Homeland Security: Federal Emergency Management Agency - Essay Example

 Homeland Security: Federal Emergency Management Agency 1. Name of the Agency Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a. Jurisdiction FEMA operates as a sub-agency under DHS being established under the Presidential Restructuring Plan no. 3 of 1978. The primary objective of this agency is to respond to any uncertain disasters witnessed by the US community, such as natural calamities of terrorist assaults which impose serious effects on the socio-economic stance of the US (FEMA, 2012). b. Size FEMA operates as a union of federal partners, local officials and general public with its sub-divisions located in various parts of the nation. On 1st March 2003, FEMA became a part of DHS organizing a separate division comprising more than 2,600 full time employees to combat security issues, especially witnessed in terms of terrorist attacks (FEMA, 2012). c. Mission FEMA’s mission is to protect and support the community members in the US and operate as a team in order to construct as well as maintain sustainable environment within the nation. Stating precisely, the division of FEMA working in alliance with the DHS focuses on the core objective to defend the nation’s people by delivering instant response to manmade disasters in particular (FEMA, 2012) 2. Role in Homeland Defense a. What does the agency itself say about its own role in Homeland Defense? According to FEMA’s reports, on 1st March 2003, the operations of FEMA were merged with the aims of DHS to create a new sub-division which currently operates as a part of the ‘Emergency Preparedness’. In January 2003, the then President George W. Bush selected Mr. Michael D. Brown as the director of this merged division of FEMA and DHS. After the merger, this division has been operating effectively with due focus on the motto of “A Nation Prepared”. As a part of DHS, FEMA’s core purpose has been to identify probable defense issues and deliver instant response to the disasters in order to protect the nation. In order to satisfy this purpose, in the year 2003, FEMA became united with Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs) and other federal agencies in order to obtain sufficient funds, manpower strengths and resources at the time of emergency (FEMA, 2012; FEMA, 2008). Additionally, FEMA also provide recovery equipments and also established Disaster Field Office within every province of US by combining with state as well as local emergency manager. Moreover, under DHS, FEMA formed as a decentralize team in order to deliver instant response to disasters and subsequently provide emergency recovery for the affected people. These teams are ‘Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team (DMORT)’, National ‘Disaster Medical System (NDMS)’, Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), and Mobile Emergency Resource Support (MERS) Team (FEMA, 2012; FEMA, 2008). b. What do the other resources say? According to Sobel, Coyne & Leeson (2007), in February 2003, FEMA was merged with DHS under the Federal Government restructuring plan in order to respond to the 9/11 attacks. The major goal of this reorganizing plan has been to enhance the operational efficiencies of governmental agencies in order to prevent uncertain terrorist assaults. According to the external sources, since its merger with DHS, FEMA has been quite busy in order to respond to terrorist assaults. However, in terms of its role, the agency has often been criticized on the basis of its managerial limitations towards protecting the nation against natural or man-made disasters. For instance, during the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA was criticized to deliver inadequate disaster relief services to the affected community people (Sobel, Coyne, & Leeson, 2007). 3. Summarize and Discuss In providing with effective defense facilities to the society, agencies, such as FEMA needs to witness various issues among which, working in alliance with other agencies and sub-groups at the federal level, state level and local level can be regarded as a vital concern. In the year 2012, after the occurrence of Atlantic hurricane, FEMA and DHS were prepared to support and provide recovery to the states and local members under the direction of President Barack Obama. During this Hurricane Season, FEMA worked quite effectively with its Federal partners and local as well as state officials. With its aim to defend the community from the disaster, FEMA provided with several resources to the affected people through to survive during such calamity. In this circumstance, government was reported to obtain effective support from FEMA which responded instantly as an emergency team taking several necessary steps in order to tackle the challenges of 2012 Atlantic hurricane disaster (Fugate, 2012). 4. Core values of FEMA a. List the Core Values The core values of FEMA are listed as follows. 