DHS prepares for attack during transition

At a federal installation in Georgia three months ago, more than 100 senior career employees from across DHS assembled for an exercise in which they oversaw a simulated government response to a large flood in the Midwest. The goal was to prepare career managers for what could be the biggest test they would ever face: responding to a large-scale disaster — such as a terrorist attack or natural calamity — during the presidential transition, a time when political leadership is lacking. Top career officials at DHS’ Federal Emergency Management Agency, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Coast Guard and other agencies are learning not only how to run their own agencies during crisis, but also how to coordinate their responses with one another, Elaine Duke, the department’s undersecretary for management, said in an interview. Federal Times’s Gregg Carlstrom writes that several more training sessions — tabletop simulations and field exercises — are planned for the coming months, she said. “A lot of acts of terror take place in times of political change, and there’s an awareness of that,” Duke said, stressing that DHS has no specific intelligence about any imminent threats. “So we’re looking at — when our political employees leave — who acts in their place … in case of an incident.”

Typically, agencies’ political leaders would handle high-level coordination: sharing intelligence, planning joint operations and working with other executive agencies. After a hijacking, for example, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) leaders would need to reach out to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department; the resulting investigation could also bring in the Justice Department and immigration agencies. A terrorist attack might require coordination with the Pentagon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its parent agency, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). A natural disaster would put FEMA at the center of a web of federal, state and local agencies. Officials would have to coordinate rescue and relief operations, medical care and communications.

To ensure effective leadership during the transition, the outgoing political appointees are being backed up by specific career executives, who will take their places after the Bush administration leaves. At TSA, for example, Deputy Administrator Gale Rossides will step in for Administrator Kip Hawley until a new political leader is in place; and at FEMA, Nancy Ward, the administrator for the agency’s Region IX, will take the reins when Administrator David Paulison steps