The media has talked endlessly about several terms since the events of September 11. These terms are Homeland Security, FEMA and emergency management. Yet, very few people understand what exactly these things are, how they work and how they will protect them in the event of an emergency. In order to empower yourself in this uncertain time, it is important to understand the development of the United States‘ emergency management system.
The History of Emergency Management
The first governmental emergency management intervention in the United States occurred in 1803. This is when a Congressional Act was passed to help a New Hampshire town recover from a destructive fire. This ad hoc intervention was really the only emergency management task that the federal government undertook until the next century. In the early part of the 20th century, President Roosevelt created several programs to stimulate the economy, including programs that focused on emergency management like the 1934 Flood Control Act.
The next era of government emergency management intervention started at the end of World War II. The initiation of the Cold War created a need for an emergency management program that would prepare the American people in the event of a nuclear attack on the U.S. Natural disaster preparedness was pretty much ignored during this decade, mainly because there were few natural disasters to contend with. To handle the emergency management needs of the country the Federal Civil Defense Administration and the Office of Defense Mobilization were created. However, the bulk of the emergency management strategies implemented during this era were community based.
During the 1960s and the 1970s the United States‘ emergency management strategy changed lanes and focused more on natural disasters. This was due to 3 major natural disasters that traumatized the U.S. during the 1960s. In response to the new threats to U.S. citizen security, the Kennedy Administration created the Office of Emergency Preparedness. This agency was responsible for handling natural disaster planning and response, while the Department of Defense was left in charge of civil defense issues. During the 1970s emergency management in the U.S. was fragmented an ineffective. To centralize emergency management activities President Carter established FEMA. The final two decades of the 20th century saw further flip flops in U.S. emergency management focus. However, by the end of the 1990s, Project Impact had finally ushered in an era of all inclusive emergency management planning strategies.
Terrorism and Emergency Management
Like in the decades that preceded the 21st century, national emergency management strategies focused heavily on the country’s current concerns. In the past these concerns fluctuated between natural disasters and nuclear attacks, however, the country’s emergency management focus shifted track in 2001 when it was faced by a new threat, terrorism. The simultaneous attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. fueled the fear of further attacks and shattered the illusion that the U.S. was impervious to terror strikes likes those seen in Europe, Africa and Asia. The threat was real, and the Bush Administration needed to take immediate steps to help reduce the threat of domestic panicking, to protect the economic strength of the country and to reduce the chances of further terrorist invasions.
In response to the terror attacks of 9/11, a nickname this tragedy was christened with, President Bush immediately created the Office of Homeland Security by executive order. Tom Ridge, the governor of Pennsylvania, was appointed as the agency’s leader. Unfortunately, however, the budget granted to this department was very limited, especially since it would be in charge of creating strategies to protect such a huge geographical area with so many entry breaches possible.
Within a few months of creating this agency, a new warning system was implemented. A five stage, color coded warning system that ranged from elevated risk to high risk, would be used as a way to keep the public informed of possible terror threats. The next advancement for the Department of Homeland Security would come in November of 2002. This is when the Homeland Security Act would be passed. This act reorganized the emergency management system within the United States. However, while the reorganization impacted FEMA, state level and local level emergency planning agencies, its main function would be to focus on preventing, responding to and minimizing damage from terrorism.
Reference
Haddow, George D. and Bullock, Jane A. (2006). Introduction to Emergency Management, Second Edition. Oxford, England: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
