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Dirty Bombs: Frequently Asked Questions
Because of recent terrorist events, people have expressed concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack involving radioactive materials, possibly through the use of a "dirty bomb," and the harmful effects of radiation from such an event. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has prepared this fact sheet to help people understand what a dirty bomb is and how it may affect their health: "A dirty bomb, or radiological dispersion device, is a bomb that combines conventional explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive materials in the form of powder or pellets. The idea behind a dirty bomb is to blast radioactive material into the area around the explosion. This could possibly cause buildings and people to be exposed to radioactive material. The main purpose of a dirty bomb is to frighten people and make buildings or land unusable for a long period of time. Because of recent terrorist events, people have expressed concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack involving radioactive materials, possibly through the use of a "dirty bomb," and the harmful effects of radiation from such an event. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has prepared this fact sheet to help people understand what a dirty bomb is and how it may affect their health."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
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Biological Weapon: A Poor Nation's Weapon of Mass Destruction
The purpose of this article is to raise the awareness level about a very real and probable threat that has not been dealt with effectively. The author hopes to bring the issue to the front burner for study and to apply resources to resolving the tough problems. While the paper identifies where precious resources should be focused, it does not profess to have all the answers to the very difficult biological warfare dilemma. First, what is biological warfare in layman's terms? From a military perspective, it is the intentional use of diseases to affect an adversary's military force, population, crops, or livestock. Certainly, a terrorist biological campaign could target those same kinds of objectives, depending on the perceived purpose of the terrorist. There are two basic categories of biological warfare agents. Microorganisms are living organic germs, such as anthrax (bacillus anthrax). Second, toxins are the byproducts of living organisms, or effectively natural poisons, such as botulism (botulinum toxin) which is a byproduct of growing the microorganism clostridium botulinum. These are only two examples of biological warfare agents, although these are especially prevalent and virulent examples. There are many other natural and manmade agents that have been used throughout history.
Air University (U.S.). Press
Mayer, Terry N., 1947-
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Biological Weapons for Waging Economic Warfare
"The final decade of the twentieth century has positioned the world at the threshold of tremendous opportunity. The collapse of the Soviet Union has dissolved the bipolar world and created the opening to forge a new international security environment. The preeminence of politico-military competition is slowly giving way to politico-economic competition. As Shintaro Ishihara predicts, 'The twenty-first century will be a century of economic warfare.' While military power remains important, its context and type are changing. The focus of many developing nations is to seek weapons of mass destruction (WMD)--nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons--to meet regional security concerns. The parallel emergence of economic competition and its likely accompanying conflicts with the proliferation of WMD raises the possibility of a new form of warfare. This includes the development and use of biological warfare (BW) against economic targets. Using BW to attack livestock, crops, or ecosystems offers an adversary the means to wage a potentially subtle yet devastating form of warfare, one which would impact the political, social, and economic sectors of a society and potentially of national survival itself."
Air University (U.S.). Press
Kadlec, Robert P.
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U.S. Customs Service: Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2000-2005
"For nearly 125 years, Customs funded virtually the entire government, and paid for the nation's early growth and infrastructure. Today, Customs is still a sizeable source of revenue for the Federal government, but along with the growth of our nation, its responsibilities and mission have significantly expanded and become more complex. Over the next five years, Customs seeks to enhance its efforts to build a Customs Service that takes action, holds people accountable, and achieves business results building on the tradition on which the agency was founded: to serve and protect the American public. As Customs enters the 21st century, the following significant challenges face the organization and its workforce: Focusing on integrity, accountability, discipline, training, automation, trade growth, border security, integrated air and marine interdiction, and high impact investigations; Continuing to facilitate the flow of legitimate commerce and travelers while at the same time identifying, disrupting and dismantling entities that threaten the legitimate flow of commerce; Continuing Customs efforts to identify, disrupt and dismantle narcotics and related money laundering organizations; Maintaining a forward-thinking and creative approach to the deployment of technology and automation; Hiring, training and retaining qualified employees in a highly competitive marketplace; and Meeting the demands of the external stakeholders while achieving our mission and performance goals."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
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Federal Aviation Administration Budget in Brief - Fiscal Year 2005
This is budget for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2005. It recognizes that fulfilling its primary missions, the safety and efficiency of U.S. aviation, requires continued vigilance in the face of change. The FY 2005 budget requests supports symbiotic evolutions of several key elements of the systems, leading to higher performance in the major goal areas. In FY 2005, the agency continues to focus its resources primarily on aviation safety, with goals that would further reduce aviation accidents, deaths, and injuries. Second only to safety are the agency's efforts to ensure sufficient system capacity to support future traffic levels. Integral to the primary safety and mobility goals are supporting goals that would strengthen the FAA's role in the global aviation environment, maintain security within the agency's facilities, decrease aviation's impact on the environment, and improve the management of the agency. The total FAA 2005 request of $13.97 billion funds current services and focused improvements in safety, and is approximately 1 percent higher than President's budget request for FY 2004. About 63 percent of the budget, or $8.8 billion, will contribute to further reductions in aviation accidents, deaths, and injuries. Another 28 percent, or $3.9 billion, will support capacity growth. The remainder of the agency's budget will support international leadership, environmental stewardship, internal security, and the agency's efforts to create a more cost-efficient, world-class organization.
