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Combating Terrorism: Need to Eliminate Duplicate Federal Weapons of Mass Destruction Training

NSIAD-00-64 Published: Mar 21, 2000. Publicly Released: Apr 24, 2000.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential for duplicative weapons of mass destruction training, focusing on: (1) the principal federal organizations that provide weapons of mass destruction training to first responders; (2) whether the training is well coordinated among federal organizations; and (3) actions being taken to improve the federal government's role in weapons of mass destruction training.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To improve the efficiency of federal training programs on weapons of mass destruction, the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General should eliminate duplicative training to the same metropolitan areas.
Closed – Implemented
The Executive Branch, in an effort to reduce WMD preparedness training duplication across federal agencies, transferred the Domestic Preparedness Program from DOD to DOJ, effective October 1, 2000.
Department of Justice To improve the efficiency of federal training programs on weapons of mass destruction, the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General should eliminate duplicative training to the same metropolitan areas.
Closed – Implemented
DOD transferred the Domestic Preparedness Program to the Department of Justice on October 1, 2000.
Department of Justice If the Department of Justice extends the Domestic Preparedness Program to more than the currently planned 120 cities, it should integrate the program with the Metropolitan Firefighters Program to capitalize on the strengths of each program and eliminate duplication and overlap.
Closed – Implemented
The Department of Justice integrated the Domestic Preparedness Program into its existing training courses through analysis of course content, learning objectives, instructional methods. GAO made similar recommendations to further consolidate these programs in a more recent report, Combating Terrorism: Selected Challenges and Related Recommendations (GAO-01-822).

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Topics

BombingsCombating terrorismDefense contingency planningEmergency managementEmergency preparednessstate relationsFirst respondersHomeland securityInteragency relationsMobilizationNuclear weaponsRedundancyTechnical assistanceTerrorismTraining utilizationWeapons of mass destruction