You can read the briefing that Donald (Doc) Lumpkins gave at a recent EMForum.org event. His topic was Presidential Policy Directive 9 (PPD-8) and the National Preparedness System
Maybe it is too strong a word to describe Doc Lumpkins as the architect since he doesn't necessarily have the final say, but he is guiding the process. Be sure and read what he covered and also read the Q&A at the end that provides some clarifications on a number of topics.
Here's some thoughts on what I read:
- Risk is still driving the train. At least it is all-hazards risk versus the early days of the Department of Homeland Security when only terrorism risk mattered to those in the driver's seat.
- Those nasty words "performance measurement" keep cropping up again and again. This one is not going away any time soon.
- Target Capabilities List (TCL) is out, Core Capabilities are in. Nice to see that it is described as a "soft transition" for 2012. It was noted that TCL was operationally focused with no mention of mitigation (but then, who really cares about mitigation in the first place).
- They are trying to shift the focus off the government and have a whole community approach to national preparedness, which I agree with. But, that is not an easy thing to do. Everyone is focused on the Federal system that has evolved and still exists today. If whole community is going to be successful it will need to be a multi-generational effort. I'm not sure we can sustain anything for that long--since we are driven by changes in administration and philosophy at every turn.
- PPD-8 is seen as an evolution and not a revolution in policy and guidance. I might as well talk about it here. The whole prevent, protect, mitigate, respond and recover bit. The first three are a bit jumbled together and in the Q&A the mixing of term is elaborated on. So we are having a National Preparedness System with out a descriptive term for what was once preparedness: planning, training and exercising. Seems odd to me that somehow we have "evolved" to this present state of confusion. Is "preparedness system"now the overarching term?
- More frameworks are coming. Don't confuse these with plans--which they are not. At least that has now been made clearer for me since the institution of the first National Response Framework, which is clearly not a plan.
- Everyone still mentions Citizen Corps like it is "functioning" and in reality the system that was built for it has been taken apart as the funding dedicated to it has been eliminated. Not that it doesn't exist in some communities, but really, just kill it and put it out of its misery if you don't like it.
- FEMA's Ideascale is mentioned several times. It is a place to suggest ideas and where you can vote for those you like. OK, what is the difference between it and the FEMA Think Tank? Is it like in baseball there is no crying or voting that makes Think Tank different? Anyone is welcome to post a comment to this blog posting and explain the difference between the two sites to me and the rest of the world. It wouldn't be because the idea for each came from different FEMA divisions?
- There it is again, the mention of cyber security. There is more risk there than what the average emergency manager sees day-to-day. I'll have a blog posting on that coming soon.
Again, a document worth reading to help you get your head around the changes taking place back in D.C. that will impact you in the future.