United States. Federal Aviation Administration
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Budget in Brief: Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Request
The State Department believes the FY 2005 performance budget identifies the resources required for a proactive U.S. foreign policy, and aims to provide adequate funding to meet the President's commitments in the campaigns waged. The FY 2005 budget request for Department of State appropriations totals $8.552 billion. This amount represents an increase of $364 million over the FY 2004 level, including supplementals. The request sustains key components of the State Department's operations and infrastructure, as well as U.S. engagement abroad through public diplomacy and international organizations. Moreover, it builds on initiatives for people, security, and information technology to meet new requirements in the post-September 11 environment. The requested resources will enable the State Department to: support the war on terrorism; strengthen protection of U.S. borders; meet critical staffing needs; continue to construct and upgrade secure diplomatic facilities; exploit information technology; build alliances of common interests through public diplomacy; conduct strategic educational and cultural exchanges; fulfill U.S. commitments to international organizations; and finally, back international peacekeeping.
United States. Department of State
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Workplace Violence: Issues in Response
The FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violence Crime (NCAVC), and its Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), addresses the issue of workplace violence post-9/11. Experts propose a multi-disciplinary approach for this multi-faceted problem. They offer sample policy statements and threat assessments for employers to facilitate in the workplace, a case study of police-employer cooperation, legal issues and other challenges, domestic violence and stalking in the workplace, violence against health care workers, and finally, dealing with the aftermath workplace violence.
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
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Army's Commitment to Supporting the Homeland Security Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosive Weapon Terrorist Threat: Can the Reserve Components Meet the Requirement by Themselves?
The United States Government has identified of highest priority the development of effective capabilities for preventing and managing the consequences of terrorists use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive (CBRNE) materials and weapons on the American homeland. The Department of Defense (DOD) and Army both have a significant role in this effort. This paper will look at those roles and focus on the Army's ability to support the Homeland Security (HLS) CBRNE terrorist threat in the areas of agent sampling, detection, identification, and decontamination operations. Specifically, it will address the Reserve Components (RC) capability for responding to an incident and demonstrate the value-added of Active Component (AC) forces. The conclusion is the RC cannot fulfill the Department of the Army's commitment to this important mission by itself: AC forces must assume a more prominent role to ensure an adequate DOD response in this critical area.
Army War College (U.S.)
Anderson, Donnie P.
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Homeland Security and Civil Liberties: A Pluralistic Approach
This paper argues that we need to develop a new, pluralistic framework for evaluating the use of force in homeland security activities, and shows how such a framework might function, using ethnic profiling as an example. In support of this claim, the author argues that Just War Theory, the main moral framework for evaluating the use of force, is not adequate for evaluating the use of force in homeland security activities, and that existing regulations governing the use of force by soldiers and police officers are also not adequate for this purpose. The paper then presents a framework that is pluralistic, in that it is not based upon a single moral theory and in that it acknowledges multiple incommensurable criteria for evaluating the use of force in homeland security activities rather than seeking to evaluate all such activities using a single criterion or a single formula that tells how to prioritize these criteria. Finally, the paper presents an example of how such a pluralistic moral framework can provide guidance to homeland security professionals without preventing them from exercising their own professional judgment, using the issue of ethnic profiling of persons of Arab descent or appearance at airport security checkpoints. The paper concludes that a pluralistic moral framework is both more theoretically sound and more practically applicable than existing moral frameworks, or than any new monistic moral framework could be.
United States Air Force Academy
Wingrove-Haugland, Erik
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U.S. Army: The Way Ahead: Our Army at War... Relevant & Ready: Moving from the Current Force to the Future Force... NOW!
