NORTHCOM Prepares for Possible Pandemic

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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2006/20060201_4070.html

 

 

American Forces Information Service

News Articles

 

 

NORTHCOM Prepares for Possible Pandemic

By Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen, USA

Special to American Forces Press Service

 

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Feb. 1, 2006 – U.S. Northern Command

recently hosted representatives from more than 40 international,

federal and state agencies for an exercise designed to provoke

discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military

support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in

the United States.

 

" We're building the knowledge base, trying to get ahead of the curve

now as much as we can, " said Gene Pino, director of NORTHCOM's

training and exercise directorate. " We're here to explore (and)

identify issues, identify challenges and identify concerns from each

of our particular perspectives. "

 

Officials consider a pandemic - a global epidemic - a possibility due

to increasing numbers of people around the world contracting a

life-threatening flu virus from birds. So far, humans infected with

the avian flu virus have been verified in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos,

Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia,

Turkey and, most recently, Iraq.

 

However, no cases of human-to-human transmission have been confirmed,

and no cases of avian flu, in birds or in humans, have been reported

in the United States or Canada. The avian flu does not represent a

widespread danger to human populations until the virus mutates into a

strain that spreads from person to person, experts said.

 

Well before news headlines started reporting growing numbers of both

sick birds and sick people, U.S. and Canadian military officials

decided to focus joint exercise efforts on the pandemic influenza

scenario. " Since that time, a tremendous amount of energy has been

expended to prepare for the eventuality that this is a very plausible

and a very dangerous threat, " Pino said.

 

Exercise attendees analyzed topics such as public health care,

maintaining civil order and providing continuity of government and

private operations in case of widespread infection and worker absenteeism.

 

" NORTHCOM will not be running the show in the event of a pandemic, "

said Dave Wilkins, the NORTHCOM exercise facilitator. " We will be

taking guidance and requests from other agencies, such as the

Department of Homeland Security, via the secretary of defense. "

 

One most critical NORTHCOM mission during a possible pandemic is to

keep the American public informed. The command will work with the

Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services and

other agencies at federal, state and local levels and will use a

variety of methods, including traditional press releases and the

agency's public Web site, to disseminate information, said Michael

Perini, director of NORTHCOM public affairs.

 

" Staying informed is really the best preparation, " Perini said. " What

we want to do here is to be an integral part of the overall

communications process and keep people informed so that they can be

prepared. "

 

Exercise participants agreed that the United States will not be able

to keep an influenza pandemic from entering the country. Instead, the

common goal of all agencies represented is to contain and mitigate the

consequences of a pandemic as much as possible.

 

" We know it will have an impact, " said Army Col. Joe Bassani, chief of

the plans division in NORTHCOM's policy and planning directorate. " We

can't stop the pandemic from having an impact. What we are concerned

about is what the long-term impact is going to be on the homeland and

what U.S. NORTHCOM can do to assist civil authorities in limiting that

long-term impact. "

 

The last influenza pandemics to strike the United States were in the

1960s, 1950s and 1910s. The most severe pandemic, in 1918-1919, caused

at least 500,000 deaths in the United States and as many as 40 million

deaths worldwide.

 

But " unlike previous pandemic influenzas, this will be the first time

in the history of humanity that we actually have an opportunity to

plan in advance how we would respond to a global pandemic, " said Army

Lt. Col. (Dr.) Dan Bochicchio, vice chief surgeon of the National

Guard Bureau.

 

About 40 percent of the U.S. work force would be affected in a

pandemic, and the virus would probably spread through the population

in six- to eight-week " waves, " Navy Capt. Lynn Slepski, of the

Department of Homeland Security, said. With so many people unable to

perform their normal jobs, federal and state agencies plan to assist

with critical national missions such as maintaining transportation and

distribution systems to ensure people have access to food, medicines

and other supplies.

 

Although NORTHCOM is prepared to take on more duties if requested by

the president or secretary of defense, the command's primary mission

will remain its " non-negotiable contract with the American people to

defend the homeland, " Bassani said. " We're here to support and defend

the nation. "

 

(Army Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen is assigned to U.S. Northern Command.)

 

Related Sites:

Pandemic Flu

U.S. Northern Command