Congress and the president should agree to put this new agency at the top of their agendas by allocating sufficient funds for this agency to operate effectively. As of right now, it is difficult to say how much the budget should be. However, the budget should be commensurate with other cabinet-level departments, if not more. Budget is an issue that must be analyzed in the future, for now it reasonable to ask for a cabinet level agency budget.
In addition, the National Homeland Security Agency would have to solve many other issues in the future. For example, the agency would have to determine which threats (conventional weapons, nuclear weapons, biological weapons, chemical weapons) poses the greatest threat to the U.S. and thereby deserves the most attention in combating. Should the agency determine that biological weapons pose the greatest risk, the agency would next have to determine which biological agents are of greatest concern.
Another problem the agency would have to solve is the question of fairness in reacting to terrorist attacks and inoculating the populace. The Defense Department has trained thousands of local law enforcement officials since 1995. However, the Defense Department has determined that the greatest threats are in those cities with a population of 144,000 people and above. This leaves a giant hole in domestic preparedness when one realizes that those large cities constitute only 46 percent of the population. The question for the new agency would be what type of training should be offered to smaller cities, if any at all.
A second reform the president is advised to adopt is requiring greater cooperation between federal agencies. This cooperation could come in the form of all agencies reporting to the National Homeland Security Agency. Additionally, budgets should be increased to employ new technologies in intelligence gathering. Although some have expressed concern that overhauling intelligence may cause a degradation in information gathering for an intelligence system that has thus far proved successful, that does not appear to be of great concern. New technologies can be built upon the effective technologies that are presently used. These technologies will not necessarily undermine current technology.
Finally, the last reform the president should adopt is increased funding for our healthcare system in America. The fact is that our healthcare system is not adequately trained to deal with mass injuries and casualties as the result of a terrorist attack. There needs to be an emphasis on training doctors in detecting obscure symptoms that may be the first signs of weapons deployment. The faster doctors figure out a patient’s ailment, the quicker the doctor can isolate the patient thus lessening the likelihood that the patient may spread a disease (should the biological weapon of choice be communicable).
Furthermore, the United States needs to allocate money to increase the supplies of various vaccines and antidotes to several possible weapons. Although, as of right now, it seems highly unrealistic to innoculate a population of over 270 million people from disease, a large store of vaccines and antidotes could save a huge portion of the population. The distribution of these drugs is another reform that must be implemented. Perhaps the National Homeland Security Agency should take up this issue, but a clear, quick, and effective policy for the distribution of the stockpiles of medicine needs to be created and implemented. Should an attack occur, citizens may not have much time to get inoculations. Therefore, the public should be informed of designated centers to report to should such an emergency occur. Again, as of right now it seems highly unlikely that such a system would be able to protect the entire populace (since many of the biological and chemical weapons may infect people and go unnoticed for such a long period that by the time symptoms appear, it is too late for inoculations), saving as many lives as possible should be the goal nonetheless.
The last healthcare related reform the president should undertake is increasing funding to biomedical research. The increase in funds should be devoted to finding faster and cheaper ways to produce mass quantities of vaccines and antidotes in order to build the stockpiles of the federal government. In addition, biomedical research should focus on finding cures to a wide variety of possible weapons of terror and producing them at a cheaper cost. More efficiency in the production of these medicines will lead to decreased cost, longer shelf lives, and a greater stockpile for the populace.
The federal government has a formidable task in reconfiguring its bureaucracy to effectively deal with the threats posed by modern terrorism. It is important to note that the recommendations contained within this report do not cover every aspect in need of reform. However, these few recommendations will have the greatest effect in helping safeguard and deal with a terrorist attack on the United States.
Some suggested reforms go a long way in updating the present system for detection and response while others add to the problems that are already present. The suggested reforms are a giant leap forward in preparing our nation for threats that have seemed indigenous to other nations for so long. The creation of a National Homeland Security Agency, if run with great care and not wrapped up in bureaucracy, has great potential for organizing U.S. response to terrorism. Although reallocating money, power, and items on the agenda within the federal government is very trying, the need for domestic preparedness far outweighs bureaucratic bickering and political infighting. The United States can no longer pretend that terrorism is a foreign concept. Events such as the federal building bombing in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center bombing clearly demonstrate that the need for preparation is real.
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