It was really a little bit, I think in the approach, a little bit discoordinated in being able to collect a most appropriate amount of information, most relevant information to be able to give you really what the true picture is with regards to our national preparedness. And I think that given more time, given the ability to not have different sectors submitting information sort of unilaterally, to be able to make that THIRA complete, would have gone a long way to give you a more comprehensive picture to make this report something that's less of an overarching and a little bit more specific. BROOKS: Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Mr. Walker, any thoughts you have? WALKER: Thank you, Chairman Brooks. Just one comment I would have on the report, essentially to start with,

28 June 2016 Page 13 of 25 ProQuest

I believe it says in there in detail that -- this is the second report and as they grow, there will be measurement tools available, more clear pictures presented, and I would agree with that as being a -- and I see it on the local level, any of the reports that are provided to us as local directors from either our states or from FEMA, that there are tools that we use as a measurement supporting device for the decisions we're making to become resilient locally. To make our whole community. We want to look at what is around the country versus where we are and try to measure up to some of those, or try to say it's impossible for us to do that, because emergency management is really resource drive, so we're looking at, do we have the resources here locally when the wind blows and the storm happens. I think of Gaylon Kitch who's the Moore, Oklahoma, emergency manager. He's in a one-man shop, only able to do what he can do for one person, but he has developed a strong supporting group of volunteers and that's what -- you have to do those kind of things on the local level to be successful, as they use the skills and the people available to you locally and the tools like the NPR to become successful, to be able weather the storm so to speak. Thank you. BROOKS: Thank you. And we know that the HS is committed to those performance measurements and working on those systems. Chief Schwartz, any comments you might have? SCHWARTZ: Just briefly, Chairwoman, I guess, you know, I would observe in addition to the comments already made that, we oftentimes suffer from a lack of defined processes and maybe even standardization, so when we talk about is it a state centered process or is it more locally driven. The real answer is that it's a diversity of approaches. We listen to fire chiefs talk about their involvement in THIRA. We hear some say that they have been involved. They've been asked to provide inputs, and we hear from others that they've never been a part of that conversation. I think in acknowledgment of a national preparedness goal, and even predating PPD-8, this idea that we were going to build a system of national preparedness, that we focus on the locality and build out regionally to the state and then multi-state as necessary, hasn't really been achieved. And we haven't -- and we haven't created really the direction, I think, in terms of processes. As an example, if the states were to be required to engage stakeholders on a regional basis, as they do in some instances, like Virginia, where we have regions of the state that are home to regional hazardous materials teams. Everybody doesn't have to have their own team, but there is an assessment within the region about what that threat looks like and how to resource against that threat. You can imagine how that same kind of approach could be, you know, put in every state, and then, where there are discrete differences between one area of the state and another, those could be accounted for, but localities and regions -- some regions of the state would know where they're getting their resources, how they're going to meet those threats that are specific to them. BROOKS: Thank you very much. My time is now up. I now will recognize the other members of the subcommittee for questions they may wish to ask our witnesses and, in accordance with the committee rules and practice, I plan to recognize the members who were present at the start of the hearing by seniority in the subcommittee, and those coming in later will be called upon as they arrive. At this time, I would recognize the vice-chair of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Palazzo. PALAZZO: Thank you, Madame Chairman, and I thank our witnesses for being here today. I have a couple of statements I want to read, and then I just want to ask a couple questions to get an understanding of why of these programs was not properly funded in the president's budget. It is centered around the pre-disaster mitigation program. We know it provides funds to states, territories, communities for hazard mitigation planning and the implementation of mitigation projects before a disaster event. Funding these plans and projects reduces overall risk to the population and structures. You know, our

