Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Top Ten Legal Issues Facing HS/EM

1. What are the inherently governmental functions of HS/EM programs, functions and activities? See for background OMB proposed guidance letter in the March 10, 2010 Federal Register.
2. What is the cultural that should be encouraged in HS/EM ranging from militarized top down command and control or colaborative and cooperative administration grounded in a bottom up approach? This includes issues from use of uniformed personnel to utilization of guns and badging!
3. Should DHS/FEMA be given more or in some cases any regulatory/standard setting authority?
4. Should the legal authorities of DHS/FEMA be made all-hazards?
5. How should DHS/FEMA operate its programs, functions, and activities in the face of public health concerns?
6. Should DHS/FEMA authority on Nuclear Power Plant offsite safety including its exercise program be expanded to all critical infrastructure that could cause disruption short or long term to the public health and safety or environment long term--beyond 90 days out from incident or envent--for a wide-scale regional area?
7. Should DHS/FEMA planning for catastrophic incidents/events include specific planning for riots and civil disorders?
8. Should DHS/FEMA preparedness include legal authority to mandate stockpiles of emergency supplies including those listed in DMO-4, 44 CFR Part 323, in any large-scale catastrophic incident or event? Note that the National Defense Stockpile and the National Medical Stockpile do not currently reflect DMO-4!
9. Should DHS/FEMA have collocated staff in each STATE EOC and what should authority and responsibility should they have vis a vis STATE operations and FEDERAL Operations?
10. Should DHS/FEMA focus their programs on all 90,000 local units of government or limit their efforts based on actual HS/EM existing capabilities? Meaning should DHS/FEMA concentrate on only those geographic areas and units that have existing or potential capability to respond to issues within their jurisdictional reach caused by any large-scale catastrophic incident or event?