1. Service to Disaster Victims 2. Integrated Preparedness 4. Operational Planning and Preparedness 5. Effective Incident Management 6. Emergency Communication b. Discuss how the core values of each of the three agencies compare with the SLU core values The core values of Saint Leo University (SLU) are Excellence, Community, Respect, Personal Development, Responsible Stewardship and Integrity. In SLU, with the aim to attain its core values, the association attempts to employ effectively and thereby ensure the deliverance of superior quality learning skill and knowledge to the students. Conversely, FEMA also aims at operating efficiently in order to provide instant response against any disasters and ensure security to the community members by employing highly skilled and trained manpower. Again, similar to SLU, FEMA also aims at effectually motivating its workforce in order to provide instant response towards the determined goals. Moreover, in relation to responsible stewardship SLU delivers and optimizes necessary resources to its community members. A similar strategy is often implemented by FEMA to deliver superior services along with essential resources i.e. food, shelter and water to the disaster affected community people (Saint Leo University, 2013; FEMA, 2012). c. How do the Core Values affect the balancing of the agencies’ missions to safeguard our nation with America’s traditional and constitutional respect for individual liberties? Responsive as well as consistent support to the disaster victims are accumulatively considered as one of the foremost priorities of FEMA. Additionally, FEMA also attempts to deliver instant and emergency access to the disaster areas and its people to safeguard them from potential losses to a large extent. FEMA has been envisioned towards employing various agencies to combat the defense related issues encompassing federal partners, volunteer associations at state levels and local groups. Hence, working in alliance with the other agencies, FEMA is able to obtain a broader vision to the defense issues with due respect to individual liberties. The management team of FEMA prepares unique operational planning through which it attempts to respond and provide recovery facilities to the community members at all levels in a systematic procedure securing individual liberties. Recruiting skilled manpower from every level of the society FEMA intends to preserve its competencies of effective incident management. With this concern, FEMA also provides superior training facilities to its workforce in order to respond consistently at the time of emergency circumstances making them aware of their moral responsibilities. FEMA plays a vital role in terms of emergency communication in alliance with associations working under the local as well as state governments and other federal agencies. FEMA also focuses on incessantly facilitating and maintaining constant emergency communication standards within the nation which at a larger context tends to ensure nation’s security by rendering individual liberties (FEMA, 2008). Agency 2 1. Name of the Agency Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) a. Jurisdiction In the year 1967, the Florida Legislature combined with the responsibilities as well as duties of several state departments of criminal justice and developed the Bureau of law Enforcement. In July 1969, after the restructuring of Florida Government, this bureau was renamed as the FDLE. Hence, FDLE operates under the state level jurisdiction enforced by Florida Government (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013). b. Size FDLE is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida employing more than 2,000 members in its statewide sub-divisions. Notably, in the current phenomenon, FDLE operates through seven departments of Regional Operations Centre (ROC) (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013). c. Mission FDLE was established with the mission to provide services in the five functional areas comprising ‘Florida Capitol Police Programs’, ‘Executive Direction and Business Support Programs’, ‘Criminal Investigations and Forensic Science Programs’ along with the ‘Criminal Justice Information and Professionalism Programs’ (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013).The core mission of FDLE has been thus to deliver superior services to the community in relation to defense from security issues maintaining an alliance with the local level, state level and federal level agencies and defend the state against criminal activities by effectively investigating and solving potential crimes (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013; Oppaga, 2013). 2. Role in Homeland Defense a. What does the agency itself say about its own role in Homeland Defense? In the year 1996, FDLE established the Office of Statewide Intelligence (OSI) with the primary role to analyze, plan, evaluate and report the intelligence information concerning the criminal activities within the state. OSI comprises several focus teams where each of them is entitled to communicate with the related state intelligence units and other federal agencies in order to identify the uncertain issues that may create a negative impact upon the security of the state (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013). b. What do the other resources say? According to West (2004), after the incident of 9/11, Florida Domestic Security Task Force (DSTF) was created to be headed by FDLE in order to scrutinize as well as respond towards terrorist assaults and threats within the state. FDLE is also known as ‘Florida Statewide Criminal Investigative Agency’ and has earned superior goodwill among the law enforcement community. The core function of DSTF under FDLE is to scrutinize early criminal offenses and mitigate uncertain terrorism assaults within Florida which has been performed quite effectively since the part years (West, 2004). 