Download the full issue. Welcome to Volume 2, Issue Three of Homeland Security Affairs. This issue is dedicated to the memory of Lacy Suiter. I believe Lacy would be embarrassed by the idea of dedicating an issue of anything to him. He was a man whose graciousness and modesty were evident whether he was in…
Issue 3 (Vol II)
Strategies for Managing Volunteers during Incident Response: A Systems Approach
Lauren Fernandez, Joseph Barbera, and Johan Van Dorp ABSTRACT: During disasters, large numbers of people with no pre-planned role arrive at the scene and other areas of response activity to offer assistance. Spontaneous volunteers can be a significant resource, but are often ineffectively used and can actually hinder emergency activities by creating health, safety, and…
Death of Lacy Suiter Leaves Large Void in Emergency Management Community
Eileen Sullivan ABSTRACT: Lacy Suiter passed away on August 8, 2006. With his passing, the emergency management community lost one of its greatest mentors. In this article, first published in the Congressional Quarterly, reporter Eileen Sullivan recaps Suiter’s career and offers testimonials from his colleagues and friends. SUGGESTED CITATION: Sullivan, Eileen. “Death of Lacy Suiter…
Lacy E. Suiter (1936-2006)
David O’Keeffe ABSTRACT: This past summer, the nation lost one of its most experienced and respected emergency management and homeland security leaders, Lacy Suiter. For more than forty years, Lacy Suiter helped shape the nation’s emergency management system and in recent years guided its fledgling homeland security programs. This issue of Homeland Security Affairs is…
Beslan: Counter-terrorism Incident Command: Lessons Learned
Peter Forster ABSTRACT: The Beslan hostage crisis in September 2004 deeply impacted the Russian psyche. However, closer examination of the incident indicates that a number of mistakes were made in possibly preventing, and certainly in responding to, the crisis. The lessons to be learned from Beslan transcend the specific incident and should be considered in…
Federalism, Homeland Security and National Preparedness: A Case Study in the Development of Public Policy
Samuel Clovis Jr. ABSTRACT: Since the events of September 11, 2001 all levels and branches of government have been focused on how best to assess national preparedness so that appropriate resource decisions can be made to enhance the nation’s ability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from major catastrophic events. In nearly all…
Changing Homeland Security: Shape Patterns, Not Programs
Christopher Bellavita ABSTRACT: What is a homeland security future worth creating? After enough discussion, the homeland security community could probably agree on the broad outlines of a desirable future. Eventually the community could develop a strategy for implementing that vision. But as the years passed, the vision would encounter reality. Homeland security strategy – defined…
“Learning” Homeland Security – How One Executive Education Program Engages State and Local Officials
Glen Woodbury ABSTRACT: Whether one attempts to define “homeland security” as a discipline, activity, programmatic approach, or a national security objective, the necessity for learning what it entails is a new endeavor. Particularly challenging is the scope of the task when added to the “normal” responsibilities borne by senior state and local officials. Not only…
Basic Practices Aiding High-Performance Homeland Security Regional Partnerships
Sharon Caudle ABSTRACT: One national priority under the National Preparedness Goal is collaborative geographic regional approaches. This article identifies several basic practices intended to facilitate forming and sustaining a high-performance partnership that should be useful for these collaborative approaches. These practices draw on collaboration, coordination, partnership, and performance management literature and reports. The practices are…
The Department of Defense as Lead Federal Agency
Kathleen Gereski ABSTRACT: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many, including the president, have called for serious public discussion over whether the U.S. military should take over what has been historically a civilian governmental function of catastrophic incident response. The author addresses many of the complex legal and policy issues surrounding this shift in government…