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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 18, 2002

US Evacuation Plan Prompted by Chaos After Terror Attack

The Bush administration has approved a plan designed to initiate an evacuation of all federal workers within 15 minutes of an attack or an imminent threat from a weapon of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported Saturday.


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The Bush administration has approved a plan designed to initiate an evacuation of all federal workers within 15 minutes of an attack or an imminent threat from a weapon of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

Known as the Federal Emergency Decision and Notification Protocol, the plan is designed to address the confusion that resulted from Sept. 11, when federal and local officials were initially overwhelmed by an unfolding attack that rendered communication difficult and forced them to improvise.

The protocol empowers the directors of three federal agencies to release up to 350,000 federal workers in the Washington area and 1.8 million nationwide once a threat is confirmed, the report said. Their decision would then be delivered to other federal agencies, officials and news media.

New 24-hour operation centers have been set up by the three agencies, which are in continuous contact with law enforcement agencies. Key federal and other government personnel have been assigned communications gear such as cellular or satellite phones with emergency call lists, federal officials familiar with the protocol said.

The plan has been developed over months and was presented to local government leaders this summer, the report said.

As examples of the chaos on Sept. 11, several departments next to the White House evacuated their workers even before an order from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), one of the three federal agencies designing the new plan. The White House and the OPM shut down the federal government without notifying Mayor Anthony A. Williams or any other local leaders because they could not be reached.


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