2004/2005 Progress Report - New Jersey · Chair, Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force Date:...

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2004/2005 ProgressReport

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Memo from the Attorney General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

Chapter One: Introduction and Task Force Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter Two: Task Force Strategy for Homeland Security Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Funding Based on “Following the Hazards” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Local Funding Priorities Decided at County Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Funding for First Responders & Critical Infrastructure Protection . 8Urban Area Security Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Port Security Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Grants to Protect Mass Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Funding to Guard Against Bioterrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter Three: Protecting Critical Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Identifying and Evaluating “Critical Infrastructure” . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Enhancing School Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Implementing Best Security Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Training for Chemical and Petroleum Sector Workers . . . . . . . . . . 24Buffer Zone Protection Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Protection of Nuclear Facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Cyber Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter Four: Health Emergency Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Expanding Laboratory Testing Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31BioWatch Early Warning Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31New Jersey Department of Agriculture - Disease Surveillance . . . 32New Jersey Animal Emergency Working Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Hospital Preparedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Building Local Health Department Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Risk Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Emergency Health Powers Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Chapter Five: Law Enforcement Response — Prevention and Protection . . . . . . . . . . . 39Office of Counter-Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Intelligence Gathering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40State Police — Creation of the Homeland Security Branch . . . . . . 41Responses to Specific Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Memorandum of Agreement with U.S. Coast Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter Six: Information Sharing and Outreach Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Information Sharing for Law Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Regional Operations Intelligence Center / the ROIC . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Office of Counter-Terrorism Information Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Information Sharing with the Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Proposed Regulations for Security Exemptions to OPRA . . . . . . . 50Public Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Chapter Seven: Leveraging Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Executive Orders on Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Testing Radiological Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53EPINet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Interoperability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Reverse 9-1-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60RIJAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Model Schools and Model Mall Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter Eight: Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Mandated Training for Law Enforcement Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Office of Counter-Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62NJ Learn eLearning Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Dept. of Health and Senior Services - Bioterrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Critical Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67CERT Training for State Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Other Training Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Chapter Nine: TOPOFF 3 / Exercising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70TOPOFF 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Other Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Chapter Ten: Emergency Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Katrina Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Other Response and Preparation Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Complying with the National Incident Management System . . . . . 83

To: Honorable Richard J. Codey, Governor and President of the SenateHonorable Leonard Lance, Minority Leader of the SenateHonorable Joseph J. Roberts Jr., Speaker of the General AssemblyHonorable Alex DeCroce, Republican Leader of the General AssemblyHonorable Paul A. Sarlo, Chair of the Senate Legislative Oversight CommitteeHonorable William D. Payne, Chair of the Assembly Regulatory Oversight CommitteeHonorable John A. Girgenti, Chair of the Senate Law and Public Safety and

Veterans’ Affairs CommitteeHonorable Joan M. Quigley, Chair of the Assembly Homeland Security and

State Preparedness CommitteeHonorable Peter J. Barnes, Chair of the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee

From: Peter C. Harvey, Attorney GeneralChair, Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force

Date: January 2006

Subject: Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force 2004-2005 Progress Report

Since its last report to the Legislature, the Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force has continued to work tomake New Jersey more prepared and its citizens more secure. During this time, New Jersey took additional stepsto safeguard itself against the many threats exposed by the attacks of September 11, 2001. However, two majorevents added considerable perspective to the Task Force’s activities: New Jersey’s participation in the nationalTOPOFF 3 exercise in the spring of 2005 and the Gulf Coast’s and nation’s experience with Hurricanes Katrinaand Rita in August and September 2005.

As you are aware, the Task Force was established by the New Jersey Domestic Security Preparedness Act,signed into law in October 2001. The law requires the submission of a report detailing the Task Force’s activitiesto the leadership of the Senate and Assembly and to the chairs of the respective houses’ oversight committees.

A progress report such as this one provides an opportunity to look back with perspective and measure an agencyor governmental entity’s accomplishments. The Task Force continues to make steady progress in protectingNew Jersey’s citizens, but these more recent events clearly have put a fine point on our self-evaluative framework.

In enacting the Domestic Security Preparedness Act, the Legislature recognized the importance of the confiden-tiality of the Task Force’s work product. The Legislature explicitly provided that records maintained by the TaskForce not be deemed public records under the “Open Public Records Act” and that the meetings of the TaskForce and Domestic Security Preparedness Planning Group not be subject to the provisions of the “OpenPublic Meetings Act.” Furthermore, the law stipulates that the information presented in Task Force reportsshall be deemed confidential (P.L.2001, c.246, s.13).

STATE OF NEW JERSEYOFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

DEPARTMENT OF LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY

PO Box 080Trenton, NJ 08625-0080

Richard J. CodeyGovernor

Peter C. HarveyAttorney General

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However, for this 2004-2005 progress report, as it did with its previous report to the Legislature, the Task Forcedecided to make the great majority of this report public. New Jersey’s citizens deserve to be provided with asmuch information as possible so they can understand what State Government has done, is doing and willcontinue to do to increase their security, and better protect New Jersey.

2004-2005 Security Overview

Events during 2004-2005 provided many reminders that we need to remain vigilant and continue our efforts tobetter protect our citizens. The year 2004 was bracketed by elevations in the national Homeland Security AlertSystem. January began with an “orange” threat level that had been declared before Christmas 2003, meaning thatthe country was at high risk for attack. The alert level was lowered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security(DHS) to “significant risk” of attack before the end of the month. Eight months later, in August, the discovery ofal Qaeda documents detailing surveillance of five financial institutions on the East Coast, including one in Newark,placed the financial sector in Northern New Jersey on orange alert status. This was the first time that an “orange”alert was targeted to a specific economic sector and five specific institutions. These institutions remained at aheightened alert level until November 10. At the same time, in late August and early September, New Jersey alsomobilized its law enforcement community to provide security for the Republican National Convention that tookplace in New York City at Madison Square Garden, situated on top of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station. This wasof particular concern because, in March 2004, nearly 200 lives were lost to railroad bombings by terrorists inMadrid, Spain. As a result, New Jersey — and government agencies throughout the country — reassessed provi-sions for rail security and specifically heightened protection for railroads and their passengers.

Despite the state’s increased needs to protect its citizens and communities, in December 2004, DHS notifiedNew Jersey that its federal fiscal year 2005 homeland security funding would be substantially cut. Total federalhomeland security funding for New Jersey’s first responders was cut by more than a third, from $55.4 millionin 2004 to $36.6 million in 2005. New Jersey also learned that its share of federal Urban Area SecurityInitiative (UASI) funds for preparedness efforts in the state’s six northeast counties — Bergen, Essex,Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Union — as well as Newark and Jersey City was cut nearly 40 percent, from$32 million in FY 2004 to $19.4 million in FY 2005. Unlike funding for first responders that decreased toall states, total UASI funding increased by nearly $180 million nationally from 2004 to 2005 — a 27 percentincrease, and New Jersey had no indication, given this increase, that it would receive less funding than the yearbefore. As a result, the state and its county and local UASI partners had to scale back their plans significantly.Governor Codey led the state’s response to this troubling cut, making the state’s case for additional funds toour congressional delegation and to DHS.

Events in 2005 continued to highlight the dangers of terroristic attacks. Especially troubling were the July 7suicide bombings of the London subway system, in which 56 people died, including the four suspected bombers,which was followed up exactly two weeks later by a second abortive attempt. In early October, there was asecond suicide bombing in Bali, Indonesia (the first was in 2002), in which 23 people died, including the threebombers. In response to the London bombings, New Jersey and New York City beefed up law enforcementpatrols on subways and trains and, for the first time, instituted random searches of passengers and baggage todiscourage as well as ferret out potential bombers. Members of the New Jersey Transit Police Department(NJTPD) conducted these random searches in New Jersey according to written guidelines developed by TaskForce staff and the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, in consultation with NJTPD. These guidelineswere designed to protect citizens’ constitutional and privacy rights.

Overview: 2004-2005 Task Force Accomplishments

In broad outline, these are some of the events of 2004 and 2005 that circumscribed the work of the TaskForce and its entities. Among the highlights of that work that are explored in greater detail in this report arethe following:

Developing and implementing a funding strategy for distributing approximately $87.4 million in federalhomeland security grant funds in 2004 and $59.2 million in 2005. Approximately 80 percent of these fundsare passed through to local entities through the state’s 21 County Multi-Disciplinary Working Groups.

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Endorsing a funding strategy for almost $22 million in financial and direct assistance from the state Depart-ment of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to 22 LINCS (Local Information Network and CommunicationSystems) agencies throughout the state for planning, preparedness and coordination at the city, county andmulti-county level to prepare for potential bioterrorism events. DHSS also awarded almost $13.5 million inhealthcare facility preparedness grants that were divided among the state’s acute care hospitals and FederallyQualified Healthcare Centers (FQHCs). These grants were designed to enable these healthcare facilities tobetter respond to terrorist incidents and public health emergencies.

Overseeing the development of 16 Best Practices for heightened security efforts in various private industrysectors or sub-sectors and completing 30 semiannual progress reports on the implementation of BestPractices across the 20 industry sectors of the state’s Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IAC).

Adopting a “Zero Tolerance” policy for Best Practices that required each facility identified by the state as a“critical infrastructure” site to conduct site-specific vulnerability assessments, set a schedule for putting intoplace mitigation measures identified through the vulnerability assessments and prepare site-specific emer-gency response plans.

Completing, in cooperation with DHS, buffer zone protection plans (BZPPs) for approximately 50 criticalfacilities in the state. At critical sites that are completed, these BZPPs entail installing electronic surveillancearound the facilities. All BZPPs depend on the close collaboration of state, county and local law enforcement.

Endorsing the New Jersey State Police’s creation of a Homeland Security Branch, a major reorganization ofthe force designed to allow the State Police to coordinate statewide resources for a strong and fast responseto emergencies and threats to the public safety. This increases the state’s capacity to respond to an elevatedhomeland security threat level or any event requiring the concerted efforts of law enforcement, intelligenceand emergency response workers.

Creating the Detect and Render Safe Task Force, an initiative combining the detecting capabilities of nearly 30bomb dogs purchased with federal homeland security dollars and deployed statewide with the collaborativeefforts of the state’s 10 bomb squads. Coordinated by the State Police Bomb Squad, members of this TaskForce undergo uniform training and are similarly equipped to provide a consistent statewide and collaborativeapproach to finding explosives before they go off and rendering them harmless when they are found.

Requiring, through a directive promulgated by the Attorney General (Attorney General Law EnforcementDirective No. 2004-3), that all current New Jersey law enforcement officers be trained in four terrorism-related disciplines: Counter-Terrorism Awareness, Incident Command System, Hazmat Awareness andWeapons of Mass Destruction Awareness. In 2003, the New Jersey Police Training Commission, workingwith the Task Force, had mandated that all new police recruits take these four courses as a part of the BasicCourse for becoming a police officer.

Adopting a three-year exercise strategy developed by the Task Force-created Domestic Security ExerciseSupport Team. This strategy included New Jersey’s preparations for and participation in the internationalTOPOFF 3 exercise sponsored by DHS. Preparations for TOPOFF 3 were ongoing for all of 2004.

Participating successfully in April 2005, with sister state Connecticut and the Department of HomelandSecurity, in the federally mandated TOPOFF 3 exercise, the largest counter-terrorism exercise ever to take placein the United States, with the international participation of Canada and the United Kingdom. New Jersey wasthe site of a simulated bioterror attack that engendered full-scale exercise “play” for a week and involvedthousands of volunteers, numerous agencies from all levels of government and all of the state’s acute carehospitals and federally qualified health centers.

Exercising the state’s ability to deploy the Strategic National Stockpile, emergency pharmaceutical andmedical supplies provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under theleadership of the state Department of Health and Senior Services.

2004-2005 Legislative Commitment

We would also like to thank Governor Codey and the leadership and membership of the State Legislature forsustaining New Jersey’s counter-terrorism and homeland security efforts. We are grateful for your steadfastsupport and for the passage of key legislation in 2004, including P.L.2004, c.82, a law endorsed by the TaskForce that authorizes New Jersey State Police Marine Services officers to assist the U.S. Coast Guard in theenforcement of federal laws, rules and regulations in the safety and security zones established by the CoastGuard. It also provides a mechanism for the State Police to collaborate with the Coast Guard to moreeffectively monitor and regulate waterborne activity that poses a potential hazard to national security. Thisstatute laid the foundation for the memorandum of agreement signed by Governor Codey and the CoastGuard at the end of 2004.

The Legislature also introduced the Emergency Health Powers Act (S2085/A3501), another Task Force legisla-tive priority, to close legal gaps that could exist during a health emergency caused by an act of terrorism ormedical disaster. This law, which was ultimately enacted in September 2005 (P.L.2005, c.222), authorizes theGovernor to declare a “public health emergency” and comprehensively overhauls the emergency health powersof the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services by empowering the Commissioner toissue orders of quarantine and isolation for persons who pose a risk of transmitting certain dangerous, infec-tious diseases to others during a public health emergency. In addition, the law authorizes the Commissioner torequire any health care facility in the state to provide services if such services are necessary to respond to theemergency. Finally, the law directs the Commissioner to establish a vaccine education and prioritization plan, avolunteer emergency health care provider registry and, in consultation with the state Secretary of Agriculture, abiological agent registry.

In addition, the Legislature passed bills that augment the Task Force’s security efforts:

The “Security Officer Registration Act” (P.L.2004, c.134) revises, updates and modernizes the regulatoryscheme governing the private security guard industry in New Jersey. It establishes training requirements forsecurity guards, upgrades the penalties for violations of the regulatory provisions governing the industry,requires prospective guards to undergo criminal history record background checks and updates the types ofcrimes and offenses that would disqualify a person from employment as a private security guard.

P.L.2004, c.186: This Act provided a supplemental appropriation of $5 million to the State Police tofinance an additional State Police academy class of 100 recruits and to offset costs incurred in upgrading theState Police’s outdated communications system.

P.L.2005, c.3: This Act provides for a mechanism to improve the coordination between state and countyhealth agencies for the purpose of planning for and responding to an environmental or public healthemergency precipitated by a release of hazardous materials.

P.L.2005, c.35: This law authorizes the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority to broadcast emergencyinformation to law enforcement agencies and other emergency personnel at the direction of the Office ofEmergency Management during an emergency and permits such communications as part of any planning orpreparation for an emergency condition.

Governor Codey’s CommitmentGovernor Codey demonstrated his leadership and his commitment to enhancing New Jersey’s homeland securitypreparedness by:

Promulgating Executive Order 50, adopting the National Incident Management System (NIMS) for person-nel in New Jersey who respond to emergencies. This executive order requires that all New Jersey’s firstresponders be trained in the NIMS. State compliance with the NIMS is a requirement for all future federalhomeland security funding.

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Endorsing the issuance of a Task Force order requiring implementation of “Best Practices Standards” for165 chemical facilities that process extraordinarily hazardous substances. The order also requires facilities toreview whether they can substitute less toxic materials in their processes and to involve workers and theircollective bargaining representatives in security activities. This enforceable order will provide the public andworkers greater protection from potential terrorist acts.

Announcing, in his 2005 annual address to the Legislature, the most comprehensive school security initiativein the nation. This multi-part initiative ultimately resulted in a security compliance audit of approximately3,350 schools throughout New Jersey, the development of a comprehensive data base regarding the statusof these schools’ security posture, and numerous recommendations for increasing school security evenfurther moving forward.

Directing New Jersey’s comprehensive response to Hurricane Katrina. New Jersey sent nearly 1,000 volunteers— law enforcement, emergency medical, veterinary and other personnel — to New Orleans under the Emer-gency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) to provide assistance in the aftermath of the devastation.

Promulgating Executive Order 20, directing the creation of the New Jersey CBRNE (Chemical, Biological,Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive) Training and Research Center at the University of Medicine andDentistry of New Jersey. This center was created to work in collaboration with state government and serveas the facilitator in bringing together the vast array of expertise that exists in New Jersey and throughout thecountry in the areas of training, education, exercises, research and development relating to CBRNE threats.

Signing a memorandum of agreement in December 2004 with the U.S. Coast Guard, developed by the TaskForce, giving New Jersey State Police Marine Services officers the power to enforce federal laws in securityzones in New Jersey’s harbors. Through this agreement New Jersey became only the second state in thecountry to grant federal law enforcement powers to state marine officers, effectively providing a regional,cooperative approach to port security.

As noted earlier, this report allows us to take stock. It is clear that, by the end of its fourth year, the DomesticSecurity Preparedness Task Force had further institutionalized its procedures, structures and relationships. Ofparticular note are the adoption at the end of 2005 of a revised Task Force Plan of Operation, which codifies theTask Force’s standard operating procedures, and the adoption of a new and comprehensive Domestic SecurityPreparedness Strategy, which provides a blueprint for future activity. We continue to evolve and improve. Withoutquestion, TOPOFF 3 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, not to mention world events in London and Madrid, andthe continuing hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq, provide a continued reminder of the vital nature of our work.

Our recent participation in TOPOFF 3 and our relief efforts in response to the devastating hurricanes havealready taught us many lessons. They will — and must — continue to do so. One lesson is to remind us that alldisasters, man-made or natural, are local at their outset, and that the first response will always be local. They alsoremind us that, whether it is to prevent the next terrorist attack or to respond if the unthinkable happens, thepublic is relying on us. This is a shared responsibility that requires unprecedented cooperation among local,county, state and federal officials, as well as the collaboration of the private sector. This is an awesome andimmense responsibility for which we are accountable. Finally, these events remind us most emphatically that wecannot and will not tolerate complacency. We must constantly rededicate ourselves to our primary missions,break down their sometimes extraordinarily complex wholes into manageable parts, and keep at them constantly.

The Task Force accomplished many things in 2004-2005. They are documented in this report. While recent eventsonce again remind us that no amount of preparation can prevent every disaster or ensure a faultless response if oneoccurs, we can neither be discouraged nor slow our pace. We will continue to improve our ability to protect ourstate’s physical and economic assets, and to safeguard our most important assets: our families and citizens.

c: Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force Members

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Sometimes it does not hurt to restatethe obvious: The events of Septem-ber 11, 2001, had a profound effecton America’s citizens and, in particu-lar, on New Jersey’s. Along with ourneighbors in the tri-state area, we lostmany of our fellow citizens. Wewatched the towers fall from win-dows in our office buildings andhomes and from the streets of ourneighborhoods. Many nationaltelevision news outlets captured theaftermath of the day’s events fromour side of the Hudson, framing thesmoldering skyline tableau for theworld from New Jersey’s vantage.

The profound effect of that dayproduced rapid action and a newresolve for the state agencies andindividuals responsible for protectingNew Jersey and its citizens fromfurther attacks. Less than a monthlater, on October 4, 2001, New Jerseyenacted the Domestic Security Pre-paredness Act, creating the New JerseyDomestic Security Preparedness TaskForce, an entity charged by the law with“Statewide coordination and supervi-sion of all activities related to domesticpreparedness for a terrorist attack.”

In its four years of operation, theTask Force has taken many steps andpursued many initiatives to protect thestate’s citizens and critical industriesby developing and implementing acomprehensive program to preparefor, respond to and mitigate theeffects of any further terrorist attacks.

The Domestic Security PreparednessAct recognized that New Jersey had awell-established cadre of “opera-tional” agencies with expertise indifferent activities that are parts of aholistic statewide domestic securitypreparedness program. Unlike thereorganization of numerous federalagencies under the umbrella of theUnited States Department ofHomeland Security, which occurred

almost a year after the Task Forcewas established, New Jersey chosenot to subsume its agencies to theTask Force in direct reportingrelationships. Rather, it chose tohave the Task Force serve as acabinet-level body, capable of usingthe resources and expertise of theexisting agencies, whether in lawenforcement, healthcare, regulation,intelligence gathering, transportaion,technology development, etc., toexecute its responsibilities. Ultimately,the Task Force filled a gap in thestate’s domestic security structure —providing overall strategic planning,coordination and oversight.

As this report documents, with thecollaborative participation of 15 stateagencies, the Task Force’s activitiesare crosscutting and cross-jurisdic-tional and involve what continues asarguably the most extensive andcoordinated interagency operation inthe history of the executive branchof New Jersey state government.

A Theme-Based Report

In attempting to capture the com-plexity of these relationships andinterrelationships, this report adoptsa thematic approach. This approachis intended to capture in the fullestsense the melding of the variousagencies’ efforts toward commonobjectives.

The thematic areas that structure thisreport by chapter are as follows:

Federal Homeland SecurityFunding Strategy: The TaskForce’s comprehensive strategy forspending federal homeland securitydollars has focused on equippingfirst responders, protecting criticalinfrastructure and protectingagainst bioterror and other attacksby weapons of mass destruction.

chapter IIntroduction and Task Force Overview

terrorist attack. This includes atargeted effort to bring New Jerseyinto compliance with the newlyadopted National Incident Man-agement System (NIMS).Testing Preparedness, Planningand Training through Exercis-ing: Highlighting the Task Force’sefforts to develop a comprehensiveprogram of exercising culminatedin the national TOPOFF 3 exer-cise, the national and internationalexercise that brought a simulatedbiological attack to New Jersey inApril 2005.Preparing to Respond andResponding: Focusing on theTask Force agencies’ efforts tocontinually upgrade their planningand capabilities for responseefforts. They also responded to anumber of emergencies during theperiod covered by this report.Most notably, representatives ofthe New Jersey State Police, theDepartment of Health and SeniorServices, the Department ofAgriculture, the National Guardand members of the state’s North-eastern Urban Area SecurityInitiative (UASI) responded to thereal life aftermath of HurricaneKatrina, that devastated NewOrleans and the Gulf CoastRegion in August 2005.Lessons Learned: Looking to thefuture, the Task Force will beapplying a number of the lessons itlearned during the past two yearsand, especially, from the TOPOFF3 exercise and from observing andparticipating in the responses toHurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Reassessing State Efforts;Aligning State Efforts withNew Federal Mandates

In its four years of operation, theTask Force has worked first andforemost to protect New Jersey’s

Introduction and Task Force Overview

Protecting Critical Infrastruc-ture: Highlighting the Task Force’sefforts to protect the state’s criticalinfrastructure, approximately 85percent of which is owned by theprivate sector.Safeguarding the State AgainstChemical, Biological and OtherThreats: Focusing on the TaskForce’s efforts, spearheaded by theDepartments of Health and SeniorServices, Agriculture and Environ-mental Protection to safeguard thestate against weapons of massdestruction and, in particular,attacks by biological agents.Law Enforcement in the Age ofCounter-Terrorism: Detailing theTask Force’s proactive and preven-tive law enforcement initiatives aswell as its responsive law enforce-ment efforts.Sharing Information: The TaskForce’s initiatives to foster infor-mation sharing with all affectedagencies and stakeholder groupsthroughout the state, including thepublic, as well as its efforts to shareinformation with agencies in otherstates and in the federal govern-ment.Adopting Innovative Technol-ogy: Highlighting the Task Force’sefforts to use innovative technol-ogy to better meet its objectives inprotecting the state and its citizens.This includes developing solutionsto promote interoperability be-tween radio systems and adoptinghigh-tech solutions to detectradiation and other potential agentsthat terrorists might use.Training for State and Nation-wide Response: Focusing on theTask Force and its componentagencies’ extensive efforts toprovide training to various audi-ences throughout the state tobetter prepare them to deal withpreventing, responding to andmitigating the effects of a potential

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citizens and its critical facilities byfocusing attention on areas of greatestpotential vulnerability. This has meanttaking such actions — among manypossible examples — as adopting,with its private-sector partners, bestsecurity practices (Best Practices) toprotect our critical industries,remediating communications prob-lems that were revealed by the eventsof September 11, 2001, and develop-ing plans to distribute the StrategicNational Stockpile (SNS) of pharma-ceuticals to cope with a rapidlyemerging catastrophic disease.

With the maturing of the TaskForce’s efforts, however, and theparallel maturing of federal effortsled by the U.S. Department ofHomeland Security (DHS), the TaskForce has been able to take a stepback to reassess its efforts and codifythem into a well-reasoned andcomprehensive strategy.

This is in keeping with the Task Force’sself-identified need for constantassessment and reassessment. In fact,the Task Force’s first annual report tothe Legislature (2001-2002) specificallynoted that “Whether dealing withprevention, mitigation or response, eachphase of our preparedness and counter-terrorism activity — our efforts toprotect New Jersey families — willconstantly be examined, reevaluated,tested and modified, when necessary.”

This reassessment is also in line withnew national standards and prioritiesbeing set by DHS. As it enters itsthird year, DHS has promulgated anumber of templates for federal,state, county and local governments.

Chief among these are:

The National Response Plan(NRP), which defines the roles andresponsibilities of all levels ofgovernment and the private sectorin responding to incidents.

The National Incident ManagementSystem (NIMS), which provides acore set of guidelines, standards andprotocols for managing incidents.Starting in 2006, states must haveadopted NIMS in order to qualifyfor federal grant funds. (New Jerseytook this step when GovernorRichard J. Codey issued ExecutiveOrder 50, in August 2005, requir-ing New Jersey to adopt NIMS.)The National InfrastructureProtection Plan (NIPP), whichseeks to reduce the vulnerability ofcritical facilities by identifyingthreats and assets and settingpriorities for protection programs.The National Preparedness Goal,which establishes priorities, targetsand guidelines for the nation toanswer the questions, “Howprepared do we need to be?” and“How prepared are we?”

The National Preparedness Goalprovides an instructive yardstick bywhich to measure the Task Force andNew Jersey’s progress to date. Itestablishes seven national priorities intwo categories, according to DHS,“overarching priorities” and “capabil-ity-specific priorities”:

The National Preparedness Goal’sthree overarching priorities are to:

Implement the National IncidentManagement System and NationalResponse PlanExpand Regional Collaboration andImplement the Interim NationalInfrastructure Protection Plan

The four capability-specific priori-ties are to:

Strengthen Information Sharingand Collaboration CapabilitiesStrengthen Interoperable Commu-nications Capabilities

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- A Quick Look -THE NEW JERSEY DOMESTIC SECURITY

PREPAREDNESS TASK FORCEThe Domestic Security Preparedness TaskForce is New Jersey’s cabinet-level bodyresponsible for setting the state’s home-land security and domestic preparednesspolicy. The Task Force is also responsiblefor ensuring that this policy is carried out,and that it is carried out in a coordinatedfashion. In the past four years, New Jer-sey and the Task Force have taken manysteps to improve domestic security to pro-tect its citizens, and its critical industriesand facilities, from terrorist attacks.

MissionUnder the Domestic Security Prepared-ness Act, passed in October 2001, the TaskForce is charged with providing, “Statewidecoordination and supervision of all activi-ties related to domestic preparedness fora terrorist attack.” Additionally, the Act di-rects the Task Force to “prevent terroristattacks, to mitigate their impact and to pre-pare and plan for the various responsesrequired in the event of a terrorist attack.”

MembershipThe 15 state agencies that makeup the Task Force are:

Department of AgricultureOffice of the Attorney General/Department of Law and Public SafetyDepartment of Community AffairsDepartment of Environmental ProtectionDepartment of Health andSenior ServicesDepartment of Human ServicesDepartment of Labor andWorkforce DevelopmentDepartment of Military andVeterans AffairsDepartment of TransportationDepartment of TreasuryBoard of Public UtilitiesDivision of State PoliceOffice of Counter-TerrorismOffice of Information TechnologyGovernor’s Office of Recovery andVictim Assistance.

In addition, the Task Force has three pub-lic members and is chaired by AttorneyGeneral Peter C. Harvey.

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Strengthen Chemical, Biological,Radiological, Nuclear, and Explo-sive Detection, Response andDecontamination CapabilitiesStrengthen Medical Surge andMass Prophylaxis Capabilities

When New Jersey applied for itsfederal fiscal year 2004 homelandsecurity grant program funds inJanuary 2004, it set 12 priorities as thefocus of its State Homeland SecurityStrategy. These 12 priorities were:

Statewide Critical InfrastructureProtectionStatewide Intelligence ManagementInformation SystemStatewide Detection of TerroristActivityStatewide ResponseTrainingExercisesStatewide InteroperabilitySituational Awareness (i.e., theability to monitor and manageincidents in multiple jurisdictions)Emergency Medical Services TaskForce (to deal with injuries on acatastrophic scale)Citizen CorpsLocal Pass Through risk-based, or“Follow the Hazards” funding andRegional Capacity Building

Although the National PreparednessGoals did not exist when New Jerseysubmitted its 12-point HomelandSecurity Strategy, the state’s prioritiesare easily matched to priority areas ofthe more recent national program.In fact, as the State AdministrativeAuthority for the federal HomelandSecurity Grant Program, the Attor-ney General’s Grants ManagementOffice recently resubmitted these 12priorities to DHS’s Office for

Domestic Preparedness in a formthat explicitly conforms with theseven points of the National Pre-paredness Goal.

The point: The Task Force’s activitieshave kept New Jersey ahead of orabreast of developments in domesticsecurity throughout the nation. Thismay be a point of pride. But it mustnever be a point of complacency. Weknow that threats rise and recede.We saw that most recently in the July2005 London subway bombings andthen in November’s hotel bombingsin Amman, Jordan. The flow ofintelligence ebbs and surges. Tech-nologies rise, change and fall. As weare now observing internationallywith avian or bird influenza, newpathogens may emerge to plague us.As represented by the interagencyefforts of the Task Force docu-mented in this report, state govern-ment — often accused of beinginflexible or slow to change — haschanged. What’s more, it remainscommitted to reevaluation, reassess-ment and change.

Introduction and Task Force Overview

5

The Domestic Security PreparednessTask Force’s complex mandate toprevent, mitigate and respond toterrorist attacks, as well as to manageand coordinate remediation andrecovery efforts if an attack takesplace, requires resources. In 2004 and2005, the Task Force continued topursue a funding strategy to maxi-mize resources. Among its keyprinciples, this strategy emphasizes:

Relying on statewide and regionalsolutions and principles of mutualaid in order to prevent and respondto a terrorist incident.Determining county and localspending priorities at the countylevel, to foster regional solutionsand mutual aid.Basing funding decisions, to thegreatest extent possible, firmly onrisk, or “following the hazards.”Providing funding to protect thosecritical facilities in the state that aremost likely to be targeted byterrorists and would have thegreatest effects on citizens’ livesand health, as well as on the stateeconomy were they to be attacked.

