Seven years ago, the 9/11 attacks sounded an alarm in fire departments
across the country: suddenly, they would need
to decide whether they had a role to play in
preparing for, and preventing, terrorist attacks. A growing number of fire departments concluded
that they did, and are now leveraging their
existing capabilities to enhance the effectiveness
of local counterterrorism operations.
My colleague Kyle Dabruzzi (formerly of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies) and I have just published a new paper with the Manhattan Institute's Center for Policing Terrorism arguing that state and local political leaders should encourage
this trend: rather than relinquishing counterterrorism
to local law enforcement and the federal government,
they should seek to integrate their fire departments into overall security planning. The paper explores how many of the core competencies that fire departments
draw on in responding to, mitigating, and preventing
natural or man-made disasters can be directed
toward preventing terrorist incidents. At the same time, fire departments must
be wary of encroaching on traditional law-enforcement
functions, in order to avoid violating citizens' civil
liberties and ensure that they retain the trust they now enjoy. Thus, we also examine parameters for doing so. An excerpt:
At first glance, fire departments are focused
on the core competencies of prevention, protection,
and response to natural and man-made disasters
and other emergencies. For example, in a recent
strategic document, the FDNY identified its
core competencies as fire suppression, pre-hospital
emergency medical care, structural evacuation,
search and rescue, dealing with chemical, biological,
radiological, and nuclear hazardous materials
(CBRN/hazmat), life safety, decontamination,
and arson investigation—all of which it
characterizes as response-oriented.
However, a closer inspection reveals that these
core competencies also position fire departments
to perform preventive functions. These include
building community awareness, identifying signs
of terrorist activities, information sharing,
and providing relevant subject-matter expertise.
Most career fire departments, for example, have
teams of highly trained hazardous-materials
and explosives experts. These firefighters can
inform public-awareness campaigns focusing on
signs of improvised explosive or incendiary
devices, and they can develop programs to train
fellow firefighters and public safety officers
to notice warning signs. They can also improve
pre-incident planning by articulating and listing
potential threats in order of seriousness and
likelihood, and aligning collective capabilities
accordingly.
In exploring the application of a fire department's
core competencies to prevention-oriented counterterrorism,
fire departments must guard against drifting
into law-enforcement activities—namely,
investigating crimes and apprehending criminals.
This division of responsibilities should not
preclude fire departments from strengthening
their role in counterterrorism. As a general
rule, to the extent that counterterrorism involves
investigating and apprehending dangerous people,
it is the province of law enforcement; to the
extent that it involves identifying, preventing,
and protecting against dangerous situations,
it is the firefighters'.
You can find the full report
here.