COMING MONTHS will be busy for some state National Guard and other military reserve members who are forming RAID teams for medical and other responses to possible urban terrorism.
RAID is the acronym for "rapid assessment and initial detection" of chemical, biological, or other agents that might be used in such an attack. It implies the role of first-response decontamination, treatment, and evacuation of those exposed, plus determination of what additional resources are needed in response. Some team members would assist in trying to control panic, securing the area, and communications.
With the bombings of New York City's World Trade Center and Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal Building, as well as the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack, federal officials have grown increasingly concerned about terrorists and other criminals who might attack US cities with unconventional weapons of mass destruction. This concern also has been expressed at several medical meetings, including the most recent gathering of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, held in Nashville, Tenn.
Two years ago, the US Department of Defense admitted shortcomings in its ability to provide the assistance that local emergency agencies might need following such an attack. The department decided to establish one RAID team in each of the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions, to begin biological protection efforts by immunizing military reservists (and all active-duty military personnel) against anthrax, and—in recent days—to stockpile antibiotics and vaccines (including those for anthrax and smallpox) as part of a federal health agency–wide effort to protect civilians in case of such an emergency.
The FEMA regional headquarters are in Atlanta, Ga; Boston, Mass; Chicago, Ill; Denton, Tex; Denver, Colo; Kansas City, Mo; New York, NY; Philadelphia, Pa; San Francisco, Calif; and Seattle, Wash. Decisions are being made about where in each region the RAID team will be located. The advantage of using state Guard members, particularly Army National Guard (each state also has Air National Guard units) is that they already are located in many communities and have emergency response as part of their state (as contrasted with federal, usually wartime) mission.
Each RAID team will have 22 full-time National Guard members, augmented by decontamination, security, medical, and other specialists from Guard and other reserve units primarily trained for wartime combat readiness. After receiving additional training and equipment, team members will be designated first-responders to any domestic attack, supporting federal, state, and local authorities and reporting to the police, fire, or other official in charge.
Team members would assess casualties and damage, determine the nature of the attack (biological, chemical, radiological, or other), seek to learn the exact agent(s) used, and ascertain whether additional Department of Defense support is needed.
This plan is to be phased in over the next 5 years. There is a possibility that additional RAID teams will be formed eventually. The Department of Defense is establishing a "consequence management program integration office" to coordinate this response plan, the total yearly cost of which is projected to be $49 million.
