Governor Martin O’Malley delivered an address focused on homeland security to the Democratic Leadership Council last week. Speaking before hundreds of Democratic leaders and elected officials, O’Malley outlined homeland security goals for local and state governments.
The governor also sent a message to Maryland first responders and emergency management personnel identifying basic, core capacities that every region in Maryland should have. – See a complete transcript below.
During his address to the DLC, O’Malley stressed the importance of security integration and information sharing between all levels of government and first responder agencies.
“Nothing we care about as a society is possible without public safety and security,” O’Malley said. “In the broadest sense, security integration means protecting our people and communities through seamless coordination and consistent information-sharing among government at all levels. It means that the criminal justice system must work as a system, not a collection of parallel lines that never meet.”
O’Malley outlined a checklist of 12 core homeland security capacities – the standards by which Maryland will be measuring the readiness of its localities and which every state in the nation can use to determine whether they are meeting their responsibilities:
Interoperable Communications—First responders in every region in Maryland should have access to a fully digital, trunked radio system which all response partners can access in order to transmit and receive voice and data.
Intelligence/Information Sharing—Law enforcement officers in every region in Maryland should have the ability to transmit and receive law enforcement database information from the field and share that information on a real-time basis.
HAZ MAT/Explosive device response—Every metropolitan region should have a Type 1 Haz Mat team and a Type 1 bomb response team, either as one unit, or separate units, and there should be sufficient units statewide to provide a mutual aid response in any jurisdiction within a minimal amount of time.
Personal Protective Equipment for First Responders—All police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical providers in every metropolitan region should have ready and immediate access to personal protective equipment, including at a minimum some form of emergency airway protection, access to more advanced breathing apparatus and protective suits, and medications and antidotes against common WMD agents, and the training to use this equipment properly. All police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical providers in rural regions should have ready and immediate access to personal protective equipment appropriate to local hazards.
Bio-surveillance—Every region in Maryland should have access to a real-time, 24/7 statewide bio-surveillance system that incorporates a wide span of data, including symptoms presenting in emergency rooms and to paramedics, over-the-counter sales of pharmaceuticals, animal carcass pick up, and in metropolitan areas, sensor-based data, such as air monitoring for chemical and radiological releases.
Vulnerability Assessment— Every region in Maryland should have a comprehensive all-hazards threat and vulnerability assessment in place and fully updated every three years, including an assessment and inventory of critical infrastructure in the region.
Training and Exercises— Every region in Maryland should have a fully funded program of annual training and preparedness exercises which address the m