Nine counter-terrorism task forces have been created
in Pennsylvania to deal with the challenges associated
with a terrorist incident in which a weapon of mass
destruction (WMD) is used. Member counties of the
East Central PA Counter-Terrorism Task Force are Berks,
Columbia, Luzerne, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill
and Wyoming.
A WMD episode would immediately overwhelm a local
community so regionalizing has been identified as
a way to bring significant resources to bear, in those
first critical hours when most life saving missions
would take place.
The East Central Pennsylvania Counter-Terrorism Task
Force meets monthly. Members of the executive committee
are the EMA coordinators of the member counties. The
other committee's are communications & operations, law enforcement, fire and medical-health.
Each county is encouraged to have representation on
these committee's from their emergency management,
public safety and medical communities.
The East Central Pennsylvania Counter-Terrorism Task
Force has a mutual aid agreement in effect. A mutual
aid agreement is a written commitment from members
to render assistance and aid to a victim county in
the event of a WMD incident. Task force members have
also identified locations in the region that may be
vulnerable to a terrorist attack as well as the resources
available to respond to such an event. They have sponsored
several top-shelf training seminars and continue to
work with state officials with the procurement of
emergency equipment and the standardization of WMD
training for public safety departments.
