Critical Releases in Homeland Security: April 20, 2011

This is a memorandum regarding the Incident Specific Preparedness Review for the response to the BP [British Petroleum] Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This report was chartered by the Coast Guard Commandant on June 14, 2010. The Charter provided direction for ISPR [Incident Specific Preparedness Review] team membership, scope of the review, and reporting deadlines. The purpose of this report is to examine the implementation and effectiveness of the preparedness and response to the BP Deepwater Horizon incident as it related to the National Contingency Plan, Area Contingency Plans, and other oil spill response plans. [...] This report addresses specific areas of the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It is divided into three main chapters: Planning and Plan Execution, Organization, and Resources and Readiness, with each chapter encompassing several focus areas. Each focus area provides a list of lessons learned and recommendations. This report does not address the causal factors leading up to the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, nor does it include topics being addressed by other Federal investigations.

From the Document: "The Japanese earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 caused extensive damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). This damage has released some radioactive materials, and there are widespread fears about the health effects of current and possible future releases. These fears, and public concern about radiation in general, have attracted the world's attention. This report presents scientific and technical aspects of these issues in order to provide a basis for understanding the risks associated with this event. [...] While some radioactive material from the Japanese incident may reach the United States, it appears most unlikely that this material will result in harmful levels of radiation. In traveling thousands of miles between the two countries, some radioactive material will decay, rain will wash some out of the air, and its concentration will diminish as it disperses."

From the Document: "This directive is aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the United States through systematic preparation for the threats that pose the greatest risk to the security of the Nation, including acts of terrorism, cyber attacks, pandemics, and catastrophic natural disasters. Our national preparedness is the shared responsibility of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and individual citizens. Everyone can contribute to safeguarding the Nation from harm. As such, while this directive is intended to galvanize action by the Federal Government, it is also aimed at facilitating an integrated, all-of-Nation, capabilities-based approach to preparedness. Therefore, I hereby direct the development of a national preparedness goal that identifies the core capabilities necessary for preparedness and a national preparedness system to guide activities that will enable the Nation to achieve the goal. The system will allow the Nation to track the progress of our ability to build and improve the capabilities necessary to prevent, protect against, mitigate the effects of, respond to, and recover from those threats that pose the greatest risk to the security of the Nation."

"State and local public health departments are first responders for public health incidents, and CDC remains committed to strengthening their preparedness. CDC's [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] Public Health Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards for State and Local Planning will assist public health departments in developing annual and long-term preparedness plans to guide their preparedness strategies and investments. These standards will be refined over time as emerging evidence becomes available to advance our preparedness knowledge. [...] The public health preparedness capabilities are numbered and presented alphabetically in this document. 1. Community Preparedness 2. Community Recovery 3. Emergency Operations Coordination 4. Emergency Public Information and Warning 5. Fatality Management 6. Information Sharing 7. Mass Care 8. Medical Countermeasure Dispensing 9. Medical Materiel Management and Distribution 10. Medical Surge 11. Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions 12. Public Health Laboratory Testing 13. Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation 14. Responder Safety and Health 15. Volunteer Management".

This majority and minority staff report from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations analyzes the key causes of the 2008 economic collapse. From the report: "This Report is the product of a two-year, bipartisan investigation by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into the origins of the 2008 financial crisis. The goals of this investigation were to construct a public record of the facts in order to deepen the understanding of what happened; identify some of the root causes of the crisis; and provide a factual foundation for the ongoing effort to fortify the country against the recurrence of a similar crisis in the future. Using internal documents, communications, and interviews, the Report attempts to provide the clearest picture yet of what took place inside the walls of some of the financial institutions and regulatory agencies that contributed to the crisis. The investigation found that the crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street. While this Report does not attempt to examine every key moment, or analyze every important cause of the crisis, it provides new, detailed, and compelling evidence of what happened. In so doing, we hope the Report leads to solutions that prevent it from happening again."