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Napolitano Orders Review of Preparedness Activities |
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by Mickey McCarter
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Wednesday, 28 January 2009 |
Secretary inquires about eight emergency scenario sets
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano continued her review of activities in her department Tuesday by ordering reviews of the integration of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with state and local preparedness planning as well as the agency's national planning efforts.
Napolitano called for two oral reports Feb. 9 followed by written final reports on Feb. 23 on FEMA's activities to review plans to coordinate preparedness activities with states and municipalities and the agency's national plans to address eight disaster scenarios.
The assessment of state and local integration must include any aspects relating to the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, the Target Capabilities List, State Preparedness Reports, Federal Preparedness Reports, Nationwide Plan Reviews, planning requirements for emergency management grants, and the National Response Framework.
Napolitano, who was governor of Arizona for six years, demonstrated a specific interest in FEMA's identification of areas where state and local emergency management agencies can provide input to any of the planning related to these preparedness activities.
In addition, Napolitano asked FEMA for status and the timeframes for completing interagency plans to address eight scenario sets specified in the National Response Framework, as condensed from an earlier list of 15 scenarios identified by the Homeland Security Council.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) had expressed his disappointment to then-Secretary Michael Chertoff, in a letter dated Oct. 9, 2008, that the work on the eight scenario sets had not been completed, calling it a top priority for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The scenario sets would outline basic procedures in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack, natural disaster, cyber attack, pandemic influenza outbreak, and other threats.
Napolitano plans to issue additional directives to DHS agencies for reports on protection, preparedness, response, recovery and immigration "in the coming days."
The two directives issued Tuesday to FEMA join seven other action directives Napolitano has sent to other DHS agencies since taking office. Those directives call for reviews of cybersecurity, northern border strategy, critical infrastructure protection, risk analysis, state and local intelligence sharing, transportation security, and state, local and tribal integration.
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Mickey McCarter |
| About the author: |
| eNewsletter Editor/Senior Washington Correspondent,
is a journalist with more than a decade of experience in reporting
on
military affairs and information technology.
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