3. Summarize and Discuss In providing the state with effective defense support, FDLE also attempts to operate in partnership with various other agencies such as the Financial Crime Analysis Centre (FCAC). For instance, in the past few years, Financial Crime Analysis Centre (FCAC) under OSI and FDLE have been able to jointly identify and reveal several incidents and trends relating with money laundering cases and other criminal assaults within Florida. Taking the virtues of its partnership with FCAC, FDLE has been able to obtain the essential information required about criminal probabilities and likewise report to the law enforcement agencies and other federal agencies’ of DHS (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013). 4. Core values a. List of the core values of FDLE The core values of FDLE are Service, Integrity, Respect and Quality. b. Discuss how the core values of each of the three agencies compare with the SLU core values. When comparing the core values of SLU with that of FDLE, both the organizations can be observed to serve its community members by rendering adequate information. However, in relation to responsible stewardship, FDLE employs in alliance with the state, local and federal agencies in order to identify and protect the state against criminal assaults, whereas the functionalities of SLU is restricted in the local level. Furthermore, in terms of integrity, similar to SLU, FDLE always tends to provide suitable training facilities to its workforce in order to fulfill its mission and objectives (Saint Leo University, 2013; Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013). c. How do the core values affect the balancing of the agencies’ missions to safeguard our nation with America’s traditional and constitutional respect for individual liberties? FDLE always provides effective services to the law enforce communities and the other community members by protecting the state from the consequences of uncertain criminal assaults. FDLE always maintains integrity by providing superior training session to each and every employee towards the fulfillment of its operational mission and objectives. FDLE always shows respect and honor to each and every members of its department. Additionally, in terms of quality, FDLE always deliver superior services to the community member of the state by secure them against uncertain terrorism assault (Florida Department of law Enforcement, 2013). Agency 3 1. Name of the Agency Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) a. Jurisdiction The LAPD is regarded as one the major law enforcement agencies operating under the DHS within the city area of Los Angeles, California. Hence, the operations of LAPD are directly controlled by the central level and the local jurisdiction of Los Angeles (City of Los Angeles, 2013). b. Size LAPD was established in the year 1869 and currently employs more than 10,023 officers and 2,879 civilian staffs. In US, it is considered as the third leading domestic law enforcement agency. The police commissioners of Los Angeles control and manage the overall operational functions of LAPD (City of Los Angeles, 2013). c. Mission LAPD patrol officers always work as a team in order to defend the city against possible crimes. The agency principally works as a surveillance team in order to maximize the police presence within the entire city area of Los Angeles. Based on these concerns, the mission of the agency is to identify and inform about the crimes taking place or which are likely to take place within the city area along with developing security measure to defend such probabilities (City of Los Angeles, 2013; Downing, 2013). 2. Role in Homeland Defense a. What does the Agency itself say about its own role in Homeland Defense As a part of DHS, LAPD has been obtaining government honors at frequent instances for its superior operational performances. In order to protect the local community from terrorism and other criminal assaults, LAPD works with a wide-ranging network of more than 800 officers in every police departments located within the city area of around 498 square miles (1,290 km2). The groups of officers are further segregated into five operational divisions which comprise Metropolitan Air Support, Major Crimes, Emergency Operation and Services with a greater probability of criminal activities (City of Los Angeles, 2013). b. What do the other resources say? According to Risling (2012), LAPD has today become one of the leading police agencies being renowned as “predictive policing” because of its capability to detect criminal activities at the earliest. In order to suffice its role, LAPD has established innovative operational policing model in order to investigate post-attack criminal activities and prevent the city from uncertain criminal offenses. The department also takes several attempts in order to solve and identify the early criminal assault within the city (Risling, 2012). 