28 June 2016 Page 14 of 25 ProQuest

number 1 priority is to protect property and our people, and the pre-disaster mitigation grants do that. Now the president's fiscal 2014 budget proposed to eliminate PDM (ph) funding, and so that's -- kind of my question is to Mr. Ghilarducci and/or Mr. Walker, the pre-disaster mitigation grants are useful, aren't they, I mean, can you elaborate on that? GHILARDUCCI: Absolutely. I mean, this is a -- it's a good question you have, why they weren't funded. If we look at the -- I mean this cycle that we're in is problematic. This deal where we continue to -- I mean, it's important to have response capability. There's no question about that. But as we see more and more events taking place, more complex events taking place, particularly, weather related complex events taking place. And we that there's really no effort being put into pre-disaster mitigation from the standpoint to harden, to reduce vulnerabilities, to make our communities more resilient. We've only done one-half of the equation. This is problematic. Because it will cost the taxpayers, it will cost us more and more by just throwing response resources at it and be ready to response when we could actually reduce that amount of money and costs by hardening and making our communities more resilient. And as a part of that, it's not infrastructure resiliency. It's also in the preparedness aspects. It's in the building, as mentioned, you know, getting our schools up to speed and our children educated, and there's a lot to pre-disaster mitigation, and I would like to see, you know, when you look at the total number of dollars that are spent in sort of the response and the after event side, by comparison to what's put into pre- disaster mitigation, if we could even just take half of that and move it in, we would be so much further as a country. And that's really what we need to do, and I concur with your statement 100 percent. PALAZZO: Mr. Walker, do you have anything to add? WALKER: Just a couple of things -- you know, we're interested in why pre-disaster mitigation is not funded, also, as an organization, the International Association of Emergency Managers. It's pretty important to each one of our directors on the local level. You know, there's an adage, I guess, to say, that for every dollar spent on mitigation, we save $3 or $4 of other dollars. And I believe that to be true have experienced disasters, having seen the outcomes, have seen what's necessary, so pre-disaster mitigation is a tool for the local emergency manager, preliminary, before the disaster strikes, to be ready to be able to survive. Thank you. PALAZZO: So you all would agree it is a good investment to put money into the PDM program. It helps save lives. It helps save property. So that leaves my question to Mr. Manning, can you explain to me why the president's budget zeroed those dollars out? MANNING: Thank you, Congressman. In putting together the president's budget request, we had to take close consideration given the fiscal environment with which we were presented, which grant programs to propose and how to structure FEMA's overall budget to accomplish our mission. There is no question of the support within FEMA for mitigation. It is an absolutely critical element to emergency management. When we were considering which grants to propose, we had to look at which grants -- which grant programs accomplish something that is duplicated by another grant program. And those are the areas where we had to constrict what we proposed. Mitigation -- the vast majority of money that is spent on mitigation in this country comes from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, a separate mitigation grant. it's signatory higher than PDM. That is a grant that comes as a percentage of a disaster. It's grant money that's awarded following a disaster, but there are two options for the expenditure of that money. One of which is -- was referred to as (inaudible) mitigation, and that is a grant that is used for a pre-disaster mitigation elsewhere in the state, but is awarded as part of the public assistance program of a disaster grant. By linking it to the disasters, you have a program that focuses mitigation money in the areas of the country with

28 June 2016 Page 15 of 25 ProQuest

which they're faced with the most frequent disasters. Mississippi is a huge recipient of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, for example. That allows for repetitive loss mitigation programs, flood control structures, things that will alleviate the repetitive damage from frequent disasters such as hurricanes, tornados in the central United States, earthquakes in California, wild fires throughout the American Southwest. So (inaudible) when putting together the president's budget, we took a number of different areas, PDM being one, the pre-disaster mitigation grant program -- the majority of that money was spent on planning, not on mitigation programs per se, but on planning for a mitigation. That planning activity is eligible and are all of our other grant programs and the actual mitigation, the construction projects, the doing of mitigation, which is most often completed in the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, HMGP, is maintained in this proposal. PALAZZO: Mr. Manning, I'm out of time, but I think that one thing is certain, that both of the grant programs are extremely important. One is pre-disaster, one is post-disaster, and not only are they both great investments, but not to digress too much, I think we need to continue to invest in our NOAA satellites, our National Weather Service, our data buoyancy center. These are our early -- you know, basically alarms that allow us back here in the homeland, to be prepared for the Sandy, for you know, just natural disasters, and that's going to lead to us saving lives and property, so thank you, Madame Chairman. BROOKS: Thank you. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from New York for 5 minutes. CLARKE: Thank you, Madame Chair, and let me thank our panelists for their insight and expertise in this matter. I'm a New Yorker so very familiar with all of the challenges we face, was a member of the New York City Council post 9/11, and so the whole build out of the incident command structures was a part of the portfolio that I managed as a council member. And I am looking at the decades that have passed now and wondering, you know, what we need to do to make sure that's there's national standard, and would want sort of get some feedback and, in addition to that, just trying to get a sense of, you know, how me focus our nation from municipality up through the states on the need to really integrate emergency proposition into our way of life. Because that's really the major challenge and to the extent that, after each event, we go back to life as best we can and adjust ourselves to those new environments, there's really no call to action in terms of behavioral change. And so I want to get some feedback, you know, I recognize my colleagues comments around funding, but the reality is we'd really love a robust funding, the ability to get to the municipalities the resources they need. The reality is that our budget just doesn't provide for it, and we have to make some very harsh decisions about what our priorities are financially. We're in an age where the climate is really wreaking havoc across the nation. We, you know, went from 9/11 to Sandy, and so it's great to want these things, but then you have to have the political will to put the resources where your mouth is. Let me just get some feedback about how we nationalize and sort of create within our civil society a desire to change behavior, to address what we know has become a way of life for us, and I'll start with you, Mr. Manning. MANNING: Thank you, Congressman Clarke. The absolutely critical and important point you make there. We heard from many of the other witnesses this morning about the maybe perceived state centricity of the efforts that the federal government's been undertaking, but let me assure and all the committee members that we take a truly national approach to this. You may have heard Administrator Fugate on many occasions talk about how emergency management is a team effort. FEMA is just part of that team. But the most important part of that team is the public, as our citizens, our friends and family and our neighbors. So while we anticipate the national preparedness system that we discussed earlier, is really one of national -- it requires the whole nation to be part of it. We refer to this often as

