110 STAT. 2718 PUBLIC LAW 104-201—SEPT. 23, 1996 50 USC 2312. SEC. 1412. EMERGENCY RESPONSE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, (a) PROGRAM REQUIRED. —(1) The Secretary of Defense shall carry out a program to provide civilian personnel of Federal, State, and local agencies with training and expert advice regarding emergency responses to a use or threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction or related materials. (2) The President may designate the head of an agency other than the Department of Defense to assume the responsibility for carrying out the program on or after October 1, 1999, and relieve the Secretary of Defense of that responsibility upon the assumption of the responsibility by the designated official. (3) In this section, the official responsible for carrying out the program is referred to as the "lead official". (b) COORDINATION. —In carrying out the program, the lead official shall coordinate with each of the following officials who is not serving as the lead official: (1) The Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2) The Secretary of Energy. (3) The Secretary of Defense. (4) The heads of any other Federal, State, and local government agencies that have an expertise or responsibilities relevant to emergency responses described in subsection (a)(1). (c) ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS.— The civilian personnel eligible to receive assistance under the program are civilian personnel of Federal, State, and local agencies who have emergency preparedness responsibilities. (d) INVOLVEMENT OF OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES. —(1) The lead official may use personnel and capabilities of Federal agencies outside the agency of the lead official to provide training and expert advice under the program. (2)(A) Personnel used under paragraph (1) shall be personnel who have special skills relevant to the particular assistance that the personnel are to provide. (B) Capabilities used under paragraph (1) shall be capabilities that are especially relevant to the particular assistance for which the capabilities are used. (3) If the lead official is not the Secretary of Defense, and requests assistance from the Department of Defense that, in the judgment of the Secretary of Defense would affect military readiness or adversely affect national security, the Secretary of Defense may appeal the request for Department of Defense assistance by the lead official to the President. (e) AVAILABLE ASSISTANCE.— Assistance available under this program shall include the following: (1) Training in the use, operation, and maintenance of equipment for— (A) detecting a chemical or biological agent or nuclear radiation; (B) monitoring the presence of such an agent or radiation; (C) protecting emergency personnel and the public; and (D) decontamination. (2) Establishment of a designated telephonic link (commonly referred to as a "hot line") to a designated source of relevant data and expert advice for the use of State or local
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