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| Report: DOJ Not “Fully Prepared' For WMDs |
| 2010-06-02 |
| The U.S. Justice Department is not "fully prepared" to respond to an attack with a weapon of mass destruction, according to a report released Tuesday by the department's inspector general. "One of the greatest concerns is that a WMD may fall into the hands of terrorists or that terrorists will develop their own WMD," the inspector general's office said in a statement accompanying the report. "However, the Department of Justice has not implemented adequate WMD response plans." Specifically, the Justice Department has not designated someone to oversee a WMD incident response, department personnel receive little training to respond to a WMD incident, and the department's Critical Incident Response Plan does not address WMD incidents because it has not been updated since 1996, when it was first approved, according to the inspector general's report. Under a "National Response Framework" issued by the Department of Homeland Security in 2008, the Justice Department is responsible for coordinating federal law enforcement activities after a potential WMD attack and for ensuring public safety and security if state and local law enforcement are overwhelmed, the inspector general's office said. But, according to the report, the Justice Department "is not prepared" to fulfill its role, failing to identify people to manage such obligations. In addition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is leading the effort, has not developed a catalog of law enforcement resources available in the case of a WMD incident, according to the inspector general's office. One component of the Justice Department, though, did receive praise from the inspector general's report. The FBI had taken "appropriate steps" to prepare to respond to a WMD incident, according to the report. "Part of the FBI's primary mission is to prevent WMD incidents and investigate WMD threats," the report said. "The FBI has developed various plans, handbooks, and other resources to guide its staff in responding to a WMD incident. Further, the FBI regularly provides its staff with training specific to WMD incidents." As for the other components, the report made five recommendations, including requiring that the Justice Department designate someone with the authority to manage a response program and requiring components to update their own policies and plans. "It is critical that the Department address the deficiencies identified in our report so that it would be better prepared to respond if such an attack occurs," Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a statement. In a letter to the inspector general's office before the report was released, a Justice Department official said "the fundamental conclusion of the report is sound." "The Department of Justice should do more in order to formally and centrally coordinate emergency response activities of all appropriate Department components," Associate Deputy Attorney General James Baker said in the letter. "The overall recommendations of the report strike us all as helpful and informative." But, Baker said, the Justice Department has already made "substantial improvements" in the past year to help implement its role in the National Reponse Framework. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment further. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #10 On a less snarky note, the reason DOJ is supposed to be involved in the event of a WMD attack is to keep civil order going as much as possible. While NORTHCOM is up and running now, it's mission is military defense. The Constitution still calls for civilian government in emergencies. WMD attacks will cross city and often state boundaries in their effects, hence the role of the feds if need be. Even the NYC area's regional ops center is still more in the organizing stage than a mature reality and other regions are less far along. That leaves the feds or martial law as options ... |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-06-02 21:41 |
| #9 heh - I was hoping someone would catch on - little did I suspect the nefarious SteveS (AOS) was still trolling. My hat is off to you, sir |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-06-02 21:05 |
| #8 "DOJ will spend the first days after a WMD attack blaming FTFY, Pan. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2010-06-02 21:00 |
| #7 "the first thing we do..." ...or at least shoot them a little bit. The reason the DOJ needs to be involved in the response to a WMD attack is you want to immediately file a restraining order to keep the perps from doing it again. You will also want to sue some corporations - hopefully some with deep pockets - to deflect any blame from the Administration. Congress can handle any show trials and hearings on their own. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-06-02 20:53 |
| #6 "the first thing we do..." |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-06-02 19:28 |
| #5 This is how we will lose our freedoms in the US. They will be lawyered out of existance. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-06-02 12:24 |
| #4 The Democrats: A party of the Lawyers, by the Lawyers, and for the Lawyers. |
| Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar 2010-06-02 10:45 |
| #3 My thoughts exactly. DOJ will spend the first days after a WMD attack blaming some US entity for not stopping it, then move to charging the entities that tried to stop it for going outside the law. And what frightens me even more from this report is that the FBI, yup the one and the same, is the most prepared agency. holy crap folks! We are doomed, can you remember the,"We need offices and computers" issue after 9/11? I can only pray that the OGA's kill and capture before they get close to our shores and long before DOJ and the FBI get to play in it. And as a matter of fact YES I am bitter about DOJ and their anti-American agenda. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-06-02 10:02 |
| #2 Yep. When all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. That is a fundamental flaw of the legal caste. They define everything from their perspective as they were the source of all knowledge and experience. They long last grasp that they are simply another element or tool of a culture that has an appropriate place and use. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-06-02 09:52 |
| #1 And thus we see the end of the current administration. Exactly why should the Justice Dept. be "fully prepared" for a WMD? Aside from drafting the memo renaming the DOD to the Dept. of War, the DOJ's full preparations should end somewhere around evacuating buildings similar to a tornado drill. I guess if you're a lawyer every problem is legal. This, from the party of Jackson. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-06-02 09:21 |