Ridge unveils management plan for first responders

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Monday unveiled a standardized management plan to be used by first responders to emergencies.

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) will provide a "unified command center for state, local and federal [entities] so that all levels of government share a common set of ... protocols [for] seamless response," Ridge said during a luncheon keynote at the National Association of Counties (NACo) legislative conference. "It fully puts into practice the concept of one mission, one team, one fight."

NIMS sets standardized guidelines for all localities to follow when responding to emergencies. Monday's announcement is a "heads up" on the project, and Homeland Security Department officials soon will issue "more detailed guidelines" on what states must do in order to be in full compliance, said Bob Stephen, a special assistant to Ridge.

Department officials could have "an initial series of meetings" as early as this week, but Stephen did not have an exact timeframe for the release of its final guidelines. Once those are established, however, localities will have until Oct. 1 to comply or Homeland Security will withhold homeland security grants, he said.

The project will receive $7 million in federal funds to create the NIMS integration center and to fund it the first year, Stephen said. He has been working as part of an interagency effort since August to develop NIMS.

At this point, the project has two mechanisms, he said. The first involves "mutual systems agreements" to ensure "standardized templates inside the NIMS themselves," he said. The second component requires communities to develop ongoing preparedness plans. "We want individual jurisdictions to step up to the plate," Stephen said.

While most communities already have been working on homeland security plans, NIMS will produce "a more formalized process," he said. "These are not great leaps forward; we just want to make sure that we're putting out the word."

NIMS will be a "common operating picture from which we can all work," Ridge said. "As we developed NIMS, we made sure everyone had a seat at the table. We will call on [local officials] later to execute the game plan."

Ridge also reiterated the department's pledge to combine terrorist watch lists as soon as possible so local officials have "constant situational awareness." It's important that "by the end of this year ... by video, phone and Internet, that we create an infrastructure ... to get information out to the states and to government," he said.

Ridge also acknowledged the frustration among first responders in receiving their homeland security grants. "I understand we have some challenges in getting those dollars out, but [the department will] simplify an often complicated grant process," he said.

The nation is "more secure and better prepared" than it was a year ago, Ridge added.

But a senior Democratic member of the House Homeland Security Committee voiced continued security concerns. "Many dangerous security loopholes ... expose American to serious risks," Edward Markey, D-Mass., said in a release, pointing in particular to unscreened air cargo.