3. The Interview and Analysis Process

The project team interviewed key personnel from the Arlington Fire Department, the Arlington County Metropolitan Medical Support Team/National Medical Response Team, The Department of Defense, the FEMA Incident Support Team, Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team, FEMA, the U.S. Army, including the Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP), the State of Virginia Office of Emergency Management, the National Response Center (NRC), the HHS National Medical Response Team, The FEMA Incident Support Team, and the American Red Cross.  The team obtained and analyzed situation reports (sitreps) and other reports from FEMA, EPA, the USACE, the OEP, and the NRC.  The team also obtained daily action plans prepared by the FEMA Emergency Response Team (ERT), Disaster Field Office (DFO), and Incident Support Team (IST). Press reports (primarily the Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN) were used. The team focused on the Federal mobilization of resources for all events and on the incident response to the Pentagon attack because of the proximity to first responders, the limited time and resources for the study, and the complexity and continuing status of the response to the WTC collapse.  While the on-scene response to the attack on the Pentagon was coordinated by the Arlington County Fire Department, over 100 organizations played a role in this complex response.