Last week, Secretary Chertoff discussed coordinating and collaboration with state and local governments at the American Legislative Council. Chertoff said: "Another element, of course, is communications, because we can't manage and respond to a crisis if we can't talk to each other. Some of this involves upgrading equipment, satellite equipment and interoperability. Some of it requires our ability on occasion to insert emergency reconnaissance that can go into a disaster area, particularly if state and local governments have been incapacitated, to provide everybody with reliable real-time information that can be used for informed decision-making. And we're actually beginning to stand up emergency reconnaissance teams now, consisting not only of FEMA disaster assistance specialists, but of Coast Guard personnel or Customs and Border Protection agents, Secret Service and other homeland security, law enforcement officers and assets."
"And then beyond all this, beyond the array of assets and the array of capabilities is a need to actually have integrated serious, robust plans. And in order to make sure that we can carry out our part of this planning process and work with you, we have moved forward with what I announced in July, which is the standing up and filling out of a Directorate of Preparedness in the Department of Homeland Security. This Directorate of Preparedness will integrate, for the first time in this Department, planning, training, exercising and funding for prevention, protection, response and recovery as a unified whole, and make sure we're integrating all of these functions to get the best preparedness we can have."
