Arizona University runs terror drill | 04.14.2006 | 09:46:28 | Views: 5318 | ID: April 14 '06: 14 different law enforcement agencies cooperated in a joint terrorism drill on the University of Arizona campus on Thursday. A local NBC affiliate station reported that volunteer students "acted as victims as emergency crews treated them as if they had been exposed to an unknown chemical," while many students and some local fire fighters were not told of the drill so that "everything was as real as possible," KVOA reported in Tucson. The Arizona Star reported that the drill "was paid for by a $50,000 grant from the Pima County Office of Homeland Security," and that its main goal was to "test the agencies' response to an emergency at the UA that turns into a national incident." The reported earlier in the week, that more than "200 personnel from local, state and federal public safety agencies plan[ned] to participate." State exercises like these are part of a larger nation-wide effort, being organized by the Department of Homeland Security, the Associated Press reported Friday. According to an internal report being released by the department's inspector general, Richard L. Skinner, "38 recommendations for improving disaster response missions by the department and its Federal Emergency Management Agency," have been submitted. "The recommendations call for better training, coordination, and systems for ensuring communications among local and state emergency responders and between federal agencies providing aid," the AP reported. "They also call for more clearly defined roles and an established chain of command within the federal government."
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