The Way Ahead is an overview of The Army Strategic Planning Guidance (ASPG), which as the Army's institutional strategy represents the Army senior leadership's vision of how the Army will fulfill its mission to provide necessary forces and capabilities to the Combatant Commanders in support of the National Security and Defense Strategies. An analysis of the strategic environment, national guidance, and operational requirements, makes clear the Army must be prepared for operations of a type, tempo, pace, and duration different from those we have structured our forces and systems to achieve. Some assumptions made and processes developed for a Cold War Army or an Army with a "window of opportunity" to transform itself, while valid at the time, are no longer relevant to the current security environment.... We must immediately begin the process of re-examining and challenging our most basic institutional assumptions, organizational structures, paradigms, policies, and procedures to better serve our Nation. The end result of this examination will be a more relevant and ready force--a campaign-quality Army with a Joint and Expeditionary Mindset. Our Army will retain the best of its current capabilities and attributes while developing others that increase relevance and readiness to respond in the current and projected strategic and operational environments. The remainder of this document explores what we must become in order to provide more relevant and ready forces and capabilities to the Joint Team.
United States. Department of the Army
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Nuclear Weapons Procedures
This Air Force instruction (AFI) implements AFPD 21-2, General Policy for Nonnuclear and Nuclear Munitions. It provides policy and procedures for maintenance and personnel certification on, the logistics movement of, and accountability procedures for, nuclear weapons. It applies to all personnel who maintain, handle, and account for nuclear munitions. This Air Force Instruction does not apply to Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve units.
United States. Department of the Air Force
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Defense Science Board 2003 Summer Study on DoD Roles and Missions in Homeland Security: Volume I
"The United States faces stealthy adversaries who have demonstrated both motives and means to inflict grave damage on the U.S. homeland. The nation's strategy in response to this type of adversary is clear: engage the threat as far as possible from the U.S. homeland, on its turf...A capability to protect the homeland is a necessary complement to the capability of strategic reach against these asymmetric threats...Responsibilities and authorities must be assigned and operative terms (homeland defense and homeland security, for example) need to be defined. The Defense Science Board (DSB) read with care current definitions and wrestled with inventing new ones. In the end, instead of focusing on precise distinctions between various terms, the board adopted a broad framework, consistent with the study terms of reference, within which to consider homeland protection issues. Maturing the conceptual framework and capabilities related to homeland protection, the DSB believes, requires a holistic approach. However, organizational boundaries inhibit such an approach. Thus, fostering a holistic approach to protecting the homeland is a guiding theme for this study and the recommendations reflect this theme. This study identifies capabilities and initiatives needed by DoD to fulfill its responsibilities to project force when directed and to protect the homeland. Further, it focuses on those capabilities that depend upon DoD working closely with other agencies. In addition, opportunities are identified for DoD to "export" some of its core competencies in order to accelerate the maturation of the Department of Homeland Security." -- Excerpt from Executive Summary
United States. Department of Defense
Pilling, Donald L; Latham, Don
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American Board of Emergency Medicine [website]
As the demands on our emergency responders increases, so does the public's scrutiny on maintaining the highest standard of safety and medical response. The mission of the American Board of Emergency Medicine is to protect the public by promoting and sustaining the integrity, quality, and standards of training in and practice of Emergency Medicine.
American Board of Emergency Medicine
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USCG Standard Operating Procedures for the Common Tactical and Common Operational Picture
"The goal of this document is to develop general procedures for building and managing a Common Tactical Picture (CTP) and ultimately the Common Operational Picture (COP) to support the US Coast Guard in all mission areas. A timely and accurate COP provides the information necessary to establish and maintain maritime domain awareness (MDA). In the current state this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) focuses on the development, maintenance, and dissemination of the classified track database to address the need for data standardization in support of the deployment of the Global Command and Control System to the Area, District, and Section Command Centers and the integration of unique track data sources into a single geographic representation of the operational situation. As additional data sources and systems are integrated into the COP this document will be updated to encompass the procedures for the use, maintenance, and dissemination of that information. It is envisioned that this SOP will act as a precursor to formal Coast Guard Command and Control Doctrine. ." Subjects of the document are: The Common Operational Picture, The Common Tactical Picture, COP VS CTP, Necessity of Standard Procedures, The Value of a Common Operational Picture, Common Operational Picture Architecture, Common Operational Picture Synchronization Tools (CST)."
