For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of the local, state, tribal, and federal Preparedness Task Force—a council of experts charged with assessing the state of the nation’s disaster preparedness and making recommendations to Secretary Napolitano about ways to build resiliency in communities across America.
“Enhancing preparedness across our nation requires close collaboration between all levels of government,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The recommendations of this Task Force—comprised of emergency management and homeland security experts from states, cities and tribes across the country—will help guide our ongoing efforts to ensure the resilience of communities throughout the nation.” The Task Force is comprised of 35 members of local, state and tribal governments—many of whom have also served within federal government—offering a diverse cross-section of experience in homeland security and emergency management missions. The Task Force will also engage Congressional partners, as well as the private sector and non-governmental and development organizations through a variety of outreach activities.
The Conference Report accompanying the 2010 DHS Appropriations Act called for a Task Force responsible for “making recommendations for all levels of government regarding: disaster and emergency guidance and policy; federal grants; and federal requirements”—with an emphasis on identifying preparedness policies, guidelines and grant programs that should be updated and recommending paths forward to improve the nation’s collective capabilities for preparing for disasters.
The Task Force will conduct regular meetings and expects to deliver recommendations in September 2010.
Local, State, Tribal, and Federal Preparedness Task Force Members Charles H. Ada II, Administrator, Guam Office of Civil Defense Karen Baker, Secretary of Service and Volunteering, State of California John Cary Bittick, Sheriff, Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Georgia Dave Bunce, Fire Chief, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Fire Department, Arizona Jeffery C. Cash, Fire Chief and Emergency Manager, City of Cherryville Fire Department, North Carolina Salvatore Cassano, Commissioner, City of New York Fire Department Nicholas Crossley, Director, Johnson County, Kansas, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Edward F. Davis, Commissioner, City of Boston Police Department Robert DesRosier, Director, Blackfeet Nation Homeland Security Program and Emergency Services Program, Montana Patricia Dukes, Chief of Emergency Medical Services, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Brigadier General Donald P. Dunbar, Adjutant General, State of Wisconsin Angela English, Executive Director, Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities Charley English, Director and Homeland Security Advisor, Georgia Emergency Management Agency, State of Georgia Anthony H. Griffin, County Executive, Fairfax County, Virginia Dwight E. Henninger, Chief of Police, Town of Vail Police Department, Colorado James D. Himes, Assistant Director, Metro Nashville and Davidson County Department of Public Works, Tennessee Hubert Douglas Hoell, Jr., Director, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, State of North Carolina Jeffrey D. Johnson, Fire Chief/Administrator, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Oregon Hans Kallam, Director, Colorado Division of Emergency Management, State of Colorado Ron Lane, Director, County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services, California Joseph Laporte, Public Safety Director, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan John. W. Ledbetter, Executive Director, Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, State of Mississippi Pamela L‘Heureux, Director of Emergency Management, Waterboro, Maine John Madden, Director, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, State of Alaska Raymond Orozco, Chief of Staff, City of Chicago, Illinois Jim Page, Executive Director, Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System Kerry Pettingill, Director, Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security Mary Selecky, Secretary, Washington State Department of Health David Taylor, State Chief Information Officer and Executive Director, Agency for Enterprise Information Technology, Florida Lyda Ann Thomas, Mayor, City of Galveston, Texas MaryAnn E. Tierney, Deputy Managing Director for Emergency Management, City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Alan Dennis (A.D.) Vickery, Assistant Chief of Risk Management, Seattle Fire Department, Washington John Wageman, State Hazard Mitigation Officer, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, State of Iowa John Wheeler, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, State of New Mexico Thomas Wyss, State Senator, Indiana State Senate For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
