A Need for Emphasis on Local Leadership in Emergency Management

ISSN:2157-2526 JBTBD, an open access journal J Bioterr Biodef Bioterrorism: Disaster preparedness education and public health In 2009, I participated in the Joint Urban Warrior exercise sponsored by the Marine Corps War fighting Laboratory and the Joint Forces Command-Joint Irregular Warfare Center, focusing on the problem of integrating military and civilian efforts in stability operations. In my analytical cell, the question arose as to where the necessary expertise could be found in civilian agencies, and in our discussions, it quickly became apparent that, for the most part, the applied skills were found not in federal civilian agencies, but in state and local government agencies. Besides representing a lesson lost within the military Civil Affairs community (in the Second World War Civil Affairs and Military Government soldiers were largely recruited from academia and sub-national government officials), but also an important cue that even in national security areas, the federal government may not always know best. A state extension officer, for example, may well know more about practical aspects of crop production than a federal USDA expert in agricultural price supports. In areas like biodefense or emergency preparedness, intricately entwined with public health, local officials are also likely to be the key players in effective incident response.