Education: Emergency Management and Homeland Security Aren't the Same

"I want to help protect our country from terrorists," is the comment I hear most often from prospective students looking to get their degrees in homeland security.

Most of them, however, end up really wanting a degree in intelligence or emergency management - with a few outliers in criminal justice, security management, national security or public administration, pretty much in that order. But in light of dozens of discussions I've had with such students in the last five years, distinguishing between a degree in homeland security and emergency management is too limited.

In its narrowest and most literal sense, protecting the country from terrorists is the function of law enforcement, intelligence and military special operations. This means the degrees to pursue would be criminal justice, intelligence and military studies - not what most prospective students had in mind, although a few are looking to actively pursue the "bad guys."

Because the definitions and degrees in emergency management and homeland security are limited, I will dig deeper into the various degree programs and disciplines to provide you with a better understanding.

Deciphering Specialties
Emergency management and homeland security are not the same, nor are they two differing views of the same core competencies. They draw on some of the same supporting specialties, they are both multidisciplinary by definition and regularly overlap, especially at the operational or post-event level.

To use a very crude and rather limited set of comparisons:
· Emergency management is very local and is about preserving life, property and, with voter approved limitations, ensuring freedom.
· Homeland security starts as far from home as possible and is about denying freedom to those who believe violence and intimidation are legitimate means to an end.
· Building on that, emergency management is a specific and critical function of local government, while homeland security is essentially, but not solely, a federal government function.
· Using a different lens, emergency management focuses on science, facts and the environment in its broadest sense, while homeland security focuses on people, beliefs and ideology.

Though these are all imperfect comparisons, they provide a starting point for evaluating the two interdisciplinary degrees, and they allow us to explore other areas and degree programs that help define and differentiate these two career paths.

The critical and recognized specialties - degree fields in bold form the core for the programs - that intertwine to create an emergency management degree program include:
· Criminal Justice
· Communication
· Emergency Medical Services
· Fire Science
· Logistics Management
· Public Administration
· Public Health
· Public Safety
· Security Management

The critical and recognized specialties that intertwine to create a homeland security degree program include:
· Constitutional Law
· Criminal Law
· Intelligence
· International Relations
· Military Studies
· National Defense
· National Security
· Political Science

A Little Bit of History
The emergency management field is still young, and the homeland security field is essentially a post-9/11 phenomena. Understanding the current landscape and how we got here will also help you recognize why there is such a lack of similarity between programs and program titles, and why so many are amalgams, some of which seem contradictory.

Emergency management and homeland security are applied or professional degrees, distinguishing them from traditional degree programs. Few schools are in a position to start two new, yet so closely allied, degrees simultaneously, and even fewer can undertake such efforts in new areas that lack a proven record of generating new registrations.

Higher education has relied heavily on various forms of federal funding since World War II with grants and set-asides playing a large part in the overall funding formula.

As a result, educational institutions must find ways to appeal to the largest audiences possible, while ensuring they meet various guidelines for that critical, federal-funding stream.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) absorbed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) including FEMA's mission, but has yet to figure out how to manage that mission. In crafting the DHS, Congress has created a multibillion dollar funding stream for training, education and research, but it also consistently uses language that has forced everyone - not just academic institutions - to alter their product offerings so they meet what are basically arbitrary, and oftentimes capricious, homeland security definitions terms, and conditions - not emergency management definitions, terms and conditions.

The size of that funding stream and the limiting language that the DHS adopted has led to the creation of many new programs in homeland security. This is all well and good, but unfortunately the larger effect has been a slowdown in emergency management funding, the forcing of many institutions to reconfigure existing and planned emergency management programs to look like homeland security programs so they qualify for DHS money, and the general de-emphasis on the critical importance of a separate emergency management discipline - all to further solidify a DHS supremacy.

Since both fields are still in their formative stages, one school's homeland security program may be the equivalent of another school's emergency management program. In the end, today's program names and an institution's reputation are much less important than the program's content, teaching staff's qualifications, and prospective student's competencies and goals.

Take Your Pick
Neither discipline is inherently more important or better than the other. The issue is determining your strengths and deciding how or where you want to grow. Once you make that decision, you can begin to look at programs - and you needn't limit your search to just emergency management and homeland security with the aforementioned specialties also at your fingertips.

Finally before you evaluate any program, regardless of name or institution, and commit your time and dollars, here are some points to consider:
· Does the appropriate body accredit the institution?
· Does the program build on the internal strengths of the institution?
· Does the faculty for your program include practitioners and academicians?
· Do the program name and description align with the course offerings?
· Does the program appear to be designed for you, the student; is it designed to increase teaching opportunities for tenured faculty; or is it designed to capture federal funds?
· For the emergency management and homeland security programs, is the faculty, at a minimum, cross-disciplinary and national in scope?

Connect the Dots
Here is a little self-test to underline the importance of formal education and show the importance of knowing some history as you advance in your career and add management responsibilities.

Construct a diagram that connects the dots in something more than a simple linear manner; one that reflects both a timeline and critical relationships.

Army North
Asymmetrical Warfare
Bhopal
Civil Defense
Civil Support Team
Community Right to Know
Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP)
Fusion Center
Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs)
Local Emergency Planning Commission (LEPC)
Military Support to Civil Authorities
State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs)
The Cold War

If you could do this and didn't need to research more than two items to understand them or see their relationship to emergency management as it exists today, then you have been educated along the way. If you cannot see or understand all the relationships, or had to research a lot of the information, perhaps you need to find a certificate or degree program at the right level to sharpen skills and expand your knowledge.

If you want to help build strong and resilient communities and contribute directly to your community's well-being on a daily basis - whether that community is local, regional or state - then emergency management is the track to pursue.  

If you want to protect the public from bad people, then homeland security is the track to pursue.

In each case, there are many other disciplines that may be more closely aligned with your strengths and desires.

For a more detailed look at the specific programs available in the emergency management discipline, look for Bob Jaffin's education story in the summer issue of Emergency Management magazine.

Bob Jaffin is a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers, where he sits on the training and education committee. He has been involved in education and training programs for ASIS, the International Association of Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, the National Sheriffs' Association and the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition. He is currently a full-time faculty member at the online American Public University System.