Chief James Schwartz DOD interview NOTES

k pg. 11 — para on consciously thinking that he did not want the Chiefs (who were
' in training in Fairlington) there and paged them (via ECC) to muster at Fire
Station 9.

2< Is Chief Cornwell retired now? (37 yrs as of '02 / Crystal City and Pentagon
/ expert) ffO _ ,v\ How common is it for other large cities to have an FBI FO provide a fire liais

£. Used the ACPD command bus as the Command Post - comments on how it
wasn't "the best facility" but "better than what we had" - status today? Utilized
SLEP funds yet? What did you buy?

5/ March 2001, the Council of Governments (COG) Fire Chiefs Committee adopted
~- a standardized ICS for the region. Wasn't to be fully adopted in the COG region
until September 2001. But since Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Fairfax City, Ft.
Belvoir, and the airports operate under an automatic aid agreement (share
resources without regard to jurisdictional boundaries) they adopted it on March
15th. QUESTION: How does that compare with what you know about other parts
of the country? New York City?

Chief Schwartz stated (DODI) "The level of cooperation among specifically the
FBI and all federal, state, and local agencies was truly a hallmark of this
incident." QUESTION: Recognizing the "success" of the Pentagon response,
what keeps other regions, counties, cities, from achieving such success?
Leadership, traditions, bureaucracies?

j. A full implementation, and thorough understanding, of the ICS seems to be the

best — and CHEAPEST - means for a first responder community to best prepare.
COMMENTS?

(§/ Let's talk about turf battles. Chief Schwartz has said (DODI) "There was no
fighting. There was no turf battle. There was no arguing about who's responsible
for what." QUESTION: What most accounted for that? (beyond ICS, because
the Feds don't really fit into that system, right?) QUESTION: Now, flip that
around. Based on your many years experience, what most accounts for the
infamous examples of turf battles in Fed/State/local, and between locals?

9J What types of benefits, if any, did you see after the President declared the
Pentagon a "National Emergency" and "major disaster"? ^ ^~

10. Elaborate on what can be learned from the Pentagon response with regard to
PDD-39. F/S/L, inter-agency coordination.
11. Discuss "freelancing." I was struck reading Chief Schwartz's DODI (pp. 71-72),
where he talks about the Northern VA automatic (mutual) aid agreement. And
how the ECC Administrator called out for a "box assignment" (size) to assemble
on the 14th ST bridge. And how they didn't wait - ended up going directly to the
scene - FREELANCING. He also comments "Freelancing is inexcusable, and
freelancing leads to death and injury." (pg. 44) Based on what you know
happened in NYC on 9/11, was it present there?

12. Clearly, there is great value in the National Medical Response Team (NMRT)
(CBRNE, Hazmat, mass-casualty Decon, environmental Decon). Is how the D.C.
area NMRT utilized (as a local asset for mutual aid purposes) common? Because
NMRTs are made up of local Fire/EMS/LE personnel, is there a "dual-hat" risk?
Did you run into any "duel-hat" issues?

Vs. Discuss the post-9/11 efforts to improve Arlington's EOC. Is it now manned
24/7?

JA Discuss comms and how SOOMGhz systems are doing in the D.C. area.

15. Has the "advisor" position (that Chief Plaugher filled) been codified into ICS in
any way? Useful to do so?

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