28 June 2016 Page 16 of 25 ProQuest

the whole community approach. But the idea is not one simply of the state bringing assets to bear, we interface with the state as an organizing principle, but it really requires private sector, require non-governmental organization, it requires -- it's the aggregate of all the local capabilities. But most importantly, it's the preparedness and the commitment and willingness of the public to be part of that solution. A key element to the president's directive, PPD-8, our national preparedness is the campaign is to build and sustain resilience in the nation. That's not something that's focused on governments at any level. It's something that's focused on the public. And it's an attempt at our efforts -- our collective efforts to shift the conversation from something as simple as critical, but as simple as have an emergency kit and a plan to really understand the hazards that you're faced with it in your community and those things that you need to do to work as a community, to protect each other and make it more resilient. Things like planning guidance for schools that we've done with the Department of Education and the Office of Vice President, Department of Justice, but things that we're doing with the Department of Treasury about financial literacy for underprivileged and just the general public because that really can make the difference between being a victim of a disaster and surviving the disaster more resiliently. So those are huge efforts that we're undertaking starting with, as you heard from Mr. Walker earlier in his testimony, a more science- based approach to the publics perception of emergencies and disasters and why they do or do not react or take steps. A very interesting one that our colleagues at Save the Children has informed of in the past, we have now evidence of that families that have -- individuals who have children in their home are roughly 60 or so percent likely to have an emergency plan in place. Without children in the home, it's in the teens. There's a huge difference there understanding why people do or do not react or prepare is key to our ability to change that and move the needle in our preparedness and resilience of our communities. CLARKE: My time is up, but if we are having a second round, I'd love ... BROOKS: We will, thank you, yes. CLARKE: Thank you. BROOKS: We'll begin the second round of questioning at this point. It's my understanding that it's voluntary for states to include local first responders in their process in completing the state proposition report, and we've heard about how different states have different assets throughout the report from the chief and certainly we know that from Mr. Walker's testimony about emergency preparedness, emergency managers and what assets they have. And I guess this is to start out with Mr. Ghilarducci, did your office solicit input from local emergency managers and first responders in developing California's specific preparedness report, and do you know if the other states you're here representing, really all states, what is the process that you use to collect that information? GHILARDUCCI: Well the short answer, yes, we did include all of the local partners and members of the private sector and NGOs. You know, I mean, sometimes I'm a little bit surprised to hear about the lack of maybe coordination that takes place at state and local across the country because in California, it's second nature. We have a very integrated collaborative process on all aspects of emergency management. We work routinely -- our centers are interagency centers so they're made up of local, state and federal. We have private sector people involved, representatives of the non-governmental community. And so, from that context, you know, as we move forward with all these initiatives there involved in it, we often reach out to our partner states. In our case, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona to come and join us in these multifunctional efforts so that we can look at the cross- boundaries from state to state. As I spoke before, sometimes states don't do that, and, you know, when we look at these -- truly, when you get catastrophic earthquake in California, believe me, there's going to be plenty of work to go around and plenty of need, and we're going to need support from our partner states.

