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The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted new thinking about disaster preparedness and response within the US federal government. With the passage of the Homeland Security Act in 2002, the Department of Homeland Security was created from all or part of 22 federal organizations as a Cabinet-level department to coordinate and unify national homeland security efforts. Thus homeland security was to encompass the preparation, protection, and response to an entire range of threats ranging from terrorism to natural disasters.
Subsequently in 2011, President Obama issued Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8 regarding national preparedness, which is intended to strengthen the security and resilience of the U.S.
Please read the following top three sections from the Presidential Policy Directive 8 to understand its purpose and scope: this includes the National Preparedness Goal, and the National Preparedness System.
Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8
Obama, B. (2011, March 30). Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8. Naval Post. https://www.dhs.gov/presidential-policy-directive-8-national-preparedness
The National Response Framework
The National Response Framework is an essential component of the National Preparedness System outlined in PPD-8. It is designed to be an all discipline, all hazards plan applicable to all members of the government and private sector involved in any way with domestic emergency preparedness and response. It provides context for how the whole community works together and how response efforts relate to other parts of national preparedness. A working knowledge of the NRF is essential for all federal workers potentially involved in this area, as well as for state and local emergency management professionals, non-governmental organization leaders, and concerned citizens. As you review the NRF and subsequently the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, consider how geospatial intelligence capabilities might contribute to these efforts.
Required Reading
Scan through the sections of the National Response Framework. The reading can be accessed from the Lesson 8 Checklist. Registered students can access a PDF of the reading in Lesson 8 in Canvas.
The National Infrastructure Protection Plan
The September 11 attacks also focused attention on the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR) in the US to terrorist attack or exploitation. Critical infrastructure and key resources are those that are essential to national security, safety, and economic well being. The fear is that attacks on CI/KR could impact the ability of government and the economy to function and threaten the American way of life. Consider the far ranging damage to the national economy from the September 11 attacks. Not only did New York City sustain massive physical, psychological, and economic damage, but the damage to the national economy as evidenced by reduced air travel was substantial. The vulnerability of transportation systems, hazardous material facilities, and public water and food supplies are all areas of concern. Because of this, Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-21 was issued. This directive focuses on strengthening and maintaining secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure. One of the requirements of PPD-21 is to prepare a National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP). The NIPP outlines how government and the private sector work together to manage risks and achieve security and resilience.
Required Reading
Read the Executive Summary and scan the other sections of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. The reading can be accessed from the Lesson 8 Checklist. Registered students can access a PDF of the reading in Lesson 8 in Canvas.
Homeland Security versus Homeland Defense
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for a wide array of tasks that constitute "homeland security." The Department of Defense has its own mission of "homeland defense." To accomplish the homeland defense mission, DOD established US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. Given the traditional US commitment to civilian control over the military, and legitimate concerns about military activities at home impinging on civil rights, how should homeland security and homeland defense relate?
Optional Reading
For those students who are particularly interested or involved in this topic, you may want to look at the following Joint Publications:
Homeland security is defined in the National Strategy for Homeland Security as, "a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur." Notice that this definition explicitly covers only terrorism and not natural or technological hazards. (This is one of the complaints about having FEMA under DHS. DHS is too focused on terrorism, even though disasters take more lives and cause more damage.) Thus it is the Department of Homeland Security's primary mission to prevent terrorist attacks within the US, and the Attorney General is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of terrorist attacks.
Homeland defense is defined as, "the protection of US sovereignty, territory, domestic population, and critical defense infrastructure against external threats and aggression, or other threats as directed by the President." The Department of Defense is responsible for homeland defense. However, we know that the DOD has an enormous budget and substantial capabilities to assist in domestic disaster response. Witness the resources brought to bear by LTG Raymond Honore, "The Rag'in Cajun" and his federal military task force during the response to Hurricane Katrina.
The Department of Defense is allowed to support civil authorities in domestic emergencies when authorized by the President. Defense support to civil authorities, usually referred to as "civil support," is any DOD support for domestic emergencies and designated law enforcement activities. Examples include federal troops restoring order during the Los Angeles Riots and DOD support for Hurricane Katrina. Civil support can include military forces, DOD civilian and contract personnel, and DOD agency and component assets.
As we will see in the next lesson, DOD agencies such as the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency provide essential geospatial intelligence support to FEMA and state and local agencies. The issue of classified sources and methods poses issues for such cooperation, as does the predominant military focus and culture of NGA. We will examine in the next lesson how NGA attempts to overcome these challenges.
A word of clarification is in order concerning the National Guard versus federal forces. National Guard forces (Army and Air National Guard) are organized by state and territories and are normally under the control of the state governor. This status is known as Title 32 after that section of the US Code that authorizes this arrangement. While in Title 32 status, Guardsmen serve at the direction of the governor and may carry out civil law enforcement functions such as crowd control and prevention of looting. National Guard units can be federalized by order of the President and used domestically or deployed overseas (e.g. Iraq and Afghanistan). The National Guard, along with the federal Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Reserves constitute the Reserve Component. Federal forces are organized under Title 10 of the US Code. When Guard units are federalized, they operate under Title 10. An important point is that Title 10 forces are prohibited from conducting civil law enforcement activities under Title 18, known as The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. The exception to this law is in the event the President invokes the Insurrection Act, which allows him or her to order federal forces to restore order. Note that the US Coast Guard in peacetime is subordinate to the Department of Homeland Security and may become subordinate to DOD in time of war (e.g. World War II).