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Preparedness Issues and Guides

Disaster Preparedness and Terrorism are two very big issues that, unfortunately, some of our brethren have had to deal with in recent years. However, we all need to be prepared. Read below for more information on the Department of Homeland Security's initiatives to aid in National Preparedness.
 
 
Department of Homeland Security Overview
The overarching National Preparedness Goal for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is "to engage Federal, State, local, and tribal entities, their private and non-governmental partners, and the general public to achieve and sustain risk-based target levels of capability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from major events in order to minimize the impact on lives, property, and the economy." DHS issued the Goal on March 31, 2005.

Prevent, protect, respond, and recover are considered mission areas. Each mission area includes a collection of capabilities that require the integration of multiple disciplines, processes, and procedures.

The target capabilities list identifies 37 national preparedness capabilities, provides a description of each capability, and presents guidance on the levels of capability that federal, state, local, and tribal entities will be expected to develop and maintain. These capabilities underpin seven National Priorities, three of which are overarching and four of which are capability specific:

Overarching Priorities:
Capability Specific Priorities:
  • Strengthen information sharing and collaboration capabilities
  • Strengthen interoperable communications capabilities
  • Strengthen CBRNE detection, response, and decontamination capabilities
  • Strengthen medical surge and mass prophylaxis capabilities
 
The NIMS was developed to provide a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state, local, and tribal governments to work together to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents.

The NRP uses the framework provided by the NIMS and provides the structure and mechanisms for national-level policy and operational direction for federal support to state, local, and tribal incident managers and for exercising direct federal authorities and responsibilities.

 


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