The 'National Preparedness Report' summarizes the progress made and challenges that remain in building and sustaining the capabilities needed to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the threats, hazards and incidents that pose the greatest risk to the Nation. As a requirement of the 'Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006' and a key element of the National Preparedness System, this annual report offers all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public practical insights into preparedness that support decisions about program priorities, resource allocation, and community actions. The '2019 National Preparedness Report (2019 Report)' presents an overview of the five preparedness mission areas--Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery-- and describes major findings identified through community-wide research and engagement.
This report marks the third National Preparedness Report (NPR). Required annually by Presidential Policy Directive 8: National Preparedness, the National Preparedness Report summarizes progress in building, sustaining, and delivering the 31 core capabilities described in the National Preparedness Goal (the Goal). Each year, the National Preparedness Report presents an opportunity to evaluate gains that whole community partners--including all levels of government, private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations, communities, and individuals--have made in preparedness and to identify where challenges remain. This year's report focuses primarily on preparedness activities undertaken or reported during 2013. The intent of the National Preparedness Report is to provide the Nation--not just the Federal Government--with practical insights on core capabilities that can inform decisions about program priorities, resource allocation, and community actions. Based on stakeholder feedback, the 2014 report places a renewed emphasis on approachable language, clear visuals, and concise findings that are interesting and useful to preparedness professionals and non-experts alike. While the National Preparedness Report focuses on domestic efforts, the Federal Government also engages with international partners and organizations to understand and collaborate on issues such as cybersecurity, supply chain integrity and security, and infrastructure security and resilience.
The NPR includes analysis based on data available as of December 31, 2019, that helps decision-makers understand the risks facing the Nation and the country’s ability to address those risks. Additionally, the report includes content that can inspire action and identify areas of focus. The report provides an annual picture of the risks the Nation faces; the capabilities the Nation has—and needs—to prepare for those risks; and data-driven analysis of current, critical considerations in emergency management.
The Nation has made measurable strides toward improving preparedness for the full range of hazards at all levels of government and across all segments of society. National preparedness has improved not only for the countless threats posed by those who wish to bring harm to the American homeland but also for the many natural and technological hazards that face the Nation's communities. Presidential Policy Directive 8: National Preparedness (PPD-8) describes the Nation's approach to preparing for the threats and hazards that pose the greatest risk to the security of the United States. The Directive requires a National Preparedness Report (NPR), an annual report summarizing the progress made toward building, sustaining, and delivering the 31 core capabilities described in the National Preparedness Goal (the Goal). As the NPR coordinator, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked with the full range of whole community partners—including all levels of government, private and nonprofit sectors, faith-based organizations, communities, and individuals—to develop the NPR. Specifically, FEMA collaborated with federal interagency partners to identify quantitative and qualitative performance and assessment data for each of the 31 core capabilities. In addition, FEMA integrated data from the 2011 State Preparedness Reports (SPRs), statewide self-assessments of core capability levels submitted by all 56 U.S. states and territories through a standardized survey. Finally, FEMA conducted research to identify recent, independent evaluations, surveys, and other supporting data related to core capabilities. FEMA synthesized, reviewed, and analyzed all of these data sources in order to derive key findings that offer insight on critical issues in preparedness, including areas where the Nation has made progress and where areas of improvement remain. During the development of specific core capability key findings, eight broader trends in national preparedness emerged. As shown below, these overarching key findings synthesize information from across multiple core capabilities and mission areas and reflect national-level results on preparedness progress and gaps. With the September 2011 release of the Goal, the Nation is transitioning to a new set of core capabilities. As a result, whole community partners are updating their efforts to collect, analyze, and report preparedness progress according to the Goal's core capabilities and preliminary targets. The 2012 NPR therefore relies on a range of existing assessment approaches and associated quantitative and qualitative data to present the Nation's preparedness progress and to report key findings. Assessment processes, methodologies, and data will evolve in future years to align more directly with the Goal and its capabilities. Efforts are already underway to refine the Goal's capabilities and preliminary targets; future efforts will focus on developing agreed-upon measures and assessment methodologies that will guide the annual development of the NPR.
When communities face complex public health emergencies, state local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies must make difficult decisions regarding how to effectively respond. The public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) system, with its multifaceted mission to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from public health emergencies, is inherently complex and encompasses policies, organizations, and programs. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has invested billions of dollars and immeasurable amounts of human capital to develop and enhance public health emergency preparedness and infrastructure to respond to a wide range of public health threats, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. Despite the investments in research and the growing body of empirical literature on a range of preparedness and response capabilities and functions, there has been no national-level, comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those utilized in medicine and other public health fields. Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response reviews the state of the evidence on PHEPR practices and the improvements necessary to move the field forward and to strengthen the PHEPR system. This publication evaluates PHEPR evidence to understand the balance of benefits and harms of PHEPR practices, with a focus on four main areas of PHEPR: engagement with and training of community-based partners to improve the outcomes of at-risk populations after public health emergencies; activation of a public health emergency operations center; communication of public health alerts and guidance to technical audiences during a public health emergency; and implementation of quarantine to reduce the spread of contagious illness.
FEMA has the statutory authority to deliver numerous disaster and non-disaster financial assistance programs in support of its mission, and that of the Department of Homeland Security, largely through grants and cooperative agreements. These programs account for a significant amount of the federal funds for which FEMA is accountable. FEMA officials are responsible and accountable for the proper administration of these funds pursuant to federal laws and regulations, Office of Management and Budget circulars, and federal appropriations law principles.
Author: and Communications of the Committee on Homeland Security House of Representatives, Response Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications of the Committee on Homeland Security House of Representatives
At the start of another hurricane season and with no evidence that the terrorist threat to the United States will decline, it is important that this subcommittee has an accurate picture of the level of preparedness across the country. Anecdotally, we are all aware of advancements made in preparedness. One need only look at the responses to the tornadoes in Joplin and Hurricane Irene to see evidence of enhanced preparedness and response capabilities at the State and local levels. However, there is more to the story, and it is my hope that the recently released National Preparedness Report will help us gain a better understanding of the work that remains to be done to ensure a prepared and resilient Nation.
