Homeland Security: Preparedness of State and Local Governments Report

This report examines homeland security, specifically focusing on the preparedness of state and local governments for emergency situations, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters. It highlights the importance of coordinated responses and the shortcomings observed prior to and after the 9/11 attacks, referencing studies by the RAND Corporation and the Gilmore Commission. The report emphasizes the need for improved coordination between government bodies, the role of the military, and the integration of non-traditional sectors like public health. It also points out the limited interaction with the private sector and the need to protect response personnel. The report uses references to illustrate the challenges and progress in emergency preparedness and response, underscoring the importance of continuous improvement in these areas to effectively manage and mitigate the impact of various threats.

Running head: HOMELAND SECURITY
Homeland Security
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HOMELAND SECURITY
It has been realised by the United States local and state government prior to the 9/11
attack that it is of utmost importance to be prepared for emergency situations to respond
against terrorism or any other form of attack. Over the years the state and the local
government have tried its best to improve their response capability for dealing with terrorism
that may include nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction, and biological, chemical or
radiological weapons (Jensen & Waugh Jr, 2014).
The United States Congress had established an advisory panel to assess domestic
response capabilities for terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction (also known as the
Gilmore Commission in 1998) for evaluating the progress of preparedness by the local as
well as state government in times of emergency which requires immediate response and the
strategic action in order to fight terrorism. In this regard the RAND Corporation had
conducted a survey to inspect the progress of the state and local response organisations like
the law enforcement, office of emergency management, fire fighting services, medical
services, public health agencies, and hospitals. The preparedness of the emergency services
was tested through survey in 2002 and 2003 (Carafano, 2017).
Prior to the 9/11 attack the state and local government adopted several steps to make
themselves more prepared in times of emergency for terrorist attacks. Some of the
precautionary steps taken by the organisations are: updated mutual aid agreements in times of
emergency, updated plan for biological radiological and chemical attack along with a
complete risk assessment that the organisations might have to go through (Jensen & Waugh
Jr, 2014). However it is not possible to measure the preparedness of the organisations for
there is a lack of standardized measure of readiness of the respective governments, as such
information are classified and sensitive. Yet, the state and local government have undertaken
different kinds of measures to boost its preparedness, be it for a natural disaster or a terrorist
attack.

2HOMELAND SECURITY
It has been pointed out that the state and the local government must improve on the
following three areas in order to respond against attacks or emergency situations: a) role of
the military, b) coordination with the public sector, and c) position with non-traditional
sectors like public health (Kapucu & Hu, 2016). The 2003 survey result shows that the state
and the local government have an extremely limited interaction with the private sector in
terms of sharing information related to threats. In addition it was pointed out during the
hurricane Katrina that there was a disco-ordination between the government bodies and the
federal military (Kapucu & Hu, 2016).
Therefore in order to respond effectively against terrorist attack or any other kind of
emergency situation the government bodies, both state and local must co-ordinate with each
other’s action and responses. It is recommended that response personnel must receive utmost
protection for they are the ones who help out the victims upfront, in times of attack.

3HOMELAND SECURITY
References
Carafano, J. (2017). Preparing responders to respond: The challenges to emergency
preparedness in the 21st century.
Jensen, J., & Waugh Jr, W. L. (2014). The United States' Experience with the Incident
Command System: What We Think We Know and What We Need to Know More
About. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 22(1), 5-17.
Kapucu, N., & Hu, Q. (2016). Understanding multiplexity of collaborative emergency
management networks. The American Review of Public Administration, 46(4), 399-
417.