From 1999 to 2005, the state and itsvarious agencies received more than$477.6 million in federal homelandsecurity funds, primarily from the U.S.Department of Homeland Security, toprotect against terrorist threats andrespond to terrorist incidents. From2002 to 2005, the Department of Lawand Public Safety distributed morethan $225 million of these federalhomeland security grants for firstresponders, critical infrastructureprotection and other purposes; thestate Department of Health andSenior Services distributed almost$40.5 million in federal bioterrorismprevention grants to state, county andlocal healthcare facilities; and the stateDepartment of Transportation, NewJersey Transit and other public and

chapter II2004-2005 Task Force Strategy for Homeland Security Funding

private agencies and facilities receivedmore than $46.2 million to protectmass transit facilities.

For federal fiscal year 2005, the U.S.Department of Homeland Securityannounced that it would be provid-ing New Jersey with $59.2 million infirst responder homeland securityfunds. This amount represented acut of almost one third from the$87.4 million the state received inhomeland security grants for firstresponders and critical infrastruc-ture in fiscal year 2004.

Funding Based on“Following the Hazards”

Soon after the Task Force was created, itconstituted a Funding Subcommittee todevelop specific funding strategies.Coordinated through the AttorneyGeneral’s Grants Management Office,this subcommittee is a broad-basedgroup made up of representatives fromthe Task Force’s component agencies,plus representatives from the state’svarious first responder disciplines as wellas representatives of non-Task Forceagencies, including the New JerseyDepartment of Corrections, the NewJersey College/University Public SafetyAssociation and the Port Authority ofNew York and New Jersey.

The Task Force and funding sub-committee identified 12 focus areasfor federal grants:

Protecting critical infrastructurestatewideManaging intelligence informationEnhancing statewide terrorismdetection initiativesEnhancing statewide responsecapabilitiesAugmenting training capacityBuilding on the state’s exerciseprogram

HOMELAND SECURITY FEDERAL FUNDING TO NJ FFY 99-FFY 05Amount

Law and Public Safety (1st Responders) $ 157,803,572 $110,454,979 allocated to local entities

UASI $ 63,222,980 $50,578,384 allocated to local units of government within thegreater Newark/Jersey City metro region

Buffer Zone Protection $ 2,731,219

All Other Funding to L&PS $ 22,000,084 Including resources for marine police, forensic andinteroperability equipment; and training

Subtotal - L&PS $ 245,757,855

Health and Senior Services $ 141,003,573

Transportation $ 46,206,208

ALL OTHER STATE DEPARTMENTS

Agriculture $ 241,040

Board Of Public Utilities $ 400,000

Community Affairs $ 160,000

Education $ 496,000

Environmental Protection $ 850,599

Human Services $ 8,949,000

State Department $ 255,000

UMDNJ $ 33,300,000

Subtotal - All Other State Departments $ 44,651,639

Total federal funds administered by state agencies $ 477,619,275 Excluding All Hazards

DIRECT FEDERAL AWARDS TO LOCAL ENTITIES

All Other Direct federal awards to local entities

Total DOJ to Locals $ 13,558,397 Includes funding for equipment, technology, training and overtime

Port Security $ 13,328,353

Security for Intercity Bus Travel $ 2,856,526

Total USEPA $ 1,035,000 EPA to water utility companies

DHS $ 2,750,000

Subtotal - Direct federal awards to local entities $ 33,528,276

Total Direct Awards To Local Entities $ 33,528,276 Excluding All Hazards

Total Federal Funds $ 511,147,551 Excluding All Hazards

All Hazards Funding

Assistance to Firefighters Grants $ 59,722,433 Direct federal award to local entities

All Hazards - L&PS $ 48,374,328 $2,747,659 is provided to local entities

Subtotal-All Hazards $ 108,096,761

Total Domestic Security Funding & All Hazards $ 619,244,3126

Developing Statewide interoperabilityfor radio communicationsDeveloping increased capacity toimprove situational awareness, i.e., theability to exchange secure real-timedata and information during and inresponse to a terrorist incidentDeveloping unified emergencymedical services (EMS) resourcesfor response to terrorist incidentsEnhancing the capacities of citizenvolunteers to protect themselves, theirfamilies and their communities in theevent of a terrorist or other incidentAugmenting regional planningcapacity to improve counties’abilities to detect, deter, preventand respond to terrorist activityContinuing the “follow the haz-ards,” or risk-based approach fordistributing funds to first respond-ers to prevent, detect and respondto potential incidents

This last point is critical. TheFunding Subcommittee determinedearly on that federal funding distrib-uted by the state must be based onrisk, specifically the added risk tocommunities of hosting facilities thatwould be most likely to attract adevastating terrorist attack.

That is why, since 2003, the TaskForce has based the amount offederal funding allocated to eachcounty on the number of criticalfacilities identified in each county bystate, county and federal officials.Funding is keyed to the added riskfactors of hosting facilities thatmight be the most likely to attract adevastating terrorist attack.

Local Funding PrioritiesDecided at County Level

Although federal grants do not requireany particular decision-making processregarding how funds are distributed,

New Jersey has chosen to pursue a“bottom up” approach to funding. Inso doing, the Task Force recognized thatcounties and municipalities play asignificant role in protecting citizens —their first responders will undoubtedlybe the first on the scene of any terroristor catastrophic event. Thus, the statehas developed the overarching strategyfor protection, but has relied extensivelyon the counties to help determine howfunds are distributed locally. Clearly, thecounties have a better understanding ofthe strengths and particular vulnerabili-ties within their borders.

County Working Groups

Starting with funding in 2003, the TaskForce required each county to form aCounty Multi-Disciplinary WorkingGroup, and charged the working groupwith developing strategies and fundingplans centered on protecting — andresponding to potential incidents at —sites where threats or hazards had beenidentified within the county. At aminimum, the county working groupincludes the county office of emer-gency management coordinator,county freeholder director or countyadministrator or executive, countyfiscal officer, county prosecutor ordesignee, county police chiefs’ associa-tion representative, county fire coordi-nator or fire marshal, county emer-gency medical services coordinator,and county hazmat team representa-tive. Beginning with the 2005 federalgrant cycle, the working group wasexpanded to include the county’smedical examiner, health officer, criticalinfrastructure coordinator, domesticpreparedness planner, as well asrepresentatives from county healthcareinstitutions and from the county’s citieswith the two largest populations.

During both the fiscal year 2004 and2005 grant processes, the state workeddirectly with representatives of thecounty working groups to review and

approve the specific spending plan foreach county’s share of funding.

Consonant with the Task Force’svision, the great majority of countiesare making purchases of equipmentthat are being pooled for usethroughout the entire county. Withlimited resources, it makes sense fora county to purchase one or twoemergency response commandvehicles, for example, that can berapidly deployed anywhere in acounty, rather than attempting toprovide an expensive vehicle to everytown in the county. Likewise, theTask Force has encouraged thecounties to purchase a limitednumber of CBRNE (chemical,biological, radiological, nuclear andexplosive) response vehicles, with theunderstanding that not every townneeds to develop a world-classresponse protocol for weapons ofmass destruction, if the county hasone or more units readily available tocover its jurisdiction.

The counties’ purchases also includeall types of personal protectionequipment (PPE), such as “escapehoods” and gas masks. They includeradiation-detecting pagers, all-terrainand sports-utility emergency responsevehicles. They also include such itemsas long-range digital cameras andother electronic surveillance equip-ment and new radio equipment whichis designed to foster “interoperability,”or the ability of first responders whouse differing radio systems to commu-nicate with each other during times ofemergency.

Regional Planning

The Task Force’s ultimate objective isto extend county planning to a trulyregional basis. To that end, it hasdivided the state’s counties into fivelarger regions for purposes ofplanning and developing strategies to

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2004-2005 Task Force Strategy for Homeland Security Funding

8

make the most effective use of grantmonies. The five regions are:

Urban Area Security Initiative(UASI) Region, the already feder-ally funded six-county group,Essex, Union, Morris, Passaic,Bergen and Hudson, plus the corecities of Newark and Jersey CityNorthwest Region: Sussex, Warrenand HunterdonCentral Region: Somerset,Middlesex, Mercer and MonmouthDelaware Bay/River Region:Burlington, Camden, Gloucester,Salem and CumberlandShore Region: Ocean, Atlantic andCape May

Through the Task Force, both theCentral and Delaware Regions havereceived seed funding from the state’sfederal grants to work on region-wide initiatives, including improvingradio interoperability and the deploy-ment of emergency medical services.All five regions have received trainingin grants management and long-termplanning to enhance their use offunds and ability to plan comprehen-sively for the future.

Funding for First Respondersand Critical InfrastructureProtection

The Department of HomelandSecurity’s homeland security grantprogram represents the largestportion of federal funds coming intoNew Jersey to enhance the state’ssecurity. Based on a comprehensiveplan developed by the Task Force’sbroad-based funding committee andapproved by the Task Force, theDepartment of Law and Public Safetyhas distributed these first-responderand critical infrastructure funds toprovide police officers, firefighters,emergency medical services personnel,healthcare and transportation person-

nel with equipment and training tohelp them protect citizens’ lives andcritical infrastructure in the event ofan attack or natural disaster.

As a condition of federal homelandsecurity funding, the state must pass80 percent of the funds it receives tocounties and municipalities. Infederal fiscal years 2003, 2004, and2005, New Jersey provided directawards to counties of almost $83.6million under the Homeland Grant,Law Enforcement and Citizen CorpsGrant Programs. This funding wasdistributed to the counties as follows:

Direct Federal Pass-ThroughFunding to Counties, FederalFiscal Years 2003 - 2005

Atlantic $ 3,679,715.00Bergen $ 5,155,010.00Burlington $ 4,106,767.00Camden $ 3,907,481.00Cape May $ 1,552,058.00Cumberland $ 2,697,011.00Essex $ 6,339,633.00Gloucester $ 4,986,617.00Hudson $ 6,047,481.00Hunterdon $ 2,908,895.00Mercer $ 4,047,895.00Middlesex $ 7,794,954.00Monmouth $ 2,800,605.00Morris $ 3,276,453.00Ocean $ 2,444,654.00Passaic $ 6,498,575.00Salem $ 2,948,515.00Somerset $ 3,477,504.00Sussex $ 1,672,778.00Union $ 5,018,733.00Warren $ 2,222,217.00TOTAL $ 83,583,551.00

In fiscal year 2004, the counties’ directshares totaled more than $32.5 million.In addition to direct fiscal year 2004funds that the counties received, theyalso shared in more than $9.8 million instate-sponsored local initiatives. Theseinitiatives included such programs asfunding to support:

9

Nine local and county bomb squadsthat, with the State Police BombUnit, make up the state’s Detect andRender Safe Bomb Task Force.This task force has forged a coordi-nated statewide program forexplosive detection and response,complete with standardized re-sources and training at the local,county and state levels. This TaskForce routinely shares resourceswith New Jersey Transit and theDelaware River Port Authority toenhance transit security.Development of regional emer-gency medical services task forcesto deal with catastrophic healthcareemergencies.Statewide efforts benefitting localgovernments that focus on informa-tion technology and informationsharing. These include such pro-grams as the Critical Asset TrackingSystem (CATS), the StatewideIntelligence Management System(SIMS) and an on-line trainingacademy for all first responders.

For federal fiscal year 2005, the TaskForce developed a plan to passthrough almost $29.7 million infederal funds to the counties. Thisamount included more than $21.7million in direct awards to thecounties and more than $8 million instate-sponsored programs forcounties and municipalities.

Urban Area Security Initiative

The Urban Area Security Initiative isa federal grant program that passesfunds to county and municipalgovernments through the State. Theintent of the UASI program is tocreate a sustainable national modelto enhance security and overallpreparedness efforts to prevent,respond to, and mitigate incidentsof CBRNE terrorism. As part ofthe UASI grant requirements, the

In thrIn thrIn thrIn thrIn three yee yee yee yee yearearearearearsssss,,,,, 2003 - 2005, 2003 - 2005, 2003 - 2005, 2003 - 2005, 2003 - 2005, U U U U UASI fundsASI fundsASI fundsASI fundsASI fundswwwwwererererere ee ee ee ee expended on the fxpended on the fxpended on the fxpended on the fxpended on the folloolloolloolloollowing fwing fwing fwing fwing focus arocus arocus arocus arocus areas:eas:eas:eas:eas:

FOCUS AREA AMOUNT EXPENDED

Regional Fire Decontamination/Response $ 11.3 million(foam caches, air cascades, water vessels,response/specialized equipment)

Regional urban search and rescue (USAR) capability $ 11 million(9 fire departments — Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken,North Hudson Regional, Elizabeth, Hackensack,Morristown, Paterson, Bayonne)

Regional Law Enforcement Task Force $ 8 million(a rapid deployment force of 1,000 local police officersand 60 State Police personnel provided withstandardized equipment and training)

Regional EMS Task Force $ 2.6 million(pre-selected EMS squads - std equipment and training)

Regional Interoperability Communication $ 11.2 million(to improve radio capabilities among variousfirst responder groups using different equipment)

Regional hard and soft target hardening $ 7.65 million(water supply resources,New Jersey Transit facilitiesand 10 shopping malls)

Regional Situational Awareness $ 6.6 million(tracking response to events, through E-Team and SiteProfiler software, Geographic Information System)

Increasing regional and local planning capacity $ 1.3 million(eight planners)

Reginal Medical Examiner enhancements $ .210million

Basic personal protective equipment (PPE) $ .243millionfor law enforcement

Miscellaneous $ 3 million(specialized training, exercises, human patient simulators/mannequins, enhanced security for Port Authority of NY/NJand advanced helicopter radar detecting systems)

Total UASI 2003 - 2005 regional initiatives $ 63.2 million


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2005 UASI Funding Cuts

Along with cuts to New Jersey’s firstresponder grant programs an-nounced at the end of 2004, theDepartment of Homeland Securityannounced that New Jersey’s UASIprogram would suffer a cut of nearly40 percent from 2004 to 2005, withan allotment of $32 million for 2004shrinking to approximately $19.4million in 2005.

Federal funding for UASI went upnationally overall from 2004 to 2005,and the same formula and riskfactors that determined 2004 fundingwere also applied in 2005. As aresult, New Jersey had expected atleast a similar level of funding for2005 as it had received the previousyear. With the cut in funding, theUASI program had to scale back itsplans significantly.

Governor Codey protested immedi-ately to the Department of Home-land Security, meeting with DHSleaders and members of NewJersey’s congressional delegation.Ultimately, funds were not restored.Albeit scaled down, the vital coop-erative cross- and inter-governmen-tal work that makes the UASI

U.S. Department of HomelandSecurity requires that a comprehen-sive, regional planning approach betaken to address the special needsfor this metropolitan area.

Through this program, the state hasdistributed more than $63 million infederal homeland security funds infederal fiscal years 2003 ($11.9million), 2004 (almost $32 million)and 2005 ($19.4 million) to the sixcounties participating in our North-eastern Urban Area Security Initiative(UASI) — Bergen, Essex, Hudson,Morris, Passaic and Union counties,as well as the core cities of Newarkand Jersey City. Similar to the countyworking groups, the UASI workinggroup, a requirement of the federalgrant, develops its own spendingplans within the statewide strategyand with Task Force oversight.

New Jersey’s UASI program isemblematic of the state’s pressingneeds for security protection. It alsohighlights the state’s regional vision.

Spanning 1,164 square miles – morethan 15 percent of New Jersey’s totalsquare mileage — this six-countymetropolitan area has a populationof 3.8 million, which is more than 44percent of the State’s total popula-tion. The area also incorporatesmany core elements of New Jersey’stransportation infrastructure, includ-ing the George Washington Bridge,the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, thePorts of Elizabeth and Newark, theNew Jersey Turnpike/Interstate 95and Garden State Parkway, Amtrak’sNortheast Corridor, Newark PennStation and Newark Liberty Interna-tional Airport.

The area is also dense with chemi-cal manufacturing plants and othercritical infrastructure. The con-tiguous counties involved in theUASI already share verbal and

written mutual aid agreements andhave, for some time, workedtogether on coordinated emer-gency response efforts.

In 2003 and 2004, UASI focus areasincluded enhancing security of:

Transportation (bridges, roadways,tunnels, air/sea ports, waterfront,freight and passenger rail roadsChemical/Drug ManufacturersShopping malls, sports complexesWater reservoirs and distribution,water treatment and damsHealthcare facilities and hospitals

11

program a model initiative contin-ues, with the protection of almosthalf New Jersey’s population andthe area’s vital infrastructuresquarely within its sites.

Port Security Grants

In 2005, New Jersey received morethan $2.5 million in federal portsecurity grants to increase protectionof the Ports of Camden and NewYork/New Jersey. The grants, fromthe Department of HomelandSecurity’s Port Security GrantProgram, will be used to purchasenew 28-foot boats and marineresponse and surveillance equipmentfor the State Police to increasesecurity at the two ports. The grantsallocate $932,000 to the Office of theAttorney General/Department ofLaw and Public Safety for use at thePort of Camden and $1,617,000 forthe state’s use in the Port of NewYork and New Jersey. The allocationfor Camden was the sole allocationunder this national grant program forthat port. Total grants to New Jerseyand New York for the entire Port ofNew York/New Jersey in 2005totaled just under $6.62 million.

These grants will help the statebuild on its existing port securityefforts and will also enhance thestate’s close working relationshipswith its port security partners,including the U.S. Coast Guard, thePort Authority of New York andNew Jersey, the South Jersey PortCorporation and the DelawareRiver Port Authority. According toDHS, the 2005 port grant recipi-ents were chosen through a com-petitive process that employed arisk-based formula that weighedpotential threats to and vulnerabili-ties of the ports and the conse-quences of an attack on people, theeconomy and national security. Allapplications were rated on a uni-

form set of criteria and subse-quently reviewed by the relevantU.S. Coast Guard port captains andby panels of regional and nationalsubject matter experts.

Grants to ProtectMass Transportation

In federal fiscal year 2005, the Depart-ment of Homeland Security changedthe funding process for protectingurban mass transit systems. Inprevious years, DHS awarded fundsdirectly to the affected state or masstransit agency. For 2005 DHSprovided funding to the top 28 masstransit agencies on a regionalizedbasis. Thus, New Jersey is sharingalmost $37.6 million with New YorkCity and Connecticut mass transitagencies in its northern region andnearly $7.8 million withPhiladelphia-area mass transit agenciesin southern region. In both regions,mirroring the process that the TaskForce had adopted for New Jersey, theaffected agencies met to develop aregional strategy first and then tonegotiate the funding based on thisstrategy. New Jersey Transit and theNew Jersey Department of Transpor-tation will share more than $5.5million of the metropolitan NewJersey-New York-Connecticut regionalallotment. In the Philadelphia area,New Jersey Transit will have almost $2million worth of surveillance camerasinstalled on its trains and in itsstations. The Regional Transit Work-ing Groups that developed theseprotection and funding strategies willremain in place to oversee the imple-mentation of the projects identifiedduring the development of thestrategy and funding plan.

Also in the New York Region, thePort Authority of New York andNew Jersey will receive almost $1.7million for protecting its PATHtrain system. In the Philadelphia

region, the Delaware River PortAuthority’s (DRPA’s) PATCOSpeedline will receive almost $2million for added security. The PortAuthority of New York and NewJersey will also receive $70,000 for aproject to enhance security at itsNew York City ferry terminal.

In addition, six New Jersey privateintra-city bus lines will share morethan $2.1 million out of a total ofalmost $4.5 million allotted formotor coach protection in the NewJersey-New York-Connecticutregion. These funds go directly tothe private carriers.

Funding to Guard AgainstBioterorrism

New Jersey’s Department of Healthand Senior Services has been thestate’s lead agency for planning andpreparing to deal with the healthconsequences of an act of terrorism.In 2004-2005, the Department hadresponsibility for approximately$70.7 million in federal and $23.8million in state funding to continueto build statewide and regionalcapacity to deal with the catastrophichealth consequences of a terrorist


12

attack or other incident. These fundshave been used to ensure that criticalcapacities continue to develop ineight key areas:

Emergency preparedness planning,assessment and response;Disease surveillance epidemiology;Laboratory detection capabilitiesfor biological and chemical agents;Emergency communications andadministration of the Health AlertNetwork;Risk communication;Education, training, and workforcedevelopment;Decontamination; andManagement of mass casualties.

In 2004 and 2005, the Departmentawarded nearly $13.5 million in stategrants to 82 New Jersey hospitals and13 federally qualified health centers toaugment their ability to respond topublic health emergencies of all kinds.Individual grants ranged from $5,000to $165,000 and were dedicated tostrengthening the state’s health caresystem’s resonse to chemical, biologi-cal, radiological, nuclear and explosive

U.S DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDSAdministered by the Departament of Law & Public Safety (Federal Fiscal Years 2002 - 2005)

FY 02 FY 03* FY 04 FY 05 Totals

Homeland Security Grant Program $ 7,948,000 $ 51,893,000 $ 55,424,000 $ 36,646,388 $ 151,911,388

Urban Area Security Initiative $ 11,892,942 $ 31,976,630 $ 19,353,418 $ 63,222,990

Metropolitan Medical Respone System $ 455,184 $ 455,184

Buffer Zone Protection Program $ 2,731,219 $ 2,731,219

Radiological Dispersion Device Program $ 7,000,000

$ 7,948,000 $ 70,785,942 $ 87,400,630 $ 59,186,209 $ 225,320,781

*Includes Phase I and II Iraq war supplemental funding

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incidents. All grant applicants had todocument how the supplies andequipment bought with the grantswould augment their current disasterplans, enhance capacity for emergencycare and the treatment of masscasualties, enhance management ofinfectious diseases, upgrade diseasecontrol and decontamination facilitiesand contribute to regionalized publicheath response.

New Jersey’s Commitment

Between 2002 and 2005, New Jerseyprovided approximately $573 millionin state funds for homeland securityefforts. While New Jersey continues

to spend additional funds to protectits citizens and communities, totalfederal homeland security fundingfor first responders to the state, asnoted, was cut, more than a third,from $55.4 million 2004 to $36.6million for 2005. New Jersey’s shareof federal Urban Area SecurityInitiative (UASI) funds for pre-paredness efforts in the state’s sixnortheast counties as well as New-ark and Jersey City, was cut nearly 40percent, from $32 million in 2004 to$19.4 million in 2005.

The federal Homeland Security GrantProgram previously distributed tostates is not based on risk, but ratheron a formula that provides all 50 statesa guaranteed minimum of funding.Congress has now changed thatprogram. Although, the new programstill provides each state the sameguaranteed minimum percentage ofthe total funds, the remaining dollarswill be distributed based on each state’sdocumented needs and perceived risks,

as opposed to being distributed basedsolely on population as was done in thepast. In theory, this new formulashould provide added benefits to astate rich in infrastructure and criticalfacilities like New Jersey.

In the final analysis, despite finiteresources and less-than-adequatefederal funding, New Jersey hasprovided its state agencies, countiesand municipalities with adequate levelsof equipment and training to ensurethat it is better prepared to prevent,respond to and lessen the effects ofterrorist attacks and other majorcatastrophes. With creative thinking,New Jersey has done the best jobpossible with the dollars on hand andwill continue — with the continuedbipartisan help of its congressionaldelegation — to seek additional fundsand pursue innovative strategies toensure that its citizens and criticalfacilities are protected.

County TOTALAtlantic $ 1,897,891Bergen $ 2,144,978Burlington $ 1,887,744Camden $ 1,886,160Cape May $ 1,806,152Cumberland/Salem $ 2,013,866Essex $ 1,815,585Gloucester $ 1,630,474Hudson $ 1,899,857Hunterdon $ 1,722,458Mercer $ 1,913,493Middlesex $ 2,006,054Monmouth $ 2,016,280Morris $ 2,158,368City of Newark $ 1,796,415Ocean $ 1,929,500Passaic $ 1,759,406City of Paterson $ 1,119,197Somerset $ 1,677,476Sussex $ 1,893,418Union $ 1,965,960Warren $ 1,537,954GRAND TOTAL $ 40,478,686

Source of funds, U.S. Health Resources &Services Administration, and Centers forDisease Control & PreventionIn addition to these direct awards tocounties/LINCS agencies, DHSS hasassigned a state Health PreparednessPlanner to each of the 22 LINCS agencies.

Dept. of Health and Senior ServicesFederal Funding to Counties and

LINCS Agencies 2002 - 2005

Preventing terrorist attacks — andminimizing the effects of a attack —against New Jersey’s most criticalfacilities are among the Task Force’shighest priorities. This chapter willprovide an overview of some of thestate’s key efforts aimed at protectingkey sites, especially the adoption ofBest Security Practices by industry andthe monitoring of industry’s imple-mentation of these Best Practices.

As is often the case, the Task Force’sprotective activities are intertwined inseveral areas. Thus, protecting criticalinfrastructure involves Best Practicesand their implementation, but it alsoinvolves training staff to monitor thesebest practices by performing compli-ance checks. It also involves exercisingto determine that Best Practicesimplementation is effective. And theseprotective efforts are complemented bylaw enforcement initiatives, such asintelligence gathering and infrastruc-ture surveillance. Many of theseadditional infrastructure-relatedactivities will be dealt with in greaterdetail in other chapters of this report.

New Jersey’s collaboration andpartnerships with the private sectorto enhance security may be uniqueamong the states. Public and privatesector collaboration is actuallywritten into the state law that createdthe Task Force. The DomesticSecurity Preparedness Act of 2001established an Infrastructure Advi-sory Committee (IAC) as a private-sector component of the Task Force.New Jersey thus acknowledged that,since 85 to 90 percent of the infra-structure in the state is privatelyowned, protecting life and propertymust be undertaken as a joint effortbetween government and industry.

Beginning in 2001, the Task Forceinitially identified and began workingon Best Practices with 24 key indus-trial sectors that account for the

strength of New Jersey’s economyand quality of life, such as gas, waterand electric utilities, nuclear facilities,the telecommunications, transporta-tion, food, agriculture, construction,health care, chemical and pharmaceu-tical industries. In 2003, the TaskForce added schools as a new sectorand consolidated several others. As aresult, there are currently a total of20 IAC sectors.

The various Infrastructure AdvisoryCommittee sectors meet regularly toshare information and securitystrategies. They also meet regularlywith the Task Force and their liaisonsin the state agencies. Each of theIAC sectors is paired with one ormore of the Task Force agencies.These partnerships are usually basedon prior relationships. For example,the state Department of Environ-mental Protection is liaison to thechemical industry sector, an industryover which it has existing authority.Likewise, gas and electric utilities arepaired with the state Board of PublicUtilities, healthcare facilities with theState Department of Health andSenior Services, and so on.

Best Practices for a particularindustry represent a baseline securityplan that can apply across an entiresector. Best Practices focus onprevention, preparation, response toand recovery from terrorist activities.They include detailed lists of meth-ods, processes, procedures andactions that can be taken to protectthe critical infrastructure site. Theyare developed by IAC private indus-try sector members, along with inputfrom the state agencies that serve asliaisons to each group, and theyinclude such considerations as:

Assessing a site’s specific vulner-abilities and documenting themethodologies for making theseassessments.

chapter IIIProtecting Critical Infrastructure

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“Hardening,” or increasing physicalsecurity of the facility, includingadding fencing, barriers, andcontrols for staff and vehicleaccess.Setting up protocols to ensure thecontinuity of communications.Developing and implementingprotocols for employee, vendorand delivery person backgroundchecks.Developing and adopting protocolsfor adjusting a site’s securitymeasures based on changes in theHomeland Security Alert System(HSAS).Developing protocols related tocyber-security and the protectionof computer content and commu-nications.Developing capacity and specificplans to respond to a crisis.Developing contingency andcontinuity plans to ensure that asite can continue to function orshift functions to another locationin the aftermath of a terroristincident.

After their review and approval, theTask Force submits Best Practices tothe Governor for his review andendorsement. When the Governorapproves an industry Best Practice,he formally directs the state agencyhead whose agency is liaison to thesector to take certain steps. Thesesteps include:

Disseminating the Best Practices toeach entity within the sector.Encouraging implementation andcompliance with the Best Practicesby the members of the sector.Establishing a capacity to providetraining, education and technicalassistance for each entity within thesector to ensure implementationand compliance.

Establishing a capacity to monitorimplementation and compliancefor each entity within the sector.Reporting back to the Task Forceand the Governor twice a yearregarding the status of implementa-tion and compliance with the BestPractices, with a recommendation asto what additional steps may beneeded to ensure compliance.

In 2001-2002, all IAC sectors submit-ted Best Practices and began imple-menting them. During 2003, the 20IAC sectors submitted, and the TaskForce approved, a second, moreexpansive, generation of industryBest Practices. In 2004-2005, thisprocess continued, with additionalIAC sub-sectors finalizing BestPractices and the Task Force focus-ing its attention on monitoring theiracross-the-board implementation.

Identifying and Evaluating“Critical Infrastructure”

Best Practices can and should beapplied at all facilities. However,given the large number of potentialtargets and the fact that resources arelimited, it is impossible to guaranteeabsolute protection for every con-ceivable terrorist target. Thus, theTask Force, with the Office ofCounter-Terrorism, the other TaskForce agencies, the IAC and countyofficials, has worked to identify NewJersey’s most critical infrastructuresites, which could be the most likelypotential terrorist targets. The TaskForce’s compelling obligation toaggressively protect its citizensdemands no less.

Prior to September 11, 2001, aneffort was underway to identify thestate’s critical sites. After the forma-tion of the Task Force, this initialassessment was expanded to createan initial critical infrastructure list

Best Security Practicesrepresent a baseline planthat can apply across anentire industrial sector.They focus on prevention,preparation, responseand recovery fromterrorist activity.

