Response to Discussion Post

Mission Five in the overview of the Homeland Security missions is
ensuring resilience to disasters (Homeland Security Council, 2010, 31).
Even as prepared and vigilant the United States is, there will still be
disasters, accidents, and intentional acts that require the assistance of
homeland security. The vision is that hazards and risks are understood,
prepared for, and that the nation can withstand disruptions. Social trust
and economic functions can survive adverse conditions, manage itself
effectively during times of crisis, recover quickly, and adapt. This is guided
by four traditional elements for emergency management. These elements
include hazard mitigation, enhanced preparedness, effective emergency
response, and rapid recovery. Disasters often occur locally and far
removed from federal assets, but the national consequences are burdens
shared by all.
There are four goals that fall under this mission. The first of these goals is
to mitigate hazards (Homeland Security Council, 2010, 33). Under this goal,
there are two objectives. The first objective is to reduce the vulnerability of
individuals and families. This can be accomplished by improving the
individual and family capacity to reduce vulnerabilities and withstand
disasters. The second objective is to mitigate the risks to communities by
improving community capacity to withstand disasters by mitigating known
and anticipated hazards. Another goal under this mission is to enhance
preparedness, which can be accomplished through two objectives. The
first objective under this goal is to improve individual, family, and
community preparedness. In order to accomplish this it is necessary to
ensure individual, family, and community planning, readiness, and
capacity-building or disasters. The second objective is to strengthen
capabilities through enhancing and sustaining nationwide disaster
preparedness capabilities to include life safety, law enforcement,
information sharing, mass evacuation and shelter-in-place, public health,
mass care, and public works.
Hurricane Katrina caused a great deal of human suffering, killing at least
1,330 people and injuring thousands (Townsend, 2006, Chapter 4). Homes,
businesses, government buildings, and other historical buildings were
destroyed. Over 80 percent of New Orleans was under 20 feet of water.
State and local public safety agencies sustained massive damage to their
equipment and facilities. There was no reliable network that could be used

to coordinate emergency response operations. A lesson learned was that
there needed to be a National Operations Center in order to provide
appropriate response and that the DHS should coordinate with the state to
enhance response operations. In order to mitigate future losses, the DHS
reviewed current policies and government learned to support state and
local law enforcement and criminal justice system during emergencies.
Another lesson that was learned was that homeland security partners
revised existing plans, ensuring that there is clear accountability for all
preparedness efforts. Collaboration efforts with the military, state and local
governments, private sector, and other areas that could provide assistance
is needed. The Department of Health and Human Services is also needed.
Once the response is completed, recovery must begin. This involved the
development of integrated public communications to inform, guide, and
reassure before, during, and after the catastrophe (Townsend, 2006,
Chapter 4). Department of Health and Human Services and other
departments developed a robust and comprehensive delivery of human
services so that victims can receive assistance. These systems must be
simple, effective, and customer focused. Contribution from volunteers and
non-government organizations is needed for the best outcome of future
incidents. The Red Cross and DHS must retain responsibilities and improve
mass care and sheltering during disasters. Federal, state, and local
governments were not prepared for Hurricane Katrina, which brought to
light organizational and coordination issues. Lack of communication and
situational awareness showed weakness in the national preparedness
system. There was a lack in areas of response, recovery, and
reconstruction. Inadequate training, planning, and coordination issues that
were brought to light as a result of Hurricane Katrina allowed for efforts to
improve integration and synchronization for the federal, local, and state
governments, as well as private and non-profit sectors.

References:
Homeland Security Council. (2010). Quadrennial homeland security review
report. Retrieved
from http://www.iaem.com/documents/QHSRReportFeb2010.pd…

http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports…Townsend, F. F.
(2006). The federal response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons learned.
Retrieved from
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The overview presented in this post about Mission Five of the Homeland Security Missions is not only insightful but educative about the progress federal agencies have made in the area of interagency collaboration and cooperation. It is my opinion that when this properly developed plan is integrated with the private sector participation in disaster management, our collective resilience as a nation will be stronger. Although my concern lies with local preparedness as regards individual, family, and community capabilities to perform their respective roles during emergency situations. As you noted in your discussion and affirmed by………………
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