Council Launches Task Force on Emergency Responders Former Senator Warren Rudman Chairs Project; Former White House Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke to Spearhead

Council Launches Task Force on Emergency Responders Former Senator Warren Rudman Chairs Project; Former White House Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke to Spearhead

March 28, 2003 2:02 pm (EST)

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Former Senator Warren Rudman Chairs Project; Former White House Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke to Spearhead


March 27, 2003 - To deal with the continuing terrorist threat and increased risks of the U.S.-led war with Iraq, the Council has launched a Task Force that will identify the most urgent steps needed— right now— to enhance the capabilities of first responders in key American cities.

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The new initiative, called the Task Force on Emergency Responders, follows the Council’s highly acclaimed Hart-Rudman Homeland Security Task Force, which made concrete recommendations last October on defending the country against a terrorist attack. Former Senator Warren Rudman will chair the new initiative. “Recent statements by President Bush and Congressional leaders indicate they’re prepared to provide more funds more quickly, and we want to help them get the job done,” Rudman said.

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Richard A. Clarke, former White House National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counterterrorism, will spearhead the project. “Dick Clarke is known as a giant dragon-slayer; he’s someone who can cut through the bureaucracy and political red tape to accomplish the most complicated tasks,” said Council President Leslie H. Gelb.

Council Senior Fellow Jamie Metzl, the former Deputy Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will serve as project director and coordinator for homeland security programs. “We are delighted to have three of the most knowledgeable people on general policy and details to head this effort,” said Gelb.

The Task Force’s mission is to work with local officials, first responder professional associations, and others to raise consciousness about the first responders issue in Congress and around the country; to get the necessary resources quickly into the hands of local governments; and help federal and local governments coordinate general planning and organization. The Task Force will not propose specific legislation or engage in political action.

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The initiative will draw upon the expertise of the original Hart-Rudman Task Force members and the following new members: NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NBA Commissioner David Stern, who have extensive experience dealing with large-scale security operations in local settings; Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and an authority on Congress; former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Mary Jo White, now at Debevoise & Plimpton, who has prosecuted several high-profile terrorism cases including the World Trade Center bombing of 1993; and General Dennis Reimer USA (Ret.), director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and former Army Chief of Staff. (See list below.)

The specific goals of the Task Force on Emergency Responders include:

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  • Develop a reliable three-year budget estimate for first responders by working with experts and city government officials;

     

     

  • Expedite first responder funds—now lodged within the FYO4 homeland security and other budget programs—by working with Congressional legislators and staff.

     

     

  • Find ways to “fast track” delivery of funds and equipment from federal to state and local levels for first responders in primary target cities and seaports.

     

     

  • Raise awareness of state and local governments and citizens to the urgency of the homeland security threat and the necessity for taking immediate action to address any shortfalls.

 

EMERGENCY RESPONDERS TASK FORCE MEMBERS

Warren B. Rudman (Chair)
Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison Former Senator, New Hampshire

Charles Graham Boyd
Chief Executive Officer and President, Business Executives for National Security
Former Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command

Warren Christopher
Senior Partner, O’Melveny and Myers LLP
Former Secretary of State

William J. Crowe
Senior Advisor, Global Options
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

James Kallstrom
Senior Executive Vice President, MBNA America
Former Director, Office of Public Security for the State of New York

Joshua Lederberg
President-Emeritus and Sackler Foundation Scholar, Rockefeller University
Nobel Laureate

Donald B. Marron
Chairman, UBS America and Chairman, Lightyear Capital

Philip A. Odeen
Chairman, TRW, Inc.

Norman J. Ornstein
Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

Dennis Reimer
Director, Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism
Former Chief of Staff, USA

George P. Shultz
Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow, the Hoover Institution,
Stanford University; Former Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury,
Secretary of Labor, and Director, Office of Management and Budget

Anne-Marie Slaughter
Dean, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

David Stern
Commissioner, National Basketball Association

Paul Tagliabue
Commissioner, National Football League

Harold E. Varmus
President and Chief Executive Officer, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Nobel Laureate

John W. Vessey
Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

William H. Webster
Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy
Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Former Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Steven Weinberg
Director of the Theory Group, University of Texas
Nobel Laureate

Mary Jo White
Partner and Chair of the Litigation Department, Debevoise and Plimpton
Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York

STAFF:

Richard A. Clarke
Senior Advisor

Stephen J. Flynn
Senior Fellow, National Security Studies

Jamie Metzl
Senior Fellow and Coordinator for Homeland Security Programs

Elizabeth Dahan
Research Associate

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