Protecting Critical Infrastructure

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based on a system known as theCARVER method. (Developed bythe Department of Defense to setpriorities for military targets,CARVER is an acronym for Critical-ity, Accessibility, Recoverability,Vulnerability, Effect and Recogniz-ability. Criticality refers to howimportant the target is; accessibilityto how easily a target can be reached;Recoverability to how long it will taketo replace or repair the target;Vulnerability to how susceptible thetarget is to an attack; Effect to theimpact the target’s destruction haveon the public; Recognizability to howreadily can a target be identified andnot confused with other structures.)

New Jersey’s critical sites includebusiness/industry infrastructures,communication facilities, dams,government infrastructure, recreationcenters, retail shopping areas, publicutilities, transportation sites, andchemical manufacturing and storagelocations. In July 2002, the TaskForce issued an order requiringmeasures to improve the level ofprotection from terrorism at themost critical of these sites.

Continuing Effortsto Evaluate Potential Targets

Subsequently, the Task Force refinedthe evaluation criteria by placing thesites in five tiers, with Tier 1 beingthe most critical. The Task Force’stiering process drew on the Depart-ment of Homeland Security’sNational Criteria for the Assessmentof Critical Infrastructure (for Tier 1)as well as state-developed assess-ments (for Tiers 2-5). The NewJersey tiering system is as follows:

Tier 1 critical infrastructure sitesare those identified by the TaskForce and its agencies that havemet certain Department ofHomeland Security criteria.

Tier 2 critical infrastructure sitesare those sites which the TaskForce (working with memberagencies and the IAC) has deter-mined meet certain state criteriafor criticality.Sites assigned to Tiers 1 and 2represent the facilities currentlyreceiving priority attention fromthe state.Tiers 3 through 5 capture sites thatdo not meet the criticality levels ofTiers 1 and 2. However, theypresent areas of concern based onspecific threat scenarios. Theyhave been identified by the TaskForce’s member state agencies orcounty agencies.

The Office of Counter-Terrorismand its Critical Infrastructure Unithelped to refine previous federalDHS criteria for designating “Na-tional Assets” among Critical Infra-structure and Key Resources (CI/KR). This helped the Task Forceagencies clarify state critical infra-structure criteria and led to anexpansion of critical sites statewideand an overall increase in the visibil-ity of those sites that were indeedtruly critical. This effort supportedand ultimately proved to be thebaseline for numerous programs,including vulnerability assessmentsand the state’s security Best Practices.

Site Profiler — To help identifycritical infrastructure sites, NewJersey has invested more than $1.4million to date in a risk managementsoftware package called Site Profilerthat was tested on a pilot basis. Thissoftware provides a standardized andautomated tool to measure vulner-ability and risk of critical facilitiesand assets across the state. Followingthis pilot project that demonstratedhow law enforcement, emergencymanagement, and critical infrastruc-ture protection professionals at the


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county and state levels could beintegrated together to identify risks tothe state and prioritize homelandsecurity expenditures, the Office ofCounter-Terrorism will be deployingthis software statewide.

Critical Sites Key to FundingPriorities — A thoroughly vettedand updated state critical infrastruc-ture list is also the linchpin for thestate’s distribution of federal Home-land Security Grant program dollars.To maximize their protection, NewJersey distributes its federal grantdollars based on the number ofcritical sites in each of its 21 counties.

New Jersey’s infrastructure list isdynamic. The Task Force, OCT andother state agencies continue to useall the tools at their disposal to reviewand prioritize potential targets, andcontinue to coordinate and supervisethe preparation of a comprehensiveplan that will better protect them.

County CriticalInfrastructure Coordinators

Part of the process of assessing criticalinfrastructure depends on collaborationwith industry, but also on expertise atthe county level. The Task Force firmlybelieves that its statewide view of criticalinfrastructure must be complemented byother perspectives. To this end, begin-ning with the 2004 federal grant year, theTask Force used federal homelandsecurity dollars to fund a position for acritical infrastructure coordinator in eachof the 21 county prosecutor’s offices.The duties and responsibilities of thecounty critical infrastructure coordi-nator include:

Assessing and identifying criticalityand vulnerability in the county’scritical sites.Conducting threat and risk man-agement analyses, and vulnerabilityand risk assessments

Coordinating the development oftarget hardening and buffer zoneprotection plans within the county.Cataloging, verifying and maintain-ing a data base of critical infra-structure that resides in or impactsthe county.

Each county critical infrastructurecoordinator is a member of therespective multi-disciplinary CountyWorking Group that develops localhomeland security funding strategies.He or she also interacts regularly in ateam approach with key staffthroughout the state including thecounty counter-terrorism coordina-tor, local and state law enforcementagencies, the New Jersey Office ofCounter-Terrorism, as well as withother state agencies involved insecuring the safety of New Jersey’scritical infrastructure sites.

OCT provides orientation andtraining for newly hired countycritical infrastructure coordinators toensure that they can help identify andinventory all countywide criticalinfrastructure and provide localexpertise to facility owners/operatorsto help improve their overall securityposture.

Enhancing School Security

In 2004-2005, Best Practices forschools and issues of school securitytook center stage. As noted, the TaskForce had identified schools as“critical infrastructure” in March2003, and created a “Schools” sectorwithin the Infrastructure AdvisoryCommittee. The Task Force assignedthe State Department of Education asliaison agency to the Schools Sectorand it began working with schoolofficials to develop Best Practices forschool security — identifying thosephysical security measures that couldbe uniformly adopted by schools toenhance security and “target harden”

Beginning in 2004,the Task Force used federalhomeland security dollars tofund a critical infrastructurecoordinator in each county.

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school buildings. In spring 2004, theTask Force endorsed these SchoolBest Practices which were then,according to Task Force procedure,sent to the Governor for his approval.After the Governor endorsed theschool Best Practices, the educationdepartment then disseminated themto the school community.

Then, in summer 2004, more than 300children were killed by terrorists at aschool in Beslan, Russia. Securityefforts that were underway wereimmediately stepped up under theauspices of the Task Force:

At the direction of the Task Force,the Department of Education senta letter to all schools urgingdistricts to take certain immediatesecurity measures.Attorney General Harvey directedcounty prosecutors to meet withcounty and district school officialsas well as with local law enforce-ment officials to examine — froma law enforcement perspective —the security measures that shouldbe taken to protect schoolchildren’s safety.The State Office of EmergencyManagement advised each of the21 County Emergency Manage-ment Coordinators to work with localschool districts so that all first respond-ers were on the same page in the eventof a terrorist incident at a school.

Governor’s SchoolSecurity Initiative

Then, in January 2005, in his annualmessage to the Legislature, GovernorCodey raised the ante on schoolprotection efforts even further,setting in motion an unprecedentedprogram to evaluate and upgradesecurity for New Jersey’s 1.4 millionschool children. The Governorannounced a program incorporatingthe following components:

“Model School” Program —Exploring New Directions inSchool Security Technology —Governor Codey kicked off the“Model School” program in theWest Paterson School District inFebruary 2005. Funded with$100,000 in federal homelandsecurity grant funding from thestate’s Urban Area Security Initia-tive (UASI) and supervised by theNew Jersey Institute of Technol-ogy and the Passaic CountyProsecutor’s Office, the “ModelSchool” program is testing newtechnologies in the West PatersonSchools that can be adapted toprotect schools across New Jersey.Technologies being tested include“smart cameras” that can beprogrammed to tell the differencebetween normal hallway traffic andunusual or suspicious behaviors,smart ID cards unique to eachteacher and staff member, and abiometric system that would beused to identify visitors to theschool. Once the initiative isevaluated and presented to theTask Force, recommendations willbe made as to which technologieshold the best promise to enhanceschool security statewide.Security Training for SchoolAdministrators and Teachers —Recognizing that “target harden-ing” must be accompanied by thetraining of staff to help teachers,school nurses and other educationofficials on security issues, the stateasked the U.S. Department ofHomeland Security to providefederal “Soft Target VulnerabilityAssessment Training” to schoolofficials in New Jersey. Coordi-nated by staff at the Office ofCounter-Terrorism, this traininghas now been offered four timesthroughout the state to hundredsof participants. In addition toschool officials, the training hasbeen offered to representatives of


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many types of facilities, includinghouses of worship, casinos, hotelsand shopping centers.Convening a School SecuritySummit — Held at RutgersUniversity in New Brunswick inMay 2005, the full-day SchoolSecurity Summit brought togetherschool officials, academics, lawenforcement officers and govern-ment officials to share expertiseand the latest information aboutincreasing school security. Oneoutgrowth of the summit was thecreation of a new, continuingeducation course for teachers onschool security and emergencymanagement. The Task Force isworking with Rutgers and NewJersey’s educational community todevelop the course and determinehow it can best be offered anddelivered to teachers.Comprehensive School SecurityChecklist and Audit — Thecenterpiece of Governor Codey’sinitiative was the creation of aschool security checklist and thesubsequent application of thechecklist in an audit of virtuallyevery school building in New Jersey.

School SecurityChecklist and Audit

Working together, the state Depart-ment of Education, New Jersey StatePolice and state Office of CounterTerrorism developed a comprehen-sive checklist of security measuresevery school should implement. Thiswas, in effect, a distillation of themuch larger School Best Practicesdocument. Items on the checklistinclude a complete assessment ofeach school’s building and grounds,an assessment of each school’ssecurity and emergency managementplans and a review of the school’songoing relationship with local lawenforcement. State Police’s Infra-

structure Security Unit and theDepartment of Education workedwith local departments to identify 45D.A.R.E. and School ResourceOfficers who would train localofficials to perform the securityaudits. In 60 training sessions, thoseofficers trained more than 1,000 locallaw enforcement officers and 1,200school officials. New Jersey’s 21county prosecutors’ offices coordi-nated and tracked the audits.

In an effort coordinated by StatePolice’s Infrastructure Security Unitand unique to the nation, more than3,350 schools were visited andaudited throughout the state over aperiod of six months. Each schoolwas audited by a police officer andschool official who had to agree on ajoint assessment of the status ofeach security item at the school.Ultimately, they also had to enter theagreed-upon results into a statewidecomputer database that will provideNew Jersey with a baseline view ofthe status of school security forfuture protection efforts.

The key findings of the auditshowed that:

Ninety-six percent of schools haddeveloped or are developingwritten protocols for emergencyand crisis management.More than 89 percent of theschools have comprehensive plans,procedures and mechanisms forresponding to emergencies.More than 90 percent of districts orschools have met with local lawenforcement officials to discuss thepossibility of increased law enforce-ment presence in and around schools.Eighty-seven percent of theschools are conducting securityawareness training for school staff.Eighty-four percent are providingin-service crisis response training

In an effort coordinated byState Police’s InfrastructureSecurity Unit and unique tothe nation, more than 3,350schools throughout the statewere visited and auditedfor security practices overa period of six months.

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Seventy-one percent of the schoolshave completed or are completingcomprehensive security needsassessments.Seventy-six percent of the schoolshave protocols to be followedwhen the U.S. Department ofHomeland Security changes thehomeland security threat level.

Based on the findings, GovernorCodey made the following keyrecommendations:

Schools must establish on-goingrelationships with local lawenforcement. Each school mustform a safety committee, com-prised of school officials, local lawenforcement and other firstresponders, that must meet regu-larly to discuss and update theschool’s plan for security issues.Each school’s checklist must bereviewed and updated annually.School administrators mustcommunicate their securityplans to staff members. Allteachers and staff members mustunderstand their roles. Eachschool’s emergency response plansmust be communicated to every-one on the school staff, includingbus drivers, to enable them torecognize and appropriatelyrespond to crises. Plans areuseless if they sit on a shelf.Basic emergency proceduresmust be standardized. The StatePolice will be developing uniformprocedures for situations such asbomb threats and suspiciouspackages and distribute thesepractices to every district.All schools’ visitor policies mustinclude sign-in logs, badges andlimited access. The State Policewill be developing a list of stan-dard procedures that must be partof all schools’ visitor accesspolicies. These will include such

practices as sign-in logs andbadges, limiting visitor access toone entrance and towing allunauthorized vehicles.The Department of Education(DOE) must provide additionalassistance to school districts.DOE will assign two staff membershired with federal HomelandSecurity funds to provide assistanceto districts where schools have notcompleted school safety plans andwhere additional training is needed.School construction sites mustbe monitored. Local law enforce-ment officials will visit and moni-tor any local school constructionsites on a regular basis.Department of Education andDepartment of Law and PublicSafety manuals and agreementsmust reflect security priorities.DOE’s Safety Manual: Best PracticesGuidelines will be revised to addressthe priority areas identified by theaudit. The Uniform Memorandumof Agreement — a standarddocument addressing the relation-ship between schools and thepolice which is developed by DOEand LPS and signed by each districtand the local law enforcementagency – will be revised to includespecific information on terroristthreats and school security.Schools must implement NewJersey Department of Agricul-ture guidelines and checklistson food safety. NJDA hasdistributed these items to alldistricts that participate in state orfederally funded child nutritionprograms. They require schooldistrict food services employees towatch out for security breaches,such as tampering with food andequipment and to report allsuspicious activity. The guidelinesand checklists are based on the U.S.Department of Agriculture’sguidelines for Bio-Security.


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As the recommendations signal,the audit results are not an end inthemselves but are an initial stepin a continuing process. They arealso significant in signaling adynamic partnership between lawenforcement and the educationcommunity that must continue anddevelop further. The entireinitiative is emblematic of howaddressing security concerns in apost-9/11 world is cross-jurisdic-tional and multifaceted.

The audit and resulting databasecame about only after an excep-tional cooperative effort by theState Police, the AttorneyGeneral’s Office, the Departmentof Education, the state Office ofInformation Technology, thestate’s county prosecutors, locallaw enforcement agencies andschool officials.

ImplementingBest Security Practices

In 2004-2005, eighteen new orrevised Infrastructure AdvisoryCommittee Best Practices weresubmitted to the Task Force andapproved. This brings to a total of30 the number of approved BestPractices among the IAC’s 20sectors and sub-sectors. (Whilethere are 20 discrete sectors somehave required multiple sets of BestPractices. For example, separateBest Practices exist within theTransportation Sector for Bridges,Tunnels, Passenger Rail, FreightRail, Airports, Buses, ports andferry sub-sectors).

Best Practices ZeroTolerance Policy

In July 2004, the Task Forceadopted a Zero Tolerance Policyfor the application of Best Prac-tices. It alerted all facilities in the

top two infrastructure tiers thateach designated critical infrastruc-ture site was required to complywith three requirements:

Completing a site-specific securityvulnerability assessment.Indicating what measures areneeded to fill the gaps identifiedby the vulnerability assessmentand develop a plan to implementthose measures.Implementing a site-specificemergency response plan.

Semiannual Reviews of BestPractices Implementation

Linked to the Zero Tolerancepolicy, each of the Task Force’sagencies that serves as a liaison toan IAC industry sector is respon-sible for reporting twice yearly tothe Task Force regarding the statusof Best Practices implementationin the sectors for which they areresponsible. In 2004-2005, theTask Force, working with itsconstituent agencies, reviewed 30industry sector and sub-sectorsemiannual progress reportsregarding the sectors’ implementa-tion of Best Practices. Thus, theTask Force presented a total of 60semiannual reports regarding BestPractices implementation byindustry to the Governor’s Officefor its review and approval.

In 2004-2005, the following TaskForce and allied liaison agenciesmade two or more semiannualreports to the Task Force regardingBest Practices in the sector or sectorsfor which they had responsibility:

In 2004-2005, the TaskForce, working with itsconstituent agencies,reviewed 30 industry sectorand sub-sector semiannualprogress reports regardingthe sectors’ implementationof Best Practices.

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Agency Number ofSemiannual Reports

Board of Public Utilities 12(2 reports done jointly)

Department of Agriculture 2

Department of Banking and Insurance 2

Department of Community Affairs 4

Department of Education 2

Department of Environmental Protection 14

Department of Health and Senior Services 6

Department of Law and Public Safety 2

Department of Transportation 14

New Jersey State Police 2(reports done jointly)

Office of Information Technology 2

Sports and Exposition Authority 2––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Total Semiannual Reports 60

In general, the semiannual reportsfound high rates of compliancewith Best Practice implementationacross the sectors. However, theTask Force contemplates directaudits or inspections of priorityfacilities — which are alreadyunderway — as well as additionalsteps to take to more closelymonitor and ensure compliance.

Inspecting Facilities forBest Practices Compliance

In 2004-2005, several Task Forceagencies took steps to ensure thatBest Practices were distributed toindustry and to inspect facilitiesfor which they were responsible.Especially notable in terms ofbeginning inspections were thestate Board of Public Utilities andthe Department of Environmen-tal Protection. Both agenciesalready possess substantial regula-tory authority over the criticalindustries whose security they arenow monitoring.

Board of Public Utilities

BPU, working with each utility IACSector, revised and distributedcomprehensive utility security BestPractices for the Water, Energy(Electric and Gas), Cable Televi-sion, Telecommunications(Landline) and Telecommunica-tions (Wireless) Sectors. AnAugust 20, 2004, Board Orderdirected BPU-regulated entitieswithin the Sectors to implementthe most current version of theBest Practices.BPU established a new FieldInspection Program to monitorutility security Best Practicesimplementation and compliance.Inspecting Tier I and Tier II(“Zero Tolerance”) sites first, as ofNovember 2005, BPU had com-pleted inspection of almost all TierI and Tier II sites and had begun toinspect less critical utility sites toensure smaller facilities are incompliance as well. Additionally,the BPU is continuously reevaluat-ing the need to re-inspect any TierI or Tier II site as deemed neces-sary. BPU is also using $50,000 infederal homeland security grantfunds distributed by the Task Forceto help underwrite Critical Infra-structure Protection Teams for itsBest Practices Inspection program.

Department of EnvironmentalProtection

DEP has tiered nearly 5,000 siteswithin the Chemical, Petroleum,Nuclear, Water, Wastewater, Damsand Pharmaceutical and Biotech-nology sectors under uniformdefinitions for critical infrastruc-ture. Approximately seven percentof these sites have been identifiedas high-priority facilities. DEP hasfurther worked with the Office ofCounter-Terrorism to refine this


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universe to the sites that are mostcritical and deserving the highest-priority attention from the state.DEP has completed and verifieddissemination of approved bestsecurity practices to all high-priority sites. Further, dissemina-tion was completed for the major-ity of all sites within DEP’s sectors.Under the Task Force’s ZeroTolerance program, DEP begansite visit inspections to determineif facilities were implementing bestpractices. As of June 30, 2005,DEP had completed initial sitevisits and compliance checks for allof its highest priority sites and formore than 90 percent of its totaluniverse of priority. Thesebaseline visits will allow DEP toconcentrate its efforts on thosehighest and high-priority sitesamong its sectors that have notimplemented the Zero Toleranceprogram or Best Practices.

Department of Transportation

Under the Task Force’s ZeroTolerance policy, NJDOT begansite visit to determine if facilities inthe Transportation Sector wereimplementing Best Practices. Thedepartment’s audits confirmed thatthe South Jersey TransportationAuthority and the New JerseyTurnpike and its Garden StateParkway Division have all com-pleted vulnerability assessments.NJDOT has determined that allother facilities subject to the ZeroTolerance criteria are also incompliance.In the wake of an emergency orderfrom the Task Force, the NewJersey Department ofTransportation’s (NJDOT’s)airport licensing regulations havebeen amended to require thatunattended hangars be closed and

locked and that aircraft that areparked or left unattended for morethan 24 hours must be securedwith a minimum of two lockingdevices. NJDOT’s Division ofAeronautics inspects public useairports on at least a quarterly basisto verify that the airports andaircraft are in compliance.Motorcoach Best Practices — atthe end of 2005, the Task Forceapproved Best Practices forsecurity on buses and bus systems.Pending approval by GovernorCodey, this collaborative effortwith the motorcoach industry is setto be adopted as a national modelby the Department of HomelandSecurity’s Transportation SecurityAgency (TSA).

Mandatory BestPractices Standardsfor the Chemical Industry

In early October 2005, the TaskForce endorsed a proposal from theDEP regarding the issuance of anorder requiring implementation of“Best Practices Standards” forsegments of the Chemical Sector ofthe Infrastructure Advisory Commit-tee (IAC). Subsequently, GovernorCodey endorsed the standards inmid-November. The standards willbe imposed on chemical facilitiesregulated as Toxic CatastrophePrevention Act (TCPA) and Dis-charge Prevention, Containment andCountermeasures Act (DPCC)facilities. These facilities conductprocesses that involve extraordinarilyhazardous substances. Substantively,the new standards clarify thatimplementation of Best SecurityPractices is mandatory for all coveredfacilities. Further, the Order requirescovered TCPA facilities to reviewwhether it is practical to implementInherently Safer Technology (IST),i.e., modifying production processes

The Task Force has nowmandated that chemicalfacilities processingextraordinarily hazardoussubstances must implementBest Security Practices.

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and substituting less toxic materialsin manufacturing. Finally, the Orderalso requires facilities to affordworkers and their collective bargain-ing representatives a reasonableopportunity to identify issues thatshould be addressed in facilitysecurity assessments and plans.

Counter-Terrorism AwarenessTraining for Chemical andPetroleum Sector Workers

The Task Force has also focused onworker training to ensure that criticalinformation regarding counter-terrorism awareness and infrastruc-ture protection is being communi-cated throughout each of the prioritysites. The Department of Labor andWorkforce Development, the DEP,the AFL/CIO, the New JerseyInstitute of Technology (NJIT) andthe chemical and petroleum indus-tries have collaborated to develop apilot worker training curriculumcalled the “Chemical Plant SecurityAwareness and Preparedness Pro-gram for the New Jersey Chemicaland Petroleum Sectors.” Under thisprogram, the state Department ofLabor and Workforce Developmenthas provided a Customized TrainingGrant to the AFL/CIO to developthe security awareness curriculum. Inturn, AFL/CIO has sub-contractedwith NJIT to produce the curriculummaterials and delivery plan. NJITbegan training AFL/CIO instructorsin October 2005. This train-the-trainer program contains six modulesgeared to the specific vulnerabilitiesfaced by the petro-chemical industry.Modules include: Systems of Safety;Security Management System Aware-ness; Human Resources Screening;Facility Security; Emergency Aware-ness Protocols; and Evaluating theWorkshop. Upon completion of theprogram, trainers will be equipped toreturn to their companies andprovide the training to other employ-

ees to improve security awarenessand lessen the vulnerabilities thatcurrently face these sectors fromthreats or acts of terrorism.

Protecting Malls andCommercial Buildings-

The state Department of Commu-nity Affairs (DCA) is the TaskForce’s liaison to the CommercialBuildings sector, which includes mostof the state’s large shopping malls.In 2005, DCA completed securityreviews of the state’s largest enclosedshopping malls — those with thehighest level of criticality. Thereports on these reviews are beingprovided to mall and anchor storemanagers and to representatives ofthe law enforcement community whoparticipated in the review. DCA hasalso designed and presented securityand best practices training to manag-ers of large malls and anchor stores.

The state has also begun a “ModelMall” initiative that builds onconcepts being used in Israel andNew York. This initiative, beingtested at the Garden State Plaza inParamus, includes installing smartsecurity cameras that do more thanpassively record activity at the mall.Rather, they can also be pro-grammed to recognize varioussuspicious behaviors. The initiativeis also set up so that surveillancevideo from the site is shared directlywith local police – so first respond-ers can know what is happeninginside a building, even before theyarrive. Funded with a seed grantfrom the state Urban Area SecurityInitiative, the project is also benefit-ting from a number of firms andconsultants that are providing in-kind contributions. The initiative isbeing supervised by the New JerseyInstitute of Technology, in its roleas lead agency in the New JerseyHomeland Security Technology


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Systems Center. Ultimately, prac-tices identified as successful fromthis “model” initiative will beavailable for adoption at mallsthroughout the state.

The Department of CommunityAffairs has also completed astraightforward and easily appliedassessment tool to help owners ofcommercials buildings to determinerisks associated with their facilitiesand to familiarize them with theirspecific facility’s vulnerabilities.Finally, DCA is leading a nationalinitiative, sponsored by the Interna-tional Code Council, which pub-lishes the model building codes thatare used in New Jersey, to addressissues of terrorism-resistant con-struction through model codes. Thepoint is to construct buildings thatare inherently safer and resistant tothe destruction that could be causedby terrorists.

Protecting StateGovernment Facilities

With impetus from the Task Force,state government has also acted toenhance physical security at itsbuildings and facilities. Notableamong these efforts is a collabora-tion between the Task Force’s StateGovernment Operations Group(SGOG), which represents theinterests of administrators of allstate agencies, and the State Police’sState Government Security Bureau,which has undertaken an evaluationof state facilities to identify areas ofconcern. As a result of this review,the State Government SecurityBureau is bolstering security,through technology and othermeans, at the State House complexand other buildings. Also notable,the Department of Health andSenior Services significantly up-graded physical security for itsexisting Trenton laboratory facilities.

Buffer Zone Protection Plans

Best Practices deal with enhancingsecurity within the perimeter of afacility while Buffer Zone ProtectionPlans (BZPPs) involve taking measuresin the area immediately outside acritical facility, areas that fall primarilyunder the responsibility of local lawenforcement. In accordance withHomeland Security PresidentialDirective (HSPD) 7 (Protection ofCritical Infrastructure), the Task Force,the Office of Counter-Terrorism andthe State Police, working with the U.S.Department of Homeland Security,have developed a statewide strategy tobolster buffer zone protection aroundNew Jersey’s most critical facilities.These efforts, which are ongoing,include geared up surveillance throughtechnological and other means, andother protective measures. In federalfiscal year 2005, the Task Forcereceived $2.7 million in federal home-land security grants that it is using tohelp implement buffer zone protectionplans at the state’s most critical facili-ties. To date, OCT and the state teamhave completed BZPPs for approxi-mately 55 critical infrastructure sites,which include hazardous chemical,petroleum refining, large publicgathering, water treatment and com-mercial building sectors. As part ofthis process, State Police’s IncidentManagement Unit is responsible fordelineating diversion and evacuationplans for facilities for which BZZPshave been developed. OCT alsocoordinated and hosted two DHS-ledBuffer Zone Protection Plan Tabletopexercises for two high consequenceNew Jersey chemical facilities.

Also in accordance with HSPD 7,OCT is completing BZPPs forapproximately 25 sites in the publichealth and mass transit sectors. Thiswill bring the number of BZPPsstatewide to more than 70.

In federal fiscal year 2005,the Task Force received$2.7 million in federalhomeland security grantsthat it is using to helpimplement buffer zoneprotection plans at thestate’s most critical facilities.

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Protection of NuclearFacilities

As the state agency with regulatoryoversight over nuclear facilities, DEPis the Task Force liaison to thesefacilities, which, as a result of federaland state law, are the most heavilyregulated of all the IAC’s 20 industrysectors. New Jersey is home to fourprivately owned electric-generatingnuclear reactors, the Oyster Creekfacility in Lacey Township, OceanCounty, and the Hope Creek andSalem facilities in Lower AllowaysCreek, Salem County. The U.S.Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) requires that the plantsestablish and maintain a physicalprotection system that will protect thenuclear power plants. The regulationsdescribe a series of design basisthreats, which the physical protectionsystems must be able to withstand.The four nuclear power reactors inNew Jersey have met all of the NRCrequirements. Both nuclear powerplant sites have invested substantiallyin upgrading their security zones inthe past year, with Oyster Creekspending more than $10 million inadditional target hardening and PSEGspending more than $12 million inadditional active and passive barriers,monitoring, and facility accessupgrades at its Salem County reactors..

Since September 12, 2001, moreover,staff from State Police and the NewJersey National Guard have beenproviding additional protection to thestate’s reactors located at the Oceanand Salem county sites. This commit-ment continues to this day.

Cyber Security

Our economy and government,indeed our entire society, have becomemore and more dependent on theavailability of seamless computer andautomated information systems.

These systems are so critical inthemselves that they representanother, sometimes less visible, aspectof critical infrastructure that must beprotected against potential terroristintrusion and attack.

Continuing to build on the efforts, in2002, in cooperation with representa-tives from academia and the privatesector, the Task Force adoptedbaseline Cyber Security Standards.The state’s Office of InformationTechnology, along with State Police’sInformation Technology Bureau andthe Office of the Attorney General’sInformation Technology ServicesUnit, has taken the lead in working toensure that the state’s critical com-puter systems are secure.

OIT’s efforts to shore up the state’scyber security include:

Creating the Security Over-sight Group

Building on the success of OIT’sformally established informationsecurity program led by a SecurityOversight Group (SOG), OITextended its policies, standards, andprocedures to the state or enterpriselevel. The SOG is an executive forumfor oversight and management of theinformation security program at OIT.The immediate goal of this programis to ensure the development andimplementation of informationsecurity best practices in the form ofpolicies, standards, and procedures.Their extension to the state level hasbeen planned from the start.

In pursuing this initiative, OIT reliedon its ongoing dialogue with agencychief information officers (CIOs),and by extension, their securityofficers, to exchange and solicitfeedback on policies, standards, andprocedures. The collaborativeelement is key as participation is


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voluntary. Key initial successes forthis enterprise initiative are anagreement to expand OIT’s docu-mented information security frame-work to accommodate nationalstandards and requirements withwhich agencies with federal fundingmust comply.

Developing a Cyber-SecurityRoadmap

OIT has developed a cyber-security roadmap based on theISO/IEC 17799 code of prac-tice. ISO/IEC 17799 offersguidelines and voluntary direc-tions for information securitymanagement. It is meant toprovide a high-level, generaldescription of the areas currentlyconsidered important wheninitiating, implementing ormaintaining information securityin an organization.

The SOG solidifies the informationsecurity program through a strategicplanning process, which continuallyupdates the roadmap. In the pastyear, OIT’s efforts focused onstrengthening information securitypolicies, standards, and procedures.Specific policy topics included riskassessment, vulnerability manage-ment, server hardening, and incidentmanagement. Also through theleadership of the SOG, OIT islooking to expand the state’s identitymanagement services through theimplementation of security tech-niques for accessing computersystems, such as automated userprovisioning and reduced sign-on,which will be pilot tested in 2006.

