Chapter I - Overview: (5) General Planning Considerations for CBRN Response: (C) Operational Planning Considerations for a Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear Response: (1) Assessment: A thorough assessment of the employed CBRN material and/or its effects provides feedback such as protection requirements, hazard levels, areas of contamination, expected duration of hazards, etc. This information contributes to the commander's situational awareness and technical assessment capability throughout any response. Objectives may include providing temporary critical life support; protecting critical infrastructure, preventing great property damage, protecting the environment; containing the incident and enabling community recovery. In addition, it is advantageous to respond in such a manner that the effects of the incident are minimal and serve as a deterrent for future domestic and international terrorist attacks. Every incident will be different, but the underlying concepts remain constant. (a) Immediately after a CBRN incident, initial assessments determine the scope and magnitude of the incident and ultimately determine the need for DOD and joint force participation. Assessments should be done as quickly as possible to avoid additional lives being lost. (b) The CCDR, at the request of federal and state/territory or supported nation authorities, sends a site assessment team to conduct assessments to gain early situational awareness in response to a CBRN incident. Common assessment requirements are provided as follows: (1) Damage and Injury Reports: Examine initial damage and injury reports for information on specific CBRN effects. Reports should be scanned for details including contamination control measures initiated and the number of contaminated casualties. Each CBRN incident has unique characteristics requiring appropriate follow-on response measures. (2) Nature of the Incident: Examine the effect on the population and infrastructure to identify response capabilities required to address the incident. This includes assessing risk to responders in order to determine force protection requirements. (3) Force Protection: Plan for and implement force protection measures. Force protection considerations are a top priority during any CBRN response operation and include providing proper protective equipment to personnel, planning for site safety, security, individual awareness of hazards and dangers, protection from contamination through proper marking and avoidance of contaminated areas, air monitoring, and health service support (HSS). Force protection efforts must include consideration of secondary incidents/devices that may target first responders or be designed to intentionally spread contamination. While these factors are primarily CBRN-oriented, the force may also be vulnerable to multiple types of opportunistic threats by adversaries, so the threat assessment must not be focused solely on CBRN. (4) Duration and Geographical Extent of the Incident: Assess the number of jurisdictions affected by the incident and the likelihood of the scope expanding significantly due to population migration and weather/terrain. (5) Weather and Terrain: Examine the effects weather and terrain may have on the CBRN material to include dispersion of chemical, biological, or radiological agents or toxic material by wind or water (e.g., stream/river flows). (6) Public Reaction: Gauge public reaction to the incident as it can affect response requirements, particularly if the level of fear is high or likely to grow, or if massive population movement is under way or expected. (7) Mission Duration: Assess mission duration, as it drives sustainment requirements. Extenuating circumstances may prolong CBRN response in the event civilian capability is lacking or inadequate. However, transition back to local responders should occur as soon as practical. (8) CBRN Reconnaissance and Surveillance Tasks: Plan for the conduct of locating, detecting, identifying, quantifying, sample collecting, surveying, observing, monitoring, reporting, and marking contaminated areas. Military forces generally have only basic sampling and detection capabilities, so specialized military units may be required. (9) Identification of Supporting DOD Forces: Local authorities may have some DOD forces assisting within their area under immediate response authority. The GCC should coordinate through the Services to identify Title 10, USC, units that are providing support either under immediate response or under local authority prior to the execute order (EXORD) and JTF establishment. Understanding the capabilities of forces currently operating within the joint operations area (JOA), and leveraging their communications and logistics capabilities will accelerate JTF force arrival and employment. Locally available forces may be able to continue response operations or be committed to emerging requirements, thereby eliminating duplication of capabilities required for the CBRN response