Domestic Preparedness

This casebook is now available as paperback.

Domestic Preparedness: Law, Policy, and National Security is an academic casebook focusing on emergency preparedness and response law and policy, and its relationship to national security. Domestic preparedness includes preparedness for and response to "all hazards," including terrorist attacks, natural disasters, industrial accidents, and other natural and human-caused phenomena. Domestic preparedness draws its modern roots from the combination of civil defense, disaster response, and the domestic response to terrorism incidents.

The casebook uses a traditional approach, presenting primary legal authorities—the U.S. Constitution, statutes, case law, executive orders, and presidential directives—along with policies and doctrinal publications, juxtaposed with notes and questions. Each chapter of the text focuses on a major domestic preparedness challenge: How did national emergency management strategy, policy, and doctrine evolve to its current form? How does the U.S. Constitution allocate roles and responsibilities between the federal government and the states, and how well does that align with public perception of roles and responsibilities? What are the federal government's powers and authorities? How are these powers and authorities made operational? How does the federal government ensure national preparedness? What is the proper role of the military in domestic preparedness and major incident response, and do current legal authorities support that role? What specific authorities apply to national security emergency preparedness? What mechanisms exist—public and private—to ensure private sector preparedness and response? The goal of the casebook is to teach both the law and the operational practicality of domestic preparedness.