United States. Coast Guard
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Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Response Plan Summary
This summary gives the overview of the agencies' response to the potential of the spread of BSE. "Introduction : USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is responsible for ensuring the health and care of animals and plants...USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is responsible for protecting the Nation's meat and poultry supply--making sure it is safe, wholesome, unadulterated, and properly labeled and packaged. These two agencies have come together to lead USDA's actions in the prevention, monitoring, and control of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. livestock and food supply. The public knows BSE as "mad cow disease," a disease linked to human cases of new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD). USDA knows BSE as the disease that devastated the livestock industry in the United Kingdom and shattered consumer confidence in Europe. BSE has affected international trade and all aspects of the animal and public health communities...No case of BSE has ever been found in the United States. Since 1989, USDA has had a number of stringent safeguards in place to prevent BSE from entering the country. USDA conducts an ongoing, comprehensive interagency surveillance program for BSE. This surveillance program allows USDA to monitor actively for BSE to ensure immediate detection in the event that BSE were to be introduced into the United States. Immediate detection allows for swift response. As an emergency preparedness measure, USDA has developed this BSE Response Plan to be initiated in the event that a case of BSE is diagnosed in the United States. The Plan details comprehensive instructions for USDA staff as to who is to do what, when, where, and how in the event that BSE were to be diagnosed in the United States."
United States. Food Safety and Inspection Service; United States. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
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Homeland Security War on Terror Timeline
This timeline describes the events of the "War on Terror". It begins with the call by President Bush for a new office on Homeland Security, and ends with the capture of Saddam Hussein.
United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Homeland Security
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United States Army 2002 Transformation Roadmap
This 2002 Army Transformation Roadmap outlines our Transformation strategy and details how Army Transformation supports sustained progress toward the attainment of the six critical operational goals for Transformation stated in the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review. It describes steps The Army is taking to create a culture of innovation that seeks to exploit and shape the changing conduct of military competition. The Army will explore new combinations of concepts, people, organizations, and technology in order to produce new or increased capabilities, protecting our Nation and the Joint Force against asymmetric threats. In short, we seek to institutionalize Transformation as a continuous process. Army Transformation, as part of the Department of Defense's transformation, requires a holistic approach to meeting the demands of the evolving National Security Strategy. As such, it includes a fundamental review of how The Army organizes staffs, equips, trains, and develops its leaders to execute its doctrine in the 21st century. Transformation is fundamentally about changing the way we deploy, fight, sustain, and use information. Transformation will provide new capabilities to the Joint Force Commander to enable the Joint Force to assure our allies and friends, dissuade military competition, deter aggression, and, if necessary, decisively defeat aggressors.
United States. Department of the Army
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Firefighter Arson
Slowly, the fire service is shedding light on a situation that occurs rarely but which is nevertheless serious: some firefighters intentionally start fires. A very small percentage of otherwise trustworthy firefighters cause the very flames they are dispatched to put out. The incidence of illegal fire setting among the nation's fire and rescue personnel is not known precisely. Fire incident data does not generate many details about incendiary fires, and a suspect's occupation is rarely, if ever, included in the database. Overall, relatively little research has been conducted on arson compared to other types of crimes. Even less information data is available about arsonists who are also public safety personnel.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Arson and Juveniles: Responding to the Violence
This report focuses on adolescent fire setters between 14 and 18 years of age. Several case studies are presented to demonstrate the impact of these arson fires and to outline the family circumstances of the youth who were involved. The report also covers how the criminal justice system has been handling teen arson and reviews and compares several treatment and intervention program.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Arson Prevention - For America's Churches and Synagogues
This is an outline of methods of arson prevention for churches and synagogues. This includes external and internal security, and community awareness and cooperation in opening avenues of communication with fire and law enforcement officials, as well as promoting neighborhood watches.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Arson Victims
This booklet seeks to link or reinforce the efforts of those who investigate and prosecute arson cases with the needs and rights of those who are the victims of arson - particularly victims of residential arson. It is addressed to police, fire officials, prosecutors and victim/witness coordinators who are in frequent contact with arson victims, but who may not fully recognize the potential implications of that contact for either the victim or the system.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Food Safety: Regulating Plant Agricultural Biotechnology in the United States
Consumers worldwide are rightly concerned about the safety of the foods they eat. This concern has
intensified with advancements in bioengineered foods. Under a policy developed in 1986, three lead
federal agencies ? the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(USDA-APHIS), the Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration
(FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ? have the responsibility for implementing
the nation's biotechnology regulatory framework. Within this framework, the U.S. regulatory process is
constantly being reassessed and refined for all foods, both bioengineered and traditional.
