Work on the National Preparedness Goal required by “HSPD 8,” a presidential directive signed by President George Bush last year, is progressing, and a national strategy is expected to be delivered soon to President Bush by DHS Secretary Tom Ridge.

When released, fire service officials need to examine the strategy carefully “to make sure it’s something we can live with,” says Chief John M. Buckman III, a past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Chief of the German Township (Ind.) Volunteer Fire Department, Buckman is a participant in the interagency work group working with the Homeland Security Council under DHS to meet the requirements of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 8. The directive requires the development of a national all-hazards preparedness goal with national input, mechanisms to improve delivery of preparedness assistance and specific actions to strengthen capabilities (see www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/hspd-8.html). The National Preparedness Strategy that Ridge is preparing to hand over to the president is in addition to the final draft of National Response Plan to be rolled out soon.

A national training and exercise system and a national preparedness assessment and reporting system will be prepared to achieve the National Preparedness Goal.

More “practioner involvement” is needed, Buckman says, to ensure the national strategy and its supporting mechanisms don’t become unwieldy and cumbersome to the chief on the street.

“The issue of homeland security is very complex, and it’s also huge. The people who are developing plans for HSPD-8 may not have experience in responding to emergencies,” said Buckman. “There is sometimes a huge difference between writing plans and emergency response. The written word does not always match with what has to happen in an emergency.”

Local fire chiefs and law enforcement should be tuning in to the National Preparedness Strategy, Buckman says, “because there are going to be mandates coming down from the federal government on assessment, on reporting, on training and equipping [emergency responders] that will impact, state, tribal and local governments and local fire chiefs.”

In a report on the progress on HSPD-8 at to the IAFC Terrorism Committee at Fire-Rescue International in New Orleans in August, Buckman said the following work on HSPD 8 had been accomplished:

• A suite of 15 common scenarios to illustrate threats and hazards of national significance, including 12 terrorist attacks, two national disasters and an outbreak of pandemic influenza has been developed to provide a foundation for the development of national preparedness goals and emergency responder capability requirements.
• Based on those 15 scenarios, an initial version of a “Universal Task List,” a 140-page document identifying 1,600 to 1,700 tasks that should be performed at all levels of government to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from major events has been developed.
• A team was being assembled to define a “Target Capabilities List,” a list of capabilities needed to perform the Universal Task List. The next step will be to develop “Performance Metrics,” to measure the performance of the essential tasks.
• An outline for a Unified National Preparedness Strategy was submitted to the Senior Steering Committee and Integrated Concept Team.
• An initial description of the Balanced Investments Mechanism to establish a unified approach and tools for capability-based planning and resources was complete.
• An initial system description for a National Training and Exercise System was complete.
• An initial description for a National Preparedness Assessment and Reporting System, which includes self-assessment and peer-review of preparedness, was complete, paving the way for an annual report on national preparedness to the president.
• A National Exercise Program that provides a national exercise strategy and comprehensive national program, including senior officials and national-level exercises was complete.
• The Lessons Learned Information Sharing System (www.llis.gov), was launched.
• A one-stop-shop for federal assistance grants was launched (www.grants.gov).