dr. minson. this is dr. mecher. >> dr. inson, almost every hospital in this country has to do with infectious diseases. so you really, if we're talking about certain centers and we're talking about highly infectious diseases like ebola. because we can't afford a health system in which we don't have a reporting system, state health departments and to the cdc so we can follow patterns this congestion with infectious diseases every day. could you talk a little about that infrastructure? i want to be careful that we are not thinking that all infectious diseases go to these small numbers of centers because we are really, we are doing with this every day without knowing whether it's a bioterrorism outbreak, but with a system that looks at patterns. >> thank you. that's a very good point. so to elaborate on that i think you're stating absolute correctly. what we are not suggesting in this discussion is that anything different would be created. simply what we are saying is sort of what happened during the ebola response in this cou

dr. minson. >> almost every hospital in this country has to deal with infectious diseases.we're talking about certain centers, we're talking about highly infectious diseases like ebola. we can't afford a health system in which we don't have a reporting system to state health departments and to the cdc so we can follow patterns. this country is dealing with infectious diseases every day. can you talk about that infrastructure? i want to be careful we're not thinking that all infectious diseases go to these small numbers of centers because we're really -- we're dealing with this every day, without knowing whether it is a bioterrorism outbreak but with a system that looks at patterns. >> thank you, to elaborate on that, i think you're setting it up absolutely correctly. what we're not suggesting in this discussion is that anything different would be created. simply what we're saying is sort of what happened during the ebola response in this country is that we had facilities with expertise, material, equipment, and frankly the where with all to take care of the disease as it we

dr. matthew minson senior adviser health affairs, an aggie, texas a&m university. and and dr. carter mecher. introductions could be a lot longer. we thank you for your service and contribution and chief, let's start with you. >> thank you governor ridge. >> yes, sir. >> it's an honor for me to be here this morning. and i appreciate the short introduction. that is just fine with me. but as president and chairman of the board of the international association of fire chiefs i represent over 11,000 leaders of the nation's fire rescue and emergency medical service and it's on their behalf i'm honored to be here and speak to you about the response issues relating to the threat of terrorism relating to the chemical and biological agents -- >> can everyone hear in the back? check the microphone. i notice some people in the back having a difficult time hearing. all right? very good. >> as you stated in your opening remarks and as our previous speaker just mentioned also, the threat of terrorism using biological or chemical agents in the u.s. is very real. we've seen very events in rece