Dear Chief Law Enforcement Officer,

As potential targets of violence, American schools have been forced into an unfamiliar role—providing security, not just education. As part of this responsibility, schools are being asked to author detailed bomb threat response plans.

To address this reality, the upcoming resource CD-Rom, "Bomb Threat Response: An Interactive Planning Tool For Schools," is being sent to your department and the schools in your community. It provides a step-by-step process to devise a bomb threat response plan for the school. The content of this planning process includes the law enforcement expertise of the Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The effectiveness of this effort will be improved only through the close cooperation of your agency with your local school districts.

You provide vital expertise on issues such as evacuation security, command center locations, chain of command issues, and criminal investigations. You can also help the school look at their facility from a security perspective, and design preventative measures. By being part of the planning process, not only will you be better prepared when asked to respond, but also the expectations for your role will be properly set.

This historic cooperation between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, United States Department of Justice and the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, United States Department of Education demonstrates how two traditionally separate disciplines must come together to keep our children safe. We hope that you and the schools you serve will make the same commitment.

We look forward to hearing how you have implemented an appropriate bomb threat response in your community. Please visit the project's web site, www.threatplan.org and give us your feedback.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives,
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Safe & Drug-Free Schools,
U.S. Department of Education