28 June 2016 Page 17 of 25 ProQuest

I think that when you look across the country and talking to my colleagues, it's different in different places, and sometimes there's really strong relationships between the state and the locals and sometimes there isn't so much strong states. Some right to work states, and the locals are more on their own, and some where the state has much more of a role and being engaged with developing mutual aid capabilities and emergency planning. For us, I could tell you, the race (ph) should not be and there cannot be another way except to integrate and collectively and collaboratively work together to develop these. That's going to give you the strongest product that you could possibly get. BROOKS: Absolutely. Chief Schwartz, I'm curious, in your state and, again, Mr. Walker, how is that collection process happened with your state or has it? SCHWARTZ: In Virginia when they submitted their THIRA, they did include a document from our region that had been produced a couple of years ago. It was our hazard and risk assessment, but there was no follow-on to that. There wasn't any conversation about how we might wanted to have amended that paper or placed it in the proper context for the THIRA report. I would just, again, go back to the point, that if in the amount of diversity that we have to approaches across the state, if we don't get FEMA to create certain mandates, to require inclusiveness, to require participation through all levels of government, then we'll remain, I think, all over the place in terms of the inputs that we're getting. BROOKS: If I'm not mistaken, the fire service community is actually not specifically mentioned in the national preparedness system document or the preparedness report and system report. Any thoughts regarding that? SCHWARTZ: Well there are references to what the fire service does. There is no direct reference to firefighting as a core capability. I think our position is that if you were to look at localities that were not properly resourced for something as basic as fire response within their community, it is probably an indicator that they are also incapable of dealing with anything beyond, you know, a simple house fire or a (inaudible). How would you expect a community that is under resourced, as I was describing in my testimony around radios and protective gear for their firefighters to then be able to put together some response for a larger crisis like a Joplin sized tornado or such. BROOKS: Mr. Walker, any comments you have? Thank you. WALKER: Well my experience in the state of Ohio is the one that they offered up an idea that we had input on certain areas of the fire initially, we weren't required to, but it was kind of an agreement where we could do that. One of the things in the International Association of Emergency Managers that I think is important to point out is, that we form strong partnerships with a lot of different agencies like the Red Cross, a lot of different agencies that are responsive in emergencies. And we work with them and we make them partners, so that we can make sure that our local people also have that partnership because Red Cross is everywhere. Certain agencies are everywhere in the country and that they can form those partnerships and when they're building resilience, and when they're doing the things that commit to a whole community, they can use those resources and public/private partnerships. We have an extremely strong caucus that evolves around public/private partnerships that is really working very hard. We have a very strong caucus leader, and they're doing a lot of substantial work to push that forward so that the private sector and the public sector actually get together and talk about things. And that's what's necessary in resilience. I just was contacted by my own Red Cross chapter in my local community and resilience is a term that they're going to start working on, and they wanted to know if I could help read the book so to speak. And I also had -- after FEMA put the piece on worship centers, I was contacted by the Methodist church in Ohio about how could we help them support so they could better understand what was being said in the document because they're not emergency managers. So there's a lot of things going on as well as the THIRA, so a lot of opportunities, I would say, that people can be -- afford themselves of that'll make them stronger on the local level. Thank you. BROOKS: Thank you. Thank you very much. My time is up.

