Homeland Defense: Outside Links

Department of Homeland Security Department of Homeland Security's first priority is to protect the nation against further terrorist attacks. DHS is also dedicated to protecting the rights of American citizens and enhancing public services, such as natural disaster assistance and citizenship services, by dedicating offices to these important missions.

Defense Threat Reduction Agency The Defense Threat Reduction Agency safeguards America and its friends from weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high explosives) by reducing the present threat and preparing for the future threat.

Centers for Disease Control Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response CDC established a Bioterrorism Program to ensure the rapid development of federal, state, and local capacity to address potential bioterrorism events. Their website contains health alerts, advisories, updates, frequently asked questions, and more...

The EPA's Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing for and will respond to terrorist threats from weapons of mass destruction (WMD). WMDs are "weapons or devices that are intended, or have the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people, through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic poisonous chemicals; disease organisms; or radiation or radioactivity." Because of its inherent role in protecting human health and the environment from possible harmful effects of certain chemical, biological, and nuclear materials, EPA is actively involved in counter-terrorism planning and response efforts.

USACHPPM's Homeland Security Information Page Links to other helpful online references and resources. "A compassionate land will rise united to not only protect ourselves, not only make our homeland as secure as possible -- but to bring the evildoers to justice so that our children might live in freedom." - Governor Tom Ridge at Swearing-In Ceremony as Director of the Office of Homeland Security, October 8, 2001.