Summary of Colorado's Counter-Terrorism Efforts
Local, state, and federal agencies have been working aggressively since 1996 to enhance Colorado’s readiness to deal with terrorism. We recognize that terrorism is a process, not just an event, and that no community is immune. Urban areas may possess viable targets, but terrorist organizations conduct their planning and testing in rural environments. Thus, making both at risk. Although terrorism has a great deal with traditional hazards, the state is working hard to identify and address those issues that are unique to terrorism. The traditional all-hazards approach provides a solid basis for our overall planning effort. Our efforts to prepare for terrorism will enhance our response capability and service to all citizens of Colorado.
Colorado began working with federal agencies in late 1996 to prepare the Denver metropolitan area for possible terrorist activity in conjunction with the Denver Summit of the Eight and the Oklahoma City bombing trial.
In 1998, Aurora, Colorado Springs, and Denver were selected to participate in the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici 120 Cities domestic preparedness program. This program provided funding and assistance to these cities for equipment, planning, training, and exercises to enhance their abilities to respond to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Denver and the metro area hosted the largest bio-terrorism exercise ever held in the United States in May 2000.
Colorado is one of the original states selected to host a Weapons of Mass Destruction – Civil Support Team (CST). This is a highly specialized team of full-time Colorado National Guard members (both Air Force and Army). This team possesses state-of-the-art equipment and can deploy to assist communities with rapid detection, identification, and analysis of possible chemical, biological, or radiological agents.
Since September 11th, the State of Colorado has received in excess of $140 million from the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency. These funds have been distributed to local jurisdictions and state agencies to conduct contingency planning, purchase equipment, support exercises, conduct training, hire staff, etc. All in an effort to improve and expand our response capabilities, to upgrade interoperability, and to serve our citizens and visitors.
In 2003, a state-wide risk assessment was conducted, which was in greater detail than the 1999-2000 assessment. This assessment identified equipment and training levels of our first responders. It gives the state a better idea of our capabilities to respond during an emergency or disaster. One outgrowth of this assessment was the creation of the Resource mobilization system (ROSS). ROSS, led by the State’s Division of Fire Safety, is designed to provide a database of resources that could be requested once mutual aid assets have been exhausted.
Colorado was among the first states to have a legislatively mandated Governor’s Expert Emergency Epidemic Response Committee. This group of experts was established to support statewide epidemic planning and response. It includes a broad range of professionals who meet regularly and would be called upon by the Governor to advise him as to the appropriate response to a biological crisis. Additionally, the board of health had directed all organized health departments, hospitals, and Regional Trauma Advisory Councils to develop "all-hazard" emergency response plans.
Prior to September 11th, our primary response capability was at the city and county level. In August 2002, Governor Owens announced the establishment of seven regions to support this response capability. These seven regions were later expanded to nine as part of the continuing effort to assist in the coordination of our response and develop professional relationships. Besides the immediate benefit of neighbor helping neighbor, other benefits include standardization of equipment and a more efficient use of available grant funding. A prime example of this, in a rural portion of the state instead of each county having an individual command vehicle to respond to an incident, the region cooperatively decided to purchase one vehicle which all could use. Another example is, why should a local police department and county Sheriff’s office each have a bomb robot? If they share a robot, then the funding for the second robot could be spent on other equipment to protect our first responders.
Since 2002, Colorado has received over $600,000 in grant funding that has been applied towards the Community Emergency Response Team and State Animal Response Team programs. These funds have been dispersed to 38 local teams to train the citizens to assist during emergencies and disasters.
Between July 2002 and July 2004, a total of 75 CBRNE-oriented drills and exercises have been held at the municipality, county, region, and state levels. The goals of these exercises have been to test contingency plans, develop professional relationships between first responder agencies, work on standardization of policies and procedures, and identify potential problems and solutions that could occur in a real situation. These exercises have not only involved fire, law enforcement, hazardous materials, emergency medical, emergency management, public health care, health, public safety communication, and other agencies, but have included the private sector along with volunteer organizations. Realistic scenarios are used to challenge these responders.
Agro-terrorism is another are of concern for Colorado. The Colorado Department of Agriculture is working closely with other state and federal agencies, the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension, Colorado State University, and agricultural associations to improve bio-security measures, ensure effective surveillance, rapid notification, accurate analysis, and effective response to the emergence of any biological threats to the State’s agri-business.
Events of September 11th highlighted the vulnerability of the nation to terrorist attacks. In an effort to coordinate the state’s Homeland Security efforts, Governor Owens issued an Executive Order in November 2001 (and later legislatively established in 2002) creating the Office of Preparedness, Security, and Fire Safety within the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
Colorado’s efforts to prevent, prepare, respond, and recovery from a terrorism-related event are ongoing. Not just at the state level, but at the regional, tribal, county, city/town, and individual levels. The citizens of this state recognize that we are all in this together.
Visit our Publications sections for family preparedness publications.
For preparedness directly related to terrorism, visit www.ready.gov.