1. Homeland security
Homeland security is a relatively new public policy field, emerging in prominence after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Managers of first response agencies--police and fire, for example--as well as federal and state emergency preparedness agencies did not have national preparedness standards to assess existing first responder capabilities, gaps in those capabilities, and progress made in achieving performance goals. Similarly, those agencies had no regionwide, comprehensive, strategic plan for establishing first responder preparedness goals, needs, and priorities. Finally, the agencies had no consolidated, readily available source of information on:
- the amount of first responder grants available to each jurisdiction,
- budget plans or criteria used to determine spending priorities, and
- data on funds expended from the various sources. Without these components,
The federal grants were difficult to manage in a way that enabled first response agencies to pursue and monitor goals and objectives. In many urban areas, the threat of terror is regionwide, and resources for responding to that threat are distributed among many jurisdictions. Therefore, the most effective responses are coordinated and planned across the region, rather than being jurisdiction-specific. (Health and Health Care 2010, The Forecast, The Challenge, 2003)
The Bush leadership has walked away from more than a century of American leadership in the world to embrace a new - and dangerously ineffective - American disregard for the world. They bully instead of persuade. They act alone when they could assemble a team. They confuse leadership with going it alone. They fail to understand that real leadership means standing by your principles and rallying others to join you. They should lead a coalition of the able - because no force on earth is more able than the United States and its allies.
They should also have a plan to......
