NCBRT Reflects on 9/11, Remains Committed to Training America's Responders
August 23, 2011
The events of 9/11 had far reaching effects still felt around the country today. The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT) housed at Louisiana State University (LSU), over 1,300 miles from ground zero, is one example of how far reaching these effects are. The impact of 9/11 is evident in the development and delivery of its preparedness training and in the personal experiences and dedication of its staff and instructors.
The NCBRT began in 1998 as the Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education (ACE) through
a small subcontract with the Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP). The original charge
was to develop a single course for law enforcement and emergency response personnel.
Over the years, ACE expanded into the area of bioterrorism through partnerships with
the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and ODP. The NCBRT was born through these partnerships
and became formally recognized by Louisiana's Board of Supervisors in 2002. As the
only organization in America that focused on the biological threat, the NCBRT proved
to be a valuable resource in preparing the nation to prevent and respond to terrorist
incidents after the events of 9/11.
The NCBRT had already begun to work toward its mission to prepare America, helping
to establish the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC), an organization
dedicated to training state and local responders to prevent, respond to and recover
from attacks involving weapons of mass destruction, in 1998, but 9/11 created a sense
of urgency. "It required us to take both a strategic view of where we should be in
four or five years and a more tactical approach to development and delivery of our
courses across the nation," said Thomas Tucker, NCBRT Director.
Tucker was asked to help head the NCBRT in 2002, shortly after 9/11, as the NCBRT's
funding and responsibilities increased. "I must say, I think if 9/11 had not occurred,
I probably wouldn't have accepted the position. This program required a lot of work
initially and I was not sure that I wanted to take on that level of activity along
with other responsibilities at that point in my life. However, I realized the mission
was clearly important to the nation since a weapon of mass destruction had indeed
been perpetrated on the United States," says Tucker. "I always thought there would
be an attack on the United States at some point, as did my boss at that time, Dr.
Dan Walsh, who was probably the most influential person in establishing the National
Domestic Preparedness Consortium. He also believed there would be a WMD attack and
developed a training concept to do something about it."
The NCBRT has incorporated some important lessons learned from 9/11 in its course
development and delivery. One such lesson is the importance of coordination between
responding agencies. "The need for a coordinated response across all response disciplines
reinforced what we already knew; that operationally, things go much better when we
train and work as a team," said Tucker. "I think 9/11 required us to reexamine, on
a community wide basis, how we must operate. We must now respond as a community of
mutually respected professionals; fire, police, medical, emergency management, public
works, etc., all working together as a team."
With this in mind, the NCBRT has developed courses geared toward a team approach.
In addition to traditional lecture, NCBRT courses include hands-on training exercises,
which require participants from a wide range of responding agencies and disciplines
to work together to respond to a training scenario. Fire, police, emergency management,
medical, agricultural and other personnel all participate in a course together, where
they learn how to better communicate during an incident and to feed off others extensive
capabilities.
For example, NCBRT's A Prepared Jurisdiction: Integrated Response to WMD Incidents course
provides an opportunity for a jurisdiction to develop or refine strategies for responding
to incidents in which suspected WMD devices may be in transit via rail, truck, barge
or inter-modal cargo container. This course allows opportunities for the jurisdiction's
participants to train using a facilitated-discussion process supported by scenario-driven
field training. Finally, the jurisdiction can use this training course as a self-assessment
process for its decision-making capabilities, as well as its WMD-terrorist-response
preparedness.
Another innovative course offered by the NCBRT, Advanced Forensic Investigations for
Hazardous Environments, gives participants the opportunity to process a crime scene
in a WMD environment, an opportunity that most participants have never had. This exercise
requires participants to dress in personal protective equipment and use it in a difficult
environment to process the crime scene safely.
"We've worked very hard not to develop courses that jurisdictions and organizations
already do well. We have successfully developed more complicated courses that they
have told us they need in the field," says Tucker. That's not to say the NCBRT isn't
facing unique challenges in developing and delivering training today. "The American
memory is very short. Although the threat of a terrorist incident is still very real,
funding will start to dry up if there isn't another incident," says Tucker. For many
NCBRT courses, demand is already outpacing the NCBRT's means for delivery. Any cuts
in funding would hamper the ability of NCBRT to deliver training to agencies in need.
Not only could a decrease in the NCBRT's funding threaten the availability of preparedness
training, cuts to agencies across the nation have resulted in layoffs. Because of
these layoffs, one individual is doing the work of two or three people, leaving little
time to attend training. Although training is offered at no cost to the participating
agency, time is now a valuable and scarce resource. The NCBRT has been responding
to this dilemma by offering shorter courses and flexible training schedules. This
solution seems to be working for now. NCBRT has already started scheduling training
for next year.
So has all this training made a difference? Ten years since the 9/11 attacks, there
is evidence that America has learned many valuable lessons and is more prepared today.
"It was not uncommon when I first began here to go to the field where we would ship
our equipment to the site, and the jurisdiction would recognize that they had some
of the same equipment still in the cases they came in and didn't know how to use it.
We would tell them go get it, and we will train you to use that equipment and show
you the value of it. We're finding that less and less," said Tucker. "Organizations
are much more willing to work together, and leadership is better at working through
NIMS and other management systems. The medical community is also starting to see the
impact a large scale WMD incident could have and are taking steps to prepare for this
threat." The 9/11 attacks were a wake up call. The trick is to keep up this momentum
even though it has been 10 years. The threat is still as real now as it was then.
As for the instructors and staff at NCBRT, it does not take an event like 9/11 to
continually remind them of the importance of their work. "They understand the significance
of a professional, well trained, qualified responder. They know that this type of
responder will be able to save lives and perform their job in a safe manner," says
Tucker.
Although they don't need a daily reminder to stay motivated, NCBRT staff and instructors
were deeply affected by the tragic events of 9/11. Two NCBRT instructors, John Paolilo
and Tom Gardner, perished in the World Trade Center attacks. Several other NCBRT instructors
responded to the scene or helped with recovery efforts, and a number of others lost
close colleagues as a result of the attacks. Staff fielded emotional phone calls from
affected instructors and their loved ones.
It was an emotional time, which many instructors don't often talk about, but a few
were willing to share their experience in remembrance on this tenth anniversary.
Click below to read their stories.
NCBRT Instructor Stories:
Edward Wallace
John Larocchia
Mike Fagel