NCSBCS Private Sector Members Important Issues Teleconference
April 28, 2005 – Noon EDST

Participants:
Don Boehmer, Schirmer Engineering Corporation
Brian Walsh, HISG
Michael Mastrodonato, HISG
John Crull, Boeing
Larry Spielvogel
Diane McClure, IBHS
Darrell Franklin, Franklin Information Systems
COMCARE Representative
Steve McCluer, American Power Conservation Corporation
Barbara Vassallo, National Apartment Association
Janine Anderson, Black Bear Systems
Babs Sachedeva, RAMSAFE Technologies
Perry Fowler, Associated General Contractors Association
Steve Szoke, Portland Cement Association
Allen Inlow, IAPMO
Robert Wible, NCSBCS

NCSBCS Affiliate Voting Member, Don Boehmer, welcomed participants to the Important Issues Call and noted this was the second private sector call in 2005. Mr. Boehmer said NCSBCS was pleased to have two guest speakers who have been working with the Department of Homeland Security on TOPOFF III and the coordination of private sector involvement with that exercise.

Mr. Boehmer introduced both of the guest speakers. He noted that Mr. Walsh would speak first and Mr. Mastrodonato would follow him. Brian W. Walsh of Humanitarian International Services Group worked under contract with the Department of Homeland Security to assist in coordinating private sector involvement at the national level in the TOPOFF III (T3) Full Scale Exercise (FSE), the major national homeland security exercise that was conducted April 4-8.

Michael Mastrodonato was the lead planner for private sector involvement in the T3 FSE in New Jersey and Connecticut, the venues for the simulated domestic attacks. Both Brian and Michael also served as controllers during the exercise and will now be working on the T3 Large Scale Game (LSG) next week simulating same locations as T3, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months later.

T3 was the first time that significant involvement by the private sector was integrated into the TOPPOFF (Top Official) exercises. We had well over 1,000 people playing with 150 organizations at 450 locations across the nation.

The key document covering homeland security is the National Response Plan (NRP). The private sector’s role in the NRP is covered in the Private-Sector Coordination Support Annex and the Volunteer and Donations Management Support Annex.

We (at HISG) ended up with 7 full-time people working on T3. In 2007, the next TOPOFF Exercise will be T4 and will be held in Arizona, Oregon and Guam. The private sector should be even more involved in that exercise.

The NRP is available online (http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0566.xml).

It covers how each of the federal agencies will respond in a disaster and the interagency relationships within the Federal Government. The NRP runs the gamut and covers all critical infrastructure and key resources.

However, at least 85% of the nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources is in the hands of the private sector, not the government, and, therefore, it is critical that the private sector be fully involved in homeland security exercises. This is even more important after the initial response phase, when efforts shift to short- and long-term recovery.

In addition to the NRP’s interface with the private sector through the Private-Sector Coordination Support Annex and the Volunteer and Donations Management Support Annex, the NRP interfaces through the Office of State and Local Government Coordination that interconnects the federal with state and local governments.

T3 tested the NRP and is helping DHS to refine it.

T3 in Connecticut simulated a chemical attack (mustard gas) and an explosion. T3 in New Jersey simulated a biological attack. There also was a simulated terrorist event in the UK. Canada also was involved.

Our job at HISG was to integrate the private sector into T3. One hundred and fifty organizations participated in T3 through the Real Estate ISAC alone.

Private sector involvement was at three levels: on the ground in Connecticut and New Jersey; in the Command Centers in New Jersey and Connecticut; and in the NICC, the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center, where there was robust play. Large retailers and shipping companies were involved.

Most private sector actions in the T3 FSE dealt with immediate health and response issues. T3 was also designed to test the coordination and management of unsolicited volunteers and donations from the private sector. Some of the response issues also dealt with how to deal with border access issues between the impacted states and the neighboring states. This includes trucking, rail, and supply chain issues.

T3 also simulated events and rumors having to do with large commercial facilities, including hotels, restaurants, and convention centers and a possible/rumored connection (which was inaccurate) between a food poisoning incident and the terrorism events.

In Connecticut, 26 private organizations played at 3 different levels. Full Scale (FSE) included the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Eleven private sector organizations played at the Command Post (CPX) level. The third level was Tabletop (TTX), which involved 12 private sector organizations.

T3 established a prototype position of a private sector liaison at the New Jersey and Connecticut Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). Connecticut included electronic bulletins and warnings by cell phones, pagers, and email. There also were press conferences and two-way briefings on current status and issues like sheltering in place, travel restrictions. The private sector provided answers to technical questions posed by state and local homeland security personnel.

Having private sector players in the command center are being looked at as permanent additions to the state EOC. T3 showed the need for information exchange between the public and private sectors. T3 also showed the need for business to get timely information to make decisions impacting their employees and business continuity. In Connecticut that was exemplified by private sector associations such as the Fairfield County Business Association and InfraGard.

In New Jersey, 38 organizations played at three levels. This included overarching associations in both venues.

Brian Walsh noted one of the purposes of T3 was for individual private-sector organizations to exercise and test their internal disaster response and business continuity plans using a set of near-real-world data. The private sector players could extract the lessons they learned from the exercise and begin to implement them through their individual internal programs.

Each organization involved had a disaster plan in place already. After they went through T3, they would review their lessons learned. They would go through the process and ask questions like: Is our plan adequate? How should we change the plan to conform to real world? How did our communications work? How well did communications work between state and local government and our sector businesses?

The communications prototype that was developed and tested in New Jersey and Connecticut was a huge benefit.