28 June 2016 Page 18 of 25 ProQuest

I now would return to the gentlelady from New York for further questions. CLARKE: Thank you very much, Madame Chair. I serve as the ranking member on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection, so I want to direct questions to you, Mr. Ghilarducci and Mr. Walker. The NPR indicated that progress has been made towards building cybersecurity capabilities, but there's still challenges. How much support are states receiving from the federal government to implement a new cyber technology develop incident response plans and employ effective cyber risk management, and do you feel states need more direction and support from the federal government for cyber and, to you, of course, Mr. Walker, with respect to emergency managers, how you're working to develop relationships with chief information officers and chief information security officers so that you can work together in the event of a cyber incident. And let me layer this a little bit because, you know, a cyber incident could mean the shutdown of many of our (inaudible) systems, things that would, you know, basically stop life as we know it, which makes it a layered incident to a certain degree. At what level, what depth, are our states and our managers looking at this potential threat to our nation? WALKER: Thank you, Congressman Clarke. I think on the local level, I've seen a lot of work being done to enhance the abilities of the local people to use cyber correctly. What would happen if cyber quits, that means do you back to writing checks by hand? What's your COOP plan for your local community. That has to be included in there, so it's a strong primary function of that. The other side, I would say that as in emergencies when we try to use the social media side of things, we need to be careful that the facts that are coming out, that are correct. I believe we saw during Hurricane Sandy somewhere, I was in New York City, if I remember right, that Wall Street was flooded and that's was not a fact. So it has to be factual. It also has to have some kind of support if the system goes down so that we can take a step back and still operate and still serve our citizens as best we can with their understanding that, you know, we're in a disaster. Thank you. GHILARDUCCI: This is really -- this is really a threat that is evolving and emerging every day, and I think everybody's still kind of grappling to get their hands around really what is the magnitude of the threat. I would tell you that from a state perspective that there is still a lot of gaps. Because of what I just said in that we're grapple with understanding the parameters of the threat, the ability for the federal government to support state provide guidance, has been rather limited. I mean, we get threat announcements, potential cyber incidents or cyber threats, and the federal government is just starting to kind of come up to speed with this. You know, I think in time, we all need -- we're able to get on the same page, we actually have started a cybersecurity task force because there was really a lack of guidance. And this cybersecurity task force really is a unique group that incorporates not just government agencies at the local, state and federal level, but the private sector, the individuals that actually are responsible for building and designing security software. So that when they're doing that, they're building resilient systems that we can count on as we move forward in the out years. We're also talking to subject matter experts to identify where those low hanging fruit sort of mitigated efforts that can be done immediately so we could socialize that across the board. I think local governments, academia, et cetera and even individuals in their homes or thinking to myself, how can I really protect myself against the kind of cyber intrusions that we're seeing. It could be something stealing your identity all the way up to knocking its data system, so the threat is broad, and the other piece is education. You know, we're working with the Department of Ed to try to identify educational processes where we can start teaching kids early on about cybersecurity. Most kids today are using social media, and that opens them up to cyber crimes. And so, we're looking at on different levels. I think you have to look at it on different levels as you move forward to be able to establish this. And then I think once, you know, some of these drivers can put in some guidelines. I

28 June 2016 Page 19 of 25 ProQuest

think everybody at the state and the federal level will get on the same page, and we could be a little bit more robust, but to specifically your question, I think there are still gaps with regards to that relationship. CLARKE: Madame Chair, I'm concerned about this area and the level and the depth and breadth of what our local governments, state governments would encounter were there to be a major incident with respect to cyber if it's the grid. And I think that it may be worthwhile for us to take a deeper look into this matter as we go forward. You know, you could have a cyber event at any moment. It could be on top of a natural disaster, and if you layer these types of incidents, it could be catastrophic. So I hope that you will share with your colleague, that the chairman of the cyber infrastructure protection committee, of our desire to see us come together and really delve deeper into this subject matter. And I want to thank you all for your candid responses today. It's very helpful. Thank you. BROOKS: I thank the gentlelady from New York because her concern, and I think a significant growing concern among members of Congress, is this issue of cyber attacks, and what we would do in case of an emergency. And I'm pleased to report, we haven't shared yet with the entire committee, that both the cybersecurity subcommittee of homeland security as well as this subcommittee, will be having a joint hearing in October specifically on whether or not our state and local communities are prepared for a significant cyber attack. And I think what the American people don't begin to appreciate and think about is, while a cyber attack right now, we think about maybe an attack on our financial institutions and, as you mentioned, things such as identity theft and maybe our computers simply going down, you know, or some denial of service attack is what a lot of people are accustomed to learning about. What I think we need to be prepared for are things such as cyber attacks on our infrastructure, cyber attacks on our federal aviation systems or on our nuclear systems. These are, I think, very grave serious concerns that we have, and I think as we have also learned the number of cyber attacks that are being launched by foreign governments. These are not just individuals that are launching, you know, young hackers who are hacking into systems. This is a whole other level, and so I very much appreciate you agreeing that we need to have this hearing, and so we will be having further discussion in October and so look forward to your participation at that hearing. It's my understanding that the gentleman from New Jersey may be returning, and so we're going to -- I have a couple of more questions, follow-up, if the panel will indulge us. One thing that you have mentioned, that I think is very important and a number of you have mentioned is, what is the individuals -- what are our roles as government to educate individuals. Congressman Payne spoke about that a bit, and what are we doing as government to really raise the level of awareness to individuals and to families and to businesses as to what their role is. I mean, the public/private partnership, public is really government, private is -- well we often think of them maybe as businesses, it's also all individuals and what their role is. We once had a house fire at our home and only because we had drilled with our children and had talked to them, you know, to Ms. Spangler's point about preparedness with children, did the kids know where to go, and it was -- it worked just having had those conversations. And it's interesting, Mr. Manning, that you talked about the fact that people with children are often a bit more prepared than now, my daughter who's 23, does she have a plan, has she even thought about, you know, a plan now that, you know, she is really more on her own. And so I'm curious how local -- we'll start with you, Mr. Walker, maybe, just to all of your points, what your thoughts are about what should we be doing, in government, to help raise the level of awareness. It's not just the Red Crosses job. And they work very hard day in and day out. What are your thoughts what we can be doing to really raise the level of individual -- I've also just returned from Israel in August, and let me tell you, every citizen in Israel goes through drills, is prepared and thinks about their

