Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano yesterday announced the formation of “the local, state, tribal, and federal Preparedness Task Force—a council of experts charged with assessing the state of the nation’s disaster preparedness and making recommendations to Secretary Napolitano about ways to build resiliency in communities across America.”
This blog has recommended that the Secretary create a task force on citizen and community preparedness so I think this is positive development. I also hope that citizen perspectives be reflected in the deliberations and ultimate recommendations. The members of the panel are a quality cross section of officials from throughout the nation. And, they will bring their experience as professionals as well as citizens to the task force. Yet sometimes it can be difficult for them to completely take off their official hats and put on their citizen ones in developing preparedness policy. So, I definitely suggest they make sure to elicit public input as part of their work. I look forward to following the task force’s activities.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Martin // Apr 8, 2010 at 1:07 pm
First, glad to see you are back and all is well. I have looked forward to your return.
I couldn’t agree with you more on this post. I also believe that through these blogs and online communities we are able to offer insight, ideas and information that might not otherwise filter up to a level where effective action can be taken. The success of the QHSR is a key example of the critical role online communities can play in this process.
2 The Wolf // Apr 8, 2010 at 2:45 pm
I totally agree and think this is long overdue. I hope they really listen to individuals when they make their recomendations since it’s the well informed citizen not the government who seem to really be on the ball when it comes to preperation and planning for a disaster or collapse. Great blog by the way
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4 Drills & Exercises « Depiction Blog // Apr 12, 2010 at 4:28 pm
[...] One of his recent flurry of great posts is on the reevaluation of national disaster exercises by the Department of Homeland Security. Convinced that the drills are the best way to determine whether the nation is prepared for a disaster, some emergency planners and state officials say they fear that as the federal government cuts costs, it may dumb down the tests so participants will pass them more easily. Shying away from the toughest problems, they say, risks repeating the mistakes that were made after Hurricane Katrina, when an unprepared White House and Louisiana governor clashed over who was in charge, how to allocate resources and whether to send in the military. [...]
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