Posted at 11:45 a.m., Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Pentagon rates Guard ready to take on terror
By Susan Roth
Advertiser Washington Bureau
The 22-member homeland security team, technically known as a "weapons of mass destruction-civil support team," is the 27th in the nation certified to respond to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents.
The full-time Guard members have been training since 2000, when Congress authorized the Hawai'i team along with 16 others.
Team members received about 600 hours of training above their regular military qualifications, with instruction coming from such federal agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department in addition to the Defense Department.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised the certification of the Hawai'i National Guard homeland security team.
"As I followed the team's progress over the past two years, I was impressed with the professionalism and dedication of Hawai'i's team and confident that it would meet federal certification standards," Akaka said in a statement.
After a hiatus, the National Guard program started anew in fiscal 1999 and grew in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. It aims to provide state governments with military expertise to help respond to such attacks or incidents.
