Governor Scott McCallum's Summary of Wisconsin Terrorism Preparedness Efforts for this Week

 
Responding to the September 11th Terrorist Attacks:
Wisconsin's Terrorism Preparedness Efforts
February 1, 2002 Report


In Tuesday's State of the Union Address, President Bush outlined three goals
the nation must achieve; win the war on terrorism, strengthen our homeland
security, and boost the economy and create jobs.  I, too, support these
goals and have placed proposals regarding terrorism and homeland security
and economic growth in my budget proposal.
President Bush's budget for fiscal year 2003 provides substantial increases
in areas that require immediate attention: enhancing first responder
programs, securing America's borders, combating bioterrorism, strengthening
intelligence sharing, improving transportation security and supporting other
national defense related initiatives.  This significant increase in
resources from $19.5 billion to $37.7 billion reflects the President's
unwavering resolve to achieve a more secure homeland.
As the President said in his speech, "Homeland security will make America
not only stronger, but, in many ways, better.  Knowledge gained from
bioterrorism research will improve public health.  Stronger police and fire
departments will mean safer neighborhoods."

Wisconsin to Receive $19 Million for Bioterrorism

On January 31, I was notified by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary
Tommy Thompson that Wisconsin will received $19 million in federal funds to
help increase the state's ability to deal with bioterrorism. These funds
will be in three parts: $16.7 million from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) for public health efforts; $2.3 million from Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for hospital based efforts; and
$200,000 to the city of Madison as supplemental funding under the
Metropolitan Medical
Response System (MMRS) program, Milwaukee and Madison have previously
received funding for this program.  

The Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) and their statewide
public health partners (both public and private) have been working for the
last three years on these issues with existing federal funding of
approximately $1 million per year.  Our earlier efforts on expanding
laboratory capacity, Health Alert Network (HAN), epidemiology and
surveillance, and the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System
(NEDSS) will be continued and enhanced with this new funding. 

Wisconsin National Guard Continues to Serve Nation and State 
Over 700 members of the Wisconsin Army and Air National Guard continue to
support homeland security and the war on terrorism.  Currently, the 115th
Fighter Wing has 355 members on active duty status, the 128th Air Refueling
Wing has 189 and the 128th Air Control Squadron has 63 members on active
duty (overall about 40 percent of the Air Guard members volunteered for
active duty and 60 percent were recalled). There are 12 members of the Army
Guard's 829th Engineer Detachment ordered to active duty.  Approximately
another 90 Wisconsin Guard members are on duty at nine Wisconsin airports
until the end of March. 

President Bush Calls on All Americans to Serve Their Nation

President Bush called on all Americans to serve their nation for the
equivalent of two years (4,000 hours) over their lifetimes, and announced a
major new citizen service initiative - the USA Freedom Corps that will
enable Americans to participate directly in homeland security efforts in
their own communities. The Citizen Corps will implement a range of new
initiatives to engage ordinary Americans in specific homeland security
efforts in their own communities.  Citizen Corps initiatives include the
creation of a Medical Reserve Corps, a Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS)
program and a Terrorist Information and Prevention System (TIPS) - as well
as a doubling of the Neighborhood Watch program, and a tripling of the
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. President Bush will
demonstrate his support for this effort by requesting more than $560 million
in new funding for the USA Freedom Corps in his FY 2003 budget.  Examples of
the programs that the President is promoting:

        *       Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) Program:  Builds on
successful local programs in which civilian volunteers help local police
departments to perform non-sworn functions, freeing up police officers to
perform vital front-line duties in times of emergency.

        *       Medical Reserve Corps:  Enables retired healthcare
professionals to effectively augment local health officials' capacity to
respond to an emergency.

        *       Operation TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention
System):  Operation TIPS will enable millions of American transportation
workers, postal workers, and public utility employees to identify and report
suspicious activities linked to terrorism and crime.

        *       Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT):  The President
has proposed tripling over the next two years the number of Americans
enrolled in CERT - a training program that enables individual Americans to
participate in emergency management planning in their communities and
prepare to respond to disasters and other emergencies. This program is an
outgrowth of the need for people to rely on each other - rather than first
responders - in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster.

        *       Neighborhood Watch Programs:  The President's plan will
double the number of Neighborhood Watch Programs in the next two years, and
enhance the program by incorporating terrorism prevention into its mission.

For more information on the USA Freedom Corps, check www.usafreedomcorps.gov
or call 1-877-USA-CORPS.

Jefferson County Praised for Preparedness Training 

Many counties across our state have ambitiously embarked on domestic
preparedness training. An increasingly popular training offered by Wisconsin
Emergency Management is Critical Incident Management Training involving a
model city and integrating law enforcement and the fire service.  This past
week Jefferson County Emergency Management Director Joe Nehmer recruited 28
of the top fire, law enforcement and EMS leadership officials in Jefferson
County to participate in this three-day class. I am pleased that this level
of commitment exists and is being repeated throughout our state.  This
effort will only make Wisconsin better prepared. 


 Scott McCallum
 Governor of the State of Wisconsin