Origins and Implications

1
Origins and Implications

• Principles of Emergency Management

2
Session Objectives

• Describe the barriers to defining a common set of
  principles for emergency management and Homeland
  Security.
• Discuss the development of the current set of
  principles and their strengths and weaknesses.

3
Session Objectives

• Identify the similarities and differences between
  Homeland Security and emergency management.
• Discuss how the principles could be adapted for
  use in both emergency management and Homeland
  Security.

4
Student Activity

• Define what is meant by a principle

5
Possible Definitions

• Websters New World Dictionary
• A fundamental truth, law, doctrine, or motivating
  force upon which others are based
• Other definitions
• A basic truth or law or assumption
• A rule or standard especially of good behavior
• A basic generalization that is accepted as true
  and can be used as a basis for reasoning or
  conduct

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Definition of Principles

• No easy answers
• research indicates that many if not most hazard,
  disaster, emergency management and related
  organizations have difficulty deciding what a
  principle is as opposed to a goal, value,
  strategy, practice, philosophical orientation,
  task, objective, core topic, etc. Ian Davis

7
Reasons for Divergence in Definitions

• Differences in fundamental values and
  organizational mandates
• Addressing disaster management from different
  operational perspectives
• Working in different parts of the disaster
  management spectrum

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Student Activity

• Given the three reasons for divergence, what
  differences might exist between emergency
  management and homeland security?

9
Points of Divergence

• Emergency Management

• Homeland Security

• Values Mandates
• Relieve suffering through mitigation and response
• Operational Perspectives
• Response is a phase
• Spectrum
• Mitigation and recovery share equal weight with
  response

• Values and Mandates
• Detect and deter terrorism
• Operational Perspectives
• Response is an end in itself
• Spectrum
• Response-centric
• Prevention is different from mitigation

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Other Points of Divergence

• Emergency managers favor an all-hazards approach
  homeland security favors scenario-based planning
• Emergency managers recognize the need for both
  formal and informal response mechanisms homeland
  security favors a centralized coordinating
  system.

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Other Points of Divergence

• Emergency managers are moving towards
  standards-based programs homeland security has
  no standards on which to base programs.
• Emergency managers are moving towards
  evidence-based planning based on fifty years of
  research literature homeland security is a new
  discipline with a limited knowledge base.

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Student Activity

• Discuss
• Why are principles important?
• What value can they add to an organization?

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Why Are Principles Important?

• Allow for the creation of more coherent sets of
  policies and procedures.
• Provide an ethical base for action.
• Guide various elements in disaster planning and
  implementation.

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Origins of the POEM Project

• Email from IAEM President Mike Selves to Wayne
  Blanchard
• Lack of understanding of what emergency managers
  do.
• Emergency management lacked a definition and a
  strong theoretical underpinning.
• An accepted set of principles could be used to
  educate federal employees and elected officials

15
Origins of the POEM Project

• Blanchard at the direction of Cortez Lawrence,
  EMI Director convenes working group
• Working group identifies eight principles and a
  definition and vision for EM
• Work group members gain adoption of the
  principles by major EM organizations

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Principle Hierarchy

• Level 1. Ethical, Core Value Principles, which
  relate to the underlying shared beliefs and
  concerns of organizations
• Level 2. Strategic Principles that concern policy
  direction will be informed and be based upon the
  ethical principles articulated in Level 1

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Principle Hierarchy

• Level 3. Tactical Principles that concern the
  practical outworking of the strategic principles
• Level 4. Implementation Principles that are
  related to all the preceding levels core values,
  strategies and tactics

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Student Activity

• Where does the current Principles of Emergency
  Management fall within the principle hierarchy?
• What are the implications of being at this level?
• What are the implications for accomplishing lower
  levels?

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Emergency Management

• Emergency management is the managerial function
  charged with creating the framework within which
  communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and
  cope with disasters.

20
Homeland Security Eco-system

• Terrorism
• All Hazards
• Terrorism and Catastrophes
• Jurisdictional Hazards
• Meta Hazards
• National Security
• Security above All

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Alternative Definitions

• Emergency management
• local government function dedicated to preserving
  life and property.
• focused on science, facts, and the environment
• Homeland security
• Federal government function that looks externally
  and targets organizations and individuals who are
  threats to the US.
• focused on people, beliefs and ideology.

22
Student Activity

• Identify commonalities between emergency
  management and homeland security.

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Commonalities

• Mitigation
• Core component of EM
• Prevention key focus of HS, some limited
  mitigation
• Preparedness
• EM focuses on increased capacity through building
  community resilience
• HS focus builds operational capabilities

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Commonalities

• Response
• EM focuses on relief to victim suffering
• HS focuses on restoring critical infrastructure
  and investigation
• Recovery
• EM focuses on community restoration for all
  events
• HS focuses on catastrophic events

25
Student Activity

• Given the divergence between the two disciplines
  and the differences even where they have areas in
  common, can the Principles of Emergency
  Management be adapted to guide both?

26
Conclusion

• Emergency management and homeland security share
  many commonalities, suggesting that it may be
  possible to develop a common set of principles.
• In many cases, there is congruence at the higher
  strategic level but considerable divergence at
  the operational and implementation levels.

27
Conclusion

• Despite these similarities, however, there are
  differences in the fundamental frame of reference
  for each discipline that may preclude the use of
  the Principles of Emergency Management as they
  currently exist.
• Modifying the current Principles may well degrade
  their utility to the emergency management
  community.