Another prototype that was tested was a Private Sector Cell at DHS’s NICC (National Infrastructure Coordinating Center). The NICC monitors and assesses all of the nation’s critical infrastructure (CI) components and key resources (KR). This includes the telecommunications sector, the transportation sector (highways, airways, and shipping and shipping lanes), major pipelines, and all nuclear plants.

The Private Sector Cell at the NICC in T3 was a prototype of a co-location of private sector subject matter experts responsible for CI and KR with their federal agency counterparts, including the private sector specialists who are part of DHS’s Infrastructure Coordination and Analysis Office (ICAO). The NICC tracked what was going on the ground using its existing technology and communications network and acquired information from the private sector subject matter experts. The private sector subject matter experts also responded to requests for information (RFIs) from federal agencies and from New Jersey and Connecticut. The private sector subject matter experts communicated to their extensive networks the information they received from the NICC and the ICAO sector specialists.

The Private Sector Cell in the NICC was lauded by the private sector as a good example of private-federal cooperation. We expect it to be recommended by DHS for a permanent liaison role with the Federal Government.

The Private Sector Cell at NICC included organizations like The Infrastructure Security Partnership – TISP (of which NCSBCS is a member). (TISP participated in the NICC during T3 and its members connected when they needed to with their 180 member organizations and agencies. NCSBCS participated in the NICC at the invitation of DHS and represented TISP on the last day of T3 (Thursday, April 7). Members can learn more about TISP by visiting the TISP link on the NCSBCS website www.ncsbcs.org.)

DHS has received overwhelming positive feedback from the private sector players. Uniformly they noted that their participation helped them exercise and test their own business continuity response.

During T4 (in 2007), DHS wants more private sector play. DHS is now sending out a letter to every private sector player thanking them for their participation.

Based upon the positive experience in T3 there will be many entry points now available to private sector to participate in future events. Through exercises and through networking with groups like TISP that have large networks behind them, we are getting much better coordination between the government and the private sector that will help us should there be an actual disaster event.

One of the lessons that we learned during T3 – there really is a difference of speed at which decisions are made between federal, state and local government and the private sector. It was something to see how quickly the private sector responds and can bring resources to bear.

The role of the private sector at NICC was to speed up communications. The reception has been positive each side.

Question: Babs Sachdeva of RAMSAFE Technologies noted that her firm was involved in T3 at a late date. We would like to be involved in T4. How can we do that?

Answer: Mail us your information and we will see that you are integrated into T4. The e-mail address is bwalsh@hisg.com.

There will be organizational meetings in each venue (OR, AZ and Guam) in the coming year. Send us you address and we will copy you in the invite.

Question: T3 looked at two types of incidents. Did this exercise include any way in which the communications system was compromised?

Answer: No the communications system was not really stressed. There was less taxing of communications during the T3 exercise that would have actually been the case during a real world event. For example, cell phone service is likely to be slowed significantly or could possibly go down and require supplemental, temporary facilities. What we have been told by telecommunications players was that their systems weren’t stressed. We will look at that in T4, how to stress them. This needs to be addressed.

Question: How is DHS encouraging private sector involvement in regional homeland security efforts?

Answer: Look at the Trends column in the April NCSBCS Members e-Bulletin for a summary of the DHS Regional Homeland Security Conference and the examples of private-public sector groups being formed on a regional basis to support homeland security planning, mitigation, response and recovery.

DHS is stressing coordination with the private sector. The private sector will get out of it whatever they put into it. Homeland security needs your involvement. Involvement in the TOPOFF exercises will provide a tremendous amount of feedback about your organization’s internal response plans and opportunities to build a network of effective communications for a real event.

Thinking within the Federal Government is that one of things terrorists are trying to attack is our way of life, not just a specific target. To counter, there has to be good communications with the private sector to squelch rumors and to make sure we are on solid footing to prepare and respond.

You need to get involved in your areas/regions and need to be in these public-private partnerships. We know that state and local governments are seeking that input from the private sector since at least 85% of the nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources is in the hands of the private sector.

One strong example is to come back to Connecticut and New Jersey to help develop these private-public partnerships to make improvements based on what was uncovered in T3. We will be briefing the Connecticut DHS commissioner on what lessons were learned with private sector.

Want to take advantage of the exercise to learn.

Question: Is there a model established that private sector can use to consider getting involved in future exercises?

Answer: We are beginning to collect and assemble such models. One thing that you can do is interface with national organizations such as NCSBCS, TISP and other services and work through them. When we do develop those materials, we will make sure we share them with you though NCSBCS.

Formerly, most of the government plans and policies for disaster response and emergency preparedness included very little integration of the private sector. There was no road in place for this integration, so we have gone ahead and built the road. We have PowerPoint presentations and papers going into DHS in August, and they will later go out on FEMA/DHS websites.

We will look at how to disseminate that information.

The NRP NIMS FEMA websites include links for training. There are independent study courses made available by FEMA that are open to the general public for both the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the National Response Plan (NRP). Information on these courses can be found at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/crslist.asp.

Lastly, please send any input to DHS emergency preparedness and we will provide input.

We want this, feel free to contact us.

Where do we start? NCSBCS will pull together any input from our private sector members and send it into HISG for potential use by DHS.

At 12:50 p.m. Mr. Boehmer asked if there were any other questions for Messrs. Walsh and Mastrodonato. There being none, he thanked both speakers for their participation and for sharing information with NCSBCS members.

Mr. Wible noted that in writing up the summary from this call NCSBCS would include the website and email addresses mentioned during the call. He also asked for input from those on this call regarding what they would like to be the topic for their next Important Issues Call.

At 12:55 p.m. the call was adjourned.