New CST sites identified, training plan accelerated

National Guard, Dec 2001

The Pentagon last month identified the locations for five more National Guard weapons of mass destruction civil support teams at the same time that 17 other new teams are being certified for federal duty.

The teams are designed to assist firefighters, police officers and other civilian emergency responders to deal with weapons of mass destruction incidents by identifying deadly chemical, biological and radiological agents. Each contains 22 full-time National Guardsmen.

The five new teams will be located In Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, Tennessee and West Virginia, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced Nov. 15. This increases the number of teams to 32. He expects them to be fully trained and certified for federal service in 2003.

Nine of the first ten teams were already certified for duty before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and before anthrax spores were sent through the postal system. The 10th received its certification in October. They have responded to nearly 200 incidents, mostly anthrax scares and hoaxes.

Recent events have emphasized the importance of the teams (page 30) as part of the new push for homeland security. Under instructions from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the 17 new teams are getting their final evaluations three to six months earlier than originally scheduled. He wants all 17 validated for federal service or by the end of the year.

Teams from Minnesota and Louisiana were the first two of 17 organized in early 2000 to be evaluated for federal certification. They were tested last month at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

A dozen more teams will be tested at that site this month, said Tennessee Army Guard Lt. Col. Gordon Fuller, officer in charge of the accelerated external evaluations. Teams in Alaska, Hawaii and Ohio will be evaluated in their home states early next year, he added.