The 21st century has brought many changes to the world, and in the United States we have witnessed many lifealtering events in the infancy of the 21st century. Immediately prior to ushering in the new millennium the world readied for the potential threats of Y2K, and arguably perhaps we witnessed for the first time a change in the paradigm of preparedness. Globally, from the private sector to all levels of government, systems were inspected, processes were evaluated, and contingency planning occurred for the potential changes Y2K might bring. One might argue that the predicted problems associated with Y2K did not occur because they were blown out of proportion or that we actually adequately prepared for and corrected the potential pitfalls, and in reality this might be a debate with no conclusion. Just as the world breathed a sigh of relief and the pundits made the foregoing arguments, the events of September 11, 2001, altered the course of history and indeed the lives of the citizens of the world. As Americans we were made painfully aware that all of our planning efforts and contingency plans for disasters were woefully inadequate to meet the challenges of terrorism and weapons of mass effect.

Before September 11, 2001, our counterterrorism efforts, training, and education were piecemeal and overseen by a myriad of federal departments, including the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Justice (DoJ), Department of Energy (DoE), Department of State (DoS), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Department of Agriculture (DoA), as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and a host of smaller agencies.

In 1996, Congress attempted to address some of the issues of preparation for weapons of mass effect (or many refer to them as weapons of mass destruction) with the passage of the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, more commonly known as the Nunn-Luger-Domenici Initiative. This bill recognized the lack of preparedness among first responders safely responding to acts of terrorism involving NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) weapons and provided funding for the preparation of the 125 largest U.S. cities. The DoD was initially responsible for the delivery of this program and authorized to provide training and exercises to local jurisdictions in an effort to improve preparedness at the local level. The act also authorized the DHHS, through the Office of Emergency Preparedness (now the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; ASPR), to develop Metropolitan Medical Response Systems in local jurisdictions. At that time, the Office of Emergency Response was charged with oversight of the National Disaster Medical System and Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, which was transferred to FEMA after creation of the DHS, then transferred back to the ASPR in 2007. The Nunn-Luger-Domenici Initiative later turned it over to the DoJ’s Office of Justice programs, more specifically the Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP), which was later transferred to the DHS. The DHSS, through its Health Resources Service Agency (HRSA)’s Hospital Bioterrorism Program and the CDC, provided some funding and guidance for health care and public health in an
effort to provide education and training concerning the effects of a weapon of mass effect.

After the attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, in 2001, President George Walker Bush initially created the Office of Homeland Security within the White House and later, in 2002, called for the creation of a new federal department at the cabinet level to address the issues and concerns of homeland defense and hopefully consolidate and unify our nation’s efforts to mitigate and respond to terrorist, naturally occurring, and man-made events. With strong congressional support, the DHS was created by the Department of Homeland Security Act of 2002. This act brought together 22 agencies relating to homeland defense/security that were formerly housed in the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Justice, Transportation, and Treasury or as independent entities. Agencies with functions relating to homeland security that were not included in the DHS were the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA).

The creation of the DHS marked the largest and most encompassing restructuring of the executive branch since the creation of the DoD in 1947 (1947-1949). Former Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, who served as the first head of the White House Office of Homeland Security, was appointed the first Secretary of DHS on January 24, 2003. In March 2003 the involved agencies began the transfer to the newly created DHS, which became the third largest executive department in the federal government. The initial configuration of the DHS involved the creation of four major directorates: Border and Transportation Security, Emergency Preparedness and Response, Science and Technology, and Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) (1).