The cyber security roadmapaddresses 10 topics in whichOIT is creating policies anddeveloping initiatives, includingorganizational security policy,organizational security infra-

structure, asset classificationand control, personnel security,physical and environmentalsecurity, communications andoperations management, accesscontrol, systems developmentand maintenance, businesscontinuity management, andcompliance.

Creating Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems

The state of New Jersey has partneredwith the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Research,Development, and EngineeringCenter (CERDEC) to research andanalyze the state’s computer networksfor the development of a comprehen-sive intrusion detection system. TheCooperative Research and Develop-ment Agreement (CRADA) betweenNew Jersey and CERDEC is the firstsuch research collaboration thatCERDEC has established with a stategovernment.

In 2005, the project developed aConcept of Operations (CONOPS)document, and a reference technicalarchitecture. The CONOPS providedOIT best practice-based recommen-dations for how to organize itsinformation security staff, whichOIT is pursuing through a proposalfor federal homeland securityfunding of additional security stafffor its Network Control Center(NCC), which will allow for theestablishment of a conjoint SecurityOperations Center.

OIT began the first phases ofimplementing the technical architec-ture document’s recommendationsregarding the types of technologysuitable to the state’s needs, theplacement of the technology, and theconfiguration of the technology tothe best advantage of OIT and stateagencies. This implementation

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occurred in OIT’s campus (LAN)and enterprise (shared server andGarden State Network or GSN)environments. These deployments ofnetwork-based intrusion detectionsystems, firewalls, and securityinformation management systems,are bringing the technology’s promiseof improved information security tobear on the state’s IT-based services.

Establishing a Partnership onSecure Information Infrastruc-ture Technologies

The Partnership on Secure Informa-tion Infrastructure Technologies, orPOSIIT, is a multifaceted initiativedesigned ultimately to develop acyber security dashboard and test theefficiencies of its delivery of threat-related information. The POSIITteam, led by OIT is a consortium ofnine state and four municipal govern-ments, the U.S. Army at FortMonmouth, Monmouth University,and the National Association ofState Chief Information Officers(NASCIO). To fund the project, thestate applied for a grant in theamount of $675,000 from theHomeland Security AdvancedResearch Projects Agency.

Enhancing IT InfrastructureVulnerability Management

One of OIT’s key informationsecurity initiatives is developing andimplementing a vulnerability man-agement program to address allinformation technology infrastruc-ture, including desktops, servers,and networks, including — orconnected to — the state’s datacommunications network, theGarden State Network or GSN. Thevulnerability management programconsists of a series of methodicalactivities beginning with identifyingvulnerabilities and ending with theirremediation, or documentation that

supports a decision by the affecteddata owner or their authorizedrepresentative, to accept the riskinherent in any specific vulnerability.

As part of the program’s vulnerabil-ity assessment, the state worked withCiber, Inc., to conduct port scans toidentify Internet visible devices andservices, and make recommendationson how to address any identifiedsecurity vulnerabilities. A war dialexercise is also conducted periodi-cally in which an assessment toolsought computers connected tophone lines and reported on modemsand fax machines, passwordstrengths, password protections, andauthentication types. Concurrentimplementation of a centralizedpatch management system for OIT’sdesktop environment is significantlyimproving the security of this part ofthe overall IT infrastructure.

Engaging in the TOPOFF 3Cyber Exercise

As part of New Jersey’s participa-tion in the federal TOPOFF 3exercise, state information technol-ogy officials participated in afunctional Cyber TOPOFF exercisethat tested the security of computersystems and the state’s ability tomaintain the continuity of informa-tion technology operations in acatastrophic event. Although, thiscyber exercise will be discussed ingreater detail in the section on theTOPOFF 3 exercise in the chapteron exercising, lessons learned fromthis test are already being applied.These include an identification ofthe need for improved statewidecommunications on cyber security,as well as the adoption of moreuniform policies, procedures andbest practices across state agencies.


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chapter IVHealth Emergency Response

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In considering the public healthconsequences of terrorism, NewJersey and the Task Force haveshaped their strategy and actionsaround two major considerations:First, the aftereffects of a terroristattack of any significance wouldinvolve casualties requiring emer-gency medical treatment. Second,the fall 2001 anthrax attacks in NewJersey, New York and Washington,D.C., made concrete for the state thepotential havoc to be wreaked byattacks using biological agents. As aresult, New Jersey has made it apriority to prevent, respond to andrecover from attacks using biologicalagents. The state departments ofHealth and Senior Services, Agricul-ture, and Environmental Protection,working under the coordinatinghand of the Task Force, have ledNew Jersey’s efforts to protect itscitizens from the potential cata-strophic health effects of abioterror event. As with many ofits counter-terrorism activities, thestate’s preparations for bioterrorismhave also had wide-ranging benefitsin preparing for any number ofpotential health emergencies, suchas the current threat of Avian flu.

Epidemiology and DiseaseSurveillance

The New Jersey Department ofHealth and Senior Services (DHSS)has primary responsibility formitigating the public health conse-quences caused by acts of terrorism.To this end, DHSS, through aregional approach to planning andcoordination, has expanded thecapacity of the state’s healthcare andpublic health systems to moreeffectively detect and respond tosuch events. DHSS has collaboratedwith county and city local healthdepartments in its ongoing effortsto prepare for and respond tobioterrorism, emerging infections,

and other public health emergencies.For the last four years, DHSS hasbeen providing funds to local healthdepartments statewide for thepurpose of building local publichealth infrastructure and capacityfor regional bioterrorism planningand disease surveillance, amongother issues.

During 2004-2005, almost $22million was provided in the form offinancial and direct assistance to thestate’s 22 designated LINCS (LocalInformation Network and Commu-nication Systems) agencies throughfederal grants. Each LINCS-basedbioterrorism team provides leader-ship and coordination for planningand preparedness initiatives at thecity, county and multi-county level.In preparation for the TOPOFF 3exercise during April 2005, DHSSCommunicable Disease Serviceworked with the National Centers forDisease Control and Prevention(CDC), state LINCS agencies, andhealthcare facilities to developepidemiologic investigation guide-lines specific for management ofplague and for public health emer-gencies in general. The Communi-cable Disease Service and the FBIjointly conducted advanced forensicepidemiology courses statewide.

Throughout 2005, the DHSS Com-municable Disease Service continuedits many ongoing surveillanceactivities. To highlight some of theactivities, Communicable DiseaseService staff worked on enhancingthe existing Communicable DiseaseReporting System, a Web-basedapplication used by DHSS, hospitals,laboratories, and local health depart-ments for reporting notifiablecommunicable diseases. In addition,DHSS CDS staff evaluated itsEmergency Department (ED) Visitsand Admissions Surveillance systemwhich provides daily analyses of

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current ED data on number of visitsand admissions with baseline aver-ages to characterize trends and detectunexpected aberrations in ED usage.DHSS had tested this surveillancesystem in preparation for the Repub-lican National Convention (RNC)held in New York City from August30 to September 2, 2004. During thefive-week period around the RNC,hospitals were requested to send EDvolume data several times each day,including weekends and holidays, totheir LINCS epidemiologist. Thesedata were forwarded to the DHSSthat then ran a comparison analysiswhich flagged any significant increasein volume for each facility. Theseflags were then investigated by thelocal epidemiologist who followed upwith the hospitals in question.During the five-week period betweenAugust 16 and September 17,approximately 30 flags were investi-gated, none of which was due toanything suspicious or unexplained.After the five-week period ended,surveillance returned to normaloperations (five-day reporting withweekends and holidays reported onthe following business days). Theongoing surveillance was againenhanced for the week of theNovember 2, 2004, presidentialelection. Again, analysis revealed nounexplained or suspicious flagsduring that week.

In addition, the CommunicableDisease Service has worked closelywith CDC on the BioSense initiative,a coordinated, online nationalsurveillance program to detect anyCategory A, B or C level diseaseutilizing clinical and laboratory datafrom the Department of Defense,Veteran’s Administration, andLabCorp. Communicable DiseaseService and CDC staff highlightedjoint state-federal BioSense investiga-tions at a 2005 national syndromicsurveillance conference.

Also in 2005, the CommunicableDisease Service formed a dataworkgroup to perform ongoingevaluations of its surveillancesystems to ensure that they provideuseful data for detecting abioterrorism event or an outbreak ofan emerging infectious disease.

From June to December 2004, theDHSS worked with the SomersetCounty Health Department and sixprivate healthcare providers in thatcounty to pilot a Rash Illness Surveil-lance project. As part of the process,a “decision-tree” algorithm wasdeveloped to assist practitioners inevaluating unusual rash illnesses inadults (age 18 and older) presentingat their facilities. Effective surveil-lance for unusual or unexplainedrashes is an important element forthe prompt detection of possible actsof bioterrorism. The study gatheredimportant baseline informationcharacterizing adult rash illness inNew Jersey and participants providedmuch needed feedback on expansionof this or a similar project statewide.

Currently, the CommunicableDisease Service is moving towardyear-round surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI), a weekly datasnapshot that reports school absen-teeism and predominant illnessesoccurring in schools, long-term carefacilities, hospitals and sentinelphysician practices.

The New Jersey Department ofAgriculture (NJDA) is a key partnerwith DHSS in epidemiology anddisease surveillance in the manyinstances where diseases can bespread through the food supply orthrough the animal population.This is especially true for thecurrent monitoring of the H5N1virus, or avian flu, which can beborne by wild and domesticatedbirds and other animals.

Health Emergency Response

A major milestone wasachieved in November 2004when the State Legislatureissued final approval to funda new, state-of-the-artDepartment of Health andSenior Services andDepartment of Agriculturelaboratory.

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Expanding LaboratoryTesting Services

Expanding Laboratory testingcapacity for enhanced public healthpreparedness and response was a toppriority for DHSS in 2004 and 2005.

A major milestone was achieved inNovember 2004 when the StateLegislature issued final approval tofund the design and construction ofa new, state-of-the-art Departmentof Health and Senior Services andDepartment of Agriculture labora-tory. Fully supported by the NewJersey State Building Authority in theDepartment of Treasury and cur-rently budgeted at approximately$139 million, the state is building a250,000-square-foot laboratory. Thelab, which will be strategically locatedon a 16-acre site within the secureenvironment of the New Jersey StatePolice grounds in West Trenton, NewJersey, is projected to be completedby early 2010.

At the same time, DHSS has alsobeen pursuing shorter-term remedies,including purchase and installation ofa modular 3,000-square-footBiosafety Level 3 containmentlaboratory next to the existinglaboratory building.

In addition, DHSS acquired a satellitelab facility in order to provideadditional and critically neededlaboratory space for chemicalterrorism agent (CT) andbiomonitoring testing activities whichcould not be performed at theexisting central laboratory due tomultiple facility restrictions. Com-pleted in November 2004, this majorlaboratory retrofit took almost a fullyear of concerted efforts in theplanning, design and implementation.The entire Environmental andChemical testing service area with theexception of Radiochemistry was

successfully transferred into thisretrofitted laboratory. The specificbenefits include a newly designedenvironmental and chemical terror-ism laboratory, with each areaspecifically designed to meet thetechnically complex, instrumentationspecific, mission based testingobjectives. This enhanced laboratoryenvironment will allow the DHSS toexpand its testing capabilities to nowinclude blood/urine analysis for tracemetals, cyanide compounds, nerveagents, and food products forchemical adulterants.

BioWatch EarlyWarning Program

New Jersey is participating inBioWatch, a nationwide early warningprogram that monitors the environ-ment for a number of key biologicaland disease-causing agents. Designedto sample the air daily for pathogensthat terrorists might use, BioWatchhas the potential to identify anairborne disease before it manifestsitself in the population or the poten-tial to shorten the time it would taketo make a presumptive diagnosis if amass outbreak were to occur. Devel-oped and funded by the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security, withassistance from the U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA) and theCenters for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), the program isimplemented at the state level by thestate Departments of EnvironmentalProtection (DEP), Agriculture, andHealth and Senior Services. UnderBioWatch, monitoring stations areplaced at various locations andsamples are collected on filters at thestations. The samples are picked updaily and transported to a laboratoryfor analysis. If an analysis confirmsthe presence of a biological agent, thestate is responsible for initiating aresponse plan with the help of itsfederal partners. Geared for metro-

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politan areas, the program started inNew York City in January 2003 andhas expanded to 30 cities. New Jerseyis now considered its own BioWatchagency and is expanding its monitor-ing capabilities throughout the state.

New Jersey Department ofAgriculture — Disease Sur-veillance

The New Jersey Department ofAgriculture (NJDA) has primaryresponsibility in the state for detect-ing and deterring the spread of anyterrorist-related or other highlypathogenic or economically devastat-ing diseases or pests affectinganimals or plants.

The NJDA provides surveillance anddetection for exotic or new plantpests and diseases for the plantindustry. Through its Division ofAnimal Health it also providessurveillance and detection forregulated and reportable diseases,Foreign Animal Diseases, EmergingDiseases, Endemic Diseases andZoonotic Diseases. It conductsroutine inspections and site evalua-tions of animal auctions, animalmarkets, farms andproduction houses. In conjunctionwith the Department’s DiagnosticLab, the Division of Animal Health’sstaff collects samples as part of thesurveillance and detection program.The lab is able to provide bacteriol-ogy services, serology services,virology services, pathology servicesand other diagnostic services.

During 2005, the NJDA sponsored anumber of group and one-on-onetraining sessions on bio-security,disease prevention, surveillance anddetection, to educate its constituents.Among the recipients of the trainingwere NJDA staff, Rutgers CountyExtension Agents, nutrition programmanagers, veterinarians, entomolo-

gists, horticulturists, dairy and cattlefarmers, live bird market handlers,sheep and goat farmers, nurserygrowers, and vegetable farmers.

New Jersey Animal EmergencyWorking Group

The New Jersey Department ofAgriculture continues to provideoversight of and coordination for theNew Jersey Animal EmergencyWorking Group (NJAEWG). TheWorking Group addresses how toprevent the spread of variousdiseases in the animal population andaddresses how disasters or emer-gency situations affect domesticatedanimals. Consisting of more than100 persons representing a broadrange of organizations, includinganimal rescue services, animaltransport agencies, animal controlofficers, emergency managementprofessionals, breeder associations,veterinarians and various depart-ments of state government, theWorking Group operates under theauspices of NJDA’s Division ofAnimal Health and the State Officeof Emergency Management. Apermanent committee of the NewJersey Domestic Security Prepared-ness Planning Group, the WorkingGroup is charged with:

Developing safe, effective andefficient responses to animalemergencies.

Protecting public health and theenvironment, including wild anddomesticated animals, and ensuringthe humane treatment of animalsduring emergency situations.

To jump start the Working Group’scapability to function within anauthorized incident commandstructure, NJDA sponsored a StateAnimal Response Team (SART)


As of November 2005,there were 680 approvedand registered volunteersin the New Jersey MedicalReserve Corps Program.

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symposium and brought in subjectmatter experts to hear how NorthCarolina developed and is progress-ing with its SART and CART teams.Adopting this structure will enableNew Jersey to coordinate, plan andrespond to emergencies involvinganimals on the local and state levels.

In addition, as part of the oversightgroup for the County AnimalResponse Teams (CART) and theState Animal Response Team(SART), NJDA helped countiesrevise their County Animal Emer-gency Plans and reviewed the plansto ensure they follow the guidelinesset by the Animal EmergencyWorking Group.

NJDA also sponsored its yearlyAnimal Emergency ManagementSymposia in January 2004 and 2005to help prepare the AEWG membersin response and recovery. Thesymposia offered presentationstopics such as animal rescue andrecovery during the Exxon Valdezincident and Hazmat awareness.

NJDA successfully piloted a jointproject with the NJDEP and NJDOTto study composting as an alternatemethod for animal carcass disposal.The pilot project was set up in tworegions and conducted over a seven-month period. Deer and cattlecarcasses were placed inside piles ofreadily available wood chips. The pileswere monitored and at the end of thetime period the piles were “opened”to reveal only a few large bones andcompost. NJDOT will exploreutilizing this cost-saving method to itsdeer-disposal operations.

Medical ReserveCorps Program

The Department of Health andSenior Services launched the state-wide New Jersey Medical Reserve

Corps Program and Registry onAugust 5, 2005. The NJMRCprogram was created under theauspices of the New Jersey CitizenCorps Program, New Jersey’s pro-gram, overseen by the State Office ofEmergency Management, thatimplements the federally organizedprogram that is designed tostrengthen all states’ overall domesticsecurity preparedness under theauspices of the U.S. Department ofHomeland Security. In an effort thatcomplements the national program,New Jersey’s Emergency HealthPowers Act (P.L.2005, c.222) estab-lishes an Emergency Health CareProvider Registry and requires theCommissioner of Health to establisha formal registry of emergencyhealth care volunteers.

The NJMRC program is founded onthe belief that healthcare profession-als and community health volunteerscan play a vital role in assisting andaugmenting public health resourcesat the county and local level in theevent of a public health emergencycaused by a terrorist attack or othernatural incident. Volunteers may becalled on during a public healthemergency to perform a variety offunctions needed to protect thehealth of New Jersey citizens,including staffing vaccination andantibiotic dispensing clinics, sheltersand evacuation centers and providingemergency care. Volunteers will berequired to participate in training andeducation programs which will beestablished and outlined by the NewJersey DHSS and provided by countyand local health agencies.

As of November 2005, there were680 approved and registered volun-teers in the NJMRC Registry. Ulti-mately, New Jersey will have a regis-tered and recognized Medical ReserveCorps unit located in every county.The Health Care Professional Com-

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ponent of the NJMRC Program willserve as the mechanism for establish-ing the state-based Emergency Systemfor the Advance Registration ofVolunteer Health Professionals(ESAR-VHP) Program for NewJersey and will be integrated with theNJMRC Program.

DHSS supported the Region IIMRC conference held in Manalapan,New Jersey. At this conference,national and state health officialsaddressed the participants andhighlighted the resources thisdedicated group of individuals canbring to a health emergency.

New Jersey Medical Reserve Corpsvolunteers participated in theHurricane Katrina efforts. SeveralNew Jersey Medical Reserve Corpsvolunteers served with the NationalMRC Program and the AmericanRed Cross mission in providingresponse and recovery efforts tothe hurricane’s affected areas. Aphysician from Bergen County wasdeployed through the EmergencyManagement Assistance Compact(EMAC) process to New Orleans,to provide medical assistance to theNew Jersey Law Enforcementcontingency that was deployedfrom New Jersey.

Medical Coordination Centers

As a result of increased threats ofpublic health emergencies and inresponse to changing health systemresponsibilities, DHSS, in consulta-tion with New Jersey experts inhealthcare, concluded that during alarge-scale public health emergency acoordinated and cooperative effortamong health care facilities would becritical. In an emergency, healthcarefacilities must coordinate efforts tomost effectively manage patient care,maintain individual facility integrityand maintain the integrity of the

healthcare system as a whole. As aresult of these discussions, theMedical Coordination Center (MCC)program was begun in March 2005in the five public healthcare regionsof New Jersey. MCCs are informa-tion-gathering centers located inhospitals that will collect data onincidents, especially about surgecapacities, and report them to thestate Health Command Center.Hospitals need to renovate facilitiesto house the MCCs, and renovationsat the nine hospital-based coordina-tion centers participating in the fiveregions was begun after DHSSreviewed and approved the projects.Several of the infrastructure projectsare ahead of schedule, with antici-pated opening by the end of 2005.The remaining programs are sched-uled to be completed in the firstquarter of 2006. The MCC programwill greatly improve the coordinationof statewide healthcare informationduring emergencies.

In addition, DHSS developedstandard operating procedures toprovide guidance in the develop-ment of Regional MCC advisorycouncils. These councils are reflec-tive of the public health, healthcareand emergency management systemswithin the state.

Mass Prophylaxis

In FY 2004, CDC launched the CitiesReadiness Initiative (CRI) to increaseand enhance the readiness of se-lected cities and metropolitan areasto respond in a timely manner to abioterrorism attack over a largegeographic area with an agent such asanthrax. As part of CRI, antibioticsmust reach the population within 24to 48 hours to have the greatestlifesaving effect. For the currentfiscal year that program has beenexpanded to include widened geo-graphic areas within the Philadelphia


The New JerseyDepartment of Healthand Senior Servicescontinues to enhance thestate’s ability to provide itshealthcare system withthe pharmaceuticals andmedical supplies necessarywhen responding to a publichealth emergency.

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and New York City regions. Fourcounties in southern New Jersey andanother nine counties in the northernregion are included in this expansion.

These thirteen counties, in collabo-ration with DHSS staff, havecompleted development of aplanning template for the rapiddistribution of medications for firstresponders and their householdmembers. This will allow them tocontinue to deliver essential servicesand reduce the numbers of citizensthat need to access Points ofDispensing (POD). Efforts are nowunderway to develop plans andsupporting standard operatingprocedures to accomplish this goalin each LINCS agency. This willalso include introduction of the planto all townships and first responderentities within their jurisdiction andadvance registration of all firstresponders. Future efforts willfocus on similar guidance fordistribution plans for fixed facilitiesand the public.

Emergency Pharmaceuticalsand Medical Supplies

The New Jersey Department ofHealth and Senior Services continuesto enhance the state’s ability toprovide its healthcare system with thepharmaceuticals and medical suppliesnecessary when responding to apublic health emergency. The stateuses a three-tiered approach thatrelies on local caches of medicalmaterials and pharmaceuticals, a StateStrategic Stockpile (SSS), and theStrategic National Stockpile (SNS).

The SNS is the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention-owned andmanaged cache of critical pharma-ceutical and medical suppliesavailable for deployment to statesand communities in time of publichealth emergency.

CDC’s performance goal is to makethe SNS available to states within 12hours after federal approval of astate’s SNS request. DHSS hasdeveloped a SNS plan, an appendixto New Jersey’s Emergency Opera-tions Plan, that provides the proto-cols for New Jersey’s request,acceptance, security, delivery andaccounting of SNS products. DHSSis aggressively updating all of itsplans to adopt CDC’s latest SNSguidance material.

Using lessons learned from theTOPOFF 3 exercise, DHSS ismeeting with county health officialsto help enhance the capabilities oflocal Receipt Stage and Storage(RSS) sites. DHSS has signed amemorandum of agreement withCDC for deployment of SNSmaterials and for the receipt andstorage of CHEMPACK, a responsepackage similar to the SNS butproviding antidotes tailored tochemical nerve agents.

CHEMPACKs differ from the SNSin that the chemical antidote stores,although federally owned, are pre-deployed throughout New Jersey asdetermined by the state. DHSS,along with its partner agencies, metthe CDC requirements for deploy-ment of CHEMPACK assets inSeptember 2005 and was recognizedas a model for both its ability topartner with other participatingagencies and to develop site selectioncriteria. Initially, 10 pilot sites inNew Jersey’s northeast region willreceive 16 CHEMPACKS providingtreatment regimens for approxi-mately 16,000 persons. The CDCwas to deploy CHEMPACKS to NewJersey by the end of 2005. Once all50 CHEMPACKs are in-state, NewJersey will have enough antidotes totreat approximately 50,000 victims ofchemical nerve agents.

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Augmenting the SNS is our StrategicState Stockpile (SSS), a first-lineresource of pharmaceuticals andmedical supplies immediatelyavailable to New Jersey’s healthsystem in the event of a chemical orbiological event. A stand-aloneresource, the SSS is designed tobridge the gap between the deple-tion of pharmaceuticals on hand atthe state’s healthcare facilities andthe arrival of the SNS. In February2005, DHSS managed the in-stateidentification and delivery ofcyanide antidote kits to treat sus-pected cyanide poisonings. TheSSS continues to grow in size andcapability, through the identificationand purchase of antibiotics andmedical supplies and the inclusionof private and public partners. TheSSS maintains its caches strategicallythroughout the State to ensure rapiddelivery to health care providers andour citizens.

The state has also helped healthcarefacilities shore up their stocks ofrelevant in-house pharmaceuticals.For example, via the HealthcareFacility Preparedness Grant Pro-gram, the state provided funding tohospitals to purchase antimicrobialsfor patients. In addition fundswere provided for hospitals topurchase antibiotics for prophylaxisof the facilities’ staffs and thestaffs’ family members for a periodof 72 hours. Hospitals are requiredto develop a plan to provide theseoral medications or vaccinations toall staff and their families in atimely manner.

DHSS also provided funding to fiveof the Medical CoordinationCenters (MCC) to purchase 18,000treatment courses of oseltamivir fortreatment and prophylaxis ofinfluenza including avian influenza(H5N1) strain.

Hospital Preparedness

In 2005, DHSS awarded more than$5.5 million in healthcare facilitypreparedness grants divided amongall of the state’s 84 acute carehospitals and 10 Federally QualifiedHealthcare Centers (FQHCs). Theoverarching objective of thesegrants was to enable healthcarefacility entities to response toterrorist incidents and public healthemergencies through optimizedtriage, isolation, diagnosis, treatmentor coordinated diversion of multiplevictims during a mass casualtyincident. These grants provide theNew Jersey healthcare system withfunding for equipment purchase,facility enhancement, staffing, and,training and education reimburse-ment. . Priority areas for fundinginclude the development of phar-maceutical caches, influenza pan-demic planning, purchase of per-sonal protective equipment, andtraining and fit testing of personalprotective equipment.

Healthcare facilities have received atotal of $14.5 million for emer-gency preparedness initiatives overthe last 3 years.

Building Local Health Depart-ment Capacity and WorkforceDevelopment

Under the direction of, and incollaboration with the Departmentof Health and Senior Services, eachLINCS (Local Information Networkand Communication Systems)agency has formed a bioterrorismteam. These teams provide leader-ship for — and coordination of —planning and preparedness initia-tives at the city, county and multi-county level. The department meetsand works with these agenciesregularly to monitor, assess andevaluate their programs through on-


DHSS has taken an“all-hazards” approachto its health preparednessefforts. Building local publichealth capacity to preventand respond to bioterrorismalso creates the strongfoundation needed toprotect the public health.

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site visits, drilling and exercising.(DHSS’s training initiatives tosupport the LINCS-basedbioterrorism teams are noted in thisreport’s chapter on training.)

DHSS has taken an “all-hazards”approach to its health preparednessefforts. Building local public healthcapacity to prevent and respond tobioterrorism, also creates thestrong foundation needed toprotect the public health. Thecomplex challenges of publichealth in the 21st century cannot bemet by any one single entity

For the past seven years, DHSS hasstriven continuously to upgradepublic health capacity and infrastruc-ture. The Public Health PracticeStandards of Performance for LocalBoards of Health in New Jersey,adopted in February 2003, estab-lished the mechanism by which theprocess has been accelerated. ThePractice Standards require a strategic,regional approach to health practiceand performance. In the past twoyears, 13 Governmental PublicHealth Partnerships (GPHPs),comprising health officers and othergovernmental providers of health-related services, have been formedcovering 20 counties and two cities(Paterson and Newark). The GPHPshave taken the lead in strategic,system-wide health planning using anationally recognized planning toolcalled MAPP (Mobilizing for Actionthrough Partnerships and Planning),thus engaging thousands of potentialpartners. The intended net outcomeof this effort will be:

1)identification of gaps and elimina-tion of duplication in services,

2)ability to leverage existing re-sources in each community formaximum impact on improvingcommunity health and

3)identification of vulnerable popula-tions in need of assistance in theevent of a wide-scale disaster.

To date, 150, or nearly 25 percent ofall Local Boards of Health in NewJersey, have participated in the firstphase of a governance assessment,and 110 health departments havecompleted the Assessment Protocolfor Excellence in Public Health(APEXPH), a self-assessment toolwith a built-in Continuous QualityImprovement (CQI) component.The results of these assessments willnow serve as one of many compo-nents that inform county-wide healthimprovement planning, statewide,and the implementation of regionalplans by 2007.

Risk Communication

In the past year, DHSS’s Office ofCommunications has providedsignificant enhancements to itscapacity for risk communication.

Staff refined its comprehensive planfor communicating with the publicduring health emergencies. The planestablishes protocols for developing,approving and disseminating publichealth information. It addressescoordination with public informationofficers at local health departmentsand hospitals. It includes protocolsfor staffing and staff assignments, aswell as the use of pre-written andpre-approved materials, includingmessage maps, fact sheets and pressrelease templates on various healthand disease threats.

These pre-approved materials wereproduced by and packaged as a shelfkit of Category A agents (dangerousbiological agents such as anthrax,smallpox, tularemia, etc.), which wasdistributed to local health depart-ment public information officers.

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In preparation for the nationalTOPOFF 3 exercise, the Office ofCommunications enhanced itsoutreach and coordination effortswith staff from agencies making upNew Jersey’s healthcare infrastruc-ture. Staff conducted three state-wide seminars on risk communica-tions, one for hospital publicinformation officers, another forlocal public health informationofficers and a third in-house riskcommunications seminar for DHSSsenior staff. The Office of Com-munications conducted severalexercises to test risk communicationplans and coordination.

Emergency Health Powers Act

The New Jersey Emergency HealthPowers Act, P.L.2005, c.222, one ofthe Task Force’s priority legislativeinitiatives, was signed into law onSeptember 14, 2005. A landmark inNew Jersey public health, the lawenhances and modernizes thestatutory foundation so that thestate can better prepare for, respondto, and manage the consequences ofpublic health emergencies. Thislegislation has many importantprovisions. Most notably, it grantsexpress authority to declare a PublicHealth Emergency and defines a“public heath emergency” using anall-hazards approach. It creates aVolunteer Emergency Health CareProvider Registry, provides dueprocess provisions for isolation andquarantine and provides liabilityprotections and workers’ compen-sation coverage for Volunteers.These provisions are already beingused in developing and staffingNew Jersey’s volunteer MedicalReserve Corps. The legislation alsorecognizes the need to effectivelyprevent, detect, manage and containemergency health threats withoutunduly interfering with civil rightsand liberties.

In coordination with the Office ofthe Attorney General, DHSS willproceed with rule making to imple-ment the terms of the EmergencyHealth Powers Act (EHPA), particu-larly with respect to defining thespecific authority of LINCS officersand the Biological Agent Registry.

