Automated Decision Aid System for Hazardous Incidents (ADASHI) - An Incident Response and Training Tool for Chemical/Biological Hazards

Defense Secretary William Cohen has long expressed concern about the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction and the countrys vulnerability to an attack on its own soil. In 1997, Cohen commented that the threat posed by the proliferation of such weapons, is the greatest threat that any of us will face in the coming years. A year earlier, Congress passed the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, which designated the Department of Defense as lead agency for responding to an attack by terrorists using chemical or biological hazards. As a result of the law, known as the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Act, the Defense Department created the Domestic Preparedness Program to train local and state officials most likely to be first responders in the event of such an attack. Emergency responders and incident command personnel must make rapid decisions in life-saving and life-threatening situations. When dealing with terrorist incidents involving suspected or known chemical- biological hazards, these personnel require training in the use of and rapid access to technical knowledge to properly react to these types of hazardous events.