Homeland Security Preparedness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Homeland Security Preparedness - Essay Example â€Å"The role of state and local governments as well as the nation's first responder community has been viewed largely as providing quick reaction and consequence mitigation to any attacks that occur despite the best effort of the federal system to prevent it...In fact, this image is not correct; local governments must do a great deal more than prepare for the consequence management role. In particular, they must also pay a great deal of attention to prevention efforts. To date they have not done nearly enough in this regard† (O'Hanlon, 2005). O'Hanlon recommends that state and local governments can be first responders in all arenas. The Governor's office should make sure that there is a dedicated anti-terrorism task force at the state level, and any sufficiently large cities should have an anti-terrorism task force operating out of a major crimes unit. Local miscommunication and planning was part of the slow response to 9/11. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, â€Å"[ A] 'generic' flight plan – prepared to get the aircraft airborne and out of local airspace quickly – incorrectly led the Langley fighters to believe they were ordered to fly due east... for 60 miles... the lead pilot and local FAA controller incorrectly assumed the flight plan instruction to go '090 for 60' superseded the original scramble order† (p. 27). Inadequate protocols for communication and coordination between local, state and federal authorities can have lethal consequences. Similarly, the FBI's limited terrorism response pre-9/11 was due to their being tied too closely with state and local agencies such that they were only interested in pursuing the needs of state and local areas such as organized crime and white-collar offenses (p. 74). O'Hanlon notes that state governments do not have to do everything and be everywhere. â€Å"it is not necessary to equip all three million first responders in the United States with state of the art chemical protective gear or interoperable communications systems. Equipping specialized teams within each major jurisdiction with such capabilities, and creating several mobile communications headquarters with interoperable technology, are less expensive and more quickly doable propositions. It is not necessary that every fireman’s radio can talk to every police officer’s radio; a certain number of mobile interoperable communications vans that can be quickly deployed to a problem site are a more cost-effective solution. They can allow quick coordination and cross-communication through the squad or team leaders of each type of organization (that would have been enough to save many firefighters on September 11, 2001 in New York). A large city could purchase several dozen, at $1 million each, for a reasonable cost of several tens of millions of dollars† (O'Hanlon, 2005). The Governor's Office should follow this approach. While all EMS and medical responders, police units, hospitals an d other state agencies do not need to have extensive anti-terror preparation, specialized units should and should have access to top-of-the line gear. As O'Hanlon illustrates, doing so not only is cost-effective but in any respect is often fungible to every day operations: Communications vans like the one above can also be used in major crimes like bank robberies. O'Hanlon recommends $5 billion