In the hot zone: nation has few WMD response teams in place.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Chem-Bio Defense

GALLAGHER, W. Va. -- The training scenario the Marines encountered on a crisp spring morning was this: Terrorists traveling in a van through a highway tunnel sprayed nerve gas into the air. Motorists behind them, suffering from the effects, lost control of their vehicles and created two large pileups.

The chemical biological incident response force (CBIRF), a unit of more than 400 Marines and Navy personnel, had the task of rescuing the victims in a contaminated area, or hot zone, where the exact nature of the threat was still unknown.

The training exercise, held in an abandoned tunnel in the Allegheny Mountains, is one of many the unit carries out each year to prepare for the aftermath of an attack.

The Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense spend a good deal of time and resources to prevent a terrorist attack. But what happens if their efforts fall short and a plot succeeds? Is the nation any better prepared to respond than it was on 9/11?

If a weapon of mass destruction is ever employed in the United States, the CBIRF team will be one of the nation's few resources it can call upon.

CBIRF officers told National Defense that they are the only unit capable of extracting victims from disaster scenes and providing immediate medical care in a contaminated area.

"We actually do victim care and triage in the hot zone. Others will wait until they have passed [decontamination] and then try and treat," said Capt. Ed Malinowski, initial response force commander.

This begs a question: Is one East Coast-based CBIRF team enough? A look at the nation's overall preparedness to respond to a WMD attack finds some assets in place, but few as robust as the CBIRF team.

The National Guard has about 52 weapons of mass destruction civil support teams, but their 22-member units are tasked with advising first responders.

Local fire departments, depending on the size of the city, may have the ability to respond to a weapon of mass destruction attack--although they are often underfunded and short staffed, numerous reports have pointed out. Smaller cities and towns may have no response capability at all.

The Army has 78 chemical companies, 58 of which reside in the National Guard and Reserves. Some of these companies are dedicated to domestic emergencies, but they suffer from personnel and equipment shortages, a Government Accountability Office report said.

Meanwhile, emergency rooms in the majority of U.S. hospitals will not be able to handle a mass...