Defense, U.S. Department of

Redefining Boundaries

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, blurred the compartmented relationships between the missions of homeland security, homeland defense, and natural disaster response. Reassessments of all these missions led to legislation that created new agencies and assigned roles and responsibilities designed to prevent another attack upon the nation. In particular, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5 created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and assigned its secretary as the principal federal official for incident management. However, [Page 102]DoD and the Secretary of Defense still retained a considerable amount of autonomy.

A U.S. Air Force Pararescueman assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, helps upload stranded New Orleans residents aboard a Pave Hawk helicopter during Hurricane Katrina disaster relief operations, September 6, 2005

The one-two punch of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over a quarter of a million people, as well as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, blurred the mission boundaries further, and precipitated additional calls—even from President George W. Bush—for a more involved role and increased responsibilities for DoD. The Post-Katrina Management Reform Act of 2006 (an update to the Stafford Act) granted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) additional powers, but did nothing to clarify the relationship between DHS, FEMA, and DoD, nor specifically designate one lead federal agency for all domestic incidents—a problem that still persists.

On the international scene, DoD developed and maintained disaster relief policies and regulations throughout the 1950s to 1990s, but was focused more on civil defense and left international relief efforts to the State Department and other civilian aid organizations. However, when called upon, DoD successfully responded with ad hoc forces that provided immediate relief in such instances as typhoons hitting Bangladesh (Operation Sea Angel in 1992) and hurricanes in the Caribbean (Hurricane Mitch in 1998).

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