According to Sylves (2015) emergency management services should be handled by local agencies and governmental organizations. These organizations work to assist citizens prior to seeking the efforts of outside agencies this includes but not limited to the assistance of the National Guard. Sylves believed the Posse Comitatus Act should be used to support local and state government agencies for domestic emergencies.
The services of the National Guard units may respond when needed to save lives, prevent human suffering or mitigate great property damage. National Guard units may respond under state control when directed by appropriate state authorities. Upon the declaration of an emergency the National Guard serve the local, state and federal agencies with dealing with natural and man-made disasters (Sylves, 2015).
The National Guard should be prepared to synchronize efforts with the Incident Manager. Sylves further expressed by doing so will help to solidify the mutual aid agreements and help to establish cohesiveness expressed within the NIMS framework. Working to obtain a collective mission between the two agencies will help to reduce vulnerabilities that exist to the infrastructure and leadership. Sylves attested understanding and prioritizing risks will serve as an asset to emergency managers when working to recover from damages and disruption during times of a disaster.
Due to a changes in protocol the National Guard has become America's first line of defense against a homeland force for assistance with disasters related to terrorism. Homeland Defense (2003) postulated the world changed on 9/11 so the way the United States conducts business must be modified to protect its citizens and the homeland.
Further to note, President Bush stated, "We should be protected against the terrorist threats both within our homelands and abroad." (Homeland Defense, page 9). President Bush believed when preserving our sovereignty we should rely on our military. With this in mind DOD has worked to create a strategic approach to focus after the 9/11 attacks. Goss (2006) emphasized the importance of preparing the military to defeat threats domestically and abroad. Goss emphasized DOD was given orders to take measures to prepare the military for training with drug interdiction, protecting nuclear materials and incidents involving WMD.
Further to note, the National Guard continues to stay ready for deployment to provide assistance during times of a natural or man-made disaster. The National Guard has a critical role within the National Response Framework in how federal, state, and local agencies coordinate and align key roles and responsibilities when responding to a natural or man-made disaster (National Response Framework, 2008, Pg.51).
For example, the U.S. military efforts may be seen during the Ebola outbreak. The military domestic response was ready as a result of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. Taking preventive steps the U.S. government had committed 3000 military personnel to assist with the domestic health scare.
These efforts would benefit at the local and state levels of government. Siedner believed taking early preventive measures will allow health professional to maintain, strengthen and support other public health priorities needed during the time of catastrophic crisis. Additionally, during the time of such an emergency working to use all efforts may alleviate problems associated with depleting limited resources (Siedner, 2015).
References
Goss, T. (2006). "Who's in Charge?" New Challenges in Homeland Defense and Homeland Security. Homeland Security Affairs, 2(1).
Homeland Defense: Old Force Structures for New Missions?. (2003).
Siedner, M. J. (2015). Strengthening the detection of and early response to public health emergencies: Lesson from the west African ebola epidemic. PLoS Medicine, 12(3), e1001804. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001804
Sylves, R. (2015). Disaster policy and politics: Emergency management and homeland security (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press.