Designing A Preparedness Plan For Your Agency Or Organization

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was formed more than a decade ago with a very significant mission of safeguarding America's homeland from hazards, threats, and national disasters. This department conducts its mission through securing the country's borders, preventing terror attacks, and responding to incidents or threats to its citizens (Miller, n.d.). Generally, the most important roles of the Department of Homeland Security are to lead a concerted national effort in securing the United States and preserving the American way of life. The department was established in 2002 in reaction to the 9/11 terror attacks and has since developed a nationwide strategic plan for evaluating and updating its mission statement and effectiveness of operations. These plans can be updated and transformed to accomplish the needs of the Department for Homeland Security and the American people.

Intelligence and Warning is Border and Transportation Security is responsible for protecting America's borders, territorial waters, and transportation systems by centralizing information-sharing and databases that track and monitor all aspects of border control and America's transportation systems. Domestic Counterterrorism covers a wide variety of activities, ranging from National Security Agency monitoring of telephone conversations to local police monitoring of persons of interest. Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets identifies a clear set of national goals and objectives and outlines the guiding principles that will underpin our efforts to secure the infrastructures and assets vital to our national security, governance, public health and safety, economy, and public confidence. Defending against Catastrophic Threats reduces vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. Emergency Preparedness and Response will create one emergency response plan to be used at all levels of government and will ensure that first-responders, from the federal government level down to local levels, receive proper training and equipment.

As we move into a new era were a more robust and urgent homeland security program is needed, it is important to talk about how officials are managing all of the risk. There are a multitude of threats; from terrorism, where tactics are all the more unconventional an unpredictable, to climate change, with extreme weather conditions causing severe droughts or other catastrophic storms. The risk accepted by federal officials must be weighed and prioritized in a manner that is conducive to the longevity of the nation but also eliminates political or other personal agenda. To ensure a standardized approach the Department of Homeland Security adopted a risk management. The following will look at defining what risk management is as well as an example of how it is being incorporated within the homeland security enterprise and how doing so is of benefit.

By understanding the steps to prepare for countering and responding to a terrorist, the well-being of US national security interests can be promoted and the exposure to risk and susceptibility to experiencing harm can be efficiently managed for communities, families and individuals in the event of a terrorist incident. The welfare of US national security, citizens and property can be effectively safeguarded through the understanding of protection strategies administered collectively by local communities, families and individuals. Local emergency operations planning, family disaster planning, as well as self-protection planning each represent important protective measures, which serve to educate the nation and its citizens how to

8). Therefore, although the attacks of 9/11 generated alterations in our national defense strategies, it additionally adjusted law enforcement policies immensely (Brooks, B. E., 2010, p. 113). It is now more common to have squads of police officers, such as SWAT teams, with specialized training in preventing future terrorist attacks. With exceptions to some officers at the local level, many of these specially trained teams are made up of state and national law enforcement. There are several local law enforcement agencies throughout America that do participate in anti-terrorism training, but on a larger scale many of these local departments lack the necessary training needed to prevent such threats. Therefore, local police departments, who lack special training, depend on the departments that are qualified to aid them. Likewise, the training these lower level law enforcement officers obtain varies greatly than that of state and national law enforcement. Despite the quantity of officers in local law enforcement departments, it is essential that each individual officer undergoes the preparations that are essential to be well equipped for reacting to a threat of terrorism. These preparations are crucial in that local law enforcement officers are often the first responders to these attacks, therefore they should be familiar

The National Preparedness Goal under the direction of Presidential Policy Directive 8 outlines the means to which all facets of the nation can prepare. The stated objective of the National Preparedness Goal is to create “a secure and resilient Nation with the capabilities required across the whole community to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk.” (NPG, 2015, p.5) That process starts with the completion of a risk assessment. “A risk assessment collects information regarding the threats and hazards, including the projected consequences or impacts.” (National Preparedness System, 2011, p.2) The method used to complete the assessment is the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) process.

