Presidential Directive Pushes Homeland Security Preparedness

During his first term, President George W. Bush issued a series of Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPDs) intended to re-direct and revitalize the United States' homeland security programs. One of these directives, HSPD-8 ("National Preparedness"), is focused on improving the nation's level of preparedness for responding to a terrorist attack. The responsibility for HSPD-8 implementation was delegated to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Planning (SLGCP)/Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP), which provides grants, training, exercises, and other support for state and local homeland security personnel. HSPD-8 centers on the development of a “national preparedness goal” and the integration of current disparate federal preparedness programs into a more coordinated system. The purpose is to shift current planning from a threat-based to a capabilities-based planning approach, which focuses on the ability of a jurisdiction to perform essential tasks to meet desired mission outcomes. This shift will likely result in significant changes in how ODP distributes funding to support first-responder programs at the state and local levels.

PDF Version of Article   This article was published in the Winter 2005 issue of Perspectives. Please refer to our Terms of Use policy regarding acceptable use of content on the ICF International Web site.

ODP identified four priority initiatives under HSPD-8 that are needed to reorient the nation’s preparedness programs. The core initiative is to develop a unified, national preparedness strategy, which employs a systems-based framework to build demonstrable and sustainable capabilities. This national preparedness system will form the foundation for the rest of the preparedness capacity building efforts and will drive the ODP grants planning process.

Development of the national preparedness system has been a challenging and complex process. Using the 15 Scenarios developed by the White House Homeland Security Council, ODP has developed a comprehensive Universal Task List (UTL) of all activities that need to be performed during a major incident to prevent occurrence, reduce loss of life or serious injuries, and mitigate significant property damage. These scenarios are intended only to illustrate the range of threats and hazards of national significance and include the following:

• four chemical scenarios (blister agent, toxic industrial chemicals, nerve agent, and chlorine tank explosion)
• four biological scenarios (plague, aerosol anthrax, anthrax food
  contamination, and foot and mouth disease)
• one disease outbreak scenario (pandemic flu)
• two natural disasters (earthquake and hurricane)
• one radiological scenario ("dirty bomb")
• one improvised nuclear device scenario
• one improvised explosive device scenario
• one cyber scenario

The Universal Task List identifies all the tasks that need to be performed to prevent, respond to, and recover from the large-scale events represented by these scenarios. ODP has also developed a Target Capabilities List (TCL), which describes the specific capabilities that federal, state, local, and tribal entities are expected to develop and maintain to meet the goal of "national preparedness."

The creation of a universal task list and target capabilities list that are driven by common scenarios is a new process for much of the homeland security community. ODP sponsored several workshops during 2004 to solicit input from federal, state, and local agencies on defining the key homeland security tasks and identifying the corresponding capabilities. ICF International has observed that while participants generally understand the concept, many expressed concerns regarding the assumptions behind the overall approach.

For example, questions were raised about whether the 15 scenarios adequately represent realistic, large-scale events. Participants also questioned the need for all jurisdictions across the country to be equally “prepared” for events that, for some, are highly improbable, due to location or discipline. The greatest concern expressed, however, is that the lists could be used as a yardstick against which all jurisdictions would be measured—and that future funding would be driven by the goal of ensuring that jurisdictions meet these standards.

In response to the issues raised by stakeholders, ODP has been revising the UTL and TCL to better align with current state and local programs. ICF International has been working with ODP on this alignment process. At the same time, ODP is upholding its goal of defining national capability for preparedness with an expected release of the National Preparedness Goal in Spring 2005. Through performance-based exercises and other assessment activities, ODP will be able to determine a jurisdiction’s or agency’s current level of capability, and then compare that to the TCL to identify gaps, excesses, deficiencies, and actions for addressing these issues.

From ICF International’s vantage point, it seems clear that the implementation of this process will have a direct impact upon public policy for homeland security officials at all levels of government in the United States. Under this process, funding will be more directly linked to preparedness needs, rather than distributed based on formulas, as is currently being done. ODP’s FY2005 Homeland Security Grants Program Guidelines, which provide instructions and applications for the ODP grants program, specifically assert that state-wide preparedness strategies should be consistent with the National Preparedness Goal. States are further directed to use the National Planning Scenarios, the Universal Task List, and the Target Capability List in their preparedness efforts.

ICF International is discussing these issues with its current state clients, and is prepared to position them and future clients to successfully integrate these new national programs into their homeland security efforts.

Several other initiatives being implemented under HSPD-8 will support achievement of the national strategy and National Preparedness goal. These include:

• A capabilities-based national preparedness assessment and reporting system. The purpose of this system will be to allow continuous subjective assessments of current national preparedness and to obtain a systematic view of future critical capabilities. The results of these assessments will be used to identify critical preparedness deficiencies, develop strategies for rectifying those deficiencies, and ensure these issues are addressed in programming and budgeting and other management systems.
  
  
• A comprehensive national training and exercise program that supports achievement of the national preparedness goal. The national exercise program is intended to be the primary vehicle for training national leaders and DHS staff, and for promoting collaboration among partners at all levels of government for assigned homeland security missions. These national-level exercises will involve full-scale, full-system tests of collective preparedness, and will improve interoperability, build strong teams across all levels of government and the private sector, and strengthen international partnerships. The cornerstone of the national exercise program is the TOPOFF (Top Official) Exercise Series, which was conducted in 2000 and again in 2003.
  
  
• A balanced investments program, through which ODP will develop tools and criteria to ensure that grant programs and awards are being allocated consistent with the national preparedness goal.
  
  
• The creation of this new federal approach which requires scenario-driven task and capabilities lists, ongoing capabilities assessments, and full-scale exercises, (including TOPOFF) is likely to spur efforts to integrate the diverse disciplines that make up the homeland security community.

ICF International has had the opportunity to help drive this integration through its work in developing exercises, training, and plans for state and local clients. We have learned where the logical interdependencies exist between disciplines, and supported projects that require a strong commitment to interdisciplinary coordination. Our work at all levels of government indicates that organizations with missions ranging from food safety to water treatment to emergency medical systems, along with the more traditional fields of law enforcement, fire protection, and emergency management, will be increasingly brought together by their jurisdictions to jointly think through multi-disciplinary solutions to this multi-faceted challenge.

Learn more about ICF International’s homeland security services.