Introduction
This informational interview was conducted with Dr. Pamela Aaltonen, a Homeland Security instructor at Purdue University, and active member at the Tippecanoe Board of Health. Her role here is to frame issues in the concept of Homeland security and emergency management. Dr. Aaltonen holds a key role in Homeland Security, as many disasters contain human health issues, such as mass causalities, pandemic outbreaks, and sanitary issues following natural disasters. Dr. Aaltonen’s flavor of Homeland Security differs from the work that I normally see, but as displayed during the interview, Homeland Security is a multi-disciplinary field that requires cooperation across all fields. Dr. Aaltonen’s human health focus in homeland security makes her assistance needed in almost all situations. It was my hope to interview someone in a different
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However, it was not a standalone self-operating organization until March 1, 2003 ("History" 2015). As it stands today, Homeland Security encompasses a very large amount of tasks, which include but are not limited to: Health Affairs, the US Secret Service, Customs & Border protection, the US Coast Guard, and many more. In terms of Dr. Aaltonen, her position in Homeland Security would belong to the Strategic National Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) (HHS); HHS stands for Health and Human Services.
Health and Human Services, the Strategic National Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System are all inter-related. These terms can be exchanged in conversation, but each of them perform their own tasks and their own hierarchy. The NDMS was established in 1984 and at this time belonged to the Department of Defense (DoD). NDMS was first formed to handle health needs of the US Military and has since grown into handling mass-incidents and medical concerns for Homeland Security (Franco, Crystal, et al
They should of delegated the work to the 22 other agencies and seen what worked best for the overall department. The pressure of the recent attack on the United States put the agency under the microscope of the nation because everyone was on high alert. The first issue was that the DHS was having problems with coordinating actions
The Joint Terrorism Task Forces are made up of various law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and state and local law enforcement agencies. They are responsible for investigating and preventing terrorist activities, both domestically and internationally. Since the attacks made on September 11, 2001, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces have expanded and evolved to meet the evolving threats and terrorist landscape. The DHS Fusion Centers were established in 2003 after the 9/11 attacks to help with information sharing between federal, state, and local agencies to preventing terrorism and other criminal activities.
There became an obvious need for immediate assistance from the National Guard and the Active Duty Army to stop looters, crime, and other chaos that ensued shortly after the flood. Gaining assistance from state controlled National Guard units was not overly difficult. Unfortunately, use of Federal soldiers comes with the stipulation that “the Governor of the affected state must request use of the resources of the DoD”. (Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance) The Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco and her staff were already failing to control and lead emergency efforts.
With the creation of Homeland Security Act of 2002, 22 independent agencies have been combined to create the Department of Homeland Security. CBP was of course one of
Fusion Centers is all about sharing information to protect the public in order for that to occur there needs to be more involvement from the DHS when it comes down to it. It would be like a fire and only calling the police, well you need the police to keep the crowd safe, but you also need the fire department to put out the fire along with the ambulance in case someone needs medical
When one contemplates the credibility of the CDC, it is important to know who they are and where they come from. The CDC operates under the oversight of the HSS, as stated earlier. Guttman, Boccher-Lattimore, & Salmon (1998) found that the CDC, along with the Surgeon General, maintains a higher credibility rating than state-run and funded entities. It is also stated that, “Source credibility is a cornerstone of any successful information campaign” (Guttman et al., 1998, para. 4). When one accounts for these statements, the importance of credibility, as well as the credibility that the CDC has, one can view the CDC’s document as supporting the presence of ethos.
(NPR, 2014, para. 13) This department has many responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is grouping the condition of threats in America. These acts made America safer.
So there is many ways the department of homeland security keeps us safe on a day to day basis. They also have a good business section that works with businesses to regulate certain policies and anti terrorism protection for businesses.they are very committed to enabling better utilization of departmental data to improve the quality of services to the American people, while developing products that promote innovation while maintaining
Community health nursing is directed toward improving the health outcomes of the community through the prevention of disease as well as handling crises in the case of a natural disaster. In the following discussion, I will describe the stages to preparing for a tornado because of the potential of happening my local area and the public nurse’s role during each of the stages. Managing a disaster starts with the first stage which is the prevention phase. The demographics of local area need to be identified by trending the vulnerable groups so that extra attention and care can be provided.
Going into this interview project I was curious to learn more about the experiences that immigrants had to go through. My interviewee, Mario, is an 18 year old immigrant that migrated to America from Bolivia at the age of 10. I have known Mario since middle school and we’ve been friends since then. We have grown up around the same area too and now we both attend the University of Maryland.
The Division includes the Office of Emergency Management, the Office of Preparedness, and the Office of Prevention and Security (State of Colorado, 2015). Its mission, vision, and values are to "prevent, protect, mitigate, respond and recover from all-hazards" through the development of a comprehensive Strategic Plan in synchronization with the DHS (State of Colorado, 2015, p.1). The State of Colorado has its own unique concerns it must address. Colorado Concerns and Threats Critical
Facing a health crisis that deals with many of the populace involves: “respect for society, coordination of organizations and an institution with scientific weight to the people and to the media, who acted as spokesman in situations of public health risk, to get confidence citizens” (Busko). The technical capacity of health professionals “is more proven than the public officials, which suggests a greater share of the former and better training of the second” (Selby). The state of Texas has never had a crisis like this or others experiences that were similar. Crises are challenges that must be learned from both their errors and successes since they serve to bring about to the devices and improve the response to other crises. It is important to perform analysis of previous responses, and research and testing, to prepare themselves for another health crisis.
Department of homeland security and Domestic Terrorism One of the major reasons why defining domestic terrorism has proved difficult is because different agencies approach terrorism with their different interpretations (White, 2013). The difference between the various definitions of domestic terrorism lies within the various descriptions given about terrorists’ motivations. White (2013) classified domestic terrorism as either those that are politically motivated or others that attempt greater specificity. It is however difficult to establish and define the motivations of terrorists. It is therefore necessary do in-depth analysis on terrorists’ motivation because their purpose reflects the methods and targets the terrorists are most likely to select.
The article broke down one of the most horrific natural disasters of the century. For many, the wounds have yet to heal and with this article, those individuals and their families are forced to show us their scars again. This was equally hard for Fink to report after talking to survivors from Katrina. She unbiasedly informed her audience who may have been oblivious to what the conditions were for just this hospital alone. The help in the recovery of these sick and injured souls was not treated as a life or death emergency like it should have been.
The novel Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink gives an inside view of what happened at Memorial Hospital during Hurricane Katrina (2005); a disaster inside of a disaster. The lack of preparedness or ethical decision making is quite disappointing, considering Memorial hospital is located in New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans is well below sea level, and experiences frequent hurricanes and flooding. Memorial hospital itself had little to no plan for evacuating patients once the storm hit. Without power, many of the patients, especially those who were ventilator dependent, became at risk of death.