Defending Our Local
Communities

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Tim Bonds is director of the Aerospace Force Development Program for Project AIR FORCE at RAND.

Emergency responses—the rescue and relief services performed by those who are first to arrive at the scene of a disaster—are usually provided by local authorities. By taking effective action, city and county emergency responders can reduce the harm that disasters may cause to the public and to the responders themselves.

RAND has begun a study to help the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County improve their emergency response capabilities. Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities in Allegheny County are of special interest to RAND for several reasons. First, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are broadly representative of a number of U.S. metropolitan areas that, though large, are smaller than the very largest urban areas. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County therefore offer resources and challenges similar to those of many other major U.S. cities and counties. Second, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have an unusual diversity of topographical, infrastructure, and cultural features that present unique challenges to first responders. Third, Pittsburgh is home to one of RAND's main offices. A large and growing number of RAND staff and their families work and live in Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS/CITIZEN'S VOICE/THOM O'KONSKI A home in Bear Creek Township, Penn., is partially submerged under floodwaters on May 28. Local preparations for terrorist attacks could help authorities respond to natural disasters as well.

It would be very difficult for local authorities to preempt or defeat a terrorist attack. Therefore, we believe that most local efforts should focus upon mitigating the effects of any attack that does occur. Local authorities can take several steps to both prepare for and respond to such an attack. These steps would also apply to other harmful events, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, or nuclear accidents. RAND is assessing the capabilities needed by the local authorities to accomplish the tasks outlined below.

Prior to an attack or other harmful event:

• Survey potential threats and vulnerabilities. The first step is to survey potential threats to local facilities, key portions of the public (or private) service infrastructure, and the population at large. Terrorists may target especially vulnerable facilities or groups of people and can choose to attack at the time or place that maximizes civilian casualties or poses special difficulties for defending. For example, the very nature of mass transit facilities makes it difficult to screen everyone entering. Perhaps most challenging of all, adversaries can adapt their tactics to overcome, to some degree, the defenses devised by public safety authorities.

• Develop strategies and plans for coping with key aspects of a disaster. Strategies need to be developed for different classes of disasters. The strategy for any given disaster should include plans to close the disaster site and its surrounding area to people and traffic. Staging areas and incident command sites need to be planned for police, fire, and medical units deploying to the disaster area. Protocols should be developed for deciding such matters as which citizens to evacuate and whether it is best to evacuate them or to keep them in place. Transportation corridors for emergency vehicles and citizen evacuation must be planned, as must field sites for assembling and treating those needing medical attention. It is also important to decide where to send victims and to ensure that personnel at those destinations are properly trained, staffed, and equipped.

• Establish command relationships and communications procedures for responders, the public, and other local, state, and federal authorities. A key part of disaster planning is establishing beforehand a command structure for response efforts. In practice, this may be much less clear than it appears. Within the city of Pittsburgh (or any municipality, for that matter), the respective jurisdictions and complementary roles of police, fire, medical, and other authorities must be sorted out ahead of time. For example, if disaster strikes one of the smaller cities within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, that city's leadership may direct the immediate emergency response, with Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials playing a supporting role. In any case, ensuring adequate communications (technological equipment as well as standard protocols) among the region's leadership, state and federal authorities, and the public will require careful planning and implementation.

• Train all levels of local police, fire, emergency medical, and other personnel.Training at the senior leadership level will help ensure that "glitches" in the strategies and plans are identified and rectified. Such training will also serve to better acquaint the operational leadership with each other and thereby establish a working relationship prior to a disaster. At the company and squad level, training is important to develop individual and team skills—and perhaps even more important to ensure that the policies and procedures crafted by the region's leadership are understood and executed by those likely to be first on the scene.

Once an event or attack has occurred:

• Quickly implement the planned response command structure. Each situation is unique, but every situation will require the quick establishment of a command structure for the response, including the designation of what agency will direct operations. Everyone else must act in support of that agency.

• Perform an immediate reconnaissance of the affected area. A swift and thorough reconnaissance of the area will be necessary to determine precisely what has happened and its effects on people, buildings, and other features at the disaster site.

• Provide direction to emergency responders, the public, and pertinent agencies and organizations. Once the reconnaissance has been completed, the political leadership can give the appropriate directions to the parties from whom help may be needed.

• Speed the arrival and integration of outside aid. With good reconnaissance, the political leadership will also be in a good position to request aid from other counties, the state government, neighboring states, and federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency response at the local level is highly complex and challenging. RAND has long advised the military in the areas of threat assessment; command and control processes; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; and decision support. We are drawing on this expertise to help frame the problems faced by local authorities and identify solutions for local emergency responders.