Rutgers University, Cook CollegeOffice of Continuing ProfessionalEducation (OCPE) is expected tosupport DHSS in delivering trainingon provisions of the EmergencyHealth Powers Act to public healthprofessionals in New Jersey. OCPEadministers the 40-hour Bioterrorismand Public Health EmergencyPreparedness certificate program aswell as the New Jersey LearningManagement Network, whichprovides distance learning trainingand workforce development activitiesfor public health professionals.OCPE will provide the logisticalsupport for this project by develop-ing audio-visual materials andhandouts for participants, marketingand promoting the training programsto the targeted audiences, andproviding an online registrationservice that is available 24 hours aday, seven days a week.


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chapter VLaw Enforcement Response-Prevention and Protection

The Domestic Security PreparednessAct directs the Task Force to “pre-vent terrorist attacks” and calls on itto “preserve, protect or sustain thepublic safety.” These two functions,prevention and protection, fall largelyto law enforcement, through intelli-gence gathering, surveillance anddeployment of uniformed andundercover staff and other resources.

Analyzing Potential Threatsand Responding to Meet Them

In general terms, the Office ofCounter-Terrorism (OCT), created bygubernatorial executive order in 2002,gathers information and intelligenceabout potential terrorist threats,analyzes them and, ultimately, helpsdetermines the proper law enforce-ment response. The New Jersey StatePolice has had primary responsibilityfor coordinating the state’s law enforce-ment response, but this response hastruly been cooperative and multi-jurisdictional, cutting across all levelsof law enforcement — state, county,local and federal — as well as reachinginto the private sector. In addition,when OCT has determined a need foradditional protection at particularcritical infrastructure sites, the StatePolice has also coordinated requests tothe state Department of Military andVeterans Affairs to deploy NationalGuard members to protect varioussites. Guard members have beendeployed to protect such critical sites asNewark Liberty International Airport,as well as New Jersey Passenger rail,and the state’s Hudson River crossings,facilities and trains.

Also available for law enforcementresponse is a Rapid DeploymentForce that has been established as partof New Jersey’s Urban Area SecurityInitiative (UASI). The state created aUASI Rapid Deployment Force(RDF) to provide immediate responsecapabilities for the law enforcement

community in New Jersey, especiallyin the northeastern UASI region. Theforce counts approximately 1,000officers from 135 municipal andcounty law enforcement agencies inthe six-county UASI area, as well as acontingent of State Troopers. TheRDF has been provided with stan-dardized training in weapons of massdestruction awareness and operations,HAZMAT awareness and operationsand Incident Command Systems. TheRDF has also been provided withstandardized equipment. The combi-nation of standardized training andequipment allows the RDF to respondcapably and safely to terrorist inci-dents, especially those dealing withchemical, biological, radiological,nuclear and explosive devices.

During the past two years, NewJersey has had numerous opportuni-ties to test its model of combiningOCT’s intelligence gathering andthreat assessment responsibilities forthe guided deployment of lawenforcement resources.

Office of Counter-Terrorism

The Executive Order that establishedOCT set its mission as “identifying,detecting and deterring terroristactivity” by focusing on intelligencegathering and analysis, investigations,training and helping to protectcritical infrastructure. Unlike thegreat majority of state-level agenciesacross the country involved inhomeland security activities, theOffice of Counter-Terrorism has lawenforcement powers and conducts itsown investigations.

OCT Investigations

During 2004-2005, OCT conducted anumber of terrorism investigationsthat included the use of confidentialinformants, electronic surveillanceand other covert investigative tactics.

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Law Enforcement Response-Prevention and Protection

One investigation that began as acase regarding document fraud, oftena precursor crime to terrorism,resulted in June 2005 in 11 StateGrand Jury indictments and theissuing of arrest warrants charging 19New Jersey residents with traffickingin fraudulent documents or usingfraudulent documents to obtain validNew Jersey Motor Vehicle Commis-sion (MVC) drivers’ licenses oridentification documents. Theinvestigation, coordinated by OCTand the New Jersey State Police andprosecuted by the Division ofCriminal Justice, uncovered anunderground operation which soldfraudulent Philippine immigrationand identification documents toillegal immigrants from that nation.Through the use of fraudulentPhilippine passports, drivers’ licenses,and other purportedly officialPhilippine and immigration docu-ments, the alien residents were ableto obtain valid New Jersey MVCdrivers’ licenses and identificationdocuments in an attempt to establishlegitimate residency in the state.

In July 2005, following an investiga-tion, OCT also arrested severalpersons related to a group calledStop Huntington Animal Cruelty, orSHAC, and charged them withseveral counts of criminal mischief.Members of SHAC oppose theresearch efforts of Huntingdon LifeSciences, a British company that hasa facility in Middlesex County,because the company conductslaboratory testing on animals.

Tips and Leads

OCT continued to monitor its toll-freeterrorism tip line (866-4-SAFE-NJ), a24-hour, seven-day-a-week number forlaw enforcement and the general publicto use to report suspicious activity thatmay be linked to terrorist activity. Thistelephone number is displayed on

message sign boards maintained by theNew Jersey Department of Transpor-tation and the New Jersey TurnpikeAuthority during special periods ofheightened alert.

OCT handles approximately 4,000tips yearly, approximately 10 percentof which come in from the public onthe toll-free tip line.

Intelligence Gathering

Among its recent intelligence gather-ing activities, OCT has

Established a Terrorism IntelligenceFusion Center (TIFC) in its newlocation in Hamilton; the TIFC is acollaborative effort that combinesthe resources, expertise and infor-mation of local, state, regional,federal, and private sector stake-holders to maximize the ability todetect, prevent, apprehend andrespond to terrorist activity.Finalized plans for a SensitiveCompartmented InformationFacility (SCIF) adjacent to itsTIFC. The SCIF will be a facilitywith secret/top-secret securityfeatures which will allow OCT tocollect and analyze all sources ofterrorist threat information.Produced written intelligenceproducts, including several “Intelli-gence Reports” on topics such asthe terrorist threat to rail, schools,ports, casinos, and the threat fromterrorist use of Vehicle BorneImprovised Explosive Devices(VBIED) and chemical weapons;published “Advisories” and“Bulletins” in order to conveytime-sensitive information to stateand local law enforcement and theprivate sector on topics such asUsama Bin Laden and Zawahiriaudio and videotapes and terroristactivities around the world thatmight provide templates for

State Police underwentthe largest reorganizationin the Division’s historyto facilitate deploymentswhen homeland securityalert levels changed,as well as to addressNew Jersey’s homelandsecurity initiatives.

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activities in New Jersey and theUnited States. Also published aweekly information update forNew Jersey law enforcementofficers called “Infoshare.”“Infoshare” assesses current eventsrelated to terrorism and containsinformation on upcoming trainingopportunities.Prepared and delivered compre-hensive threat briefings to theGovernor, Attorney General, theDomestic Security PreparednessTask Force, the InfrastructureAdvisory Committee, Departmentof Health and Senior Services,New Jersey County Counter-Terrorism Coordinators, CountyCritical Infrastructure Coordina-tors, the Board of Public Utilities,state and local law enforcementgroups, school officials, healthofficials, fire inspectors, and privatesector groups; also, briefed TaskForce principals regularly onspecific topics of interest.

State Police — Creationof the HomelandSecurity Branch

In February 2004, State Policeunderwent the largest reorganizationin the Division’s history precisely tofacilitate deployments when homelandsecurity alert levels changed, as well asto address New Jersey’s homelandsecurity initiatives. The Division alsocreated the Homeland Security Branchto provide a continuing preventivelevel of homeland security and publicsafety through the coordination ofstatewide resources. The goal of theHomeland Security Branch is toprovide an increased capacity inresponding to changes in levels of theHomeland Security Alert System or anevent that necessitates additionalmobilization of resources in concertwith partners in law enforcement,intelligence, the private sector andemergency response.

The Homeland Security Branchintegrates an all-hazards approachtoward man-made or natural disasters.The Special Operations Section offersan operational deterrence and re-sponse capability through tactical andhigh visibility strategic missions whilethe Emergency Management Sectionfocuses on planning, preparedness,mitigation and disaster response.

Response to MadridBombings

New Jersey’s response to the bomb-ings in Madrid, Spain, in March2004, was the first significantterrorist event to test the missionand philosophy of the HomelandSecurity Branch. Within hours ofdetermining that the bombings werelinked to terrorism, a tacticaldeployment was initiated, sendingair, land and sea assets to assist andsupport the New Jersey TransitPolice Department. This partner-ship among state agencies continuesto be strengthened, allowing troop-ers and transit police officers torandomly patrol New Jersey Transitfacilities and rail apparatus on acontinuing basis. In addition, theState Police’s Aviation Bureauprovided additional surveillance ofrail lines from the air and continuesto perform that function as needed.

Raised Alert forFinancial Sector

In August 2004, the Federal Bureauof Investigation and the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security alertedthe state and the world that theheadquarters of a major financialservices company in Newark had beentargeted by members of al Qaeda,along with financial services land-marks in New York City and Washing-ton, D.C., for possible attack. DHSraised the Homeland Security AlertSystem threat level to orange for the

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financial sectors in these threelocations. OCT and State PoliceCounter Terrorism Bureau staffassigned to OCT then analyzedspecific threat potentials, researchedall previous tips and leads that hadbeen processed regarding suspiciousactivity at the Newark facility andreanalyzed all tips and leads related tothe financial sector. OCT also workedwith State Police and various localpolice departments to deploy officersto provide the needed level ofprotection at Newark facility andother financial services locations inthe northern part of the state, untilthe alert was lowered. The NewJersey Department of Transportationalso responded by deploying morethan 2,600 linear feet of “JerseyBarrier” curb in Newark and JerseyCity to provide additional protectionto financial centers. Throughout thiselevated alert, which ended in January2005, OCT and State Police, NJDOTand other Task Force agencies workedcooperatively with local, county, andfederal law enforcement agencies in avital spirit of cooperation.

Response to 2004 RepublicanNational Convention

The Homeland Security Branch’sEmergency Management Section andSpecial Operations Section orches-trated support operations for theRepublican National Convention(RNC) held in New York City in lateAugust and early September 2004.Activities included: fully activatingthe State Emergency OperationsCenter, establishing an advancedcommand post in Essex County,deploying special security units tomonitor public mass transit into NewYork City, increasing the state’spublic health readiness posture andcreating a robust liaison network withNew York City’s Police Department,the Port Authority of New York andNew Jersey, New Jersey Transit, New

York City OEM, FEMA Region IIand the Principal Federal Official(PFO) in charge of conventionsecurity operations.

The UASI Rapid Deployment Forcewas also successfully mobilizedduring the RNC. RDF officersworked hand-in-hand with StateTroopers to conduct inspections oftrucks traveling into Manhattan toprovide additional security.

Additionally, the National Guard’sJoint Operations Center inLawrenceville was fully operationalfrom mid-August through theconclusion of the RNC in earlySeptember. Aviation assets weredeployed to provide air interdictionand transport support for New JerseyState Police operations. EmergencyManagement Assistance Compacts(EMACs) were exercised and resultedin the deployment of out-of-stateCivil Support Teams from Kentuckyand Michigan. Although, ultimately,there were no significant activitiesand Guard Force Commanders didnot deploy their reaction forces, thesituation provided an excellentopportunity to exercise the Guard’sdeployment plans.

In coordination with these efforts,NJDOT installed a 360-foot bargeoffshore from Liberty State Park inJersey City. The barge was outfittedto provide to serve as a dockingstation for multiple ferries from NewYork City in the event that any typeof evacuation of the city wereneeded during the convention. Thebarge remains in place to serve thatfunction in an emergency evacuation.

In addition, the New Jersey Depart-ment of Agriculture was involved incontingency planning with the NewJersey Department of HumanServices to support human needs bymaking available NJDA’s bulk food

Using a specific protocoldeveloped by a Task Forcesubgroup and the NewJersey Division of CriminalJustice to ensure thatcitizens’ privacy and civilliberty rights were notinfringed upon, New JerseyTransit Police beganrandom searches of trainpassengers’ bagsand luggage.

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commodities and food resourceswere they to be needed in responseto an incident. In addition, NJDA,through the Animal EmergencyWorking Group (AEWG), developedcontingency plans for temporaryemergency animal sheltering, ifpeople needing to evacuate as a resultof an incident at the conventionbrought their pets with them.

Response to LondonSubway Bombings

In the wake of the suicide bombingattacks on the London subwaysystem in July 2005, the state mobi-lized once again. Within the Home-land Security Branch, State Police’sDeployment Services Bureau coordi-nated the resources of the SpecialOperations Section in a highly visibletransit deployment scheme. Aug-menting increased patrols by NewJersey Transit Police, Special Opera-tions Section and Field OperationsSection personnel were assigned totrain ride-along programs, platformvisitations, and T.H.R.E.A.T (TargetHardening Response & EmergencyActivation) deployments in a proac-tive effort to thwart any terroristevent. State Police’s Events PlanningUnit also coordinated and deployedNJSP resources and assets for majorbus, rail, and ferry infrastructureswithin the state. As of July 2005,State Police’s Transportation SafetyBureau had dedicated more than6,000 personnel hours to the NewJersey Transit/Amtrak train ride-along detail focusing on securitychecks of the major passenger railsystems in the state.

Additionally, using a specific protocolthat had been previously developedby a Task Force subgroup and theNew Jersey Division of CriminalJustice to ensure that citizens’ privacyand civil liberty rights were notinfringed upon, New Jersey Transit

Police for the first time beganrandom searches of train passengers’bags and luggage as a deterrent topotential terrorists.

Additional HomelandSecurity Branch Activities

The Detect and Render SafeTask Force was co-coordinated bythe Arson/Bomb Unit, which wasresponsible for ensuring that thenine additional county and localbomb units in the state wereprovided standardized equipmentand training. To date, members ofthe Arson/Bomb Unit havepurchased and disbursed approxi-mately $2.5 million of bombequipment from the HomelandSecurity Grant Program. All thisequipment is for outside agencybomb squads to include theconstruction of 10 identical bombresponse trucks that will be in-service in the near future. Also, theUnit has coordinated several jointtraining opportunities throughoutthe state for all the bomb squads.The Arson/Bomb Unit respondedin 2005 to 170 missions involvingsuspected explosive devices, con-ducted 200 bomb sweeps, 30 lecturesand examined 160 fire investigationsinvolving the loss of property that isin excess of $20 millionThe Canine Unit provided statewidestandardized training for 110 handlersand canines, 40 of which were trainedin explosives detection for use withthe Detect and Render Safe TaskForce. In addition, it responded to9,440 missions and sweeps thatresulted in the recovery of $5.4million in US currency, and in excessof $15.2 million in narcotics.Aviation Bureau personnel con-ducted 1,344 Homeland Security/Police missions during 2005 thatprovided random over flights of

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the state’s critical infrastructure,including rail lines, maritimechannels, major roadways andinterchanges, and urban centers.These missions took place duringevening and daylight hours, andwere most notably increased duringevents and/or elevated alerts.The Hazardous Materials ResponseUnit handled 325 homelandsecurity missions including chemi-cal, biological, radiological, nuclear,and explosive agent surveillanceand detection, evidence collection,sampling and identification ofCBRNE materials, decontamina-tion, environmental monitoring,scene management, and resourceacquisition and management. Inaddition, the Unit evaluated thecounty CBRNE response capabili-ties for 17 New Jersey counties.Initiated Operation Safe Freightwhich deploys State Police Trans-portation Safety Bureau Commer-cial Vehicle Inspection experts,Canine Unit, Hazardous MaterialResponse Unit, Bomb Unit, andNarcotics Bureau personnel, alongwith the State Department ofEnvironmental Protection andDivision of Taxation assets, inorder to comprehensively inspectcommercial vehicles. A total ofnine details was conducted in 2005,placing countless unsafe vehiclesout-of-service, along with therecovery of $1,000,580 in previ-ously uncollected taxes.

Memorandum of Agreementwith U.S. Coast Guard

The State Police’s Marine ServicesBureau will be responsible forcarrying out the law enforcementfunctions of the Task Force-Developed memorandum ofagreement (MOA) with the U.S.Coast Guard. Signed by GovernorCodey and the Coast Guard in

December 2004, this agreementmakes New Jersey only the secondstate in the country to grant federallaw enforcement powers to StatePolice marine officers in federalmaritime security zones, effectivelyproviding a regional, cooperativeapproach to port security.

To help with its added homelandsecurity responsibilities and responsi-bilities in implementing the MOAwith the Coast Guard, the MarineServices Bureau, using federalhomeland security grant funds,ordered a 28-foot patrol vessel andfour 22-foot patrol vessels that willenable personnel to conduct marineoperations, e.g., naval/tanker/cruiseship escorts, critical infrastructurechecks, side scan sonar, etc., in anyweather or sea condition. TheBureau also ordered a remoteunderwater camera and trailer thatenables personnel to conduct marineinspections of naval/tanker/cruiseship escorts, critical infrastructurechecks in any weather or sea condi-tion. The Bureau is continuing in itscommitment to its Maritime SecurityInitiative that enlists the support andinteraction with local, private andcorporate waterfront communitiesthrough education and a point ofcontact, in an effort to identify andthen report criminal and/or terroristactivities on and around the water-ways of New Jersey.

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The 9/11 Commission’s Report (July2004) is replete with references to thefailures in information sharing that, inlarge part, resulted an inability tointercept and prevent the September11, 2001, attacks on the World TradeCenter and Pentagon. The reportmakes reference to the many individu-als who testified before the committeeregarding government’s repeatedfailures to “connect the dots.”

In many respects — anticipatingsimilar efforts at the federal level—sharing information was structuredinto the Domestic Security Prepared-ness Task Force. Its foundation as amulti-jurisdictional body is predicatedon the need to bring agencies togetherto make sure that vital information isshared and shared effectively. TheTask Force’s Domestic SecurityPreparedness Planning Group hasadopted as one of its core functionsan aggressive policy of sharinginformation. The Planning Group’smonthly general meetings provide itsbroadly representative membership ofacademics and state, law enforcement,first responder, disaster volunteer andcharitable agencies with routineupdates on the status of state,regional and national counter-terror-ism and preparedness issues.

Task Force agencies are thoroughlyengaged in information sharing withtheir federal counterparts to integratestate and federal efforts. For ex-ample, the Attorney General’s Office,State Police and the Office ofCounter-Terrorism routinely sharelaw enforcement information withthe Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI), the Department of HomelandSecurity and other federal lawenforcement agencies. State Policepersonnel and State Investigators areassigned to the FBI’s Joint TerrorismTask Forces, both operating from theNewark and Philadelphia FBI offices.The New Jersey Department of

Agriculture works closely with theU.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA); the Department of Healthand Senior Services collaboratesregularly with the U.S. Departmentof Health and Human Services(DHHS) and the federal Centers forDisease Control and Prevention(CDC); the state Department ofEnvironmental Protection worksclosely with the federal NuclearRegulatory Commission (NRC) andthe U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA); the New JerseyDepartment of Transportationworks closely with the US Depart-ment of Transportation and USDHS’s Transportation SecurityAdministration and so on.

This chapter will explore the manyways that the Task Force and itsconstituent agencies have worked tocreate a culture of cooperation byinstitutionalizing information sharingamong its many audiences andconstituencies — on the state,county, local or federal levels — inmany cases by employing andadapting technological means.

Information Sharing for LawEnforcement

SIMS — Two-Way LawEnforcement IntelligenceSharing

New Jersey’s Statewide IntelligenceManagement System (SIMS) is acornerstone of the state’s efforts toshare information instantaneouslyamong law enforcement agencies.Built on the proprietary Memexintelligence system, SIMS is a databaseused to collect and share informationon suspected involvement in all typesof traditional and nontraditionalorganized criminal activity. Terroristsgangs, narcotics syndicates, traditionaland nontraditional organized crimegroups, fraud groups and identity

chapter VIInformation Sharing and Outreach Efforts

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Information Sharing and Outreach Efforts

thieves are all found in its files. Thesystem allows agencies to store theirintelligence for their own use or foruse by the entire law enforcementcommunity. It also allows them toquery the entire database.

In 2003, the Division of State Policeand the Office of Counter-Terrorismbegan adapting the SIMS system foruse as a system for reporting, collectingand storing terrorism tips and leads.This was designed to provide a strongtechnological and investigative tool fordetecting and deterring terrorists.Subsequently, State Police and OCTtrained the 21 county prosecutors’offices in the use of SIMS. Since 2003,approximately 10,000 tips and leadshave been entered into this newfunction for SIMS.

As a result of its application tocounter-terrorism, New Jersey wasable to use more than $4.3 million infunding from the Department ofHomeland Security in 2004 and 2005in order to buy SIMS softwarelicenses for every law enforcementagency in the state. This has had thenet result of extending the capabili-ties of the entire system, which ismanaged by the State Police — in anall-hazards approach — to the state’sentire law enforcement community.

Prior to adapting SIMS for tips andleads, OCT had placed severalthousand tips and leads into ahomegrown database. In 2004-2005,OCT, successfully updated these datafrom its “legacy” database into thelive SIMS database. Additionally,approximately four hundred leadsfurnished by the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation were also entered intoSIMS. These two efforts made SIMSa real-time “one-stop shopping”database for conducting historicalintelligence information inquiries.

The overall use of SIMS is fostering

what can be termed “intelligence-based policing ”exponentially multi-plies the abilities of New Jersey’s lawenforcement community to attack thescourges of gangs, drugs, guns andterrorism. Used statewide by all lawenforcement agencies for all crimes,SIMS provides for rapid collectionand analysis of intelligence data.

SIMS is a force multiplier. It is trulycapable of helping law enforcementto “connect the dots.” For example,take a situation in which a detectiveor witness remembers a suspect witha noticeable scar or a memorabletattoo. When entered into SIMS, apolice officer or detective can checkthese small details against a very largedatabase. Even with the smallestlead, officers are likely to get identifi-able “hits.” The system not onlyprovides names that can advance aninvestigation, it also can provide agraphical demonstration of relation-ships — linking a tattooed suspect orsuspected terrorist, for instance, to allof his known associates and to all thecriminal cases with which he hasbeen involved.

Regional OperationsIntelligence Center (The ROIC)

SIMS is now a major component ofthe new Regional Operations Intelli-gence Center, or the ROIC. TheROIC (pronounced “ROCK”)evolved from beginnings in 2004,when the Office of the AttorneyGeneral recognized the need tocreate a statewide Operations/Intelligence Center that wouldprovide for an all-crimes, all-hazardsapproach for law enforcement.Subsequently, the Superintendent ofthe New Jersey State Police estab-lished a working committee todevelop an intelligence entity thatwould combine the efforts theDivision’s Homeland Security,Emergency Operations, Intelligenceand Communications functions.

The operations of theOffice of Counter-Terrorismhave been founded onthe principle of sharinginformation with as widea network of lawenforcement andprivate sector partnersas possible.

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In January 2005, the ROIC beganoperations. Its mission is to develop,build and support a consolidatedstatewide criminal intelligence-sharingand emergency operations system.This fusion of critical functionsallows all participating New Jerseyagencies to gather, analyze, protectand share credible information andintelligence in a real-time environ-ment. It also facilitates an effectiveresponse to critical incidents andenhances the state’s ability to identify,investigate, prevent, deter and defeatcriminal and terrorist activities.

To ensure an effective span ofcontrol, the ROIC is divided into twounits; the Operations Center Office(OCO) which handles the ROIC’soperations and communicationsfunctions, and the Intelligence CenterUnit (ICU) which handles theintelligence and information sharingfunctions. These two entities aresupervised by the ROIC Director.

Working 24 hours a day, 365 days ayear, ROIC personnel:

Collect and analyze intelligenceinformation entered into SIMS bylocal, county, state and federal lawenforcement, and disseminateapplicable information to partici-pating law enforcement agencies.Evaluate intelligence informationfor reliability, validity, sensitivityclassification, timeliness andconformity under 28 Code ofFederal Regulations, Part 23(28CFR23).Provide analysts with intelligencenecessary for tactical and strategicplanning.Provide threat analysis crucial fordirecting homeland securityinitiatives.Document intelligence germane toterrorism in SIMS and immediately

disseminate that information to theOffice of Counter-Terrorism andthe Federal Bureau of Investigation.Work in direct cooperation withthe State Police Homeland SecurityBranch, and provide support in allmatters of mutual concern.Serve as the InvestigationsBranch’s principal point of contactduring activation of the Emer-gency Operations Center.

Additional services and capabilitiesprovided by the ROIC include:Publication of a Daily IntelligenceBulletin.Advanced communications forproviding alerts to law enforce-ment and citizens (through Reverse9-1-1, “The Communicator!”).An automated data logging systemwith statistical platformShadow Traffic Information Link

The ROIC also has access to an arrayof services and databases such as theHSIN, FBI’s LEO system, EPIC,Accurint and E-Team.

Since its inception in early 2005, theROIC has progressed well aboveoriginal expectations. A number ofTask Force agencies, including thedepartments of EnvironmentalProtection (DEP) and Transporta-tion (DOT), Board of Public Utilities(BPU) and the Division of FireSafety in the Department of Com-munity Affairs (DCA), are consider-ing becoming partners in the ROIC’soperations.

Office of Counter-TerrorismInformation Sharing

Since its beginnings, the operationsof the Office of Counter-Terrorismhave been founded on the principleof sharing information with as widea network of law enforcement andprivate sector partners as possible.

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One of the Office’s first initiativeswas to designate a County Counter-Terrorism Coordinator in each of the21 county prosecutor’s offices, whowas responsible for acting as countylaw enforcement liaison betweenlocal police and OCT and federal lawenforcement officials. Within theambit of this report, the CountyCounter-Terrorism Coordinator hasbeen joined in each prosecutor’soffice by a Task Force-createdCounty Critical InfrastructureCoordinator, funded by federalhomeland security grant monies.

County Critical InfrastructureCoordinators

In 2005, OCT Launched an orienta-tion and training program for thenewly hired County Critical Infra-structure Coordinators. This state-wide county resource works on adaily basis with OCT’s CriticalInfrastructure Program in identifyingand inventorying all county-widecritical infrastructures. Additionally,these coordinators will provideexpertise within their counties tofacility owners and operators whodesire assistance with improving theiroverall security posture. Workingunder the direction of OCT’s CriticalInfrastructure Program, the CountyCritical Infrastructure Coordinatorsbroaden the state’s team approach toproviding meaningful interactionsamong law enforcement and thepublic and private sectors.

Secure Communications withSelected Audiences

OCT developed and launched fivesecure Web sites to provide updatesand information for the followingaudiences:

• Law enforcement officials• Infrastructure Advisory Committee

members and staff and identified

critical infrastructure sites• Mayors and other government

representatives• Education officials• Fire and emergency services

officials

In addition, OCT launched a sixthsecure Web site that contains competeversions of the Infrastructure AdvisoryCommittee Best Practices for securityfor all the various IAC sectors.

Persons who are authorized to sign upfor these various sites also receive e-mailmessages when something new hasbeen added to one of the Web sites.

The Communicator!

OCT also implemented — andcontinuously updates — a databasefor the Counter-Terrorism “Commu-nicator!” alert system. This systemprovides an automated notificationof important alerts and emergencyinformation. The “Communicator!”automatically generates a callout/notification based on predefinedincident scenarios, contactingindividuals through multiple modali-ties, including cellular and land-linetelephones, analog/digital pagers ande-mail. It delivers incident-specificinformation or instructions, confirmsmessage receipt, and documentsnotification, resulting in the genera-tion of comprehensive reports.

Northeast Regional HomelandSecurity Advisors Compact

OCT was a founding member of theNortheast Regional Homeland SecurityAdvisors Compact. This groupincludes homeland security advisorsfrom 10 member states (New Jersey,New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut,Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, NewHampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont)that meet quarterly to share intelli-

The Governor’s Officeof Recovery and VictimAssistance (ORVA) wasNew Jersey’s first effortat information sharingrelated to the events of 9/11.

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gence, best practices, and fundinginitiatives. The compact’s agencieshave biweekly phone conferences toexchange critical and timely informa-tion and will ultimately all be linkedelectronically.

Homeland SecurityInformation Network

OCT also participates as a represen-tative on the Department of Home-land Security (DHS) law enforcementworking groups for the HomelandSecurity Information Network(HSIN) information-sharing initia-tive. HSIN is being designed byDHS to link all 50 states in a nation-wide information-sharing initiative.

Police Institute I-95 Initiative

In collaboration with the Task Forceand the Office of the Attorney General,the Police Institute at Rutgers-Newarkcreated an information-sharing networkcalled in the I-95 Initiative. Theinitiative was started in the aftermath ofSeptember 11 for two reasons: (1) toaddress concerns about how terrorist-related information was being sharedbetween federal authorities and those atthe local and state levels; and (2) todemonstrate how information can becommunicated laterally among policeand security agencies. Currently, morethan 25 state and local agencies locatedalong the I-95 corridor, from Marylandto Massachusetts, meet quarterly atRutgers University to share experienced-based information that may be poten-tially terrorist-related, such as anomaliesconfronted in the conduct of routinepolice patrol. The agencies also shareproblem solving and investigativeactivities as well as various best practices.

Information Sharing NeedsAssessment Pilot Program

The state Departments of Transpor-tation and Health and Senior Ser-

vices, as well as the Office ofCounter-Terrorism and the MorrisCounty Office of Health Manage-ment, are participating in aninformation-sharing pilot programwith the Department of HomelandSecurity’s Office for Science andTechnology. Funded by a smallfederal grant and designed to identifyvital information-sharing needsbefore a real crisis strikes, the pilotprogram will use focus groups andother means to determine whatessential information must be sharedin response to critical incidents.

Information Sharingwith the Public

Office of Recovery andVictim Assistance

Predating the Task Force by severalweeks, the Governor’s Office ofRecovery and Victim Assistance(ORVA) was New Jersey’s first effortat information sharing related to theevents of 9/11. Created by Guber-natorial Executive Order on Septem-ber 17, 2001, ORVA was establishedto share all pertinent informationwith the families of victims of theattack and to connect victims’families with the various social,financial and governmental servicesavailable to them.

