Nevada to get team for WMD response

Jen Lawson and Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

Nevada will get a federal team to help first responders react to a terrorist attacked, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

"This is an absolutely fantastic asset for our citizens and for those that visit us ... Nevada desperately needed this," said Jerry Bussell, homeland security adviser to Gov. Kenny Guinn.

The 22-member team, made up of Army and Air National Guard members, will bring in $40 million worth of training and equipment at no cost to the state, Bussell said.

Bussell said he will recommend to Guinn that the team be based in Las Vegas.

Nevada is one of 12 states that will each receive a new Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team as part of requirement in a defense bill passed last year. Nevada's congressional delegation wrote to the department in October stressing the need for such a team in Las Vegas due to high tourism levels and the city's appeal as a terrorist target.

The teams will help local first responders to determine the nature of an attack, and will provide medical and technical advice as well as help guide back-up teams of state and federal responders. Each team is under the control of the governor of the state in which it is based and is on call around the clock.

The teams are able to set up mobile labs, decontamination centers, command centers and satellite communications systems in under two hours, officials said.

In Nevada's case that will mean instead of waiting more than 24 hours for a state lab to identify a foreign material, the state will be able to rely on the new unit to analyze it at the scene.

Nationally there already were 32 of these teams in 12 states.

Existing teams responded in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, and have responded to suspected anthrax discoveries and suspected ricin discoveries. Teams have also worked to secure high-profile events such as the Olympics and the Super Bowl.

Nevada's local emergency responders have been training with the National Guard's 91st Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team based in Arizona.

It will take 18 to 24 months for Nevada authorities to form the team and train its members. Until then, Nevada may still call upon Arizona or the two other closest states that have a team, California or Idaho, if an attack occurs.

The Defense Department made the Nevada designation in response to a May 2003 letter signed by all five members of Nevada's congressional delegation.

Members of the delegation noted that Las Vegas is a potential terrorist target and has a constant influx of visitors. The delegation asked for the team because the possibility that Nevada could be attacked has put the state's emergency workers "under enormous strain," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said.