Furthermore, there is not enough consideration to whether the public is willing to accept the risk of not securing LPHC targets. Public opinion has the power to sway policy making. However, the department has two critical analytic challenges and the first is prioritizing resources most effectively to prepare and prevent the hazards. This includes natural and technological hazards. The very nature of terrorism is a difficult hazard to properly characterize. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security must develop policies that help at the community and general pubic levels. In developing policies at the general public level evacuation plans will be in place to avert much of the panic (Eller, Gerber

The terrorist attack on the United States on September 11th, 2001, exposed the country's preparedness to threats by an emerging threat of terrorism. The United States Department of Homeland Security was brought to life through the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Precisely, this was in response to the country's preparedness to stop such acts of terrorism on American soil. However, it was also mandated to response to such natural disasters such as hurricane as part of a wider responsibility to ensure people within the American borders were secured from all forms of danger (Kamien, 2006).

The attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 was the worst terrorist attack in U. S. history. Prior to 9/11, the U.S. had dealt with intermittent attacks on American soil with limited experience on emergency preparedness. Since 9/11, Homeland security was formed within the next year with a goal to safeguard the country against future terrorist attacks. The United States was faced with additional challenges other than just providing a response plan to terrorist attacks. There has been a debate if the United States is better prepared or is in the same position as before the 9/11 attack.

The first mission in the National Planning Framework is known as the National Prevention Framework. While the other frameworks focus on natural disasters and other hazards, the National Prevention Framework is the only framework that focuses solely on the prevention against acts of terrorism on U.S. soil (National Prevention Framework, 2013). The roles and responsibilities involved in the prevention of terrorism do not exclusively fall on the government, but rather a concerted effort by various local, state, tribal, territorial, Federal, non-profit and private sector entities. For this reason, it is important to understand the responsibilities of each entity, from the smallest role to the largest.

Proper preparation allows for an individual to be both physically and mentally ready to appropriately handle a difficult and potentially violent situation; contrary to the fear that denial creates. Denial as the only form of preparation will leave individuals scared and helpless when the wolf comes. Anyone can be prepared in some way to either face, fight, or deter any kind of evil from happening. It is absolutely essential to give the people that are trying to keep everyone safe the huge amount of respect they deserve. As Ronald Reagan, a former United States president, once said, “Evil is powerless if the good are

The National Response Framework is a guide designed to assist local, State, and Federal governments in developing functional capabilities and identifying resources based on hazard identification and risk assessment. It outlines the operating structure and identifies key roles and responsibilities. It established a framework to identify capabilities based on resources and the current situation no matter the size or scale. It integrates organizational structures and standardizes how the Nation at all levels plans to react to incidents. The suspected terrorist attack will have health, economic, social, environment and political long-term effects for my community. This is why it is essential that local government’s

“We have learned as a Nation that we must maintain a constant, capable, and vigilant posture to protect ourselves against new threats and evolving hazards. But we have also learned that vigilance and protection are not ends in and of themselves, but rather necessary tools in the service of our national purpose.”(Napolitano, 2010, p.iv) In the wake of the September 11th, 2001 attacks our nation has taken upon itself extreme vigilance to ensure the security and defense of the American people. The relationship between homeland security and homeland defense is one that is tightly knit. Each has a very distinct mission set but somewhere along the spectrum they cross over and mutually support each other in the best interest of the nation.

Now, they must look and prepare for situations never previously considered. Mass shootings, chemical and nuclear attacks, and suicide bombers are just a few of the possibilities. The reality is that today there are many dangers that have not been previously imagined. The best that can be done is to plan, re-plan and plan again.

The Department of Homeland Security released the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review on June 18, 2014 as required by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and its amendments. This review outlined the current state of preparedness, as well as the future areas of concentration. It also determined six strategic challenges facing the nation: terrorist threat; growing cyber threats; biological concerns as a whole; nuclear terrorism; transnational criminal organizations; and natural hazards. The basic building block of emergency management in the U.S. is the local community. Each step begins here. Threat assessments are completed on the local level. Planning, mitigation, and response are all responsibilities of the local community to support the state and Federal practice using the guidance provided by both.