NEWS: Civil Air Patrol partners with D.C. government

A CAP National Capital Wing aircraft flies over the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Photo by Maj. Paul Cianciolo

BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. — In December, Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP) National Capital Wing signed an official agreement with the District of Columbia Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) to provide its services and volunteers for the public good. As a result, CAP will perform homeland security, communication support and other missions during the Presidential Inauguration.

The memorandum of understanding between the CAP wing and HSEMA describes the procedures for requesting mission support. This agreement gives the District a cost effective means to help mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters on the city’s population and property by using “Citizen’s Serving Communities: Above and Beyond” – highly trained, local Civil Air Patrol volunteers.

Under the terms of the agreement CAP may provide aerial support to the District to search for victims; collect data for damage assessments or environmental surveys utilizing visual, photographic, real-time digital and video techniques; airborne communications support; and airlift. Other support may include manual labor like filling sandbags along with ground search and rescue teams.

“Historically, the wing has had a good relationship with the city’s emergency management agency,” said CAP Col. Jane Davies, National Capital Wing commander. “With the signing of this MOU, we have entered into a partnership that will facilitate our support of the city and the National Capital Region as we confront the new challenges that have emerged since 9/11.”

CAP Col. Jane Davies, National Capital Wing commander, signs the memorandum of understanding with the District of Columbia Dec. 9. Photo by Maj. Paul Cianciolo

As part of the agreement, HSEMA has assigned Civil Air Patrol a seat in its Emergency Operations Center to facilitate communication and coordination between HSEMA, CAP resources and other local and national agencies. The CAP desk includes phone, fax, Internet access and radio communications capability on CAP frequencies.

CAP emergency liaison officers participated in the District’s full dress rehearsal Jan. 11 to test all communication nodes, equipment positioning, shift change procedures and staging areas for District resources to assess and ensure effective capabilities.

Civil Air Patrol’s National Capital Wing will be among the agencies at the HSEMA’s Emergency Operations Center during its activation in support of inaugural events, and will be available to provide operational support to the District, FEMA, the U.S. Air Force and other agencies, if requested.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with more than 56,000 members nationwide. CAP performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 90 lives in fiscal year 2008. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the nearly 22,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for more than 66 years.

Civil Air Patrol’s National Capital Wing currently has 215 volunteer officers and senior members and 114 cadets in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Federal employees and military personnel can support CAP through the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area – CFC charity number 26757.

For more information and media inquires about CAP and its missions, e-mail Public Affairs at pa@natcapwg.cap.gov.