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An elite anti-terror response team focused on chemical, biological, and radiological attacks will soon be stationed at Fort Hamilton — as long as some final hurdles are cleared.
The so-called “Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team” would be a 22-member elite terror response unit comprised of Army and Air National Guard personnel that could be deployed at a moment’s notice in the event of a suspected chemical, biological, or radiological attack.
The squad would rush to the scene of an attack and assist emergency personnel in determining the exact nature of the problem.
Pols say that while we haven’t faced the ticking-clock scenario just yet, post 9-11 New York needs to be ready for everything.
“We must always be prepared,” said Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge). “A civil support team would ensure that New York has the manpower, resources, and training it needs to respond to a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction.”
The only other such response team in the state is surrounded by grass-chewing cows not al Qaeda-targeted skyscrapers. It’s located at Stratton Air National Guard Base in upstate Scotia, just outside of Albany.
That unit was up and running on 9-11, but its team didn’t arrive in Manhattan until hours after the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
At Fort Hamilton, the unit would be equipped with a vehicle that Jack Bauer, the fictional star of the television drama “24,” could only dream of: a state-of-the-art mobile analytical laboratory that can identify toxic chemical, biological or radiological contaminants, all while navigating the busy drive-through at Nathan’s on Seventh Avenue and 86th Street.
But having the search for WMD expanded to Brooklyn isn’t a done deal yet.
“The team is in the forming stages and is actively hiring,” Fossella aide Britta Vander Linden told Community Board 10 last Monday. “We are extremely optimistic that it is going to happen.”
Fossella and Rep. Peter King (R–Long Island), both pushed for the local tactical team, but said there are a few remaining hurdles, including inserting language into federal legislation to increase the number of authorized toxic units nationwide from 55 to 57, and securing additional funding. The language passed the House last week.
King said the funding would be a piece of cake, too.
“New York is such a target by would-be terrorists,” said King. “[Everyone will see that] it is vital for it to have an additional civil support team located downstate.”
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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