Center for Domestic Preparedness

The Center for Domestic Preparedness is the only U.S. federal facility chartered to provide comprehensive preparedness training programs to the nation’s emergency response providers. In 2007, the CDP became part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The mission of the CDP is to identify, develop, test and deliver training to state, local and tribal emergency response providers; provide on-site and mobile training at the performance, management and planning levels; and facilitate the delivery of training by the training partners of the U.S. Department Of Homeland Security.

The United States Army Chemical School provided training to U.S. military forces to prepare and respond to chemical agent exposure and attacks. Although the chemical school was established in 1951, it became a permanent fixture at Fort McClellan from 1979 to the late 1990s.

Fort McClellan was identified for closure by the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. In 1998, the plan to establish a federally operated site to train civilian emergency responders was put into motion using facilities already in place at Fort McClellan. This training facility would be called the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP).

The conception of the CDP can be traced back to the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. As that event unfolded, public safety officials in New York City sought ways to prevent such an event in their city. These officials asked the Department of Defense (DoD) for permission to allow civilian responders to train at Ft. McClellan's Chemical Defense Training Facility (CDTF). DoD officials granted access to toxic agent training at the U.S. Army Chemical School. The first class of civilian emergency responders graduated in late 1995, and civilian responders continued to train at the Army facility until 1998 as Fort. McClellan continued its closure transition.

Elected officials from across Alabama and local community leaders continued to seek ways to utilize the soon-to-be-abandoned Army facility. A concept was developed and presented to members of Congress, who recognized the national benefit of having a facility dedicated to training civilian emergency responders under federal government management.

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