The United States has more than a decade of experience in regulating bioengineered foods. About 50 varieties of
bioengineered food crops have gone through the U.S. government regulatory procedures, and thousands of foods
containing ingredients from these bioengineered crops are currently on the U.S. market. This fact sheet outlines
the five regulatory procedures that occur from the time a scientist has an idea for a potentially marketable
bioengineered plant product to when the product finally ends up in the local food market.
United States. Department of State
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Rural Arson Control Study
To develop a clear picture of the specific requirements of the rural arson control system, the IAFC conducted in-depth case studies of these systems in four rural counties. The results from visits to rural arson control programs in seven states are incorporated in this report. This project involved extensive interviews with fire, law-enforcement, and prosecutors. The culmination of the case studies in four communities was a "nominal group process" meeting at which elements of the community arson control system were represented. Attendees were asked to identify and rank specific needs of their own organizations. These needs assessments were discussed by the group and, by the end of the meeting, were prioritized.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Funding Alternatives for Fire and Emergency Services
Stimulated by local budget pressures, fire and emergency medical service departments in the United States are using a wide array of fundraising approaches beyond traditional methods. These range from small fees for special services to major new sources of funds such as benefit assessments. The alternatives include impact development fees and subscription charges, in which households pay a flat rate and then are absolved from any further payments associated with emergency medical services beyond those covered by their medical insurance.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Strategies for Marketing Your Fire Department Today and Beyond
The purpose of this manual is to assist fire service leaders in examining the future, the role of the fire service in that future, and ways to "get there from here." It is designed to provide a fire chief, a public information officer, and other leaders in the fire service with guidance and tips on marketing a department and its services to the local customers: the citizens and organizations served by the department.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Guide to Developing Effective Standard Operating Procedures for Fire & EMS Departments
This guide to Developing Effective Standard Operating Procedures for Fire and EMS Departments is designed to assist emergency service managers in establishing effective standard operating procedures (SOPs) within their organizations. It will serve as a valuable resource for personnel seeking a clear understanding of operational issues, and will facilitate compliance with current laws, regulations, and standards related to the emergency services. The guide explains how SOPs can be developed, lists topic areas that should be covered, and describes various styles and formats.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Aftermath of Firefighter Fatality Incidents: Preparing for the Worst
Firefighter fatality incidents have occurred in all types of fire departments in recent years, from rural volunteer forces to major metropolitan career departments. This study focused on the experiences of six fire departments that suffered at least one multiple firefighter-fatality incidents during the past 10 years. The focus is on the operational, organizational, and cultural impacts on the fire departments and their members. Commonalties and trends in the experiences of the fire departments were examined to describe any changes that occurred within the department after the incident, identify potential areas of concern, and disseminate the lessons learned
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
Thiel, Adam K.
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Al-Qa'ida
Al-Qa'ida is a multi-national terrorist group with a worldwide presence. Established in 1988 by Usma bin Ladin (UBL), its core members initially consisted of Afghan war veterans. Al-Qa'ida serves as an umbrella organization that funds and orchestrates the activities of Islamic militants worldwide. Using an extensive international network to maintain a loose connection between Muslim extremists throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Canada, and the United States, al-Qa'ida uses conventional communication such as the Internet, faxes, and satellite telephones to organize, plan, and financially support terrorist activities. Al-Qa'ida's current goal is to expel Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries and to establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems "non-Islamic."
United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
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Hazardous Materials Response Technology Assessment
This manual is designed to familiarize readers with various technologies that are available (and in development) that a fire and/or rescue department could use to control and mitigate a hazardous materials incident. In addition, this manual provides concepts, terminology, and key considerations that may help in the management of incidents of hazardous material contamination. The manual is intended to illustrate the characteristics of hazardous materials technologies and is not intended as a definitive guide on establishing a hazardous materials program in a department.
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Small Board and Care Fire Evacuations: A Guide for the Fire Safety Professional
This report addresses ways in which fire safety professionals may evaluate and improve small board and care [B&C] home fire evacuation plans. A small B&C home is defined for this report as a detached dwelling providing shelter for 16 or fewer individuals. This definition is consistent with that used in the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code; however, the contents of this report are not limited to material appearing only in the Life Safety Code (LX). This report is not intended for use with apartment buildings or high-rise occupancies.
United States. Department of Commerce
Deal, Scot
