Emergency Management And The Homeland Security Information Network Essay

The last subject I would like to mention is the interface between emergency management and homeland security. The interface between them is staying in their own lane especially when a disaster or crisis occurs. There are no grey areas when it comes to these two entities. According to David McIntyre, he considered the interface as a “sibling rivalry” because “one was older than the other” (Lucus-McEwen, 2012). Department of Homeland Security was created to focus on terrorism. While focusing on terrorism the emergency management piece was deprived resulting in emergency management taking a life on its own. No matter how you look these two entities they are family. But the funny thing is neither one can stand on its own without the help

Just as our parents and grandparents remember where they were and what they were doing when President John F. Kennedy was shot, so will it be with this generation when asked the same questions pertaining to September 11, 2001. This horrific event will be a scar on the body of our wonderful nation until the end of time. Parents lost children, children lost parents, spouses lost their heartmates – so much anguish and emotional devastation demands that something be done to prevent tragedy like this from occurring in the future. This is why President George W. Bush created the Office of Homeland Security.

After September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland of Security was formed in response to the terrorist attacks. Out of the birth of the agencies formed, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was created to allow clear allocation of resources and a systematic approach to emergency management. The system can be effective in many responses where many levels of government and response are imminent to respond to the disaster. Many of these agencies are emergency management, police, fire, health, and EMS from all levels of government. NIMS can be used on any type of incident and of any size or scope in nature.

As a Chief executive, the president’s main duties are to enforce and execute laws however they see fit. The President signs executive orders directing law enforcement agencies, including the agencies that enforce immigration laws, that has “prosecutorial discretion”– the power to decide whom to investigate, arrest, detain, charge, and prosecute. The Agencies may develop discretionary policies specific to the laws they are charged with enforcing, the population they serve, and the problem they face. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may decide how to prioritize its resources in order to meet its stated enforcement goals that are set by the President. With executive unilateral powers the president, drafts policies without and sometimes over the objection of Congress or the courts. The President can design policies regarding the immigration matter without approval of Congress, he can simply follow the former presidents’ footsteps on immigration laws. I am making the argument that U.S. President does have too much unilateral power.

The President of the United States of America issued the Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5 on February 28th, 2003 for managing Domestic incidents like terrorist attacks. The HSPD-5 helped create the National Incident Management System (NIMS), (Homeland Security, 2004). The use of the Incident Management System and Incident Command System can help manage the response to an attack involving Weapons of Mass Destruction among many other emergencies. These systems allow for coordination to be used in a proper and efficient manner. Without a system in place communication and coordination can fall apart and the response will not be prompt as it needs to be to protect lives and infrastructure.

The constant threat of focusing events, places a high level of pressure on emergency managers to respond appropriately to various levels of complex disasters. Past focusing events, highlight the importance of communication and coordination before and after disasters. Consequently, citizens expect emergency responders and government agencies to be accountable for rapidly responding to disasters in an organized manner. Prior to a focusing event, it is beneficial for emergency mangers to determine disaster risk prioritization. I present methods that emergency mangers can use to determine these priorities. Lastly, I discuss the integration of geographic information systems (GIS) to identify hazard zone areas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a body under the United States Department of Homeland Security that was created in 1978 to improve the safety of the American residents, especially during disasters. FEMA has a primary mandate of coordinating the response to any disaster that may occur in the U.S. and that overwhelms both local and state authorities’ resources. FEMA comes in to aid only after the governor of the involved state has declared a state of emergency and has made a formal request. However, there is an exception to the gubernatorial declaration requirement, when an emergency occurs on a federal property such as the Space Shuttle Columbia experienced in the 2003 return-flight disaster ("About the FEMA Agency", 2016).

In “Wither the Emergency Manager,” Niel R. Britton comments on Drabek's “Human Responses to disaster: An Inventory of Sociological Findings.” Britton describes six positive and negative issues in emergency management as it is today. In this paper, we will discuss the implications on emergency management as a field and on the individual manager.

Today, the Incident Command System (ICS) is a major component of NIMS and is widely used in emergency management response. However, this was not always the case. According to David A. McEntire and Gregg Dawson, authors of the article, “The intergovernmental Context,” ICS was originally developed by the fire service in 1970. Its purpose was to assist in the command of wildfire events. It was unique because it standardized operations, yet offered flexibility so that it could be used on any number of events, regardless of size or type (McEntire & Dawson, 2007, p. 63).

The purpose of the Emergency Preparedness Plan is to save lives and prevent injuries in case of emergencies such as nuclear attack, fire, natural disaster, civil disorder or other, and provide the necessary best practices to ensure all possible and relevant forms of communicating with our faculty, staff, students, and parents. Mrs. Patricia Harris of the International Studies Elementary Charter School was interviewed about the International Studies Elementary Charter School’s Emergency Management Plan and the role of the school counselor during emergencies. Surprisingly, the school counselor does not play as important of a role than one would have thought. Although, the counselor does serve as one of the Designated School Emergency Team Members, some the tasks that would seem likely the counselor would perform, are performed by other administrators. Tasks such as talking to parents or being there for the students are performed by the principal while the school counselor is delegated to direct traffic. Based on the Emergency Management Plan, it would seem that the school counselor’s role is still not clearly understood. With all the expertise that counselors can bring to a crisis situation, it’s disappointing that counselors are assigned such a miniscule task as delegating traffic. Counselor Harris did discuss the Dougherty County School System’s Crisis Team. That team is

Emergency management faces many challenges in today’s modern society. In the years prior to 9/11 emergency management was primarily focused on natural disasters. That has since changed; we now face a diverse variety of risks and hazards on a constant basis. As we continue to grow in population current and newer have compounded into more problems that emergency planner must face and find solutions for.

Protecting the public’s health historically has been a state and local responsibility. However, the growing threat of bioterrorism has highlighted the importance of a strong public health infrastructure to the nation’s homeland security and has focused increased attention on the preparedness of the public health system (Frist, 2011). Since the 2001 anthrax attacks Congress has passed new legislation to increase the strength of the nation’s public health system thus the funding has also rapidly increased to meet the potential demand. There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments.

This emergence of social media has also changed emergency management and disaster response. Emergency management as a whole is fairly new, only creating widely recognized, integrated emergency management systems beginning in the 1970s. Furthermore, at this same time people realized that the effects disasters have on the communities they strike can be mitigated by the creation of disaster plans ahead of time, proper disaster response training, and the efforts of human actions in these situations. Because social media has enabled mass amounts of instant information sharing, it allows not only locals and disaster response teams to help with the management of crises, but also many remote citizens.

In a new form of protection and communication, social media is the main thing that everything is using in today’s times. Marketing employees have positions as titled as social media directors. Companies have people watching and monitoring everything that happens with their social media reputation all hours of the day everyday. Young people are seeing the power of social media everyday with teachers demonstrating how fast a picture can be shared across the world. Social media is relatively new and could possibly open many gates for communication. This depends heavily on who is publishing information and news on social media. If news spreads fast on social media, then the use of it can be used for emergencies. If many people are

Many seniors have been using their oxygen more frequently. One client has told her he is coughing since the fire began. The geriatric nurse, Karen, who works at the center has advised many seniors to stay indoors and away from the irritants in the air. She has provided health screenings and education to