Instruction
Read the excerpt below from Paula Gordon’s article, The State of Emergency Management and Homeland Security:
“What has happened to the field of emergency management since 9/11? The fledgling field of homeland security is composed of many individuals who have had no substantial background in emergency management and no experience in coordinating inter- and intra-governmental efforts, both of which are integral to emergency management. Those in emergency management are being challenged to develop expertise in rarified specialty areas involving tactics of mass disruption and weapons of mass destruction and those in homeland security are being challenged to assimilate decades of knowledge, experience, and understanding of a field that is foreign to them, the field of emergency management. Post-Hurricane Katrina, those in both fields are also being challenged to develop a far broader understanding of catastrophic events than has existed in recent decades. Where does that leave us and what might be done to help address this disparity in backgrounds and perspectives? In-service training and education could make a great difference. Indeed, while there has been movement in that direction, many of those involved in helping provide direction for in-service training and education efforts as well as those providing direction for pre-service training and education efforts, do not always have backgrounds in emergency management or do not always have cross disciplinary backgrounds that would enable them to guide training and education efforts along the most productive lines possible” (Gordon, 2007)
Reference
Gordon, P. (2007, August). The state of emergency management and homeland security.PA Times, 30(8). (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Retrieved from http://users.rcn.com/pgordon/homeland/stateofEM.html
Based on the excerpt, In 700 words and in APA format and using article and well renowned sources to support you work, respond to the following questions:
• Do you agree with Gordon’s premise that emergency management and homeland security speak different languages while using the same concept—all hazards?
• How might these differences be resolved to streamline an all-hazards approach?
• Create a list of five ways in which a unified all-hazards approach might work.