The purpose of the Homeland Security Presidential Decision Directive 5 is to provide organizational and planning protocols that all levels of emergency management need in order to work as a comprehensive national incident management system. (Office of the Press Secretary, 2003). These protocols, furthermore, are established to identify responsibilities and to establish time lines for the key players of this comprehensive national system. The key elements that are provided by this Presidential Decision Directive include: policy provisions, tasking provisions and amendments to previous Presidential Decision Directives.
Policy
Policy provisions address eleven issues that are related to the responsibilities and authority of emergency management sub-systems within the national emergency management system. (Office of the Press Secretary, 2003). The first policy issue that is addressed under HSPD-5 is the objective of the national emergency management system. The main objective of HSPD-5 is to establish a comprehensive emergency management system which addresses both domestic crisis management and domestic consequence management as a single function in an attempt to “prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from [domestic] terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies.” (2003).
The policy provisions of HSPD-5 next examine the authority and responsibilities of key players within the comprehensive national system for emergency management. The Secretary of Homeland Security is named as the “principal Federal official” (Office of Press Secretary, 2003) for handling domestic incident management. Their authority and responsibilities are established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The main responsibility that this position holds is to coordinate the domestic Federal operations to deal with emergency management incidents. The Attorney General, on the other hand, has the lead responsibility for the investigating the criminal charges of domestic terror acts and threats. (2003).
Another policy provision that is outlined in this Presidential Decision Directive is what authority HSPD-5 does not grant. For example, the information provided in this directive does not change or interfere with the authorities and responsibilities that are already granted by law to Federal agencies and departments. (Office of Press Secretary, 2003). It also doesn’t remove the authority and responsibility of local and state governments to act as first responders to incidents, nor does it impair their authority to manage and allocate intrastate resources to deal with incidents. Finally, this directive does not reduce the authority of the Secretary of Defense in relationship to the direction of the Department of Defense. (2003).
In order to support the emergency management efforts of local governments, state governments, the private sector and the non-government sectors, HSPD-5 outlines ways in which the Federal government can help out these first responders. Section 6 of this Presidential Decision Directive outlines that the Federal government will provide state and local authorities with supplemental resources to ensure that these entities have adequate training, exercise activities, planning and equipment to prepare for, respond to and recover from major incidents. (Office of Press Secretary, 2003). Section 7 of this directive outlines what the Federal government will provide to the private and non-government sectors in order to help them prepare for, respond to and recover from major incidents including supplemental resources to ensure that these entities have adequate training, planning and equipment. (2003).
Tasking
The tasking section of the Homeland Security Presidential Decision Directive 5 allocates specific responsibilities to various Federal positions. The first task that is assigned is the development, implementation and administration of a National Incident Management System (NIMS). This task is assigned to the Secretary. (Office of Press Secretary, 2003). The Secretary is also responsible for creating, implementing and administering a National Response Plan. Both of these planning tools are intended to standardize the structure and mechanisms used by Federal responders during their assistive operations during incidents of national significance. (2003).
The second group of tasking addresses the responsibilities of the remaining Federal departments and agencies. Their responsibilities include reading the NRP and NIMS, making revisions to their existing plans following the NRP, submitting a plan to adopt NIMS and to implement NIMS, and to establish a department or agency requirement to use the NRP and NIMS beginning in Fiscal Year 2005. (Office of Press Secretary, 2003).
Amendments
Because of the changes outlined in HSPD-5, several previous Presidential Decision Directives had to be amended. Amendments were made to the National Security Presidential Directives 1, 2 and 3.
Conclusion
The focus of the Homeland Security Presidential Decision Directive 5 was to establish a comprehensive national system for responding to domestic incidents. It outlined the responsibilities and authorities that are required for a comprehensive system to work. It also made amendments to previous directives to update them and to bring all directives in line with the latest laws, goals and objectives in regards to Homeland Security.
Reference
Office of the Press Secretary. (2003, February 28). “Homeland Security Presidential Dierctive/HSPD-5.” Downloaded 09.21.07 from https://online.apus.edu/educator/temp/cr570/em504a001sum07/HomelandSecurityPresidentialDirective5/hspd-5.pdf
