Daniel Akaka: “I rise to address a subject on which I recently chaired a hearing in the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on…”

“I rise to address a subject on which I recently chaired a hearing in the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services concerning what the Federal Government is doing to better prepare our communities for an act of bioterrorism. Mr. Bruce Baughman, the Director of Readiness and Planning for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, testified on terrorism programs, the newly established Office of National Preparedness, and FEMA's plans to enact a nationally coordinated plan for terrorism preparedness. Dr. Scott Lillibridge, the first Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, HHS, for National Security and Emergency Management, discussed the current and future bioterrorism preparedness and response programs within HHS. They were followed by two expert witnesses, whose testimony and experience were very helpful in laying out what the country should be doing, on a national, State, and local level, to respond to bioterrorism. Dr. Tara O'Toole, of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies, discussed the nature of the threat and the challenges facing response efforts. As she aptly noted, "nothing in the realm of natural catastrophes or man-made disasters rivals the complex response problems that would follow a bioweapon attack against civilian populations." Dr.…”