28 June 2016 Page 20 of 25 ProQuest

role in protecting themselves and their families, but I think the United States of America is far behind. We'll start with you, Mr. Walker, and then would like others' comments. WALKER: Thank you, Chairman. I would agree with you that we -- the picture we see a lot of times seems to be that we're far behind, but there's a lot of work that is done. I think sometimes we have that one month a year where September is ready month. I think the better thing is that it's 12 months out of the year that we're ready because there's various catastrophes, various weather emergencies, various things that happen around the country. How do we get our people involved? I think through public/private partnerships. That's one of the things that is being discussed strongly by our organization and by other organizations is, how do you increase involvement. How do you, let's say, get their attention so that it remains a factor in their lives. It's very difficult because we're drawn in a lot of different directions individually in our lives, but there has to be a way. I'm not sure I have the solid answer for that. We continue to work on it, and I think in public/private partnerships, you're broadening the base of people who can help you get there. They employ the people in your community. They can do things through their businesses, through all kinds of opportunities to get their attention. How do we measure that? I think that yet has to be established. BROOKS: Thanks. And I appreciate and believe that every agency is working on that. And I'm curious whether or not any of you know of any, you know, specific efforts that have actually proven to be effective or any ideas that you would like to -- that you would like to see implemented. Chief? SCHWARTZ: Well, Madame Chair, I would observe that, you know, we have had a lot of successes. If you look at the Joplin response, if you look at the flooding Iowa four or five years ago, the community proved itself to be quite resilient and capable of dealing with a tragedy that couldn't be stopped in the moment, but certainly I think was a good demonstration of a resilient community, resilient region. I, for one, think that we need to focus on growing a generation of prepared adults. We need to start getting in our school systems and getting kids when they are young. If you follow the example of the reduction in fires and fire deaths in this country, you can see a parallel between increases in technologies, in our buildings, and they include things like sprinkler systems, but you can also see an increase of public awareness about safe practices with regard to fire. How many young adults could you find today that do not know what stop, drop and roll is, that don't know what change your clock, change your battery is. And imagine a parallel effort around preparedness. It may be somewhat cynic to suggest that we're not going to change or affect much of adult behavior, but over a relatively short period of time, we could grow a new generation of prepared adults who rethink this, similar in a way to your experience in Israel, because the fact is in Israel, it is part of the culture. Now, it may be because it is -- it goes to their existential, you know, their mere existence whether or not they are prepared, but we could transfer some of the lessons from there in terms of being more acculturated to the issues of preparedness. If we got access to kids early in schools and gave them the life skill of being prepared. BROOKS: Thank you very much. And I do agree and as actually Congressman Payne mentioned, you know, as a child, it seemed like we did a lot of drills in the 60s, that would be when I was growing up as well. And Ms. Spangler, anything you'd like to say specifically because I agree it can be a cultural shift and if we start younger, and if we talk about it, but I know that a lot of people don't want to scare their kids. They don't want, you know, people to over dramatic about what can happen, but yet, I believe it's so important. Ms. Spangler? SPANGLER: (OFF-MIKE) visiting a Seaside Heights child care center and spoke to a mother who was displaced and spent many months trying to get back home, and she had a 2-year-old. And she expressed to me how her child stopped talking at 2, and how tragic that is for a child in their development. And it wasn't until they got back to the child care center that they started to verbalize. Brain research is suggesting that even non-verbal children, who experience a disaster, years later, once they

