After several months of collecting feedback, the Department of Homeland Security delivered its first quadrennial review to Congress last week. The 108-page Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Report: A Strategic Framework for a Secure Homeland represents the department’s goals for the next four years, as well as ideas for partnering with other agencies and organizations to keep the country “safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards.”
Not surprisingly, DHS identified terrorism, border security, immigration, cybersecurity, and disaster resilience as focus areas, with a series of related goals outlined in each category. The department’s next step will be to align its current practices with the missions set out in the report and budget accordingly.
While the report is far-reaching and largely business-as-usual, there are some areas that point to an interest in local capacity building, according to a brief overview by Center for Strategic and International Studies Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Program Director Rick “Ozzie” Nelson.
“The first is the emphasis on enhancing ‘community resilience,’ or the ability of cities, towns, and neighborhoods to respond to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and other perturbations,” he writes. “The rationale behind this initiative makes sense: local officials—like fire and police—along with citizens are the inevitable first responders in the event of a catastrophe; therefore, they should be appropriately equipped to administer relief. DHS envisions its role as enhancing the capacity of these first responders to act in major crises.”
This, along with a renewed commitment to the troubled fusion center concept (fully staffed operations centers that collect and analyze information from law enforcement, public safety officials, and private entities), is an indication that DHS is “marshaling America’s collective capacities for domestic security,” Nelson wrote. “But the most effective assets ultimately will be well-resourced local officials and well-educated citizens.”
According to DHS, more than 20,000 people participated in the series of three dialogues held before the review. Archives of these comment periods, held from July to October 2009, are available on the Quadrennial Review website.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.