The day of the stand-alone first-responder agency is over. When a major disaster occurs what is now needed is a multi-talented, well coordinated team of professionals representing a broad range of disciplines & trained to work together against all hazards
Situational awareness, on the part of the ships' crews, is the key. New and better equipment also is needed, plus the involvement of armed naval vessels, and possibly some changes in international law.
The first National Incident Management System document was among the most important papers of the Bush presidency; the revised document should help future presidents carry out their most important duty: defending the U.S. homeland.
The terrorist attacks on tourist hotels and entertainment venues shocked the world - and demonstrated organizational capabilities far greater than those of the local and national units that responded heroically, but also ineffectively.
Fighting fires, floods, and other disasters is a full workload for first responders throughout the country. What their leaders sometimes forget, though, is that responders themselves need protection - both on the job and for weeks and months thereafter.
FEMA and the nation's public-safety and emergency-management communities are working in close cooperation to develop, evaluate, & produce the broad spectrum of new equipment needed to cope with mass-casualty disasters of all types.
The planning, building, and staffing of well designed emergency operations centers have given many U.S. communities a powerful new multi-purpose tool to use in coping with natural and manmade disasters of all types.
The U.S. Coast Guard - overworked and under-resourced - faces new challenges as new offshore responsibilities are assigned. The Deepwater program will help, but not enough.
The rules and regulations related to implementation of the National Incident Management System are many and varied. They also are constantly changing - but almost always for the better.
Despite numerous improvements in homeland security since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, few if any U.S. communities are prepared to cope with what may be the most challenging threat of all: the use of IEDs to create large-scale havoc in a low-cost way.
