For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of the local, state, tribal, and federal Preparedness Task Force—a council of experts charged with assessing the state of the nation’s disaster preparedness and making recommendations to Secretary Napolitano about ways to build resiliency in communities across America.
“Enhancing preparedness across our nation requires close collaboration between all levels of government,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The recommendations of this Task Force—comprised of emergency management and homeland security experts from states, cities and tribes across the country—will help guide our ongoing efforts to ensure the resilience of communities throughout the nation.”
The Task Force is comprised of 35 members of local, state and tribal governments—many of whom have also served within federal government—offering a diverse cross-section of experience in homeland security and emergency management missions. The Task Force will also engage Congressional partners, as well as the private sector and non-governmental and development organizations through a variety of outreach activities.
The Conference Report accompanying the 2010 DHS Appropriations Act called for a Task Force responsible for “making recommendations for all levels of government regarding: disaster and emergency guidance and policy; federal grants; and federal requirements”—with an emphasis on identifying preparedness policies, guidelines and grant programs that should be updated and recommending paths forward to improve the nation’s collective capabilities for preparing for disasters.
The Task Force will conduct regular meetings and expects to deliver recommendations in September 2010.
Local, State, Tribal, and Federal Preparedness Task Force Members
Charles H. Ada II, Administrator, Guam Office of Civil Defense
Karen Baker, Secretary of Service and Volunteering, State of California
John Cary Bittick, Sheriff, Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Georgia
Dave Bunce, Fire Chief, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Fire Department, Arizona
Jeffery C. Cash, Fire Chief and Emergency Manager, City of Cherryville Fire Department, North Carolina
Salvatore Cassano, Commissioner, City of New York Fire Department
Nicholas Crossley, Director, Johnson County, Kansas, Emergency Management and Homeland Security
Edward F. Davis, Commissioner, City of Boston Police Department
Robert DesRosier, Director, Blackfeet Nation Homeland Security Program and Emergency Services Program, Montana
Patricia Dukes, Chief of Emergency Medical Services, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii
Brigadier General Donald P. Dunbar, Adjutant General, State of Wisconsin
Angela English, Executive Director, Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities
Charley English, Director and Homeland Security Advisor, Georgia Emergency Management Agency, State of Georgia
Anthony H. Griffin, County Executive, Fairfax County, Virginia
Dwight E. Henninger, Chief of Police, Town of Vail Police Department, Colorado
James D. Himes, Assistant Director, Metro Nashville and Davidson County Department of Public Works, Tennessee
Hubert Douglas Hoell, Jr., Director, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, State of North Carolina
Jeffrey D. Johnson, Fire Chief/Administrator, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Oregon
Hans Kallam, Director, Colorado Division of Emergency Management, State of Colorado
Ron Lane, Director, County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services, California
Joseph Laporte, Public Safety Director, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan
John. W. Ledbetter, Executive Director, Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, State of Mississippi
Pamela L‘Heureux, Director of Emergency Management, Waterboro, Maine
John Madden, Director, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, State of Alaska
Raymond Orozco, Chief of Staff, City of Chicago, Illinois
Jim Page, Executive Director, Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System
Kerry Pettingill, Director, Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security
Mary Selecky, Secretary, Washington State Department of Health
David Taylor, State Chief Information Officer and Executive Director, Agency for Enterprise Information Technology, Florida
Lyda Ann Thomas, Mayor, City of Galveston, Texas
MaryAnn E. Tierney, Deputy Managing Director for Emergency Management, City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Alan Dennis (A.D.) Vickery, Assistant Chief of Risk Management, Seattle Fire Department, Washington
John Wageman, State Hazard Mitigation Officer, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, State of Iowa
John Wheeler, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, State of New Mexico
Thomas Wyss, State Senator, Indiana State Senate
For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.
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