28 June 2016 Page 21 of 25 ProQuest

begin to have vocabulary, they start to act this out. It's precisely the right time to inculcate those preparedness lessons, those integrated practices. They are part of the equation. They are not just little adults. And all too often, we tend to treat them in that manner, so part of early childhood development should include, whether that's a Headstart center or a private center, whether that's a school at an elementary age or at high school, there are ways that we can incorporate the elements of preparedness into their development. This past year, we actually, as a nation, had very clear moments of collective helplessness, and it was really because of the children that were affected by these disasters. And so we have seen, just in the last year, the interest in preparedness take a shift. It has been very difficult as a non-profit organization to get anyone interested in supporting this work. We've partnered well the federal agencies. We've partnered well with the Red Cross, but for the very first time, because of this visceral emotion that we have shared around the risk that our children face, there's an openness. And so any way we can incorporate our partnership with emergency management personnel to educate and inform, not only the children, but their parents to ensure that licensing regulations include elements of preparedness. We have to weave this in to all that exists around children in a more holistic way. BROOKS: Thank you very much. At this time, I would recognize Ranking Member Payne for any further questions he might have. PAYNE: Thank you, Madame Chair. Mr. Walker, what kind of relationships to the state and local emergency managers have with school districts, and how do emergency managers incorporate schools, child care facilities and children into their preparedness plan? WALKER: From the local's perspective, we, in my experience, all the schools and child care agencies are part of our response plan. They're part of our 911 system for notification. We also support their drills and exercises so that when they have fire drills, they have tornado drills which are required by law, I know in the state of Ohio, and probably in numerous other states around the country. So we hope, I guess the best term I could say is, our local emergency managers like to become partners with those people, so they can support what needs to happen if there is a disaster. We can support their movement of people. We can support all those kind of things x are necessary for that agency to be successful in preventing loss of life. PAYNE: And based on the legislation that I've proposed, the Safe legislation, what is your feeling upon that? WALKER: I'm not totally familiar with that legislation. PAYNE: Right. I know you didn't have the opportunity, but the overall, you know, description of ... yes. WALKER: It's got to be of primary importance for every emergency manager to support that kind of an opportunity, to support that kind of an (inaudible) or legislation would hope. PAYNE: Thank you. Mr. Manning, whatever has FEMA undertaken to encourage states to require school and child care facilities to meet the standards for emergency planning set forth by the 2010 commission on children and safety? MANNING: FEMA has done a great deal of work with the commission on children in disaster, Save the Children, our other partners such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In developing our capabilities at the state, local and the federal government levels, to coordinate children in disasters. On the preparedness side, we've done -- we just completed not too long ago an effort with the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, led by the vice-president, to issue new planning guidance for schools as well as higher education and houses of worship, three different documents, to bring their emergency plans into kind of the more modern approach. Not just for fires and tornadoes where applicable, but for active shooter environment. How to work with their state and local government emergency management agencies which wasn't very clear in previous guidance. And by all accounts, very well received, and a great deal of work going towards that. It's not currently required

