4.1 Post-Katrina Reforms

WHO? The Department of Homeland Security.

WHAT? Created to address the 9/11 terrorist threat, continues to evolve to meet new challenges.

WHEN? DHS focus and structure have continually changed over the tenure of five Secretaries.

WHERE? The changes affect the DHS mission as it is accomplished nationally and internationally.

WHY? To safeguard the nation from domestic catastrophic destruction.

Hurricane Katrina resulted in significant change to the Department of Homeland Security, both in its focus and structure. And so DHS would evolve with each new Challenge faced by each new Secretary. Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security, left DHS in February 2005, long before Hurricane Katrina came along. He set DHS on a terrorism footing, and became famous for “duct tape”. In March 2002, the Office of Homeland Security created the Homeland Security Advisory System, a color-coded alert system to warn the nation of suspected increased threats from terrorism. In February 2003, just weeks after activating, DHS raised the alert level to “orange”, or “high risk”, and issued an advisory urging Americans to prepare for biological, chemical, or radiological attack by assembling a “disaster supply kit” including duct tape and plastic to seal a room from contamination. The alert incited panic as millions rushed out to buy duct tape and plastic sheeting. In the backlash, the new Department was harshly criticized for recommending measures that were largely ineffective. The incident also became the butt of many jokes, and was the subject of many late night programs. Tom Ridge defended DHS’s actions, and endured jokes about the incident for years to come. It fell to Michael Chertoff, the second Secretary of Homeland Security, to deal with the events and consequences from Hurricane Katrina. Congressional and White House reports blamed DHS for poor leadership, organizational failures, and insufficient readiness. The result was the 2006 Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act. Chief among the changes enacted by the law was the disposition of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It had been subordinated deep within DHS when the Department was created. The Post-Katrina Emergency Reform Act elevated FEMA within DHS, and placed disaster preparedness and response on an equal priority basis with terrorism. DHS also recast the National Response Plan as the National Response Framework, and geared their grants and exercise programs to familiarize State and Local officials with Federal emergency support. The 2005 US hurricane season was unusual for six storms making landfall, four of them Cat-3 hurricanes. No hurricanes struck in 2006, and the next strongest storms, Harvey and Irma, both Cat-4, struck in 2017. Even so, most agreed DHS did a much better job when Gustav and Ike, both Cat-2, struck in 2008. Still, Congress continued to pass legislation affecting the organization and outlook of DHS. Perhaps the most significant was the 2007 Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act. After completing their landmark analysis in 2004 of the failures leading to 9/11, the commissioners continued to press for changes they thought necessary to improve the nation’s security. Congress responded with new legislation after the former co-chairs, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, released a book titled “Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission”. Among its many provisions, the new law required DHS to conduct a comprehensive examination of its mission and organization every four years starting in 2009. Janet Napolitano was Secretary when DHS conducted its first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review in 2010. She became Secretary when President Obama took office in January 2009. The 2010 QHSR was significant for elevating cyber-attack as a priority threat to the nation. Cyber-attack had first been identified as a potential homeland security threat in a 1997 presidential report commissioned following the 1995 Tokyo Subway Attacks. The 1997 report noted that large-scale integration of computer controls into critical infrastructure might one day make it vulnerable to cyber-attack. In 1997, the Internet was just emerging into commercial use and had no more than 70 million users worldwide, about 1.7% of the global population, and cyber-attack was relatively unknown. By 2010, the Internet had grown to 2 billion users, about 28.7% of the global population, and the US had been rocked by major cyber-attacks on business, government, and the military. Three secretaries and two QHSRs later, cyber-attack remains a major DHS concern, as do natural disasters and terrorism. And DHS continues to evolve to meet these challenges as best they can.