Civil Defense And Disaster Relief Responsibilities example essay topic

History of Civil Defense in the United States 1945- Present History of Civil Defense in the United States 1945 - Present Civil Defense History The purpose of this paper is to outline the development of civil defense in the United States from 1945 until the present. Also addressed are selected medical aspects of civil defense and lessons learned from prior civil defense initiatives. Civil defense is defined as "activities organized by civilians for their own protection in time of war or disaster" (Hyperdictionary, 2004). Civil defense became a major issue during World War I as the conduct of war between nations expanded to include attacks on cities, factories, and civilians that were essential to war in the industrial age. Civil defense became even more important during World War II. The explosion of the Soviet Union's first atomic bombs signaled the fact that civil defense would remain a permanent fixture of the Cold War (Dobbs, 2001).

Between 1945 and 1949, various agencies undertook studies of civil defense (Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, 2004). During the 1950's, American civil defense was characterized by a city-evacuation system (Dobbs, 2001). The American city-evacuation plan called for citizens in highly populated areas to put distance between themselves and the explosive effects and fallout of a nuclear attack. In their original incarnation, Civil Defense programs sought to develop sheltering capabilities to house people in attacked cities. Civil defense planners were also developing mass evacuation plans for supposed targets of the USSR. During the 1953-1958 time period, there continued to be arguments over whether evacuation or sheltering was to be the nation's policy regarding response to a nuclear attack.

President John F. Kennedy, sensing that the overwhelming majority of state and local governments were doing little if anything to develop a sheltering capability, decided to make civil defense preparedness once again a central issue. A full-fledged nationwide shelter program, funded by the federal government was developed. In the early 1970's, federal level organizations moved toward allowing the dual-use of civil defense funds and equipment to be utilized for natural disaster preparedness. For a brief period of time, the federal government allowed the states to treat natural disaster preparedness as their primary role with respect to the use of federal civil defense funds. This changed again, however, following the ascendancy of Gerald Ford to the Presidency, and once again, states were required to treat planning for a nuclear attack as their primary function. President Jimmy Carter created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1979 and consolidated several dozen, disparate emergency preparedness and civil defense functions into a single entity.

Its function was supposed to be the coordination of federal response to disasters and the provision of planning and programmatic assistance to state and local governments in the development of mechanisms to protect the civilian population from all threats. However, FEMA directors through the first Bush administration steered the agency toward national security programs (Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, 2004). With the end of the Cold War in 1991, attention shifted from the national security and attack preparedness end of the threat spectrum to focusing on disasters (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2004). In 1992, President Bush signed a revised civil defense policy that recognized changes in the order and range of threats and placed emphasis on response preparedness to the consequences of emergencies regardless of the cause (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2004). The terrorist attacks of 2001 once again shifted the focus of FEMA to a civil defense rather than a disaster relief orientation. The events of September 11, 2001 also prompted the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

This organization is an umbrella for many federal agencies having civil defense responsibilities (White House, 2004). Key Medical Aspects of Civil Defense Historically, with few exceptions, civil defense has received little support or funding at the federal level. Preparedness, including medical preparedness, suffered accordingly. Recent events, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have served as catalysts for changing this situation. Three key elements of national medical preparedness are early detection, emergency preparedness and response and a stockpile of essential medical supplies. These three elements are briefly discussed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asserts that the most critical component for bio-terrorism outbreak detection and reporting is the frontline healthcare profession and the local health departments. Preparedness should emphasize education and support of this frontline as well as methods to shorten the time between outbreak and reporting. Efforts should include education of frontline public health workers. Clinical laboratories should have the capacity and legal latitude to use all appropriate testing.

Existing national health surveillance systems should be modified or strengthened to increase their effectiveness in identifying bio-terrorism (Ashford, et al, 2003). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry (CDC / ATSDR) have developed a national public health strategy for terrorism preparedness and response. This strategy highlights efforts that will continue building on agency competencies to bridge gaps for comprehensive terrorism preparedness and response services. Strategic imperatives chart the course by which CDC / ATSDR will prepare for and respond to terror-related public health emergencies. They will provide tools, resources and support that allow the CDC / ATSDR organization to achieve its terrorism preparedness and response mission with greater efficiency and effectiveness. In 1999 Congress charged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the establishment of the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS).

The mission was to provide a re-supply of large quantities of essential medical materiel to states and communities during an emergency within twelve hours of the federal decision to deploy. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 tasked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with defining the goals and performance requirements of the Program as well as managing the actual deployment of assets. Effective on 1 March 2003, the NPS became the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) managed jointly by DHS and HHS. The SNS Program works with governmental and non-governmental partners to upgrade the nation's public health capacity to respond to a national emergency.

Critical to the success of this initiative is ensuring capacity is developed at federal, state, and local levels to receive, stage, and dispense SNS assets. One of the most significant factors in determining SNS composition, however, is the medical vulnerability of the U.S. civilian population. The SNS Program ensures that the medical materiel stock is rotated and kept within potency shelf-life limits. State and local first responders and health officials can use the SNS to bolster their response to a national emergency.

The decision to deploy SNS assets may be based on evidence showing the overt release of an agent that might adversely affect public health. It is more likely, however, that subtle indicators, such as unusual morbidity and / or mortality identified through the nation's disease outbreak surveillance and epidemiology network, will alert health officials to the possibility (and confirmation) of a biological or chemical incident or a national emergency (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). Lessons Learned Many lessons may be learned from the examination of prior civil defense efforts. During the early 1950's many believed that measures that had proven effective for conventional air raids could be adapted to atomic attack, no matter the catastrophic scale.

However, it soon became apparent that additional programs would be required as the unprecedented destructive force of nuclear weapons was revealed. There was growing realization that an evacuation of major cities in the shadow of a nuclear attack was not feasible, so the primary emphasis continued to be centered on fallout shelter. Evacuation planners had to confront the fact that a Soviet missile could reach the U.S. in a few minutes, and that we did not have several hours to carry out an evacuation. The creation of FEMA showed that a single agency charged with both civil defense and disaster relief responsibilities was both more efficient and more cost effective than delegating these responsibilities among several federal agencies. The end of the Cold War did not necessarily mean that the United States no longer needed to engage in civil defense activities. Perhaps the most important lessons regarding civil defense (or the lack thereof) were learned from the events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent bio-terrorism events.

These occurrences underscored the fact that the United States is vulnerable to both conventional and unconventional acts of terrorism.

Bibliography

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