ORVA has continued to supervisethat process, though delivery ofservices shifted in 2002 to the FamilyAdvocate Program (FAP), a programthat established a not-for-profitcorporation, New Jersey FamilyAdvocate Management, Inc.(NJFAM), in conjunction with theUnited Way of New Jersey to assignfamily advocates to specific familiesand injured persons on a regionalbasis. The experienced advocatesthen provided comprehensiveassistance in obtaining informationfor the families regarding charitable

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and private organizations; legal,financial and mental health services;and job training and skill enhance-ment programs.

Providing and CoordinatingVictim Services

In June 2005, ORVA completed theoperation of the Family AdvocateProgram. By the end of the pro-gram, nearly 700 New Jersey familiesaffected by the September 11th

attacks had received services throughthe FAP. Families were assignedindividual advocates to assist them inaccessing services, programs andbenefits. Thirty-five advocatesemployed by 13 different agenciesparticipated in the program. ORVAalso published a bimonthly newslet-ter for the families advising them ofvarious events, programs, specialservices, legislative and judicialupdates and other matters of interestrelating to September 11th and itsaftermath. In addition to the FAP,programs to provide substance abusetreatment for 9/11 victims andprovide support to individuals whobecame unemployed as a result of 9/11, were also brought to completion.

ORVA also coordinated the state’sresponse to the third and fourthanniversaries of the September 11th

attacks. In conjunction with the StatePolice Events Planning Unit andDeployment Services Bureau personnel,Liberty State Park Staff, Department ofTransportation, the Salvation Army, theRed Cross and others, ORVA organizedand implemented special ferry servicefor victims’ families to and fromGround Zero on September 11, 2004,and September 11, 2005.

Proposed Regulations forSecurity Exemptions to OPRA

In October 2004, the AttorneyGeneral’s Office proposed regulations

developed to define in clearer andcategorical terms a gubernatorialexecutive order that required a case-by-case examination of informationthat should be exempted from theOpen Public Records Act (OPRA)because of substantial securityconcerns. Executive Order 21 (2002)required the Attorney General, inconsultation with the Task Force, topromulgate rules striking a balancebetween the public’s right to gainaccess to government records and theneed to deny that access when itwould materially diminish the State’sability to protect itself and its citizens.In addition to the normal period forwritten comment, given the signifi-cance of the issue, Attorney GeneralPeter C. Harvey decided to provide anadditional opportunity for publictestimony at a hearing in July 2005and opened up the comment periodfor written submissions as well.

Although the proposed OPRAregulations were designed to strike abalance between the need to protectthe state and its citizens againstterrorism and the need for the publicto have access to public records, thegreat majority of testimony andwritten comments indicated thatmembers of the public and variousinterest groups thought the restric-tions were too broad and, in someinstances, could have unintendedrestrictive consequences, for example,on aspects of real estate transactions.As a result, the Task Force willcarefully take the public commentsinto account and repropose theregulations in the near future.

DHSS RiskCommunication Activities

In the past two years, actions takenby the Department of Health andSenior Services’ (DHSS’s) Office ofCommunications resulted in signifi-cant enhancements to the

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department’s capacity for effectiverisk communication. Risk commu-nication is a complex issue but, in ahealthcare context, generally relatesto informing the public aboutrelative risks of taking certainactions. In a bioterror or healthemergency situation, the ability tocommunicate risk to the public iscentral to maintaining calm andensuring that the public takes thoseactions that will be most protectiveof individuals’ and the overallcommunities’ health.

In this regard, DHSS staff refined itscomprehensive plan for communicat-ing with the public during healthemergencies. The plan establishesprotocols for developing approval anddissemination of public healthinformation. It addresses coordinationwith public information officers atlocal health departments (LHDs) andhospitals. It includes protocols forstaffing and staff assignments, as wellas the use of pre-approved materials,including message maps, fact sheetsand press release templates.

These pre-approved materials wereproduced by and packaged as a shelfkit relating to the most virulentCategory A agents (which as definedby CDC, include anthrax, botulism,plague, smallpox, tularemia and viralhemorrhagic fevers).

In preparation for the TOPOFF 3exercise, the Office of Communica-tions enhanced its outreach andcoordination efforts with New Jersey’shealthcare infrastructure. Staffconducted three statewide seminarson risk communications, one forhospital public information officers,another for local public healthinformation officers, and a third in-house risk communications seminarfor DHSS senior staff. The Office ofCommunications conducted severalexercises to test risk communicationplans and coordination.

Public Outreach — ReadyTogether New Jersey

DHSS initiated a statewide publicawareness campaign for New Jerseyresidents. The campaign was basedon Ready Together New Jersey a publichealth guide to emergency planningproduced in booklet form by DHSS’sOffice of Communications.

Ready Together New Jersey was distrib-uted in the days leading up to theApril 2005 TOPOFF 3 exercise andpromoted through public serviceannouncements and other means.More then 2.1 million copies weredistributed to the public in Sundaynewspapers and through LHDs.Due to a large demand, the Office ofCommunications ordered a secondprinting. The second run consistedof 150,000 copies in English, whichwere distributed through the 22LINCs agencies, federally qualifiedhealth centers and hospitals through-out New Jersey. An additional 50,000copies of a Spanish-language version(Todos Listos Nueva Jersey) is also beingdistributed through the LINCsagencies. Both versions are availableon DHSS’s Web site and the NewJersey Homeland Security Web site(http://www.njhomelandsecurity.gov/ready-together-brochure.html).

Public Vigilance Advertising

Coincident with the beginning of theRepublican National Convention inNew York City in August 2004, theAttorney General’s CommunicationsOffice spearheaded a statewideadvertising and awareness campaignto heighten the public’s vigilance topotential terrorist attacks. Throughradio and outdoor advertisements(billboards and transportation ads),the campaign particularly targetedcommuters who travel by train intoNew York City, and asked the public

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generally to report any suspiciousactivity to the state’s counter-terror-ism tip line (866-4-SAFE-NJ) or tolaw enforcement officials. TheAttorney General’s Office workedcooperatively with New JerseyTransit and PATH, which partici-pated in this initiative. Additionally,more than 2.1 million copies of atwo-sided insert (one side promotingvigilance, the other promoting citizenreadiness) were distributed in Sep-tember with all Sunday newspaperssold in New Jersey.

Following the July 2005, Londonsubway bombings, the Office of theAttorney General mounted a scaled-down version of the 2004 awarenesscampaign to correspond with aperiod of heightened security ontrains and subways in the metropoli-tan New Jersey-New York region.

Direct Outreach to Citizens —Citizen Corps, CERT and OtherPrograms

In spring 2005, New Jersey passedTexas as the state with the largestCERT (Community EmergencyResponse Team) program in thenation. New Jersey’s Citizen Corps,which includes CERT and is man-aged by State Police’s EmergencyManagement Section, added 35 newCitizen Corps Councils in 2005,bringing the total to 175 and makingNew Jersey the state with the mostCitizen Corps Councils in the nation.Citizen Corps is the national pro-gram overseen by the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security, thatoffers various volunteer activitiesthrough which citizens can getinvolved in bolstering local homelandsecurity preparedness.

New Jersey’s CERT volunteers areordinary citizens who undergo aneight-week, 20-hour training courseon disaster preparedness, fire sup-

pression, first aid and triage, searchand rescue, disaster psychology,terrorism preparedness and teamorganization. Each graduate receivesa basic emergency kit. Each volun-teer belongs to a local, county orstate CERT team, with continuingtraining opportunities throughout theyear. During times of emergency,CERT volunteers provide vitalsupport for first responders and theirfellow citizens.

New Jersey completed CERTtraining for 2,598 individuals in 2005,for a total of 6,263 CERT membersstatewide. An additional 400 peopleare undergoing CERT training as thisreport was being completed.

In 2005, State Police’s EmergencyManagement Section deployed 44CERT utility trailers — replete withall sorts of emergency equipment —the first such deployment to supportCERT teams across the state.

In other Citizen Corps initiatives, 82police agencies joined the newNeighborhood Watch NJ initiative,and 3,000 citizens have completedNeighborhood Watch training. TheVIPS Chaplain Corps pilot pro-grams were completed in Newarkand Burlington.

In partnership with the State Depart-ment of Health and Senior Services,Medical Reserve Corps teams werecreated in all 21 counties. In 2005more than 1,500 CERT and MedicalReserve Corps volunteers partici-pated in TOPOFF 3.

CERT teams were activated to assistwith flooding emergencies in NewJersey and 15 CERT volunteersdeployed to areas affected by Hurri-cane Katrina in summer 2005.

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When it comes to strengthening lawenforcement or homeland securityefforts, nothing can take the place ofsharp, experienced and enterprisinghuman beings. The corollary view isthat technology is only as good as thehuman beings who use it. However,when it comes to linking manyindividuals, many agencies and manydiverse efforts in many disparateplaces to protect domestic securityand citizens, technology is a neces-sary component to increase humaneffectiveness.

Early on, the Domestic SecurityPreparedness Task Force establisheda Technology Committee within itsDomestic Security PreparednessPlanning Group, and charged it withevaluating all technology available forhomeland security applications.

Executive Orders on Technology

Subsequently, gubernatorial Execu-tive Order No. 111 (McGreevey,June 2004), created a HomelandSecurity Technology Systems Centerat the New Jersey Institute ofTechnology (NJIT). The newtechnology center was designed towork in collaboration with the state,the Office of the Attorney General,the Domestic Security PreparednessTask Force and a number of otherNew Jersey academic centers toconduct real-world, in-use tests tofind the best technology to protectcritical state assets.

Acting Governor Codey’s Execu-tive Order No. 20 (February 2005)orders and directs the creation ofa New Jersey CBRNE Training andResearch Center at the Universityof Medicine and Dentistry of NewJersey (UMDNJ). This center willwork in collaboration with stategovernment and work to bringtogether the vast array of exper-tise that exists in New Jersey and

throughout the country in theareas of training, education,exercises, research and develop-ment relating to chemical, biologi-cal, radiological, nuclear andexplosive, or CBRNE, threats.

Both of these executive ordersestablish nonpartisan academiccenters as the chief arbiters oftechnology choice and will help NewJersey chart an objective coursetoward the most useful technology.

Testing RadiologicalTechnologies

Regional RadiologicalProtection Pilot Program

New Jersey, New York, New YorkCity, the New York MetropolitanTransit Authority (MTA) and PortAuthority of New York and NewJersey are cooperating on a $30million multi-state, multi-jurisdic-tional project to protect the NewYork-New Jersey metropolitan areaagainst “dirty bombs” and otherpotential radiological terrorist threats.Funded by DHS’s Office for Domes-tic Preparedness out of FFY 2003supplemental funds, this regionalinitiative is designed to deploy anetwork of fixed, mobile andhandheld radiation detection devicesto detect, deter and intercept suchpotential terrorist weapons as“improvised nuclear devices” and“radiation dispersal devices” (alsoknown as “dirty bombs”), through-out the metropolitan region’s varioustransportation corridors. Investmentin New Jersey from this grant will be$7 million of the $30 million total.

The technologies selected for deploy-ment will support a detection andresponse system that is networked,integrated and scalable. Using asystems engineering approach, thepilot program will deploy a network

chapter VIILeveraging Technology

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Leveraging Technology

of radiological detection sensorsstrategically throughout the New York- New Jersey metropolitan area alongidentified transportation routes and atspecific “choke” points. The systemof sensors will also include a signifi-cant mobile element for deploymentto protect special events and respondto emerging threats.

To date, more than $2 million dollarsworth of radiological and explosivesdetection equipment has been pur-chased for this program. Explosivestrace detection equipment purchasedas part of this grant has been used inthe transit environment during recentperiods of elevated threat.

Radiological CommunityPreparedness ResourcesProject

The U.S. Department of HomelandSecurity is preparing a CommunityPreparedness Playbook for Radio-logical Emergencies. This initiativewill provide guidance to first re-sponders in the event of the explo-sion of a radiological dispersal device(RDD or dirty bomb). Guidance foruse in the first 48 hours following aterrorist attack has already beendeveloped. Task Force staff haverepresented New Jersey at focusgroups where the guidance has beentested on first responders. Focusgroups have included New Jerseysenior decision makers, firefighters,Hazmat technicians, law enforcementofficers, public health and hospitalofficials, and representatives from theprivate sector.

Self-Indicating Instant Radia-tion Alert Dosimeter — SIRAD

The New Jersey Office of theAttorney General is coordinating theefforts of a broad range of NewJersey agencies in a DHS-sponsoredcounter measures test of the SIRAD

card for first responders. The Self-Indicating Instant Radiation AlertDosimeter (SIRAD) is a credit-cardsized device that measures radiationdose levels. It features a radiationsensitive strip that turns shades ofblue when exposed to medicallysignificant levels of ionizing radia-tion. Earlier models of the card havebeen used by the U.S. military. Thisproject will test its applicability foremergency responders in an urbanenvironment. As of September2005, approximately 400 SIRADcards had been distributed to mem-bers of the New Jersey First Re-sponder Community. The test willlast approximately nine months andcards will checked at the halfwaypoint in the trial and returned toDHS at the end of the deploymentinto the field.

Task Force Liaison toDHS Domestic NuclearDetection Office

In April 2005, a Presidential Direc-tive created the national DomesticNuclear Detection Office (DNDO)in the Department of HomelandSecurity. The DNDO is now theprimary organization in DHS towork on developing means to detectand interdict attempts to import ortransport a nuclear device intendedfor illicit use. Staff of the TaskForce are now part of the DNDO’sstate and local working group toensure close cooperation at the local,state and federal levels.

EPINet — Software Solutions forIncidents, Critical Infrastructure

The Office of the Attorney General(OAG) has initiated the EmergencyPreparedness Information Network(EPINet). EPINet is a system ofloosely coupled sub-systems builtusing “open” computer technologyand information exchange standards.

Internet-based accessto E Team provides fullIncident Command System(ICS) capability to thecounties and their localities.

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As a result, EPINet can readilyintegrate best-of-breed solutions,including existing law enforcementand criminal justice systems capabili-ties, to implement the dynamic andrapidly evolving requirements ofNew Jersey’s domestic securitycommunity. The EPINet informationarchitecture allows data from mul-tiple, isolated sources to be used toprovide a unified view of informa-tion that can offer exceptionalsituational awareness and forms thebasis for improved information andintelligence fusion and analysis.

The programs under theEPINet umbrella include:

E Team — is a collaborative crisismanagement “situational awareness”software that provides managementsupport in the areas of emergencypreparedness, response and recovery.The true power of E Team comesfrom its ability to provide a CommonOperating Picture (COP) throughreal-time sharing and integration ofinformation during an incident. Anintegrated GIS engine based onprovides robust mapping and geo-location capabilities for all pertinentinformation. Modules within ETeam are based on the IncidentCommand System (ICS) and years ofemergency management best prac-tices. These modules provide a hostof structured reports. Because thereports are structured, applicationlevel interoperability between sepa-rate jurisdictions provides 100%shared situational awareness. Asubset of critical reports includes:

Incident reports that capture keyincident data and provide real-timeupdates to incident progressJurisdiction and agency situationand readiness reportsLogistics support reports that catalogresources and manage requests andprovisioning of those resources

Critical infrastructure reports(including roads, utilities, hospitalsand shelters) that present data onstatus and activityAlert bulletins that provide imme-diate notification of key develop-ments to participants

Implementation of the E Teamsystem is sponsored by the StateOffice of Emergency Management.E Team has been deployed statewide,facilitating communications andcoordination between the stateOffice of Emergency Management(OEM), allied state agencies, all 21New Jersey county OEMs, and NewYork City OEM. E Team data is alsocaptured in a manner which facili-tates its analysis by SIMS.

Internet-based access to E Teamprovides full Incident CommandSystem (ICS) capability to thecounties and their localities.Through the Garden State Network,a secure private network operated bythe New Jersey Office of Informa-tion Technology, county E Teamsystems update the state E Teamsystem with critical information asneeded. Currently, NJOEM is fullyoperational and additional countiesare coming on line monthly.

SIMS (Statewide IntelligenceManagement System) — Asdiscussed in the chapter on informa-tion sharing, SIMS is used toaccumulate, manage and analyzeunstructured intelligence dataaccumulated from numerous internaland external sources. SIMS addressesthe needs of state, county and localgovernment through a joint effortamong traditional law enforcement,the Office of Counter Terrorism andvarious local governments through-out the state. It provides a reusable/scalable solution that enables rapidsharing of data between NJ LawEnforcement Agencies (LEA) and

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NJSP SIMS. This solution, as a focalcomponent of EPINet, forms thebasis for the state’s sharing ofintelligence data.

The mission of SIMS is to promotethe value of sharing criminal infor-mation and intelligence. SIMSsupports all applicable national datasharing standards, includingGJXDM, NIEMS and NDEx.

Inherent in this mission is the need toaddress cultural change within theintelligence community. SIMS willprovide the training and tools neededto ensure that “intelligence-ledpolicing” becomes not only theaccepted method of attacking crime,but the preferred method. It willenable police agencies to storeintelligence for their own use and forthe use of the broader law enforce-ment community. At the same time,SIMS will ensure that law enforce-ment can leverage the information byproviding enhanced search capabili-ties. All of this should enable lawenforcement to find out what otherpeople know in real time using secure,reliable communications channels.

CATS — The Critical Asset TrackingSystem is a centralized databasesystem that tracks, maintains, collects,and analyzes data relevant to siteswithin the state that have beenidentified as critical or otherwisesignificant when considered againstthe prospect of a terrorist threat. Anadditional and invaluable capability ofthe CATS system is the ability toaccumulate a real time list of criticalpersonnel connected with any facilityor region, and relay that informationto the “Communicator” system fornotification and alerting. Ultimately,each Task Force state agency thatserves as a liaison to an InfrastructureAdvisory Committee sector group willhave its database information oncritical infrastructure linked to CATS.

Important entries in the CATS datamodel include Contact, Facility,Critical Product, Hazardous Mate-rial, Structure, Sector, CriticalInfrastructure Tier and Industry.The Office of Counter-Terrorismis responsible for overseeing thedata in CATS.

Additionally, CATS can:

Interface to Site Profiler, thevulnerability and threat assessmentsoftware for critical infrastructurethat the state is usingIdentify staging areas, ingress andegress routesLocate facilities and hazardousmaterialsManage and display site plans,building plans, floor plans, emer-gency response plans

During 2005, the CATS systemmoved from a test pilot phase tofinal implementation statewide.Participants include OCT, StatePolice Infrastructure Security Unit),and each of the 21 County CriticalInfrastructure Coordinators.

Facial Recognition — The NewJersey Criminal Justice InformationSystem (CJIS) is being enhanced toallow authorized personnel the abilityto conduct a “one to many” facialsearch against the state’s criminalmugshot repository. Additionalphases of this effort will expand thecommunication to include NewJersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission(MVC) photo repository to addressthe issues of valid identification/authentication. Finally, this veryeffort is the basis of one of manypartnerships with the State ofMassachusetts — and ultimately theregion — to benefit both the lawenforcement and homeland securitycommunities and address the chal-lenges of facial recognition.

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EDW — The EPINet Enterprise DataWarehousing environment provides arepository of data stored in a multi-purpose format based on a nationallyrecognized homeland security datamodel. This format will provideconsistency in information sharing andintegration of information based onopen standards among the state, localand federal government agencies thatare part of New Jersey’s emergencypreparedness and response community.

Resource Directory Database(RDDB) — is a database to identifyand catalog all the resources availablewithin the state for response to anemergency situation. The databasecontains the personnel, equipment andsupply resources of all municipal,county, volunteer organizations, privatebusiness entities, state departments,divisions and agencies that contributeassets to the database, organized in aweb-based format that catalogs andtypes resources in an efficient and userfriendly environment.

Site Profiler — is enterprise riskmanagement software published byDigital Sandbox and used to identify,analyze and mitigate threats andvulnerabilities at various sites andfacilities. Through a suite of toolsbased on government and commer-cial best practice methodologies,users can mine data generated byassessment teams across that user’sarea of concern, enter and dissemi-nate threat information, trackhistorical incidents, and communicatewithin and among groups of users.Site Profiler generates trends analysesand reports that managers can use tomake critical risk- and vulnerability-based resource decisions.

EPINet GATEWAY portal — willbe a map-centric portal that containsdata from many sources (municipali-ties, counties, E Team, CATS, SIMS,RDDB, etc.) as well as links to otherinformative resources. The system

will provide a common operatingpicture (COP) for all who areinvolved in homeland security.Having a COP with the ability to seeor gain access to various data willlead to consistent decision making -an integral part of incident manage-ment. The Gateway Portal is open/interoperable, allowing choice ofdatabases, hardware, GIS software,networks and web browsers. It willultimately provide:

Access of timely and accurate datathrough a browserConsistent information fromvarious partners\Integration of existing GIS dataReal-time data inputs, chat andbulletin boardCore, transferable and reusabletools and data

eLearning — The goal of theeLearning project is to create a “virtualacademy” (NJlearn.com), that candeliver training, seamlessly disseminateinformation, manage student trainingrecords, identify training deficienciesand certify training compliance andreadiness among New Jersey’s firstresponder community. AtNJlearn.com, which will also bediscussed in the chapter on training,students are able to access a coursecatalog listing all training available tothe First Responder community from amultitude of sources. To date, threemandated courses are available toprovide domestic preparednessawareness training.

Overall EPINet’s comprehensive andinnovative program is giving the lawenforcement and emergency re-sponse communities throughout thestate unprecedented capabilities toprepare for and respond to terroristattacks and other large-scale crises,while enhancing the effectiveness ofday-to-day public safety operations. It

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also represents an opportunity totake a huge step forward in therealization of truly cooperativeawareness, preparedness, and re-sponse and recovery capabilities

EPINet in Action

Consider the following hypotheticalscenario to demonstrate the capabili-ties of EPINet. Say there was abomb threat at an elementary school.The incident would be captured atthe county and state OEM through ETeam. The state could alert thepersonnel it needed to respond viaThe Communicator! The state wouldhave a comprehensive overview ofthe building, access roads, etc.,through GIS. The state would haveplans of the facility via CATS and asense of the bomb’s potential impactvia concussion/plume monitoringconducted via Site Profiler. Throughthe Resource Directory Database andeLearning, the state would knowwhat equipment and personnel,respectively, were available. Anyinformation about the perpetratorwould be run through SIMS for anyvital leads. The overall goal is toprovide for informed and fact-baseddecision making through a singleview of the operation — all basedupon qualitative data providedthrough EPINet.

Interoperability

The events of 9/11 pointed out theneed for public safety personnel atthe command level to communicatewith each other regardless of theirradio systems. The proliferation ofhundreds of proprietary radiosystems in the state has made theproblem even more complicated.The need for interoperability exists inday-to-day operations, during emer-gencies (natural disasters or terroristactivities) and other times of need.

New Jersey’s Public SafetyInteroperable Communications Act,signed into law in January 2004,established a State Public SafetyInteroperable CommunicationsCoordinating Council (SPSICCC), a16-person body made up of statecabinet members or their designeesand representatives of the state’s firstresponder organizations. TheSPSICCC, which is administrativelylocated in the Office of the AttorneyGeneral, is charged with developing astrategic plan for statewideinteroperability. The ExecutiveDirector of the SPSICCC is also thestate’s Chief Public Safety Communi-cations Officer, a position also in theAttorney General’s Office, and servesas the state’s focal point for ensuringcommunications “interoperability,” orthe ability for public safety agencies tocommunicate across jurisdictions anddisciplines when needed.

The primary goal in solvinginteroperability is understanding thatno one single technology or othersolution is a “silver bullet.” Thefocus for New Jersey is to provide aseries of successful technologies andother answers to the practitioners.This will allow the first responders to“stand up” with the appropriateanswer in a crisis without having toworry about the correct solution.

The Office of the Attorney Generalhas begun to develop the New JerseyInteroperability CommunicationsSystem (NJICS), which providesinteroperability designated channelsand other communications equip-ment. The system is functional inEssex, Union, Hudson, Morris,Bergen, and Passaic counties. Theshort-term fix is also being imple-mented in Cumberland, Salem,Camden, Gloucester, Burlington,Middlesex, Somerset, Monmouth,Mercer, Warren, Hunterdon, andSussex counties. However, current

While the state awaitsimplementation of alonger-term interoperabilitysolution, it has developedan “interim solution” thathas already been testedand works.

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funding is not adequate to implementa system of radio interoperabilitywith ubiquitous state coverage.While the state awaits implementa-tion of this more elegant, longer-term solution, it has developed aninterim solution that has already beentested and works.

The Interim InteroperabilitySolution

As previously noted, the Task Forcehas divided the state into five re-gions, the Northwest Region (Sussex,Hunterdon, and Warren counties),Northeast UASI Region (Bergen,Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic andUnion counties), and Delaware RiverRegion (Burlington, Camden,Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem),Central (Mercer, Middlesex,Monmouth and Somerset), and theShore Region (Atlantic, Cape Mayand Ocean counties).

In each region, using a variety ofstate and federal funds, the state hasbeen working in partnership withlocal agencies to develop regionalinteroperability channels. Thesechannels are available in each publicsafety radio band and towers anddispatch centers are located on localproperty in most cases. Each regionwas asked to identify a RegionalCentral Dispatch (RCD). The RCDis a 24/7/365 dispatch center thatserves as the coordinator of theregional interoperability channels.The interoperability channels are onlyactivated when requested by anapproved agency in the region intimes of need or other emergencies.In each region, the state has encour-aged all public safety agencies to alsoprogram the appropriate nationalinteroperability channels into theirradios. There are five nationalinteroperability channels in the800MHz band (ICALL, ITAC1,ITAC2, ITAC3, and ITAC4), four

national interoperability channels inthe UHF band (UCALL, UTAC1,UTAC2, and UTAC3), and fivenational interoperability channels inthe VHF band (VCALL, VTAC1,VTAC2, VTAC3, and VTAC4).These channels are available fortactical (incident) interoperability as acommon channel in each region.

In addition to these nationalinteroperability channels, the statehas secured and licensed five NewJersey Interoperability UHF channelsfor use in the Northern section ofthe state and eight New JerseyInteroperability channels for use inthe Southern part of the state.These channels are specific to NewJersey and can be used by New Jerseyfirst responder agencies. Thesechannels reach into New York Cityand Philadelphia and can be put intoservice when requested through theRCD for the respective region.These channels provide wide areainteroperability throughout NewJersey. Currently, the Northeast(UASI) region is operational and isbuilt out the furthest. The DelawareRiver, Northwest, and Centralregions are in the process of beingimplemented. The Shore region iscurrently finalizing the process tobegin identifying local infrastructuresites and funding for the project.

Additionally, easy to use interconnectswitches have been ordered for eachcounty in the Northwest, NortheastUASI, Delaware River, and Centralregions. The interconnect switchesprovides the capability to connect upto five different radio systems or othercommunications system at an inci-dent. This interconnection occurswithout the need for technicians.These switches have the addedfeatures of unique identification tonesso that any unit causing interferencecan be easily identified and remotelydisabled if required by the RCD.

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Each county will also receive aminimum of 12 cache radiospreprogrammed with the appropriateinteroperability channels for theirrespective region. The last asset to bedeployed will be radio communicationtrailers which will provide full incidentcommunications with radio transpon-ders, radios, and other appropriateequipment to make this unit selfsufficient. These trailers can bedeployed and left unattended forextended time periods.

Currently, the NJICS is made up of thenecessary communications infrastruc-ture, signed Memorandums of Under-standing (MOUs) among the partici-pating agencies as well as StandardOperating Procedures (SOPs) togovern their use. The NJICS canprovide tactical interoperabilitystatewide through the use of thenational interoperability channels.Additionally, the statewide policeemergency network (S.P.E.N.) providesfour tactical VHF interoperabilitychannels with two channels reservedfor police activities and two channelsdedicated for “other agency” opera-tions. These established regionalinteroperability channels can provideboth tactical or wide area communica-tions if implemented correctly by thelocal public safety agencies.

New Jersey’s interim interoperabilitysolution has been used effectivelyduring the heightened securitysurrounding the Republican NationalConvention in August-September2004, the heightened alert for thefinancial sector in Northern NewJersey from August 2004 to January2005, and in particular emergencies,such as the crash of a private jet atTeterboro Airport in February 2005.In this last instance, the systemallowed emergency commandersfrom numerous police, fire and otheragencies to communicate jointlyabout the emergency.

Reverse 9-1-1

Most people understand that theyshould call 9-1-1 in an emergency.What they may not understandequally well is that Reverse 9-1-1systems exist, where officials can callmembers of the public through anautomated system to alert themabout an emergency situation. NewJersey has contracted for such asystem and it is operational. Over-seen by the State Police’s Communi-cations Bureau in the State Office ofEmergency Management, the systemis capable of providing targeted callsextremely quickly, based on specificgeographical information systems(GIS) data, to alert citizens to danger.The system can organize calls byname, street, city, county and munici-pal codes and can be tailored, forexample, to alert only those residentsand businesses in the path of achemical plume that has beenidentified by computer modeling.

Reverse 9-1-1 messages can betailored to provide information abouta need to evacuate, shelter in place andso on. In 2005, the CommunicationsBureau deployed the Reverse 9-1-1community notification system on fiveoccasions, making a total of 599,165calls. Of those calls, 565,775 providedemergency instructions to residentsabout a water emergency in whichthey were told to boil their tap waterbefore drinking it, about well watercontamination, a dam emergency anda water main break. The remaining33,390 calls were part of a system test.

In an emergency situation, Reverse9-1-1 notifications will complementother means the state has at itsdisposal to alert the public, such asthe Emergency Alert System (EAS)that uses broadcast radio to informthe public about emergency situa-tions and NJDOT’s variable messageboards that line the state’s highways.

The Reverse 9-1-1System is capable ofproviding targeted callsextremely quickly to alertcitizens to danger.

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RIJAN

Given the density of population inNew Jersey and the New Jersey-NewYork metropolitan area, a disaster inone state or city will undoubtedlyaffect neighboring areas. That’s whyNew Jersey is participating in aninitiative led by the Port Authorityof New York/New Jersey that willconnect area command centersduring an emergency. Known asRIJAN — Regional Informationand Joint Awareness Network —this program will expand thesituational awareness to which thestate is already committed internallyto a regional basis, keeping the PortAuthority, New York City, NewYork State, New Jersey and otherregional entities on the same pageduring an emergency.

