From the Executive Summary: "This guidance describes a general risk management framework for government and nongovernmental decision-makers, at all levels, in planning and executing activities required for response and recovery from a biological incident in a domestic, civilian setting. The objective of this guidance is to provide Federal, State, local and tribal decision makers with uniform Federal guidance to protect the public, emergency responders, and surrounding environments and to ensure that local and Federal first responders can prepare for an incident involving biological contamination. This guidance was developed by an interagency working group of the White House Subcommittee on Decontamination Standards and Technology (SDST). Although an overall risk management framework covers all phases of a response to a biological incident, this document emphasizes the remediation/cleanup and restoration phases of a response. This guidance is intended to achieve effective cleanup following a biological incident while minimizing the expected total social cost, which includes human health costs, ecological and environmental damage, loss of site utility, and the economic costs of the actions taken. The guidance does not address critical public health (such as antibiotic distribution) or public safety (security) aspects of the First Response portion of Crisis Management. This guidance is not intended to impact site cleanups occurring under other statutory authorities such as the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund program, or other Federal and State cleanup programs. Chapter 1 summarizes the purpose, audience and scope of this document. [...] Chapter 2 focuses on pathogenic microorganisms and biotoxins considered likely threats and the unique aspects of each relevant to cleanup. [...] Chapter 3 is the framework for decision-making. [...] Chapter 4 explains the decision process, namely, all actions required during response to a biological incident."