28 June 2016 Page 22 of 25 ProQuest

by the federal government that schools accomplish this. This is something that we encourage folks -- encourage our partners at the state and local governments to do, but similar to the other elements of the National Preparedness Program recognizing the diversity of the 56 states and territories and how they're organized and how they're subordinate -- and their political subdivisions are organized the degrees of autonomy in school districts are even more widely organized. It's work that we encourage -- strongly encourage. We make eligible under all the grant programs and provide a great deal of tools and resources to governments and school districts to accomplish. PAYNE: OK. Thank you. And what's your take on what -- the effort that I'm trying to foster in terms of children? MANNING: Well as we've encouraged our partners in the educational community and communities throughout the country to do this work, it's certainly important, of course, Congressman, I look forward to examining the bill and discussing it within the executive (inaudible), but at this point until I have a chance to see it, it's kind of (inaudible) comment. PAYNE: Absolutely. Just the broad idea in terms of ... MANNING: Yes. The coordination -- planning within schools for all hazards and emergencies, both the things that they have historically done, such as, fire evacuations and drills for tornadoes. It's absolutely critical bringing the community more involved, absolutely critical. I recently -- this month is National Preparedness Month. This year, we're focusing on children (inaudible) kids. PAYNE: Excellent. MANNING: Did a great deal of press over the last few months where, in every interview, emphasized the importance of parents getting involved in their schools, knowing their schools emergency plan, and providing assistance there. Absolutely (ph) something important. PAYNE: Hopefully after you have a chance to look over the bill and study it, you'll come back to me and say it's not strong enough, Congressman, so ... Mr. Ghilarducci? I understand that California is one of the 22 states that requires schools and child care facilities to include their emergency plans and the four standards of the commission on children. Can you talk about your office work to ensure the special needs of children are incorporated into all hazard preparedness plans? GHILARDUCCI: Well we do have a very robust program working both with our state department of education and with our county governments and the various school districts on all aspects of emergency preparedness. Obviously, California is a large earthquake prone state and so, you know, we do a lot with earthquake preparedness in schools, and that gives us, of course, the opportunity to expand on everything from active shooter to, you know, basically evacuations or emergency sheltering, et cetera. And we have programs where we don't only train the responders on how to deal with the schools, but we have programs where we actually train the teachers. They're really on the business end of this. They're the ones that have to deal with the children at the time. Of course, I'm married to a second grade school teacher, so I hear about this all the time, and she gives me lots of suggestions on how better to incorporate emergency preparedness in schools. In the students training education program we do for teachers, it really empowers them, because the more you know the more empowered you are, and you can then act accordingly during emergency situations. I just want to say that, you know, there are many kids today that have access (ph) and functional need issues as well, which is another component to the emergency planning efforts that need to be taken into account. And it's another area where we focus on. I actually placed in my office -- an office of access and functional needs, so we really focus on that segment of the child population so that they are -- in many ways, they're the ones that need support the most at the critical time, and we don't want to lose sight of that, so those have been initiatives that we've worked with as well. PAYNE: Thank you very much. Madame Chair, I yield back. BROOKS: I'd like to thank you and thank all of the witnesses for your very valuable testimony. I think as you said initially, Mr. Ghilarducci, it's all hands on deck when we're talking about emergency preparedness response

28 June 2016 Page 23 of 25 ProQuest

and communications. We've seen that, seen a significant improvement as you've shared. Certainly since 9/11. We certainly appreciate the insight that you gave during your opening statements as well as answering questions with a lot of thought and care. I appreciate the time and staying over. We'll continue to, you know, take comments. I must let you know that members of the committee may have additional questions for the witnesses, and we'd ask you to respond to those in writing. And so, at this time, pursuant to Committee Rule 7E, the hearing record will be open for 10 days and, again, thank you all for staying over a bit longer and for the work that you're doing each and every day. Without objection, this subcommittee will stand adjourned. END Company / organization: Name: Federal Emergency Management Agency; NAICS: 922190; SIC: 9500; Name: Department of Education; NAICS: 923110; SIC: 9100; Publication title: Political Transcript Wire Publication year: 2013 Publication date: Sep 23, 2013 Publisher: CQ Roll Call Place of publication: Lanham Country of publication: United States Publication subject: Political Science Source type: Wire Feeds Language of publication: English Document type: WIRE FEED ProQuest document ID: 1436253831 Document URL: https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1436253831?acco untid=33337 Copyright: 2013 Roll Call, Inc. Last updated: 2013-09-25 Database: ABI/INFORM Collection

28 June 2016 Page 24 of 25 ProQuest

Bibliography Citation style: APA 6th - American Psychological Association, 6th Edition

REP. SUSAN W. BROOKS HOLDS A HEARING ON STATE OF PREPAREDNESS. (2013, Sep 23). Political Transcript Wire Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1436253831?acco untid=33337

_______________________________________________________________ Contact ProQuest Copyright  2016 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. - Terms and Conditions

28 June 2016 Page 25 of 25 ProQuest