Model School and Model MallInitiatives

Under the guidance of NJIT’sHomeland Security TechnologySystems Center, the Task Force’stechnology advisory body, and thePassaic County Prosecutor’s office,the “Model School” program waslaunched in February 2005 at WestPaterson’s three schools. Part ofGovernor Codey’s School SecurityInitiative, the Model School programbuilds on the “Model Mall” programthat is underway at the Garden StatePlaza mall in Paramus. Both arefunded by seed grants from NewJersey’s Northeastern Urban AreaSecurity Initiative.

As with the Model Mall program, theWest Paterson school project willinclude smart security cameras that— instead of just passively recording— can be programmed to tell thedifference between normal schoolbehavior and possible terroristbehavior. The cameras will alsoprovide a video link in real time to

local police and other agencies. TheModel School program will also lookat the possibility of using smart IDcards, unique to each teacher andother staff and administrativeemployees. Lessons learned duringthis pilot program will be evaluatedby NJIT, the Task Force and the stateDepartment of Education, forstatewide applicability.

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chapter VIIITraining

The Domestic Security PreparednessTask Force spends a good portion ofits time and energy in developingplans and initiatives to better protectNew Jersey citizens. Plans andinitiatives, and the new equipmentthat they sometimes require to beimplemented cannot stand on theirown. They require training. Firstresponders have to be trained to usenew equipment, whether it is a basicpiece of personal protection gearsuch as a gas mask or a sophisticateddevice for monitoring airbornepathogens. Likewise, the state’s lawenforcement officers must be trainedin terrorism awareness, since NewJersey relies on its nearly 40,000police officers as its front line todetect and deter terrorists andterrorist activity.

The 2004-2005 reporting period sawunprecedented training efforts inmany areas related to counter-terrorism and domestic preparedness.New Jersey’s efforts must continueapace. Following the adoption of theNational Incident ManagementSystem (NIMS) in spring 2005, allNew Jersey first responders will haveto be trained in the Incident Com-mand System (ICS) and will have toincorporate NIMS into their existingtraining programs.

Mandated Training for LawEnforcement Officers

In early 2004, Attorney General PeterC. Harvey issued Attorney GeneralDirective 2004-3 that requires thatall New Jersey law enforcementofficers be trained in four terrorism-related disciplines: Counter-Terror-ism Awareness, Incident CommandSystem (ICS), Hazmat Awareness andWeapons of Mass DestructionAwareness. This requirement for allveteran police officers complementeda 2003 mandate from the New JerseyPolice Training Commission which,

working with the Task Force and theOffice of Counter-Terrorism, hadmandated that all new police recruitstake these four courses as a part ofthe Basic Course for becoming apolice officer. OCT helped developthe Counter-Terrorism PerformanceObjectives and Lesson Plans whichwere approved by the Police TrainingCommission for all New Jersey BasicPolice Recruit Classes.

In September 2005, Attorney Gen-eral Harvey issued Attorney GeneralDirective 2005-2, requiring that alllaw enforcement officers and firstresponders have the appropriateIncident Command System (ICS)training to bring the state into fullcompliance with the new NationalIncident Management System(NIMS). This Attorney Generaldirective is designed to implementActing Governor Codey’s ExecutiveOrder 50 , issued the prior month,which adopted the NIMS as the statestandard.

Office of Counter-Terrorism

One of the primary functions of theOffice of Counter-Terrorism hasbeen to make sure that New Jerseypolice officers are knowledgeableabout terrorism so that they canintervene effectively, especially inthose precursor crimes, whetherrelated to identity theft or financialcrimes, that terrorists need to financethemselves and operate.

Highlights of OCT’s accomplish-ments in training during this report-ing period include:

Designing and delivering 14 BasicCounter-Terrorism Intelligence andAwareness Training Courses forLaw Enforcement (Level I)personnel in which law enforce-ment officers from more than 430law enforcement agencies were

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trained. To date, approximately2,150 law enforcement officershave been trained. This coursemeets the requirements of Attor-ney General Directive 2004-03relative to mandatory Counter-Terrorism training.Designing and delivering fourLevel II Counter-Terrorism andAwareness Training Seminars inconjunction with the FederalBureau of Investigation.Designing and delivering 12Counter-Terrorism “Train theTrainer” Workshops, in which 356law enforcement trainers partici-pated. Those instructors havetrained more than 6,500 law

enforcement officers on counter-terrorism awareness.Participating in a joint E-learninginitiative. The Office of Counter-Terrorism partnered with the NewJersey State Police and the NewJersey Institute of Technology(NJIT) to develop a Counter-Terrorism Awareness Course forlaw enforcement officers in adistance learning format (via theWeb). Sixty-six New Jersey StatePolice officers participated in thebeta test of this project, completedAugust 2004. This course iscurrently being modified for avirtual academy rollout to all lawenforcement officers scheduled forrelease in January 2006.

Training

2004-2005 TASK FORCE AGENCY TRAINING PROGRAMS

Department/Agency Courses Offered

Department of Agriculture 7 Emergency Response Courses

Department of Environmental Protection 3 Best Practices Management Courses

Department of Health and Senior Services 2 Bioterrorism Courses

Department of Law and Public Safety 3 Critical Incident Stress Management Courses

Department of Military and Veterans Affairs 3 Domestic Preparedness Courses

Department of Transportation 2 Domestic Preparedness Courses

Division of Fire Safety 221 Security Emergency Preparedness Courses

New Jersey Office of Emergency Management 27 Emergency Management Courses

New Jersey State Police 6 Terrorism-Related Specialty Schools9 CBRNE Courses

New Jersey Transit 2 Terrorism Related Courses

Office of Counter Terrorism 12 Terrorism/Security Related Courses

Allied Agencies

Port Authority of NY/NJ 1 Maritime Security Course

UMDNJ 25 Bioterrorism-related Courses/ EMSResponse to Large Scale Incidents

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Training

Designing and/or cooperativelysponsoring an additional 12specialized counter-terrorismtraining courses, including fourSuicide Bomber Workshops; aTerrorism Briefing Workshop;Four \Behavior AssessmentScreening System (BASS) Train-ing courses; one Background toTerrorism training course; andone Terrorism Awareness,Incident Command System, andPatrol Response to CriticalIncidents Course.Developing and presenting threeCounter-Terrorism InternationalSymposiums for more than 1,650law enforcement and governmentofficials. Speakers includeddistinguished terrorism expertsincluding: Dr. Bernard Lewis,Brian Jenkins, Dr. RohanGunanratna, Dr. Marc Sagemen,and Dr. Daniel Pipes.Developing and presenting aDomestic Terrorism Summit, incoordination with the New JerseyAssociation for Biomedical Re-search, for law enforcement andpharmaceutical company represen-tatives to provide awareness andcooperation among both groups.Developing a pilot Fire InspectorsAwareness course in April 2005 forDivision of Fire Safety Inspectors.More than 40 fire inspectors weretrained in terrorism awarenessduring this one-day course.Sponsoring, along with the FederalDepartment of Transportation, aTrucks and Terrorism Seminar inwhich 195 law enforcementofficers were trained. This courseprovide the participants withawareness of those indicators tolook for in trucks that could beused by terrorists and the threattrucks pose in a terrorist attack.Facilitating, in conjunction with theDepartment of Homeland Security,Office of Domestic Preparedness,

the delivery to more than 945participants of four Soft TargetAwareness Training Courses withsix different topics of interest suchas, schools, casinos, places ofworship, malls, shopping centers,large buildings and hotels.Training newly hired CountyCritical Infrastructure Coordina-tors as to the nature of criticalinfrastructure in the state and theircounties as well as their specificroles and responsibilities.OCT held a Level 1 Counter-Terrorism Awareness and Intelli-gence Seminar Feb. 2 & 3 MercerCounty College. 201 law enforce-ment officers were in attendanceCo-hosting with Sandia on May3 - 4 a Risk Assessment Method-ology for Water Utilities (RAMW)course. Fifteen participants,including County Critical Infra-structure Coordinators and DEPpersonnel, were in attendance.This training taught the partici-pants how to do vulnerabilityassessments at water facilities.Assisting the Ewing Twp. PoliceDepartment by presenting “Mak-ing Our Schools Safe” for theEwing Twp. School District.Approximately 150 teachers andadministrators attended. Thepresentations were delivered onthe awareness of the threat ofterrorism and why schools couldbe targeted by terrorists.

NJLearn eLearning Platformand Learning ManagementSystem for First Responders

In 2004, the Office of the AttorneyGeneral signed a $2.56 millionthree-year contract to leverageGeoLearning’s unique Web-basedtechnology to create NJlearn.com, a“virtual academy” for first respond-ers that can seamlessly disseminate

More than 17,000 firstresponders have used thetraining courses providedonline by the NJLearn.comvirtual academy.

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information, manage studenttraining records, identify trainingdeficiencies and certify trainingcompliance and readiness amongNew Jersey’s municipalities andcounties. GeoLearning’s ApplicationService Provider (ASP) -hostedGeoMaestro™ Human CapitalManagement System was used togive the state a centralized tool toautomate the learning process.

At NJlearn.com students are able toaccess a course catalog listing alltraining available to the First Re-sponder community from a multitudeof sources. To date, three mandatedcourses — ICS 100, Hazmat Aware-ness and CBRNE (chemical, biologi-cal, radiological, nuclear and explo-sives) Awareness — are available toprovide domestic preparednesstraining. Other courses, such asPsychological First Aid and BusinessContinuity, as well as links to federalhomeland security courses can befound on the “knowledge base”portion of the site.

The goal of the eLearning project isto create a “virtual academy”(NJlearn.com), that can delivertraining, seamlessly disseminateinformation, manage student trainingrecords, identify training deficienciesand certify training compliance andreadiness among New Jersey’s firstresponder community. The primaryobjective of the portal’s initial phasewas to provide the most currentdisaster response training to the145,000 First Responders in the state,spanning 23 police academies, 18 fireacademies and 212 other eligibletraining organizations, and more than9,000 employees of the Departmentof Law and Public Safety. As NewJersey implements NIMS,NJlearn.com will play a central role inproviding persons across the state withICS -100 and ICS - 200 instruction.

NJLearn.com Status Report

As of December 2005, all law en-forcement officers in the state havebeen integrated into the system. Thisincludes the entire Division of StatePolice. All the state’s 21,000 emer-gency medical technicians (EMTs) andparamedic personnel have beenintegrated into the system. Respond-ers from more than 10 different stateagencies have also been integratedinto the system. Staff are currentlycoordinating efforts with the Divisionof Fire Safety to integrate Fire Servicepersonnel.

The following statistics pertain toonline training completed as ofDecember 2005:

To date, more than 17,000 respond-ers have used the system (sometaking multiple courses):

9,611 have taken Incident Com-mand System (I-100)6,331 have taken HazardousMaterials Awareness5,057 have taken CBRNE Awareness.

As noted above, the Office ofCounter-Terrorism is nearingcompletion of a Counter-TerrorismAwareness online course which willbe made available to all law enforce-ment personnel in the State.

Other current initiatives include:

Training Municipal Counter Terror-ism/Training Officers how to inputtraining records into the systemTraining County Prosecutor’sOffices in Administrative FunctionsWorking with the Office of EMSto use the system as their certifica-tion database.

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Training

Future NJlearn.com initiatives include:

Integrating existing legacy trainingdata into the system. The LearningManagement System (LMS)portion of the NJLearn site willtrack all of the homeland securitytraining that New Jersey firstresponders have taken, whether ona local, state or federal level.Continued design of new appli-cable eLearning Training thatwould benefit First Responders.Continued training of local,regional and State-level administra-tors, trainers and supervisors in theoperation of the system.Continued liaison with Federal andState Training Administrators tocoordinate eLearning and trainingmanagement issues.

Department of Health andSenior Services — Bioterrorism

The Department of Health andSenior Services planned andprovided numerous bioterrorism-related training programs that wereoffered to public health profes-sionals throughout the statethrough established partnerships.DHSS works in close collaborationwith the University of Medicineand Dentistry of New Jersey -School of Public Health, Rutgers –The State University, and otheracademic institutions, as well aswith the state’s public healthprofessional associations, todeliver nearly 400 educationalprograms each year.

Through its partnership and collabo-ration with the Rutgers UniversityOffice of Continuing ProfessionalEducation, DHSS launched a sophis-ticated electronic system, the NewJersey Learning Management Net-work, which promoted and managed

delivery of approximately 200learning opportunities at more than30 locations throughout New Jersey.

During 2004-2005, the transfor-mation of the New Jersey Dis-tance Learning Network into NewJersey Learning ManagementNetwork allowed online manage-ment of training, conferences,tracking, and 24-hour a day accessto workforce development infor-mation for individuals, programproviders and staff. This systemis also equipped with modalitiesthat allow online knowledgemanagement and knowledgeassessment examinations. Localpublic health professional havebeen afforded opportunities toexchange experience and informa-tion through establishing elec-tronic communities within theLearning Management Network.

The 40-hour bioterrorism trainingcertificate program was delivered tomore than 300 public healthprofessionals in regional locationsthroughout the New Jersey. DHSSalso started implementation of aprogram accredited by the Ameri-can Nursing Association thatrecognizes the Division of LocalPublic Health Practice and RegionalSystems Development as a pro-vider/sponsor of continuingeducation and competency develop-ment training for public healthnurses employed by local healthdepartments. These coursespromote the professional develop-ment of nurses throughout NewJersey by providing access toeducational activities and identify-ing and responding to the continu-ing education needs and interestsof the nursing community, focusingon bioterrorism, public health andemergency preparedness

Approximately 1,000state employees havebeen trained as CERTvolunteers to helprespond to emergencysituations that might occurat their places of workor in their communities.

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Critical Infrastructure Trainingfor Public and Private Sectors

In 2004-2005, the Task Force beganto train state employees to providemonitoring of the implementationof Best Practices at critical infra-structure sites throughout the state.Task Force agencies also began BestPractices training for InfrastructureAdvisory Committee members andprivate sector employees.

With Best Security Practices approved,the Department of EnvironmentalProtection (DEP) moved from a“planning phase” of its domesticsecurity program to the implementa-tion and compliance monitoringphase. Part of this transition includesthe training of nearly all DEP fieldpersonnel, approximately 200 staff,within DEP’s Compliance & Enforce-ment, Toxic Catastrophe Prevention,Discharge Prevention and RadiationProtection programs in all or portionsof three tiers of targeted training: (1)general context overview of NewJersey’s domestic security program, (2)homeland security field checklisttraining, and (3) best practices aware-ness training. In addition, a numberof DEP staff attended trainingconducted at the Federal LawEnforcement Training Center inGeorgia. A fourth phase of stafftraining on more detailed BestSecurity Practices assessment iscurrently ongoing.

Along with the assistance of otherstate agencies and the AttorneyGeneral’s Office, the State Board ofPublic Utilities (BPU) is developingan Employee Awareness trainingpresentation for all utility employeesin order to familiarize them withtheir facilities’ Security Best Practicesprogram. This training will create anadditional layer of protection foreach facility by making key utilityemployees security conscious.

Also, as discussed in more detail inthe chapter on Critical InfrastructureProtection, the Department of Laborand Workforce Development isworking with the AFL-CIO, NewJersey Institute for Technology andthe chemical and petroleum sectorsof the Infrastructure AdvisoryCommittee to offer training in bestpractices awareness to workers in thechemical and petroleum industries.

CERT Training forState Employees

In addition to municipal Commu-nity Emergency Response Team(CERT) programs, New Jersey hasembarked on an aggressive CERTprogram for state employees.Based at a various state depart-ments and other state agencies,approximately 1,000 state personnelhave been trained to help respondto emergency situations that mightoccur at their places of work or intheir communities. Departmentsand agencies with CERT programsare as follows:

Departments: Agriculture, Officeof the Attorney General/Law &Public Safety, Banking and Insur-ance, Corrections, CommunityAffairs, Environmental Protection,Education, Community Affairs/Division of Fire Safety, HumanServices, Health and Senior Ser-vices, Labor and Workforce Devel-opment, Personnel, Treasury andTransportation. Agencies andoffices: the Governor’s Office, theState Board of Public Utilities,Juvenile Justice Commission, theNew Jersey Judiciary, New JerseyState Police, New Jersey Transit,State Office of InformationTechnology, New Jersey Turnpikeand Parkway Authority and theSchools Construction Corporation.

Other Training Initiativesand Courses

Dept. of Militaryand Veterans Affairs

A major training initiative for theDepartment of Military and VeteransAffairs was to complete training forits Civilian Support Team (Heavy).The 21ST Civil Support Team (Heavy)is a federally funded Weapons ofMass Destruction team established todeploy rapidly to assist a localincident command in determiningthe nature and extent of an attack orincident, provide expert technicaladvice on WMD response operationsand help identify and support thearrival of follow on state and federalmilitary response assets. Training forthe CST qualified it for its ultimatefederal certification in fall 2005

In addition, DMAVA providedtraining on Joint OperationsCenters and provided readinesstraining for National Guard mem-bers who responded to the Hurri-cane Katrina disaster.

Division of Fire Safety

In March 2004, New Jersey used$3.2 million of its Urban AreaSecurity Initiative (UASI) grant topurchase comprehensive FlammableLiquid Firefighting equipment andagents. The Division of Fire Safetyin the Department of CommunityAffairs was instrumental in procur-ing this equipment.

This state-of-the-art equipment is thefirst in the nation to be deployed forhomeland security. It consists ofnearly two miles of large 12-inch-diameter hose, two large volumemodular pumps (capable of pumpingover 5000 gallons per minute), 55,000gallons of firefighting foam concen-

trate, Six 3500 gallon foam tankers,Six Quick Attack Vehicles (capableof flowing over 2000 gallons perminute of finished foam/water), twolarge caliber foam/water deliverydevices (each capable of flowing over8,000 gallons of finished foam/watereach). These devices are designedprimarily to assist in disasters involv-ing, large petrochemical terminals,refineries and vessels. In May 2005,each UASI county (Essex, Hudson,Bergen, Passaic, Union and Morris)received this equipment.

To bring firefighters up to speed on thisnew and advanced equipment, theDivision offered a comprehensivetraining program. This training, totalingmore than 2,400-staff hours, began inMarch 2005 and culminated in May,when almost 250 firefighters from theUASI counties were trained in thehands-on operation of the equipment.

Hazmat Training

The State Police’s Hazardous Materi-als Response Unit in the State Officeof Emergency Management providedtraining to 22,864 students in morethan 10 core training courses and incustom-designed responder pro-grams, and processed 194 studentsthrough Department of HomelandSecurity Office for Domestic Pre-paredness programs.

Mayors’ Course onWeapons of Mass Destruction

Task Force staff offered a course inWeapons of Mass Destruction(WMD) to New Jersey’s mayorsthrough the Office for DomesticPreparedness Consortium. Thecourse, “ Mayoral Institute forWeapons of Mass Destruction andTerrorism Incident Preparedness”was delivered by Texas A&M staff.The six-hour course highlighted

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Training

scenarios and vignettes that relate toWMD events and provides mayorswith strategic and executive levelissues and challenges related toWMD preparedness.

TransportationSecurity Awareness

The New Jersey Department ofTransportation trained 1,318 opera-tions staff in “TransportationSecurity Awareness.” This course isbased on a National TransportationInstitute course, but was customizedto fit NJDOT needs.

Agroterrorism

The New Jersey Department ofAgriculture hosed the U.S. Depart-ment of Homeland Security’s“Preparedness and response toAgricultural Terrorism,” a three-daycourse designed to educate thefarmers and food suppliers whoparticipated how to work together torecognize, mitigate, respond to andrecover from agroterrorism, i.e., thedeliberate introduction by terroristsof a chemical or a disease agent,either against livestock or crops orinto the food chain.

Critical Incident StressManagement and CriticalIncident Stress ManagementPeer Training

Offered by State Police’s Office ofEmployee and OrganizationDevelopment and taught by theInternational Critical StressFoundation, Inc., these coursesprovided State Police criticalincident team members andmedical services unit members thebasic concepts of critical incidentstress management and peersupport concepts for administer-ing critical incident stress manage-ment techniques.

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New Jersey Division of MentalHealth Services — Disasterand Terrorism Branch

During 2004-2005, the Division ofMental Health Services’ Disasterand Terrorism Branch offerednearly 50 courses to variousgroups and audiences. Theseincluded courses in Basic Disasterand Trauma Counseling andDisaster Psychology given to stateCommunity Emergency ResponseTeam (CERT) volunteers. Thedivision also offered courses tohospital and health care executiveson Managing the PsychosocialConsequences of CBRNE Terror-ism and to members of the Ani-mal Emergency Working Group onKey Concepts in Disaster MentalHealth. The division also pro-vided a course called “The Disas-ter Mental Health Responder’sTool Kit for Hurricane Katrina”for state employees who werevolunteering to deploy to Hurri-cane Katrina-affected areas toprovide mental health supportservices.

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chapter IXTOPOFF 3 and Exercising

Planning, training and exercising arethe three anchor points of emer-gency management. An emergencymanagement agency puts together aplan, trains to meet the plan andexercises to test both the plan andtraining. Then the agency debriefs,makes adjustments and starts over,readjusting its planning based onperformance during the exercise.This is an excellent paradigm.Exercising provides the “realitycheck” to evaluate whether the state’sprevention, mitigation and responseplanning and training are on target.That is why, in 2003, the Task Forceconstituted a Domestic SecurityExercise Support Team to coordinateexercises statewide at all levels ofgovernment and between govern-ment entities and the private sector.This new unit initially drew stafffrom the State Office of EmergencyManagement in the Division of StatePolice, the Department of Militaryand Veterans Affairs and the Divi-sion of Fire Safety in the Depart-ment of Community Affairs, Divi-sion of Fire Safety. Subsequently, astaff member from the Departmentof Health and Senior Services alsojoined the unit.

The Task Force, through the ExerciseSupport Team, implemented anaggressive schedule of exercises. So itwas not surprising when, in spring2003, after several staff membersfrom Task Force agencies traveled toobserve the full-scale national TopOfficials 2, or TOPOFF 2, weaponsof mass destruction exercises inChicago and Seattle, the Task Forcebegan discussing whether to apply tothe Department of HomelandSecurity’s Office of State and LocalGovernment Coordination andPreparedness (OSLGCP) to host thecongressionally mandated exercise’s2005 iteration.

TOPOFF 3The Top Officials (TOPOFF)Exercise is a two-year cycle ofseminars, planning events, andexercises designed to strengthenthe nation’s capacity to prevent,prepare for, respond to, andrecover from large-scale terroristattacks. The cycle culminates in afull-scale exercise that simulates acoordinated terrorist attack involv-ing biological, chemical, or radio-logical weapons or other weaponsof mass destruction (WMD).

As the exercise’s name implies, topofficials both leaders and linepersonnel from all levels of govern-ment participate in the exercise,from federal Cabinet Secretaries toGovernors, county freeholders andexecutives, mayors, and city manag-ers; to local fire, police, and search-and-rescue personnel; to profession-als in law enforcement, public health,health care and hospitals, publiccommunications, and emergencymedical services; to entities in theprivate sector.

In short, the Task Force concludedthat participating in TOPOFF 3would accelerate New Jersey’scapabilities to respond to a biologicalterrorist event — the type of eventthe Task Force anticipated exercising.

In late 2003, the Domestic SecurityPreparedness Task Force, with theendorsement of the Governor’sOffice, successfully competed to hostthe biological terrorism portion ofTOPOFF 3. New Jersey was noti-fied that it had been selected fromamong the applicant states, alongwith Connecticut, in February 2004.At that point, New Jersey embarkedon an intensive year-long process toprepare for the exercise.

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TOPOFF 3 and Exercising

The Task Force put together a multi-agency TOPOFF 3 Steering Com-mittee to help oversee the planningprocess. Chaired by the ExecutiveDirector of the Domestic SecurityPreparedness Planning Group, thesteering committee included repre-sentatives from the:

Governor’s OfficeOffice of the Attorney General/Department of Law & Public SafetyDivision of State Police — Home-land Security Branch (State Officeof Emergency Management, SpecialOperations Section, IntelligenceSection, Investigations Section andField Operations Section)Division of Criminal Justice —State Medical Examiners OfficeDepartment of Health and SeniorServicesDepartment of AgricultureDepartment of Community AffairsDepartment of CorrectionsDepartment of EnvironmentalProtectionDepartment of Human ServicesDepartment of Labor andWorkforce DevelopmentDepartment of Military andVeterans AffairsDepartment of TransportationDepartment of TreasuryBoard of Public UtilitiesOffice of Counter-TerrorismThe Red Cross/The Salvation ArmyNew Jersey Voluntary Organiza-tions Active in Disaster (VOAD)

In addition, county and local officialsfrom Middlesex and Union countiesplayed a large role in planning. Thesetwo counties were to be featured inthe exercise, with the initial effects ofthe “biological attack” felt primarily

in these venues. Furthermore,through the Department of Healthand Senior Services, the New JerseyHospital Association and the state’s84 acute-care hospitals and 10federally qualified health centers alsobecame heavily involved, as did localand county health departments thatwould have responsibility for “dis-pensing medication” at points ofdistribution (PODs) during theexercise play. The New JerseyAssociation of State Colleges andUniversities also supported theplanning efforts. Kean Universityand Rutgers University were particu-larly active in recruiting volunteersand in participating in exercise play.

The Task Force assigned day-to-dayresponsibility for organizing andplanning the exercise to its nine-person Domestic PreparednessExercise Support Team (five person-nel from State Police/OEM, threefrom the Department of Military andVeterans Affairs and one from theDivision of Fire Safety). TheDepartment of Health and SeniorServices also dedicated 10 staffmembers full-time to the planningprocess to work with the ExerciseSupport Team.

The state’s objectives for TOPOFF 3included the testing of WMD terror-ism prevention, response and recoveryprocedures, media and public commu-nications, the handling and sharing oftime-critical intelligence, and identify-ing lessons learned. Specifically, itwould provide officials with a way totest plans and skills in a real-time,realistic environment.

Planning

The planning began in earnest in early2004. Planning seminars conductedwith DHS and its contractors, wereheld monthly in New Jersey andquarterly in Washington, D.C.

NEW JERSEY’S OVERARCHINGGOALS FOR TOPOFF 3

Assess the ability of state and local govern-ments to establish, conduct, and adminis-ter effective and efficient prophylaxis distri-bution that will include the identification ofessential public/private personnel.Assess and identify the appropriate and/ornecessary staffing patterns for the “compre-hensive” health care system.Exercise the disaster-declaration process as itrelates to the exercise scenario/hazard. Exam-ine the existing policies and procedures for acoordinated, multilevel, government responseand recovery effort, in light of the ongoing Fed-eral efforts to reformulate policy regarding theNational Response Plan (NRP) and/or InterimNational Response Plan (INRP) and the Na-tional Incident Management System (NIMS).Examine the governmental processes and at-tendant operational procedures associated withobtaining, instituting, and managing quarantineand/or isolation orders, and/or travel restrictions.Explore the existing hospital capacities andrelated administrative systems that would beinvolved in the state and local responses tothe chosen scenario/hazard.Examine continuity of government and conti-nuity of business operations by intentionallyexercising the existing processes for ensuringthe same in both the public and private sec-tors. Specific to these interests are the follow-ing: the prioritization of essential services, thedecision-making processes used to determinethese priorities and the means by which inter-nal and external communication systems areused to effectuate these decisions.Test the case-contact epidemiological pro-cesses and procedures in place at the timeof the exercise that will include the coordi-nation of these traditional health care ac-tivities with law enforcement due to the ter-rorist nature of the causative event.Engage and examine the in-state resourcesand Federal support for mortuary care.Evaluate the effectiveness of the EmergencyManagement Assistance Compact (EMAC)among state governments in times of disaster.Allow for the comprehensive assessment ofexisting mental health strategies for emer-gency workers and the public.Explore the multilevel, operational coordina-tion of intelligence and investigative authori-ties. This assessment would include an ob-jective and comprehensive study of the in-formation technology (IT) systems employedby the state to manage critical/sensitive data.Test the collective abilities of state and lo-cal governments and the private sector toconduct risk assessment and employ andmanage a public information program to ef-fectively address the consequences of theexercise scenario/hazard.

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Beginning in July 2004, a series ofseminars were used to help raiseawareness and increase the ability torespond to terrorist attacks using aWMD component. The seminarsaddressed chemical weapons, biologi-cal weapons, public affairs andinformation, and informationsharing. A three-day AdvancedDistance Learning Exercise wasbroadcast by satellite, over theInternet and provided on CD-ROMto offer education and trainingopportunities to first-responders,emergency managers, and topofficials from federal, state, tribal andlocal governments on how to re-spond to and manage a WMDterrorist attack.

Interspersed with the seminars were anumber of smaller exercises, eitherroundtable discussions known as“tabletop” exercises, or functionalexercises which test the functionalcommunication processes among thetop officials. These smaller exerciseswere designed to assist the federalgovernment in understanding the stateand local decision-making processesand to provide an opportunity toaddress novel issues outside of thefull scale exercise setting. After thefull-scale exercise was complete, a“Large Scale Game,” sponsored byDHS, was held near Washington, D.C.to examine the short - and medium -term recovery issues associated withsuch a terrorist attack.

As part of the exercise planningprocess, a complex scenario wasdeveloped that included the creationof a fictional universal adversarybased on real world terrorists. Thescenario fact pattern “started” nearlya year prior to the exercise andincluded release of certain simulatedintelligence throughout the monthsleading up to the full scale exercise.This was the first time that thefederal and state intelligence gather-

ing and analysis systems wereincluded in a national exercise. Thisintelligence was designed to allow thestate’s law enforcement community,working with its federal counterparts,to stop a preventable act. In thisintelligence scenario, the New JerseyState Police, with assistance from theOffice of Counter-Terrorism, weresuccessful in making an arrest thatstopped the preventable act.