3. Summarize and Discuss In past few years, LAPD had to experience several counter-terrorism cases from their investigative radar which they intend to identify and solve in an effective manner. Some of the important terrorist cases dealt by LAPD are Hezbollah Funding Case, Black Rider case and Jam’yyat Al-Islam Al-Saheeh case. To be mentioned, in relation to Hezbollah funding case, LAPD was successful to arrest the leading funding group of the Hezbollah terrorist group with the help of their task force and the members of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (Downing, 2013). 4. Core Values a. List of core values of LAPD The core values of LAPD are to protect the lives as well as intellectual property, minimize the criminal incidence and the fear of crimes within the community people. Additionally, LAPD is also committed to improve public safety while operating within the diverse community members. Moreover, the other values of LAPD are to maintain honor, integrity and superior ethical standard while protecting community members against criminal assaults (Los Angeles Police Department, 2013). b. Discuss how the Core Values of each of the three agencies compare with the SLU Core Values In terms of excellence, LAPD always operates as a team, similar to that considered in SLU, in order to preserve effective surveillance of the crimes and defend Los Angeles against potential criminal offenses. When comparing with the core value of SLU, LAPD can also be observed to maintain integrity by motivating its task forces regarding the attainment of its operational mission and objectives (Saint Leo University, 2013; City of Los Angeles, 2013). c. How do the Core Values affect the balancing of the agencies’ missions to safeguard our nation with America’s traditional and constitutional respect for individual liberties? LAPD always attempts to utilize innovative technology during its operations in order to combat criminal activities within the city area. Moreover, LAPD also utilizes crime mapping in order to provide security to each and every community members against uncertain criminal assaults. The core values of LAPD are to safeguard the essential resources of the city, reduce the rate of crime and deliver sustainable environment within the community members, which is to be established with these strategies (Los Angeles Police Department, 2013). References City of Los Angeles. (2013). The Los Angeles Police Department. Retrieved from http://www.lapdonline.org/ Downing, Michael P. (2013). Policing Terrorism in the United States: The Los Angeles Police Department's Convergence Strategy. Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1729&issue_id=22009 Florida Department of law Enforcement. (2013). Investigations & forensic science program office: Office of statewide intelligence. Retrieved from http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/content/getdoc/595aab23-67a2-4dd8-9bdb-e0dac2f25559/OSI-Home.aspx Fugate, Craig. (2012). Preparing for this year’s hurricane season. Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2012/06/01/preparing-year%E2%80%99s-hurricane-season Florida Department of Law Enforcement. (2013). General information about FDLE. Retrieved from http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/content/getdoc/64df9dd9-4282-4a81-9407-dbbb231e28a9/General-Information.aspx Florida Department of Law Enforcement. (2013). The FDLE mission. Retrieved from http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/5b0ebc01-4a8e-4f81-9f70-b7760fa0f342/FDLE-Mission-Brochure.aspx FEMA. (2012). About the agency. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/about FEMA. (2008). Continuously strengthening operations. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/pdf/about/brochure.pdf Los Angeles Police Department. (2013). Annual Report 2011. Retrieved from http://www.lapdonline.org/year_in_review Oppaga. (2013). FDLE’s services consistent with its mission; salaries vary; and staffing levels comparable to other law enforcement agencies. Retrieved from http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/reports/pdf/0619rpt.pdf Risling. (2012). Predictive policing' technology lowers crime in Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/predictive-policing-technology-los-angeles_n_1641276.html Sobel, R. S., Coyne, C. J., & Leeson, P. T. (2007). The political economy of FEMA: did reorganization matter. Retrieved from http://faculty.citadel.edu/sobel/All%20Pubs%20PDF/Pol_Econ_of_FEMA_Reorg.pdf Saint Leo University. (2013). Mission & Values. Retrieved from http://online.saintleo.edu/about-us/mission-values.aspx West, B. (2004). Counter-Terrorism that works. Retrieved from http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=13222 Read More