Intergovernmental Challenges of Homeland Security: Explaining Local Government Preparedness Efforts

“国土安全的政府间挑战：解释地方准备工作”项目摘要本项目将考察地方政府在实施国土安全政策方面的准备工作。实质性的政策制定问题是，在美国各地，地方政府对自然或技术灾害的准备能力（规划活动、资源配置、人员培训等）和承诺往往是非常不平衡的。这一点很重要，因为有效的国土安全必然依赖于地方政府积极主动地将潜在的恐怖事件视为危险来处理；如果一些或许多地方政府不愿或不能积极主动，那么国家可能更容易受到攻击。需要探讨的一个关键问题是：如何准确解释地方政府为防范恐怖主义所做的努力？为了解决这个问题，本项目以早先的一项试点研究（2004年3月进行）为基础，该研究通过对地方政府官员进行全国性的邮件调查，收集了地方一级国土安全准备情况的信息。本项目通过以下方式扩展了该研究：构建了一个扩展的样本框架，其中包括市和县官员；扩大对几个关键问题的调查工具；收集一套更完整的客观业绩指标；并对不同类型的城市进行了几个案例研究，以更深入地解释地方政府的准备工作。该研究项目的意义在于，它解决了在联邦系统中决定有效的灾害管理政策的因素，而在联邦系统中，国家、州和地方政府面临的政策制定激励往往是不同的。对这个项目的期望是，它将确定一组特定的因果因素，解释地方政府的灾害管理准备工作，特别是国土安全活动。

"Intergovernmental Challenges of Homeland Security: Explaining Local Preparedness Efforts"PROJECT ABSTRACTThis project will examine local governments' preparedness efforts in implementing homeland security policies. The substantive policymaking problem is that local government capacity for, and commitment to, preparedness (planning activities, placement of resources, personnel training, etc.) on natural or technological hazards is often very uneven across the United States. This is important because effective homeland security necessarily relies on local governments to be proactive in dealing with potential terror incidents as a hazard; if some, or many, local governments are either unwilling or unable to be proactive, then the nation is likely more vulnerable to attack. A key question to explore is: what exactly explains local government effort in preparing for terrorism as a hazard? To address the question, this project builds on an earlier pilot study (conducted in March 2004) which gathered information on homeland security preparedness at the local level through a nationwide mail survey of local government officials. This project extends that study by: constructing an expanded sample frame that includes both city and county officials; expanding the survey instrument on several key issues; gathering a more complete set of objective performance indicators; and conducting several case studies of different types of cities to provide greater depth to the explanation of local government preparedness efforts. The significance of the research project is that it addresses what factors determine effective hazards management policy in a federal system where, very often, the policymaking incentives facing national and state and local governments diverge. The expectation for this project is that it will identify a specific set of causal factors that explain hazard management preparedness at the local government generally, and homeland security activities specifically.