Managing Homeland Security You Were Essay

S. DHS "Strategic Plan," 2008, http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/strategicplan/) Realistically acts of terrorism, domestic or foreign are exceedingly rare, though slightly more common than they have been in the past and at least marginally more violent in nature, they occur very, very rarely. (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 is also clear that there must be some sort of oversight with regard to jurisdictional responsibilities. 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.

Lewis, C.W. (2000). The Terror That Failed: Public Opinion in the Aftermath of the Bombing in Oklahoma City. Public Administration Review, 60(3), 201.

Mending Homeland Security. (2005, February 27). The Washington Times, p. B05.