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The article discusses the organization, evolution, and political and legislative history of the U.S. homeland security operation in the White House since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the U.S. It examines decisions by the administration of U.S. president Barack Obama to restructure the White House Homeland Security Council (HSC) within the purview of the U.S. National Security Council (NSC). The authors argue that the restructuring of the homeland security apparatus by the Obama administration was a mistake due to rising threats of the risks of natural disasters, the preference of terrorism security over natural disaster security by the U.S. bureaucracy, and the political considerations of homeland security as opposed to national security and counter-terrorism efforts.

In this paper we address a question fundamental to understanding the potential effectiveness of homeland security policy across the U.S. federal system: what explains homeland security preparedness efforts at the municipal government level? Using data gathered from a nationwide survey of municipal officials, we examine the effects of city governments' financial and administrative resources, along with measures of broader policy context, on several attitudinal and behavioral indicators of homeland security preparedness. We find that administrative resources have consistent and relatively robust explanatory power and we lay out several policy implications from the analyses presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of its eradication in 1980, the threat posed by the use of smallpox as an instrument of terror has increased its salience to policy makers. Events of the 1990s and beyond have demonstrated the willingness and ability of terrorists to utilize biological weapons against Americans. Biological terrorism is unique in that it connects public health concerns with national security. As such, policy making on biological terrorism issues has tended to be housed in the executive branch bureaucracy (in particular the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) until the threat environment causes a shift of the policy-making process into the White House. We contend that this phenomenon for smallpox policy occurred in both the William J. Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal governments' efforts in preparing for possible terrorist events are critical to effective homeland security. Using data gathered from a nationwide sample of municipal officials, the authors identify determinants of homeland security preparedness in U.S. cities, across several attitudinal and behavioral indicators. The authors find that perceptions of terror threat vulnerability and response capacity are tied to factors such as city size and budgetary constraints. Perhaps more important, the authors show that administrative capacity demonstrates consistent explanatory power for both perceived policy commitment and specific preparedness actions. From these analyses, the authors outline several key policy implications for homeland security policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]