8/29/2021

FEMA | Aug. 29, 2021

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Mississippi Emergency Declaration

AUGUST 28, 2021•STATEMENTS AND RELEASES
​Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the State of Mississippi and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State, Tribal, and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Ida beginning on August 28, 2021, and continuing.

The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Adams, Amite, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Lawrence, Lincoln, Marion, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Stone, Walthall, Wayne, and Wilkinson and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.


Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.  Emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding. 


​Deanne Criswell, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Thomas J. McCool as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 
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AUGUST 28, 2021
​Defense Department Briefing on Afghanistan Evacuations
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby and Army Major General Hank Taylor held a news conference on U.S. efforts to evacuate Americans and Afghans after the fall of the country to the Taliban. They responded to questions about Kabul airport security, the counterterrorism operation conducted against ISIS-K, and the current threat assessment in Afghanistan. While providing an overview of the counterterrorism operation conducted against ISIS-K for the attack outside of the Kabul airport, Major General Hank Taylor announced that two high profile ISIS targets were killed and one wounded, and that there were no known civilian casualties. He also announced that to date, there have been approximately 117,000 evacuated from Afghanistan, with a vast majority of the evacuees being Afghans.

General Says Despite Attack, 'Noble Mission' of Evacuation Will Continue
AUG. 27, 2021 | BY DAVID VERGUN


Despite a suicide attack near the entrance to Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai International Airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and injured others, the "noble mission" to evacuate American and eligible Afghans out of the country will continue, said the Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations.


At a press briefing this morning, Army Maj. Gen. William D. "Hank" Taylor and Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby expressed heartfelt condolences on behalf of the Defense Department to the families of those killed or injured, Afghans as well as Americans.
 
"This is a devastating time for these Gold Star families, a title no one wants to hold,
but we absolutely hold in the utmost respect," said Taylor.

"Force protection remains paramount with the continued threat," he said.

Taylor said two flights carrying the wounded landed today at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Those service members were then transferred to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for care. Afghans injured in the attack are being treated in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In the last 24 hours, 35 U.S. military aircraft consisting of 29 C-17 and six C-130s departed the Kabul airport with about 8,500 personnel. There were also 54 coalition aircraft departures, he said.

A total of 12,500 people were evacuated from Afghanistan in a 24-hour period yesterday, he added. Also in the past 24 hours, over 300 U.S. citizens were evacuated, bringing the total number of American evacuees to about 5,100.

​There are still about 5,400 people at the airport awaiting flights out of Afghanistan, Taylor said. "We have the ability to include evacuees on U.S. military air airlift out of Afghanistan until the very end."

A number of nations in the region and in Europe have allowed evacuees to land for further screening en route to the U.S. Taylor said "I cannot say enough how important the contribution of our allies and our partners has been in this massive global operation."


Once the evacuees land in the U.S., they move on to one of several locations set to receive them.  
Those locations, Kirby said, now include Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; Fort Pickett, Virginia; and Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Fort Lee, Virginia, were already receiving evacuees and continue to do so.

Spotlight: Afghanistan Evacuation: DOD Response 

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby and Major General Hank Taylor, Deputy Director of the Joint Staff For Regional Operations Press Briefing

AUG. 28, 2021

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby; Major General Hank Taylor, Deputy Director of the Joint Staff For Regional Operations, J-35

MAJOR GENERAL HANK TAYLOR: Good morning, everyone. I'll get right into our operational update for today. Yesterday U.S. military forces conducted an Over-the-Horizon counterterrorism operation against an ISIS-K planner and facilitator. The air strike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. I can confirm that as more information has come in that two high
profile ISIS targets were killed and one was wounded and we know of zero civilian casualties.

​Without specifying any future plans, I will say that we will continue to have the ability to defend ourselves and to leverage Over-the-Horizon capability to conduct counterterrorism operations as needed. 

We continue to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans out of Kabul. In fact, there are approximately 1,400 individuals at the Kabul airport who have been screened and manifested for flights today.

As I said yesterday, we have the ability to include evacuees on military airlift out of Afghanistan until the very end. This is a massive military, diplomatic, security and humanitarian undertaking for the United States and our allies. And so I'll give you a specific update of the last 24. 

Yesterday 32 U.S. military aircraft, 27 C-17s and five C-130s departed with approximately 4,000 personnel. Combined with 34 coalition aircraft and departures, an additional 2,800 personnel left Kabul for various intermediate staging bases. Sixty-six flights left out of Kabul yesterday in that 24-hour period with 6,800 evacuees. Today I can report an updated total evacuation that is more than 117,000. The vast majority of which are Afghans. Of this total number, approximately 5,400 are American citizens. 

This is an incredible number of people who are now safer thanks to the heroism of the young men and women who are putting their lives on the line each day to evacuate American and vulnerable Afghans out of Kabul. Threats to our forces and to this operation remain real and significant. I'm sure you can appreciate that...     more