Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke is urging other federal agencies to volunteer staff to a special task force used to respond to natural disasters, including hurricanes, the Washington Examiner reports.
"We've had two historic storms in the course of just a few weeks and so the time is right to expand," a senior Department of Homeland security official told the Examiner on Wednesday.
The Surge Capacity Force has consisted of only homeland security personnel in the past, according to the Examiner.
In a memo sent out by Duke this week, agencies were asked to send personnel to help with response efforts for hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
"The federal government is filled with dedicated public servants who commit themselves every day to something that is greater than themselves and this is really an outgrowth of the work that public servants do ... as one federal family to support communities that are in great need," the DHS official said
The task force was created after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. About 1,100 task force members responded after Hurricane Sandy slammed the Northeast coast, the Examiner reported.
"The federal government is filled with dedicated public servants who commit themselves every day to something that is greater than themselves and this is really an outgrowth of the work that public servants do ... as one federal family to support communities that are in great need," the official added.
The Duke memo said volunteers would have to be able to be deployed in less than 48 hours, the Examiner noted.
Duke had said on Tuesday that almost 22,000 federal personnel are already in Florida, according to Fox News.
"A storm of this magnitude needs team effort," she said.
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