New Jersey’s plans included the firststatewide implementation of theexercise — through all 21 counties andimplicating all hospitals in the state.Previous exercises had been morelocalized and narrower in scope.

Scenario

The scenario for the full-scaleexercise was based upon a terroristrelease of a biological agent, pneu-monic plague in Middlesex andUnion Counties from a sport utilityvehicle (SUV). The release alsoexposed a number of fictionalinternational travelers attending aconference. This was to facilitate playby Canada and England in theexercise. The release of the agentoccurred on April 2, 2004 at approxi-mately 2:00 a.m.

While the SUV was being investi-gated, patients began to appear inhospitals, requiring the implementa-tion of enhanced disease surveillancemonitoring protocols. As the sce-nario unfolded, many hospitals andthe state Department of Health andSenior Services activated theircommand centers. The State Emer-gency Operations Center was “acti-vated” for the illnesses shortly afternoon. It is important to note at thispoint that the State EOC, located onthe New Jersey State Police campusin West Trenton, was already acti-vated for real world flooding in theDelaware River valley. This dual

All Task Force agencieswere represented duringthe TOPOFF 3 exercisethrough participationat the state EmergencyOperations Center.

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activation provided an unanticipatedopportunity to test the managing oftwo simultaneous events.

Throughout Monday afternoon,April 4th, the first day of full-scaleplay, a series of decisions were madeby state top officials to declare aState of Emergency, request theStrategic National Stockpile, requestmutual aid from other states pursu-ant to the Emergency ManagementAssistance Compact, and to raise theState Homeland Security threat level.

As part of the scripted planning andplay, 22 PODS were established forproviding pharmaceutical prophylaxisto the general public. These PODswere opened Tuesday through Fridayin different counties each day. Mostof the PODs were operated inaccordance with the State POD Plan,but some experimental PODs wereopened to test novel methods toincrease distribution. These includeda pre-registered first responder PODand an animal POD to treat peopleand their pets.To facilitate POD and hospitalparticipation, state, county and localagencies recruited nearly 7,000 victimrole-players — through civic groups,churches, Civilian EmergencyResponse Teams (CERT), universi-ties and colleges, etc.

Concurrent with the POD opera-tions, the state intended to testepidemiological investigations andthe legal and practical issues associ-ated with isolation and quarantineorders. While these goals wereexamined in a limited fashion, theway the scenario unfolded preventeda full examination of these tasks.

Other highlights during the week ofexercise play included: the participa-tion of New Jersey’s Urban Searchand Rescue Team in the Connecticutexercise; Operation Exodus, the

relocation of hundreds of volunteer‘patients’ from throughout the state toNewark Liberty Airport to be flownto other states on military transports;the successful set up of the twenty-two PODs; the elevation and loweringof the State and federal HomelandSecurity Alert System from yellow tored to orange; the inclusion of theprivate sector to an unprecedentedlevel; and the examination of govern-ment and business continuity.

All Task Force agencies were repre-sented during the exercise throughparticipation at the state EmergencyOperations Center and through othermeans. For example, the Depart-ment of Environmental Protectionwas directly engaged in raids con-ducted at a “safe house” and “labora-tory” used by the fictional perpetra-tors. DEP also participated in massburial contingency planning and, withthe state Department of Agriculture,in animal carcass contingencyplanning. The State Board of PublicUtilities used the exercise to furtherdelve into how electric, gas, telecom-munications, and water utilities wouldbe affected during an emergency.The Department of Military andVeterans Affairs participated indistributing the Strategic NationalStockpile during the exercise, (at thesame time it was deploying NationalGuard staff and high-wheeledvehicles to support evacuations andrecovery efforts related to theflooding of the Delaware Riverbasin). The Department of Healthand Senior Services coordinatedefforts with the state Department ofHuman Services Division of MentalHealth Services in order to provideappropriate psychological counselingservices to the public.

The Governor’s Office of Recoveryand Victim Assistance (ORVA)assisted in coordinating the involve-ment of the private sector into the

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exercise and staffed a newly created“private sector” desk at the StateEmergency Operations Center.Forty private sector companiesparticipated in the exercise. ORVAalso coordinated the “notional”creation of 20 family assistancecenters during the exercise.

Although the exercise centered on apublic health emergency, the stateDepartment of Agriculture dealtwith the effects of plague onanimals. The Department “mobi-lized” and “responded” to addressissues not only regarding theaffected animals, but also to thoserelating to the food supply. At theDepartment of Treasury, TOPOFF3 afforded senior management theopportunity to activate the TreasuryEmergency Response Unit (ERU),help in distribution of the SNS andhelp evaluate the department’sability to conduct critical businessfunctions during a statewide emer-gency. Specifically, the departmentevaluated how the Division ofTaxation would respond and com-municate with the public regardingincome tax returns that would havebeen due less than one week afterthe conclusion of the exercise.

In addition, during the full scaleexercise, the Task Force’s StateGovernment Operations Groupconducted a statewide tabletopexercise to test state government’sbusiness continuity plans against thescenario presented by TOPOFF 3.

Moreover, a week prior to thebeginning of the full-scale exercise,the state also engaged in a full-dayTOPOFF 3 Cyber Exercise spon-sored by the Department of Home-land Security and hosted by theOffice of the Attorney General’sOffice of Information Technology.This exercise tested the response ofgovernment’s computer networks

and its information technologypolicies and practices in the event aseries of widespread, escalatingcyber events ever struck the state.Participants faced situations inwhich federal, state and localgovernment information technologyagencies had to respond together todisruptions in and breaches toinformation technology security andminimize effects on operations. Agencies involved in the cyberexercise included: the Office of theAttorney General, Office ofCounter-Terrorism, New JerseyState Police, Division of CriminalJustice, Office of InformationTechnology within the Departmentof Treasury, Department of Healthand Senior Services, and theGovernor’s Office, along withnumerous agencies from HudsonCounty, the U.S. Department ofHomeland Security, the local re-gional Computer Forensics Labora-tory, the FBI, as well as representa-tives of the private sector.

Finally, in mid-April, the state andthe New Jersey Business Force/NewJersey Business Executives forNational Security conducted a wide-ranging tabletop exercise for theprivate sector that followed up onprivate sector play and capitalized onthe TOPOFF 3 scenario.

TOPOFF 3 — Large Scale Game

In May 2005, the Department ofHomeland Security held a follow-upsession to the full-scale exercise Thisthree-day tabletop exercise, heldoutside Washington, D.C., broughttogether the major stakeholders fromthe full-scale exercise, includingmembers of the private sector, toaddress longer-term remediation andrecovery issues that would haveresulted from the terrorist attacksdepicted in the TOPOFF 3 scenarios.

The ultimate goal of anyexercise is to discoverareas that can be improvedin state plans, policiesand procedures, andresponse actions.

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TOPOFF 3 — Lessons Learned

The ultimate goal of any exercise isto discover areas that can be im-proved in state plans, policies andprocedures and in response actionstaken to implement those plans,policies and procedures. Currently,the state is completing an after actionreport (AAR) on TOPOFF 3 toaddress lessons learned and sug-gested improvements. The Depart-ment of Homeland Security is alsocompleting its own AAR for allvenues of the exercise.

Nonetheless, almost immediately, thestate identified several areas whereimprovements can be made:

Practicing the basics. TOPOFF3 reinforced the fact that state,local and federal agencies mustregularly exercise all basic emer-gency functions to ensure that theycan be performed under emer-gency pressure and that inter- andintra-agency communications arenot impeded. Planning, trainingand exercising must be done on aroutine and regular basis.Facilitating and ensuringeffective communications.TOPOFF 3 demonstrated theimportance of effective communi-cations, both “horizontally” —among state agencies and “verti-cally” — between and among local,county, state and federal agencies.Some Task Force members specifi-cally noted a lack of effectivecommunication during the exerciseand also noted this problem couldaffect policy decisions. To addressthis issue, the state continues tointegrate previously incompatibledata systems and strengthenpolicies and procedures thatfacilitate effective communications.These enhancements will besubject to further discussion by theTask Force.

Amending the federal StaffordAct to include biological and otherterrorist-created disasters. Statescan currently receive PresidentialEmergency Disaster Declarationsand federal aid for events such asfloods or hurricanes - but not abiological attack staged by terror-ists of the magnitude simulated inTOPOFF 3. New Jersey hasalready contacted its congressionaldelegation to recommend on amend-ing this federal law to include terror-ism in the definition of disaster.Improving prophylaxis or thedispensing of medication. Thecurrent state POD plan is based onfederal guidance and is intended toprovide maximum patient care.This makes rapid dispensingdifficult. A revised state planshould address whether firstresponders, critical governmentemployees and key private sectorindividuals need priority prophylaxisand whether plans should facilitate amore expeditious program for massstatewide prophylaxis.Developing a comprehensiveStatewide Medical ExaminerSystem to combine the 21 separatecounty systems into regionalcenters. In generating “masscasualties,” TOPOFF 3 under-scored the fact that New Jersey’ssystem of medical examiners ismore 19th- than 21st-Century. Itwas not able to deal expeditiouslyor adequately with the substantialnumber of deaths envisioned bythe exercise.

OTHER EXERCISES

In addition to TOPOFF 3, the TaskForce’s Exercise Support Teamconducted 17 exercises including sixfunctional exercises, four full-scaleexercises, six tabletop exercises andone orientation seminar. A selectivesampling of these exercises follows:

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Strategic National StockpileExercise

Over three days, September 30through October 2, 2004, the stateDepartment of Health and SeniorServices, the Department of Militaryand Veterans Affairs, the TaskForce’s Exercise Support Team andnumerous state, county and localagencies participated in a three-dayexercise to test New Jersey’s ability todistribute the Strategic NationalStockpile (SNS). The SNS programis a means of providing federallystockpiled medical items to states andcommunities during a public healthemergency when state supplies arebecoming exhausted. States areresponsible for the planning, trainingand exercising that ensures theirability to receive, stage, store, distrib-ute and dispense the SNS. Thisthree-day exercise consisted of atabletop exercise, dealing with thestate’s interaction with the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) in requesting the SNS,followed by two days of full-scaleexercise. One day focused on thestaging and delivery of the SNS andthe next on actually dispensing theSNS pharmaceuticals for prophylaxisthrough LINCS agencies. Designedto test New Jersey’s plan for request-ing, managing and dispensing theSNS during an act of bioterrorism,the exercise was an importantprecursor to TOPOFF 3.

Urban Search and Rescue

The State Office of EmergencyManagement’s Urban Search andRescue Unit coordinated and ex-ecuted three successful comprehen-sive exercises for tunnel rescue at theCenter for National Response inStandard, West Virginia. Two ofthese exercises were conducted withmembers from the state’s Northeast-ern Urban Area Security Initiative

(UASI) Metro USAR Strike Teamand one was for New Jersey TaskForce 1. The Strike Team exerciseseach included more than 70 membersfrom the UASI region fire depart-ments and Port Authority PoliceDepartment. The NJ-TF1 exerciseincluded more than 100 team mem-bers representing all six components:Search, Rescue, Planning, Logistics,Hazmat and Medical.

The Urban Search and Rescue Unit iscurrently enhancing its trainingfacility to include mass transportationrescue. The facility recently receivedtwo 80-foot NJ Transit passengertrain cars and a 60-foot tanker car.This will allow responders not onlyto train for rescue but will alsoprovide a realistic environment forlaw enforcement to train for tacticaloperations in a train or subway car.

Port of New York and New JerseyEconomic Impact/Recovery

The Port of New York and New JerseyEconomic Impact Tabletop Exerciseoccurred during February 9 throughFebruary 11, 2005. This Departmentof Homeland Security-sponsoredexercise tested the capabilities of thepublic and private sectors to interactduring an incident, share informationinternally and externally, and establish alist of priorities for reopening the port.New Jersey State OEM participatedalong with New York State, New YorkCity, Port Authority of NY & NJ,DMAVA, U.S. Coast Guard, Depart-ment of Homeland Security, FEMA,New Jersey Business Executives forNational Security, and multiple corpo-rations from the private sector.

New York and New JerseyEvacuation Seminar

The purpose of the New York andNew Jersey Evacuation Seminar wasto address current and future plan-

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ning efforts for both states to eitherevacuate or receive evacuees during anatural or man-made incident. Thefollowing representatives from thepublic and private sectors met inOctober 2005 at the Sports andExposition Authority in East Ruther-ford: U.S. Secret Service, U.S. CoastGuard, multiple county and stateagencies/departments, Port Author-ity of NY /NJ, New York City PoliceDepartment, New York City OEM,New Jersey Business Force, and theAmerican Red Cross. The seminarallowed for a better understanding ofregional intentions and capabilities.Further development of area evacua-tion plans will lead to a functionalexercise in 2006.

Utilities Exercises

The Board of Public Utilities Table-top Exercise occurred in October2005 and was designed to assess andcontinuity-of-operations for selectedprivate and public sector partnersthat would be affected during anunintentional interruption of NewJersey’s utilities. The terrorismscenario tested Incident CommandSystem awareness, as well as, theeffectiveness of internal and externalcommunications between private andpublic sector partners. In 2004, BPUalso coordinated and participated in aWater Tabletop Exercise that simu-lated a localized contamination eventin Middlesex County. The tabletopsuccessfully identified interdependen-cies among public agencies andprivate companies.

Burlington County Exercise Series

The Burlington County State StrategyExercise Series consisted of fourtabletop exercises, five functionalexercises and ended with a major full-scale exercise in September 2005.This exercise series focused onterrorist-based scenarios designed to

test many aspects of the emergencymanagement system. The full-scaleexercise consisted of three significantevents that occurred in succession inthree separate venues withinBurlington County: Lumberton,Medford, and Mt. Laurel. Theexercise scenario involved the releaseof an unknown airborne substancecausing mass casualties and the crashof a suspicious private aircraft thatwas found to contain radioactivematerial. The exercise concluded witha hostage/active shooter scenario.The exercise was planned andcoordinated by the New Jersey StatePolice Exercise Unit, DMAVA, localand state health departments, localand county and state OEMs. Partici-pants included county fire coordina-tors, departments of public works,Camden and Burlington CountyHazardous Materials Teams, localschools, South Jersey RegionalAirport, Lockheed Martin Corpora-tion, the American Red Cross, electedofficials, local and county police, fireand emergency medical servicespersonnel.

Water/Wastewater and DamSafety Exercises

In April 2005, the Department ofEnvironmental Protection conducteda water/wastewater interdependencytabletop exercise with four water andwastewater utilities in the PassaicRiver watershed. This followed upthree wastewater facility securitytraining sessions for sector person-nel funded by a grant from the U.S.EPA. DEP also participated in aDam Safety Tabletop Exercise,coordinated by the Task Force’sExercise Support Team, in PassaicCounty in March 2005.

nel, medical support personnel andothers, participated. The mission wasmade under the provisions of theEmergency Management AssistanceCompact (EMAC) mutual aidagreement between New Jersey andLouisiana. Beginning September 3and ending October 9, the membersof Operation LEAD:

The main activities of OperationLEAD fell into the followingcategories:

Uniformed police patrols. NewJersey’s law-enforcement officerspatrolled New Orleans’ Secondand Sixth police districts, and thecities of Harahan and Kenner.During much of the mission,patrols were conducted in two 10-hour patrol shifts per day, averag-ing 20 officers per shift.Unanswered 911 calls. On average,50 officers devoted eight hours perday to effort to help LouisianaState Police clear their backlogged911 calls.Protection for FEMA DEMORTteams. New Jersey’s officersprovided force •protection for teams engaged inbody-recovery operations.Urban Search And Rescue(USAR). This was the majoremphasis of New Jersey’s earlyoperations in Louisiana. As manyas 77 New Jersey police officersand 14 members of New JerseyTask Force One worked 10 hoursper day on search and rescueoperations.Decontamination operations. Fourdecontamination teams with anaverage of 24 members provideddecontamination for personnelfrom New Jersey and other states.One Decon Unit provided decon-tamination services for residentsof St. Bernard Parish, and twowere stationed in Baton Rouge.

chapter XEMERGENCY RESPONSE

While the TOPOFF 3 exercise wasunderway, New Jersey experiencedsignificant flooding along theDelaware River. Thousands ofresidents in the river basin had to beevacuated. In fact, a number ofstate buildings in Trenton had to beclosed. Parts of State Route 29, oneof the major roads into Trenton,were submerged. Flooding wassevere enough that there was evenpreliminary discussion aboutpostponing the TOPOFF 3 exercise.To the credit of the state’s emer-gency responders, however, NewJersey was able to handle a realregional emergency while it wasengaged statewide in a complex andsimulated biological emergency.

In fact, throughout the reportingperiod, New Jersey’s emergencyresponders acquitted themselves bytheir actions.

Katrina Response

Of particular note was OperationLEAD (Louisiana EmergencyAssistance Deployment), NewJersey’s deployment of emergencypersonnel to aid the City of NewOrleans and nearby areas afterHurricane Katrina devastated thearea in August 2005.

Coordinated by the State Office ofEmergency Management in theDivision of State Police, the opera-tion included the creation of “CampNew Jersey,” essentially a self-contained police department that ledthe law enforcement and otheremergency services for New Orleans’Second Police District and thesurrounding region. No other state inthe nation helped Louisiana in thisway. More than 600 personnel fromacross New Jersey, including localand state law enforcement officers,water rescue technicians, Hazmatpersonnel, decontamination person-

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Security assignments. New Jerseyofficers provided security ser-vices at commercial locationsthroughout the cities of Harahanand Kenner.EMS service. The presence ofambulances and paramedics fromNew Jersey ensured the membersof Operation LEAD would notbecome a burden on local EMSservices. New Jersey’s medical unitsalso aided nearby communities.They provided rehabilitation forfield personnel, treated minorinjuries, distributed over-the-counter medications, and re-sponded to life-safety emergencies.Criminal intelligence. OperationLEAD’s criminal investigationcontingent collected, analyzed andinvestigated intelligence informa-tion, and provided that informa-tion to other agencies in supportof law enforcement efforts.Operation LEAD included thefollowing deployments of NewJersey personnel, all made underthe provisions of the EmergencyManagement Assistance Compact(EMAC), by which states help eachother in times of crisis:

On September 3, the State officeof Emergency Management sentto Louisiana five water rescueteams that included 34 personnelfrom New Jersey Task Force One(the state’s multi-purpose searchand rescue team), the New JerseyState Police, the Passaic CountyProsecutor’s Office, and a me-chanic from the State Depart-ment of Transportation. Thoseteams completed their missionSeptember 14.On September 7, New Jersey sentits first massive task force to NewOrleans, including 153 policeofficers from across the state and36 hazmat personnel from Essex,

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

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OPERATION LEAD AT A GLANCE

Louisiana Emergency Assistance Deployment - Sept. to Oct. 2005

133 field deployments conducted

7,890 homes searched

174 persons sheltering in place identified

115 persons given first aid

67 persons rescued

267 animals rescued

115 bodies recovered

8 night police operations conducted

104 assists rendered to local police forces

53 force protection / security details conducted

4,028 unanswered 911 calls investigated

2,019 humanitarian deliveries made

4,134 gross decontaminations performed

190 definitive decontaminations performed

3 pet decontaminations performed

4,254 vehicles powerwashed for decontamination purposes

16 hazardous electrical and natural gas conditions neutralized

24 firearms recovered

59 intelligence reports received and analyzed

1,100 fliers with emergency contact information distributed

3,943,314 16-ounce water bottles distributed by Nat’l Guard

291 National Guard personnel from Fort Dix convoyed

50 wheeled vehicles 1300 miles to New Orleans

866 officer and

10,689 enlisted Army mandays supported by NJ National Guard

Other HurricaneKatrina Related activities:

New Jersey Department ofAgriculture

The New Jersey Department ofAgriculture (NJDA) and theAnimal Emergency WorkingGroup (AEWG) were active in theKatrina response. Ten veterinar-ians from AEWG and NJDAprepared themselves to be de-ployed to New Orleans in responseto an EMAC request. Though theEMAC request was ultimatelycancelled, the mobilization was agood test of NJDA’s communica-tions and mobilization plans.

- In response to the closing of largeemergency animal shelters in thearea affected by the hurricane,animals were relocated to otherstates by animal rescue groups.Two county OEM-sanctionedemergency isolation and shelterfacilities were opened in NorthJersey. These facilities, one inMorris County and one in SussexCounty, accepted animals from theGulf Region. These facilities caredfor approximately 150 dogs andcats and reunited a number ofthem with their original owners.At the time this report was beingcompleted, Sussex County was stillproviding temporary shelter forongoing animal rescue and recov-ery operations in Louisiana beingrun by Best Friends, a nationwideanimal rescue organization.The assistant state veterinarian wasdeployed to Waveland, Mississippi, asa member of the Veterinary MedicalAnimal Team or VMAT, which issponsored by the American Veteri-nary Medical Association. Theassistant state veterinarian served witha small strike team that provided carefor farm animals and providedveterinary services at one of thetemporary shelters in that area.

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Union and Morris counties. Mostof those personnel returned toNew Jersey when their replace-ments arrived from the deploy-ments of September 17 and 18.On September 13, the State sent toLouisiana two Hazmat teams thatincluded 12 technicians from theTrenton and Cherry Hill firedepartments. Those deploymentslasted 10 days.On September 8 and September14, the State sent a total of threedonations management specialiststo the State of Mississippi, to helpthe state determine what resourceswill be needed as the recoverycontinues.On September 17 and 18, NewJersey sent the second massivetask force, including 148 policeofficers and medical supportpersonnel from across the stateand 25 decontamination person-nel. Most of those personnelreturned to New Jersey whentheir replacements arrived fromthe deployments of September28 and 29.On September 28 and 29, NewJersey sent the third massive taskforce of 148 police officers andmedical support personnel, and 30decontamination personnel.

To make these deploymentspossible the State Office ofEmergency Management workedwith groups representing theDepartment of Health and SeniorServices, Department of Trans-portation, Department of Militaryand Veterans Affairs, the State FireMarshall, New Jersey Departmentof Agriculture, all 21 countyoffices of emergency management,all 21 county prosecutors and ahost of other entities.

The NJDA also worked with NewJersey farmers to coordinate theprovision of JerseyFresh apples tothe food banks in the affectedGulf Region, utilizing the coordi-nation and transportation ofAmerica’s Second Harvest.

The Governor’s Office orRecovery and Victim Assis-tance (ORVA)

ORVA took the lead in providingNew Jersey housing for evacueesfrom Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.Working with FEMA, the Depart-ment of Human Services, StatePolice, the Department of Commu-nity Affairs, and other nonprofitgroups, ORVA arranged for theidentification and inspection ofsuitable housing for many of the3,500 evacuees from the Gulf Regionwho ended up in New Jersey.

Other Responseand Preparation Efforts

Flood Response

In April and October of this year, NewJersey faced flooding events as a resultof unusual heavy rainfall. In April,flooding affected an estimated 3,500homes with at least 5,600 peopleevacuated. That flooding took place justseven months after September 2004flooding caused by Hurricane Ivan, andnine months after the Burlington flood,both of which led to Presidentialdisaster declarations. State Police’sEmergency Management Section andSpecial Operations Section coordinatedinitial response operations, activated theState EOC, prepared the Governor’srequest for a Presidential DisasterDeclaration, and in partnership withFederal Emergency ManagementAgency (FEMA) Region II, establisheda Disaster Field Office (DFO) andseveral Disaster Recovery Centers

(DRC) to manage the recovery processand supervise the administration offederal disaster grants to communities inthe affected area. In October, floodingin isolated areas led to the evacuationsof more than 457 people. The Emer-gency Management Section and theSpecial Operations Section coordinatedinitial response operations and activatedthe State EOC.

Other Response Activities

The State Police’s HazardousMaterials Response Unit handled325 homeland security missionsincluding chemical, biological,radiological, nuclear, and explosiveagent surveillance and detection,evidence collection, sampling andidentification of CBRNE materials,decontamination, environmentalmonitoring, scene management,and resource acquisition andmanagement.The State Police Arson/BombUnit, in addition to coordinatingthe Statewide Detect and RenderSafe Task Force, responded to 170missions involving suspectedexplosive devices, conducted 200bomb sweeps, 30 lectures andexamined 160 fire investigationsinvolving the loss of property thatis in excess of $20 million.The State Police Canine Unit,which also co-coordinated theDetect and Render Safe TaskForce, responded to 9,440 missionsand sweeps, many of which wererelated to homeland security dutyduring elevated alerts.The Urban Search and Rescue(USAR) Unit within the Emer-gency Management Sectiondistributed more than $10 millionin equipment to nine fire depart-ments within the NortheasternUASI Region: Bayonne, Elizabeth,Hackensack, Hoboken, Jersey City,Morristown, Newark, North

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also presents a tremendous trainingresource for state first responders whomay have to face situations in whichWMD may be present.

Statewide Industrial Mutual AidCooperative for Firefighters

In fall 2002, the Division of Fire Safetyin the Department of CommunityAffairs recognized that those industriesthroughout the state with in-housefirefighting capabilities remained anuntapped resource. Ultimately, theDivision collaborated with theseindustries and established a consortiumcalled the Mutual Aid Cooperative-State Industrial Chiefs (MAC-SICS).This cooperative makes available theresources and expertise of the privatesector to the public sector to assist inlarge-scale emergency responses, suchas those that could be caused by aterrorist attack. In September 2005, theDivision of Fire Safety and approxi-mately 20 private industrial firefightingcompanies in the petrochemical,pharmaceutical, power generating andother industrial sectors signed amemorandum of understanding toformalize their cooperative agreement.

MAC-SICS has also partnered withNew Jersey Business Force/BusinessExecutives for National Security(BENS) in BENS’s cooperativeefforts with the State’s Office ofEmergency Management, Departmentof Health and Senior Services and theNational Guard. The cooperativeactivities focus on: Business ResponseNetwork, Business Volunteer Trainingand End-Use Distribution of theNational Pharmaceutical Stockpile.

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EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Hudson Regional and Paterson.These nine departments will forma UASI Metro USAR Strike Teamable to respond to large technicalrescue events such as buildingcollapses, tunnel rescues, trainaccidents, etc. Each departmentwill receive a heavy-duty rescuetruck, uniformly loaded, withequipment valued at more than$500,000 dollars each.

Civil Support Team

On March 9, 2004, the Secretary ofDefense announced that New Jerseywould be among 12 states that wouldbe allowed to stand up a Civil SupportTeam (CST). This fulfilled alongstanding request of the Depart-ment of Military and Veterans Affairs.

These federally funded Civil SupportTeams were established to deployrapidly to assist local incident com-manders in determining the natureand extent of a WMD attack orincident, provide medical and techni-cal advice, and pave the way for theidentification and arrival of follow-upstate and federal military responseassets. They provide initial advice onwhat the attack agent or agents maybe, assist first responders in thatdetection assessment process, and arethe first military responders on theground. Thus, if additional federalresources are called into the situation,they can serve as an advance party.

The approval of New Jersey’s 21ST CivilSupport Team (Heavy) marked asignificant milestone. In June 2005, theteam successfully completed its ExternalEvaluation. In December 2005 itreceived its final, formal approval andcertification from the Secretary ofDefense. This team will provide NewJersey with a tremendous resource thatcan be tapped into for sampling andanalysis of hazardous materials inresponse to an incident. The 21st CST

Complying withthe National IncidentManagement System (NIMS)

All states, including New Jersey, nowhave to conform to national standardsfor responding to incidents. Called theNational Incident ManagementSystem, the NIMS is intended toprovide “a consistent, flexible, andadjustable national framework withinwhich government and private entitiesat all levels can work together tomanage domestic incidents, regardlessof their cause, size, location, orcomplexity. This flexibility appliesacross all phases of incident manage-ment: prevention, preparedness,response, recovery, and mitigation.”

The NIMS was developed by the federalgovernment as a consistent nationwideapproach to allow federal, state, territorial,tribal and local governments to workeffectively and efficiently together toprepare for, prevent, respond to, andrecover from emergency incidents,regardless of their cause, size, or com-plexity. It was approved by the federalgovernment on March 1, 2004. Thefederal government required that stateand local governments adopt the NIMSby legislation or executive order to remaineligible for federal preparedness funding.

As noted earlier, in August 2005,Governor Codey signed ExecutiveOrder Number 50 establishing NIMSas New Jersey’s standard for incidentmanagement by first respondersthroughout the state. The order,developed in consultation with theTask Force, directed all state depart-ments and agencies to issue whateverdirectives, administrative orders andregulations necessary within the next60 days to ensure the use of theNIMS on all incidents by firstresponders at the state departmentand agency, county and local level.

The order further directs that all statedepartment commissioners, agencyheads and senior staff, as well as all firstresponder personnel should taketraining in the NIMS. It also directs thatthe NIMS be incorporated into existingtraining programs and exercises, andthat the state’s first responders mustparticipate in multi-disciplinary exercisesand drills that employ the NIMS.

The fact that New Jersey has thisexecutive order will allow municipali-ties, fire companies, ambulancesquads, police departments and otherfirst responders to remain eligible forfederal grants including the Assis-tance to Firefighters grant program,the Homeland Security and UrbanArea Security Initiative grant pro-grams, along with more than 50 otherfederal preparedness programs.

As noted previously, in September2005, Attorney General Harveyissued a law enforcement directive(No. 2005-2) requiring that all lawenforcement officers in the state betrained in the Incident ControlSystem a basic level before the endof 2005. The directive then goes onto require more advanced training inphases within the next two years.

Fortunately, the NIMS is not unfamiliarto New Jersey first responders. Itincorporates the same Incident Com-mand System that has been used in thestate by firefighters, the State Forest FireService, county and municipal emer-gency managers, the State Police, theState Police’s Office of EmergencyManagement, and many other firstresponders for more than a decade.

The state has established a NIMSWeb site (www.NIMS.nj.gov) tofamiliarize first responders with thesystem and is actively involved intraining and other activities to helpensure that the state’s approximately150,000 first responders comply withthe new national requirements.

The approval of NewJersey’s 21ST Civil SupportTeam (Heavy) markeda significant milestoneand fulfilled a longstandingrequest of the Departmentof Military and Veterans Affairs.

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