Federal Government in Critical Incident Management

¶ … Federal government has placed an admirable program in place for dealing with terrorist accidents. Firstly it has split itself up into distinct departments that will be there for dealing with the disaster depending on its specific nature. The FBI deals with a terrorist related incident and it is helped both by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Defense each with their different capabilities. The U.S. Department of Energy provides technical and scientific assistance whilst the Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention responds with technical and medical-related assistance and data.

There are two ways managing an emergency situation. The first is to develop plans and to deal with the crisis as it is unfolding. The second is to draft preventions and contingent plans beforehand and to apply these -- if necessary and if appropriate -- to the disaster once it has actually occurred. The challenge in both situations is communicating and coordinating their various resources in the most efficient, productive, least time and cost consuming manner possible solving problems rather than creating more.

The Incident Command System (ICS) is the team that best makes the difference in the above situations by being there in the forefront, and at the beginning of the emergency, and sowing a presence right from the start. They provide the unified command and response team at the start of the crisis to deal with the crisis.

The joint operations center (JOC), headed by a special agent, coordinate interagency operational and support needs of the deployment and manage joint agency public information and media interaction.

The ICS and JOC meld together and are in constant communication and collaboration with the FBI via training and briefs as well as through exercises and drills prior to emergencies in order to prepare them for the best way to deal with casualties / crises once they occur.

Carlson (1999) believes that with all factors of "planning, training, cooperation, liaison, resource definition, and coherent public policy implementation" (p.4) the different appropriate departments will be able to network effectively together and be able to not only effectively deal with crises once they occur but also potentially prevent them from occurring.

The plans for dealing with emergencies are admirable on paper and sound quite convincing, yet I think this all more theoretical than actually so in real life.

That this is so can be seen from at least two examples that happened since the Three Mile Disaster in 1979:

1. September 9, 2001 -- Clarke's opinion given in his 2008 edition "Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters" vocalized the popular opinion which was that the government failed to adequate deal with the disaster and, in fact, reacted in a lousy manner. The government not only failed to heed warnings before hand and orchestrate an emergency plan for the eventuality of an attack, but they rejected warnings that they were given and failed to follow through on the drills, briefs, and exercises that Carlson (1999) mentioned were prerogatives.

Even after the attack had occurred, the various government divisions were still splintered and, rather than jointly collaborating and communicating in attempt to prevent further disaster and help victims, were disjointed in their reaction. It was those at the ground level -- the firemen and policemen- who excelled on that tragic day. The FBI and liaisons not only failed to collaborate but also, at times, worked at cross-purposes. Their response was a disaster.

2. Hurricane Katrina -- even though Katrina was a natural disaster not anything related to terrorism and even though the government was better prepared and dealt more effectively with this disaster than with September 09, nonetheless they were criticized for falling short in various aspects, not least in their inter-communication between the various involved parties and with their agility to the scene.