Protecting and Securing Delivery of the Nation’s Vital Medical Countermeasures Through Law Enforcement Coordination, Cooperation, and Training

In 2002 the United States Marshals Service (USMS) was tasked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to protect something else of great value to the nation; the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). The CDC’s Strategic National Stockpile has large quantities of medicine and medical supplies to protect the American public if there is ever a public health emergency (terrorist attack, flu outbreak, earthquake) severe enough to cause local supplies to run out. Once federal and local authorities agree that the SNS is needed and the Stafford Act is declared, medicines will be delivered to any state in time for them to be effective. Each state has plans to receive and distribute SNS medicine and medical supplies to local communities as quickly as possible (http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/stockpile/stockpile.htm). The SNS includes medications such as doxycycline and ciprofloxacin (used to provide protection to the population in the event of an Anthrax attack), as well as Tamiflu/Relenza (retroviral drugs), vaccines, personal protective equipment, and many other medical countermeasures.

The USMS SNS Security Operations (SNSSO) program was developed to assist with securing these medical countermeasures via a Memorandum of Agreement between the USMS and the CDC. SNSSO has Chief Inspectors in major metropolitan areas that are responsible for Senior Inspectors throughout the country who provide the SNS with law enforcement protective services for high value and priority medical countermeasures. The pillars of the SNSSO mission are:

1) Law Enforcement – The SNSSO protects Strategic National Stockpile assets valued at nearly $6 billion including properties and materiel. The unit secures both high-value and high-priority SNS medical countermeasures being researched, developed / manufactured, transported, stored, a n d distributed. During missions, exercises, and training, law enforcement services are provided for facilities, product, and designated SNS personnel. SNSSO Inspectors conduct criminal investigations or administrative inquires, as required.

2) Physical Security and Risk Assessment – In accordance with mutually agreed upon standards, SNSSO Inspectors conduct physical security surveys and risk assessments at SNS leased, owned, and proposed facilities. Assessments include threat, vulnerability, and criticality evaluations.

3) Liaison – The SNSSO coordinates with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and first responders to enhance preparedness and response to SNS facilities and in support of the Division of State and Local Readiness. This mission would be impossible without the state and local officers who provide vital manpower, local area knowledge, and other resources.

4) Intelligence – SNSSO constantly reviews threat and vulnerability documents to identify relevance to the SNS. Actionable intelligence from local, state, and national levels is transmitted within protocols established between the USMS and the CDC’s Office of Safety, Security and Asset Management (OSSAM). SNSSO Inspectors are assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force operations, and State Fusion Centers, and Cargo Task Force units. SNSSO personnel work closely with FBI Weapons of Mass Destruction personnel who are tasked with responding to and investigating nuclear/biological/chemical/ radiological events.

One of the main services that SNSSO provides is the law enforcement liaison necessary to form relationships with state and local agencies before a terrorist event or outbreak occurs. SNSSO Senior Inspectors work with other CDC agencies to secure SNS warehouse locations and materiel and to protect CDC personnel during deployment. Once the local supplies of drugs for treatment are determined to be inadequate, the SNS is requested. SNSSO personnel in conjunction with state and local law enforcement ensure timely delivery of the product from SNS warehouses to designated state receiving sites, escorting the trucks if necessary. Tracking and escorting SNS delivery trucks is asset intensive and only possible through the use of pre-established procedures. In addition to ensuring the security of the materiel, SNSSO personnel collaborate with law enforcement to assure the timely delivery of materiel to the designated state warehouse. Further, SNSSO personnel work with state and county law enforcement for the protection of SNS warehouses, which store the medical countermeasures on a daily basis.

Since its inception, the SNS has been a valued and time-tested national asset. The security of its storage facilities has always been of great concern for the national level senior leadership and the departments and agencies tasked to carry it out. CDC and the USMS determined that a joint effort specifically designed to exercise each site individually was needed. A comprehensive and progressive exercise program has been developed that standardized this effort in a series of discussion and operations based exercises. These exercises are well planned, controlled and objectively evaluated. Typically these exercises are completely run at the state/city/county level through a collaboration of public health, emergency management and law enforcement agencies. A typical scenario will involve a terrorist scenario with an intentional release of anthrax or other Category 1 bioterrorism agent (others include botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers). The lead time for planning a state/city level full scale SNS exercise can be as long as eighteen months, and is in accordance with the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), as per Presidential Directive 8. Chief Inspectors, Senior Inspectors, and Collateral Support Deputies are exercised in multiple security areas. The multi-hour security exercises revolve around an initial transportation security event, concerns at the sites, and followed by a major security issue. The exercises culminate with interagency cooperation with local tactical teams responding to active shooter situations. The latest exercise conducted was the largest to date for the program and consisted of 146 participants from multiple local, state, and federal agencies. It tested and validated the SNSSO Standard Operating Procedures in regards to site security specific roles and responsibilities during an activation and emergency response. Further, it evaluated the site security force’s policies and procedures in regards to recognition and response to potential threats, changing threat conditions, and interaction with the establishment and flow of command and control.

In all of these missions/situations, the key to success is interagency cooperation and communication. In the build up to a full scale exercise, SNSSO Senior Inspectors will liaise with state and local law enforcement, representatives of state/ city public health agencies, and federal/state/city emergency management personnel. In accordance with HSEEP, there are then a number of other opportunities for interaction including initial/midterm/final planning conferences and table top exercises. Once the planning for the full scale exercise is complete, all law enforcement involved will typically meet offline and decide to what extent the agencies involved want to play in the exercise, based upon available resources and exercise objectives. Law enforcement training objectives during an SNS exercise might include escorting SNS delivery trucks or responding to a breach/civil disturbance at a receiving warehouse. SNS exercise scenarios by their nature usually involve scenes of mass chaos and major public health hazards, so there is always relevant material for law enforcement. The relationships built during the preparation for and execution of full scale exercises carries over to other activities in which SNSSO personnel are involved.

During its existence, SNSSO Senior Inspectors have deployed to Hurricane Katrina and responded during the H1N1 Flu Pandemic of 2009. Senior Inspectors have also staffed National Security Special Events (NSSE) with their state, local and other federal partners on a regular basis. A NSSE includes, but is not limited to, the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Presidential Inaugurations, and the Super Bowl. These events also have an eighteen month planning cycle prior to “game day” and provide further experience working with multiple agencies. As in every agency, the mission has the pressure of competing resources and very few agencies have the ability to carry out major operations by themselves. The success of the SNSSO mission requires establishing the law enforcement relationship, training together, and being ready to operate as one when the nation demands.