Witt Report Announcement
January 15, 2009
[ As Prepared ]
Good morning. As we begin, I want to thank James Lee Witt and everyone with JLWA for their outstanding work on the report we are releasing today, and for their help and guidance these last two years. Their counsel has been truly invaluable to us as we’ve worked so hard together to ensure that our State is better prepared for emergency situations, both natural and manmade.
As an Administration, we’ve adopted three unifying strategies across our State government to further our shared pursuit of progress; the “three S’s” of skills, sustainability, and security.
We’re here this morning to discuss this third “s” – the ways in which we’re working to protect our progress on what amounts to the most sacred and important responsibility shared by those of us who serve in government: the security and safety of our public.
During these past two years, we’ve made public safety our Administration’s top priority, and working together as One Maryland we’ve been able to upgrade security here at the Port of Baltimore from a “Mickey Mouse” operation with sleeping guards and wooden decoy cameras to a state-of-the-art system that has received a near perfect score from the U.S. Coast Guard.
What’s more, together we’re moving forward toward establishing a fully interoperable emergency communications system… together we’ve upgraded bomb detection technology, invested in new protective equipment for law enforcement, and made important strides toward improving security at our bridges, our tunnels, and our major roadways.
The Witt Report & Recommendations We’re Implementing
In last year’s State of the State address, we announced our commitment to better integrating emergency preparedness and emergency information sharing.
In order to make progress towards those goals, in November of 2007, we asked former FEMA Director James Lee Witt to assess our level of preparedness and offer recommendations for making Maryland safer and better prepared in the face of emergency situations.
The report we’re releasing today is a tough, extensive assessment of both our strengths and weaknesses.
Given the urgency of these issues, we didn’t want to wait until the report was completed to begin implementation. While we don’t have time to run through all the recommendations we’re putting into action, I did want to highlight a few of them for you:
- Given the magnitude of the challenges we face, we believe that the Director of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, or MEMA, should report directly to the Office of the Governor. While our current director, Richard Muth, has been operationally reporting to my office already, we are proposing legislation this session which will codify this into law.
- To increase efficiency and optimize preparedness, we are working to remodel the organizational structures of MEMA and our State Emergency Operations Center, using as a basis the National Incident Management System, or NIMS. We are also establishing a backup emergency operations center. I am very happy to be able to report today that we have achieved a 100% compliancy rating from NIMS.
- To improve communication and accountability, we’ve asked Director Muth to hold one-one-one meetings and monthly conference calls with all 26 local emergency managers – and these meetings and conference calls have now been taking place for several months.
- To further our goals for efficiency, communication, and accountability, we are creating a centralized planning division within MEMA and are redoubling our efforts to provide better and more effective training for our MEMA staff.
- So that our public has access to the best, most reliable information available, we are enhancing MEMA’s public affairs and public information office, launching, among other things, a more robust emergency management website and issuing and publishing an agency newsletter.
- We are developing, revising, and completing plans for long-term strategic goals, emergency operations, information technology disaster recovery, and continuity of operations, or “COOP.”
Conclusion: 12 Core Capacities
As we move forward toward implementing more of the Witt report and protecting the important progress we’ve made together on homeland security and emergency readiness, we are committed to a set of twelve core capacities for government, law enforcement, and other first responders in every part of our State. They are:
- Interoperable Communications
- Intelligence and Information Sharing
- Hazmat and Explosive Device Response
- Personal Protective Equipment for First Responders
- Biosurveillance
- Vulnerability Assessment
- Training and Exercises
- Closed Circuit Television
- Mass Casualty and Hospital Surge Capabilities
- Planning
- Backup Power and Communications
- Transportation Security
In these months ahead, we are committed to doing everything we can to make sure that our State is ready to weather any storm, natural or manmade – and to protecting the important progress we’ve made together for the safety of our people. Thank you.
