Taking the Gloves off of Homeland Security: Rethinking the Federalism Framework for Responding to Domestic Emergencies

BY E. L. GASTON

The Bush Administration often asserts that the rules changed after September 11. As Cofer Black, the onetime director of the CIA’s counterterrorism unit, testified to Congress in early 2002, “There was a before- 9/11 and an after-9/11 . . . . After 9/11 the gloves came off.”1 While this has certainly been true on the law enforcement and intelligence side of the war on terror, the federal government has failed to reexamine the role it should play in responding to terrorist attacks and other public health and safety crises. On the contrary, despite increased funding and new institutional resources (including the Department of Homeland Security), the federal government continues to work within the pre–September 11 statecentered legal framework, preventing it from implementing the ambitious post–September 11 agenda it developed. Restrictions on federal involvement have contributed to systematic weaknesses including uneven implementation of national priorities, “unfunded mandates,” poor information flows between the different levels of government, and poor coordination during actual crisis periods. It is time for the gloves to come off on homeland security. Federalism preferences must take a backseat to the country’s immediate need for a functional preparedness and response system.

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