Responding to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) The 2010 National Security Strategy emphasizes the importance of strengthening our security and resilience at home and building capability to respond to and recover from major chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosive incidents. The first action to take when any emergency, particularly a WMD one, occurs is to identify what has happened. Then it must be contained and not allowed to cause more casualties, particularly among emergency first responders or civilians who want to assist at the scene. Terrorists sometimes use secondary devices to inflict casualties on first responders. The use of incident command and the establishment of a command site become very critical during the first minutes of response. The general response protocol includes the following: Approach or evacuate upwind of the suspect area. Wear protective masks including a self-contained breathing apparatus and clothing and cover all exposed skin surfaces. Minimize exposure in radiological material incidents and maximize distance from the contaminated site. The second action is to determine how to treat persons exposed to the substance. A chemical event requires containing the scene and decontaminating victims in portable showers. A person exposed to serious radiation cannot be saved, and the contaminated area has to be cordoned off to prevent further casualties. Thus, it is important that first responders have a general training in WMD for assessment, notification, control, and containment purposes. A patrol unit coming to an office complex where employees are blistered and gasping for air are most likely dealing with a chemical attack that will require massing additional personnel and equipment under an incident command system format. Site training for the events includes establishing proper command center and taking natural and environmental factors into consideration. The initiatives emphasize multinational participation and the rapid fielding of enhanced capabilities, and include: a Joint Assessment Team that can assess the effects of a nuclear, biological or chemical event, advise NATO commanders on how to deal with it and allow them to “reach back” to national experts for technical advice. a deployable analytical laboratory which can be transported rapidly and easily into theatre to investigate, collect and analyze samples for identification of nuclear, bio logical or chemical agents a nuclear, biological and