Assignment: Roles and Responsibilities of Agencies and Officials in Disaster Response

There is an old saying: "You can't tell the players without a scorecard." In any game, each player has a specific role as part of a team, with the overall goal of winning the game. The same is true for disaster response. There are many potential players at all levels—federal, state, and local. They must all cooperate and coordinate their efforts as a united team in order to effectively respond to disasters and hazards. The primary rule of the game—and therefore, the measure of effective disaster response—is adherence to the standardized Incident Command System (ICS) as prescribed in the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Success can be achieved outside the ICS model, but the ICS enhances the likelihood of an efficient, effective response, while reducing chaos and confusion among the players.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review the assigned pages in Chapter 9 of your course text, Introduction to Homeland Security. Focus on the roles and responsibilities of local, state, federal, and volunteer agencies and officials in disaster response operations.


• Review Chapters 1 and 4 of the online article, " A Governor's Guide to Homeland Security." Focus on the roles and responsibilities of governors, their staff, and other elected officials during disaster response. Also, consider the use of mutual aid agreements during disaster response operations.


• Review Chapters 5 and 6 of the online article, " A Governor's Guide to Homeland Security." Think about the roles and responsibilities of governors in the disaster declaration process. Also, consider the impact of the disaster declaration process on the degree to which federal military resources are used in disaster response.


• Review the assigned pages of the online article, " Nat ional Incident Management System." Focus on the description of the standardized ICS and how it is intended to operate in emergency response.


• Select a hazard or a terrorist event that occurred in the United States within the past two decades. This could be one that occurred in your area or one that you heard about in the news.
  
  Note: Do not select a hazard or a terrorist event used as an example in your course text.


• Identify the government agencies and officials—federal, state, and/or local—that responded to the hazard or the terrorist event you selected.


• Consider the roles and responsibilities of each agency and official in the response effort.


• Think about the effectiveness of the response to the hazard or the terrorist event you selected. Reflect on what worked and what did not work, especially with regard to implementation of the ICS.

The assignment: (2 pages)

• Briefly describe a hazard or a terrorist event that occurred in the United States.


• Briefly describe the government agencies and officials—federal, state, and/or local—that responded to the hazard or the terrorist event.


• Explain the roles and responsibilities of each agency and official in the response effort.


• Explain the effectiveness of the response to the hazard or the terrorist event. Be sure to explain what worked and what did not work, especially with regard to implementation of the ICS. Be specific and use examples to illustrate your explanation.

Support your Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation. You are asked to provide a reference list only for those resources not included in the Learning Resources for this course.

Required Readings

Bullock, J. A. , Haddow, G. D.  & Coppola, D. P. (2013). Introduction to homeland security (5th ed.). Waltham, MA: Elsevier Inc.  

Chapter 2, "Historic Overview of the Terrorist Threat"

NGA Center for Best Practices. (2007). A governor's guide to homeland security. Retrieved from http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/0703GOVGUIDEHS.PDFChapter 1, "Governors' Powers, Roles, and Responsibilities"

Chapter 4, "Mutual Aid"

Chapter 5, "National Guard and Military Assistance"

Chapter 6, "Major Disasters and Emergency Declarations"

Homeland Security. (2008). National incident management system. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/NIMS_core.pdf

Note: You are only required to read pages 45–69 of this article.

Required Media

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Current issues in homeland security: Government officials and agencies. Baltimore: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 13 minutes.