USDANEWS VOLUME 58 NO. 9 — DECEMBER 1999
by Ron Hall, Office of Communications
Preparations for Y2K have captured the world’s headlines for the last several months--and that’s probably not going to change for awhile yet. But while 'Year 2000' has occupied center stage, some employees at USDA and other federal departments have been focusing on a different buzz word.
It’s “COOP,” and it doesn’t have anything to do with the homes of chickens or an inaccurate spelling of the last name of a former U.S. surgeon general.
“COOP” stands for “Continuity of Operations Plan,” and it is a form of contingency planning. Specifically, it is an effort to ensure that the capability exists to continue essential functions across a wide range of potential emergencies, involving localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological and/or attack- related emergencies.
“COOP planning is somewhat different than past 'disaster- preparedness’ efforts at the Department,” noted Herb Dickerson, an emergency preparedness specialist in the Office of Procurement, Property and Emergency Preparedness.
“In previous activities,” he explained, “a disaster--whether an act of nature or some accident which might involve radioactive contamination--might have occurred at some location in the U.S. So representatives from USDA and other federal departments would normally deploy on-scene, work with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local organizations, and provide assistance at that location.”
Examples of those situations have included USDA’s response to Hurricane Georges in the Caribbean in autumn 1998, the 'Great Flood of '93' in the Midwest in summer 1993, and the Loma Prieta earthquake in California in October 1989. The November-December 1998, August-September 1993, and November 1989 issues, respectively, of the USDA News carried stories on USDA employee involvement in the aftermath of those activities.
“But that’s not the scenario in COOP,” Dickerson underscored.
“In a COOP situation,” he said, “the accident or disaster that has occurred has disrupted or maybe even halted operations at an agency’s headquarters office--in our case, at USDA’s headquarters complex in Washington, DC.”
“So the mission is to ensure that USDA’s absolutely critical functions continue to be carried out--and even from an alternate, temporary emergency relocation site if our headquarters facilities are no longer operational.”
Accordingly, in response to an October 1998 directive from President Bill Clinton, federal departments began to develop their own 'COOP responses.’ In February 1999 USDA created a Continuity of Operations Plan Task Force, co-chaired by Under Secretary for Food Safety Catherine Woteki and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration Deborah Matz.
The Task Force, which included representatives from virtually all USDA program agencies and staff offices, was charged with developing a Continuity of Operations Plan for the Department by October 1999.
“Our Plan,” noted OPPEP emergency preparedness specialist Elaine Plotkin, “needed to satisfactorily respond to varying scenarios, of varying degrees of severity, regarding USDA’s headquarters office.”
“Yet 'bare essential’ operations--which needed to be identified, both operationally and personnel-wise--nonetheless would have to be up and running, at a temporary, alternate location, within a specified period of time following the accident or disaster.”
That was a tall order,” she acknowledged, “but the Task Force members went right to it.”
Meeting weekly, the members of the COOP Task Force wrestled with such significant and weighty matters as “Of my agency’s many missions, which ones, after all, are the ones that absolutely, positively have to continue, no matter what the accident or disaster is?”, “Which of my agency’s employees absolutely, positively have to report to duty, no matter what the accident or disaster is?”, “If my agency’s headquarters office is no longer available for occupancy, then just where do we report to, in order to continue carrying out my agency’s critical missions?”, “How will I get to that temporary, alternate site?” and “While I’m busy taking care of critical USDA business at the temporary, alternate site, who is taking care of 'my home front’ for me?”
“Most definitely, these were not easy questions,” Plotkin pointed out. “And this was not an easy assignment for those representing their agencies.”
Nonetheless, by summer the Task Force members had drafted an extensive Continuity of Operations Plan. They then tested that plan in August in a day-long disaster preparedness 'table-top exercise,’ held on-site at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s office complex in Riverdale, Md.
“That table-top exercise,” Dickerson recounted, “helped us to identify which parts of our Plan could, should, and would work, and which parts might look good on paper but might not be so practical after all.”
Task Force members then 'fine-tuned’ the Plan, and also added sections which spelled out such items as each agency’s 'Delegations of Authority,’ 'Lines of Succession,’ and 'Vital Records.’
On October 20 Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger signed off on the Department’s Continuity of Operations Plan. On that same date he sent a copy of USDA’s Plan to FEMA Director James Witt. In his transmittal letter he noted that USDA “now has a viable Continuity of Operations...capability in compliance with the Presidential Decision Directive #67.”
He pointed out that the Plan “addresses all of the essential headquarters functions residing in some 18 USDA buildings and facilities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.” He then noted that “We are also preparing to visit our field offices to aid in their COOP planning efforts.”
“We are cognizant of the importance of this effort and are taking steps to institutionalize the COOP process into our routine activities,” Rominger concluded.
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