Homeland Security: First Responders' Ability to Detect and Model Hazardous Releases in Urban Areas Is Significantly Limited

DHS notes that since 2008, DHS and several other federal agencies have been working together with the National Science and Technical Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Standards. The subcommittee has been chartered to develop a roadmap of the development of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) detection equipment and identify needed performance standards for this equipment. This would include identifying which agency would support such standards development. While DHS and others are working on addressing the issue of performance standards, it has not yet been determined which agencies should have the missions and responsibilities to develop, independently test and certify detection equipment for first responders to use to detect hazardous material in the atmosphere. Thus while DHS continues its efforts in this area, we consider this recommendation not yet fully implemented.

DHS's Science and Technology Director is working with other federal agencies to develop standards through its co-chairmanship of the NSTC SOS. According to DHS, the specifications incorporated into such standards and the associated test protocols, are needed to guide the efforts of manufacturers and equipment developers, among other things. However, DHS states while it cannot comment on the future test, evaluation, and certification efforts of other agencies, it is committed to those efforts for CBRN detectors purchased with DHS grant funds. Thus, while DHS continues its efforts in this area, this recommendation is not fully implemented

DHS notes that while IMAAC coordinates federal plume modeling, it is not intended to replace or supplant the atmospheric transport and dispersion modeling activities already in place to meet agency-specific mission needs. DHS has taken several actions, including effort to refine the concept of operations for different types of atmospheric releases. For example, an IMAAC interagency working group is developing incident specific annexes to the IMAAC standard operating procedures (SOP). Also efforts are underway to delineate responsibilities for a type-specific incident technical review of IMAAC plume modeling products. In addition, the IMAAC SOP was updated to provide guidance on the type and scales of events for which IMAAC assistance would be warranted. DHS has also undertaken several other efforts and plans others. However, to date, DHS has not fully implemented this recommendation.

DHS has funded some research efforts aimed at addressing deficiencies in meteorological information, plume models and data sets to support plume model validation.DHS states that it has also been working with DHS customers and representatives from the first responder community; a number of plume modeling gaps have been identified.DHS notes that programs to address these gaps are ongoing. For example, an effort is underway to improve the dense gas algorithms for large-scale chemical releases, such as a tanker car filled with liquid chlorine. Also, field experiments have been conducted to gather field data that could be sued to support validation of existing models. While DHS is involved in several efforts, these are still ongoing. Therefore this recommendation Is not fully implemented.