Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson gave a tour of his new $3.5 million command center Tuesday and assured Americans that the government is ready to respond speedily in case of a biological, chemical or radiological attack.
As the country prepares for a possible war with Iraq, Thompson showed off the high-tech anti-terrorism center to demonstrate that his department could speed medical supplies and personnel to an attack.
Behind him, wall-to-wall video images projected how plumes of sarin gas or botulinum toxin, a manufactured form of botulism, might spread over cities such as Chicago and Austin, Texas, and what the mortality rate might be.
With such knowledge, he said, the department could suggest to local authorities which streets to block off to protect people, and direct medical help to the affected area.
“So many people in America don’t think we are very prepared,” Thompson said. “But we are very prepared.”
The command center, across the hall from his office, is always staffed, he said, and is on high alert with a possible war approaching. “We’ll be very active this weekend,” he said.
Projected on the wall behind Thompson was a huge video map of Baghdad. Officials said it was there because the department was doing work for another, unidentified agency.
The government’s sometimes confused and halting response to the anthrax attacks in 2001 prompted Thompson to set up the command center, where 60-inch plasma television screens line the walls.
There are 26 state-of-the-art workstations, including ones for Thompson, his top deputies and the U.S. surgeon general. There is a capability for videoconferencing and tracking responses by emergency personnel. Thompson said he could deploy as many as 8,000 emergency health workers.
In case of a bioterrorist attack, he said, the department has the capability to monitor 4,000 local television stations around the country, communicate with local officials who would respond to the attack, coordinate with other federal officials responsible, check the number of hospital rooms available in an area, and rush medicine to any city within seven hours.
He said the department has medical supplies, including antidotes, antibiotics and vaccines, stored in 12 sites nationwide, but declined to specify them.
Each site has 50 tons of medicines and supplies, he said.
Thompson said he was concerned with a possible botulinum toxin attack, not only because it would require only a small amount of poison to kill people but because it could get into the food supply.
The command center also is used for other emergencies, such as hurricanes and fires. It was used recently to help authorities in Rhode Island when fire destroyed a nightclub, and also to monitor the spread of West Nile disease.
“We can track anything,” Thompson said.
