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(Lewis, 2000, p. 201) Though maintaining serious preparedness the mitigation of natural disasters, most which cannot be avoided is an issue needed to be addressed almost yearly, on both small and large scales, across the nation and is much more likely to directly effect people and resources on an intimate level and should be the Emergency Management system's first and primary concern! Though worst possible case scenarios, regarding the use of WMDs is important it is not where all the resources should go.
(5. In the course, you have been introduced to the various responsibilities of different levels of government in the homeland security effort. What level of government do you believe should be primarily responsible for securing the homeland? In what ways is homeland security confounded by our federalist system (i.e. shared power by states and federal government)? With 50 state government, 3000+ county governments, 16000 township governments, 20000 municipal governments, and tens of thousands more special district governments (i.e. park districts, school districts, etc.), is it even possible to have effective management and delivery of homeland security? How so?)
It is abundantly clear that there are countless challenges related to collaboration and communication with regard to homeland security and the thousands of agencies and governments that have a hand in the responsibility of protecting people and resources form disasters of all kinds. It is difficult to believe that effective management of any single or collective aspect of homeland security is possible given the staggering number of governments and voices that exist in this nation. Yet it...
It is for this reason that state and county governments should share the responsibility of planning and application as all need to be aware of each others needs and understandings given the occurrence of a disaster, with federal oversight. City involvement needs to be as subsidiary to these other voices, as they are key stakeholders but are also not capable of retaining all control as they number in the tens of thousands. (Hulnick, 2004, p. 102) Creating additional bureaucratic positions in severely taxed city environments (in a slowed economy) is essentially ensuring not only the failure of homeland security but also the potential failure of the cities themselves.
References
Daniels, R.S. (2007). Revitalizing Emergency Management after Katrina: A Recent Survey of Emergency Managers Urges Improved Response, Planning, and Leadership and a Reinvigorated FEMA -- the Federal Government Has Responded by Making Most of the Recommended Changes. The Public Manager, 36(3), 16.
Department of Homeland Security Website www.dhs.gov
Depoorter, B. (2006). Horizontal Political Externalities: The Supply and Demand of Disaster Management. Duke Law Journal, 56(1), 101.
Hulnick, a.S. (2004). Keeping Us Safe: Secret Intelligence and Homeland Security. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Managing Homeland Security Risk and vulnerability There are two general types of disasters which occur, that of disasters which occur regularly with moderately severe consequences such as flooding and less common but far more horrific events, such as terrorist attacks. The latter type of disaster naturally draws the most press coverage, although it is the first type of disaster that tends to concern local residents the most and draws the majority of
The town has suffered from a series of grenade attacks which have left many Kenyans citizens injured. The increasing incidents of explosive material in the nation from Ukraine were netted by the Kenyan police. Kenya with the help of American intelligence has netted has arrested the suspects awaiting trial. Attacks in the Kenyan nation should be investigated using the right procedures. The explosive material in the area where the attacks
National Incident Management System: NIMS has been designed with the sole purpose of integrating emergency practices on all levels of government. These practices include mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and NIMS provides the single platform where all these practices would merge in order to better respond to national terrorist crises. The strengths of the program are: 1. It provides standards for organizational structures, processes and procedures 2. It also offers standards for planning,
The Congressional report card for 2007 goes on to say that an important part of leading an organization is to "provide clear statements of principles, priorities, and vision." But that said, it is unfortunate, according to the report card, that "...in spite of its mandate in the Homeland Security Act, neither the national policy nor the strategic plan...has been produced." During the fiscal year 2005 independent financial auditors reported
On the other hand, the Department in itself was projected to deal with a large number of aspects surrounding homeland security. The arguments supporting the idea were focused on the principle that the citizens must be protected from foreign threats, such as terrorism, and they must be given the help needed to face the treacheries of nature. In aiming to accomplish the latter, the Federal Emergency Management Directorate was established.
In addition to this, the transportation security administration, customs and boarder protection department, citizenship and immigration services, immigration and customs enforcement, secret service, federal emergency management, and coast guard are part of the Department of Homeland Security (Department of Homeland Security 2008). This organizational structure, while certainly extensive, is rather complex. Although the department has undergone serious transformations since its creation, the Washington Post called it "hampered by severe