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U.S. emergency responders believe they lack adequate protection to respond to terrorist incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, according to a report released by RAND Wednesday.

"The majority of emergency responders feel vastly underprepared and underprotected for the consequences of chemical, biological or radiological terrorist attacks," the study says.

Researchers from RAND's Science and Technology Policy Institute interviewed almost 200 first responders throughout the country, including law enforcement officers, emergency medical service responders and firefighters. Most of those interviewed expressed concern over not having access to adequate protection to respond to a terrorist attack involving biological, chemical or radioactive agents, the report says.

"Men and women who choose to risk their lives to save the lives of others are telling us they need better protection, better safety-training equipment and better coordination to do their jobs," Tom LaTourrette, lead author of the report, said in a press release.

Many law enforcement officers and firefighters said they did not know what they needed to protect against, what types of protection were appropriate or where to acquire such protection, the report says. It adds that many of those interviewed were unsure that available protective gear would be able to protect against terrorist attacks involving WMD materials. For example, hazardous material protective equipment currently in service is designed for use in responding to industrial accidents and is not designed or certified for use in respond to terrorist attacks, the report says.

There is also concern over the vulnerability of nonspecialist first responders who initially arrive at the scene of a WMD-related terrorist attack, the report says. Already, some emergency-responder departments have begun equipping vehicles with biological and chemical protective gear, it says.

In addition to concerns over personal protective equipment, there are also concerns that "systems-level" equipment, such as communications gear, is also inadequate, according to the report. For example, a number of first responders said there are "fundamental problems" with the communications systems currently in use, which often are incompatible with each other and cannot easily inter-communicate at the site of an incident, the report said. While some departments have begun to use digital 800-megahertz systems to replace prior analog radio systems, they have said they were not fully satisfied with the new systems' performance, the report says.