Be prepared to consider preparedness
What: Briefing on the new Presidential Policy Directive on Preparedness
When: This morning, April 8, at 10:30 Eastern Time
Where: At the Homeland Security Policy Institute at The George Washington University
or via a live webcast.
Who: Brian Kamoie is Senior Director for Preparedness Policy on the White House National Security Staff
Why: Well, if I need to explain why to any regular HLSWatch reader, I’ll just give up. But before listening to Mr. Kamoie it might help to scroll down the current front page of HLSwatch. Or just consider the three posts I have offered today on issues related to private sector risk readiness, supply chains in catastrophe, and fear of radiation. How will the new approach to preparedness enhance our ability to engage these issues?
The Directive emphasizes three national preparedness principles:
- An all-of-Nation approach, aimed at enhancing integration of effort across Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial governments; closer collaboration with the private and non-profit sectors; and more engagement of individuals, families and communities;
- A focus on capabilities, defined by specific and measurable objectives, as the cornerstone of preparedness. This will enable more integrated, flexible, and agile “all hazards” efforts tailored to the unique circumstances of any given threat, hazard, or actual event; and
- A focus on outcomes and rigorous assessment to measure and track progress in building and sustaining capabilities over time.
The Directive calls for the development of an overarching National Preparedness Goal that identifies the core capabilities necessary for preparedness, defined as a spectrum of five broad efforts:
- Prevention – those capabilities necessary to avoid, prevent, or stop a threatened or actual act of terrorism;
- Protection – those capabilities necessary to secure the homeland against acts of terrorism and manmade or natural disasters;
- Mitigation – those capabilities necessary to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters;
- Response – those capabilities necessary to save lives, protect property and the environment, and meet basic human needs after an incident has occurred; and
- Recovery – those capabilities necessary to assist communities affected by an incident to recover effectively.
The Directive also calls for development of a National Preparedness System to guide activities that will enable the Nation to achieve the goal; a comprehensive campaign to build and sustain national preparedness; and an annual National Preparedness Report to measure progress in meeting the goal.
