Chicago, IL (EmergencyNet News) -- ERRI's Executive Director, fresh from speaking at a terrorism responders meeting of more than 200 emergency responders in Boise, Idaho over the weekend, today called for the formal establishment of a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) "lessons learned database/network." Clark Staten, who has been a major advocate of greater information sharing and a more collective approach to domestic preparedness, said that various preparedness efforts are ongoing in several parts of the country simultaneously -- but that few of the valuable ideas being generated are effectively being captured, stored for future review, or shared among other emergency service planners.

"We believe that there are a number of very viable planning efforts going on in this country in regard to this nation's preparedness for a potential chemical, biological or nuclear terrorist attack," the veteran emergency manager said in an telephone conference call early on this morning. "Unfortunately, it would appear that, collectively, we are having some difficulty in gathering and then sharing protocols, response plans, reference systems, and materials that others faced with similar problems might need," Staten continued.

"The Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI) has been acting as an interim or informal clearinghouse in regard to many these matters, but I am not sure how effective we can be without any funding assistance or more support from some of the responsible agencies," Staten added. " We get literally dozens of requests each month, asking us for information regarding experiences and training sessions that have been conducted and problems that have been encountered by many local and other governmental agencies and we try our best to move that information to those that need it," the retired paramedic chief added. "Many are looking for model planning documents and other preparedness items used by other systems -- others want to know if a particular piece of equipment actually works in the field, and there are a variety of other issues that they want to 'brainstorm' about," Staten continued.

"At this juncture, we feel that a more formal recognition of the need for some sort of national clearinghouse or information center on the internet would greatly contribute to the overall cooperation, coordination and communications preparedness of our nation's national security and emergency response forces...ERRI will continue to do what we can, with the resources we can muster, to facilitate this effort and would ask and hope that others would do what they can to assist us," Staten concluded.

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