Fo B5 Public Hearing 5-18-04 3 Of 3 Fdr- Tab 12-5-10-04 Memo Re Recommendation On National Preparedness Standards 771

May 10, 2004 MEMORANDUM To:

Commissioners

From: Team 8 Subj: Recommendation on National Preparedness Standards Issue. Staff Statement No. 15 at the upcoming hearing includes preliminary findings that may lead the Commission to support the adoption of the National Fire Protection Association Standard (NFPA) 1600 as a voluntary national standard for developing a private sector preparedness and continuity of business plan. This course of action has been recommended to the Commission by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Following the Commission's November hearing on emergency preparedness, ANSI developed a recommendation for the Commission's consideration at the Chair and Vice Chair's request. At next week's hearing, Secretary Ridge will testify on the topic of preparedness, and we have asked him to comment specifically on this recommendation. DHS staff has been apprised of this issue throughout the process and attended the meetings during which the recommendation was developed. DHS has not yet taken a position. The issue is whether or not the Commission wishes to formally adopt this recommendation prior to the hearing and announce it at the hearing's conclusion. Pros: • It would lift the end of a difficult hearing with a positive, proactive statement to concretely help preparedness in the future. • The recommendation is for the adoption of a voluntary high-level standard, one that is currently being used by the public sector through DHS to rate state and local government preparedness. It is already in use and thus not controversial, and is highlevel enough not to cause private sector companies who have plans in place to do additional work, and was supported by a wide-range of private sector companies. • The issuance of this recommendation relates well to the hearing content and would flow naturally from the proceedings. • Holding off on the recommendation until the end of July may lose the impetus and get lost in the other recommendations that are more wide-ranging and policy driven whereas this one is directly related to safety. Cons: • Commissioners may decide to wait on all recommendations until the final report. • There may not be enough time to thoroughly vet these recommendations by Commissioners and get follow-on support from all interested parties. • DHS support is not yet guaranteed even though they have been briefed and brought along in this process • The story of the day could be the fire/police issues and this recommendation could get lost in the press coverage of more "controversial" issues that fall out from the hearing.

History of the Commission's Work with ANSI on National Preparedness Standards As part of the Commission's investigation, Commission staff interviewed many companies located in the World Trade Center and learned about the evacuation, communication, and continuity of business issues they faced that day. These issues were further examined at the Commission's Fifth Public Hearing at Drew University. Following this hearing, the Chair and Vice Chair asked the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to convene their Homeland Security Standards Panel (HSSP) to develop recommendations for the Commission's consideration. The HSSP Panel met from January to April of this year to discuss and develop a recommendation to the Commission. Commission staff attended these meetings, along with DHS and GAO representatives, and staff coordinated with these agencies to ensure that they were involved in the process and ready to assist in the implementation of these voluntary standards should they be recommended by the Commission. More than 100 professionals from the standards and conformity assessment community gathered for the second plenary meeting of the American National Standards Institute Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP) on April 29-30, 2004. On April 29, the Vice Chair attended the reception hosted by ANSI to receive a recommendation on private sector emergency preparedness and business continuity. Presented by ANSI president and CEO Dr. Mark W. Hurwitz, the Institute recommended a voluntary national preparedness standard based on criteria developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Recommendation. "In response to the January 23, 2004 letter from the 9-11 Commission Chairman Kean and Vice Chairman Hamilton, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) convened safety, security and business continuity experts from a wide range of industries and associations, as well as from federal, state and local government stakeholders, to consider the need for standards for private sector emergency preparedness and business continuity. These parties, brought together under the auspices of ANSI's Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP), have concluded that a high-level, voluntary standard applicable to all businesses regardless of industry, size, or location, is needed to establish a common framework for emergency preparedness. On behalf of these experts and stakeholders: ANSI proposes that the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States include in its recommendations to Congress and the President of the United States, the position that the high-level, voluntary American National Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs (NFPA 1600) be accepted as the common framework for private-sector national preparedness (hereinafter known as the National Preparedness Standard). This document was developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) using due process and consensus-based procedures approved by ANSI. The National Preparedness Standard establishes a common set of criteria and terminology for private-sector disaster management, emergency management, and business continuity programs for a variety of hazards. Recognizing that any truly viable standard is open to continuous improvement, the parties also developed several

recommendations for further enhancements to the standard. These comments have already been submitted to the NFPA disaster management technical committee. A national implementation strategy is necessary to support the use of this standard. ANSI recommends that the Commission request the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other federal agencies as appropriate, to undertake this initiative, hi addition, ANSI will continue to collaborate with the Working Group on Private Sector Preparedness (PSP-WG) to develop incentives for private-sector implementation of this voluntary standard and to market, promote and educate the public about its existence. The Institute also stands ready to take additional steps that may be deemed appropriate in furtherance of this initiative." The participants in the panel workshops which developed this recommendation were the following: Experts from the following organizations participated in the process: 3M Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) American Electric Power (AEP) American Management Services AS IS International Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) Attainium Corporation Bank of New York Battelle Bechtel Nevada Booz Allen Hamilton Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Chiron Corporation The Conference Board Congressman Christopher Shays' (R-CT) Office Deere & Company DMJM Technology DRI International (DRII) EAI Corporation Emergency Corps Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Goldman Sachs Greater New York Safety Council Homeland Security Industries Association (HSIA) IBM Insurance Services Office (ISO) Lucent Technologies Marsh USA Inc. Micro-News Network Microsoft Corporation Midwest Research Institute (MRI) National Biometric Security Project (NBSP)

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) New York City Police Department (NYPD), Counter Terrorism Bureau New York City Transit (NYCT) North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) Raytheon Company SBC Communications Skyscraper Safety Campaign Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Willis Working Group on Private Sector Preparedness (PSP-WG)