Homeland Security Preparedness and Planning in US City Governments: A Survey of City Managers

Abstract

This article examines homeland security preparedness and planning with the aim of generating some future research themes related to organizational, collaborative, and adaptive management elements of homeland security. It analyzes survey data from city managers in the US and their views on the current state of homeland security. The key results indicate that there is a high level of collaboration between and among city government and other levels of government in homeland security preparedness and planning, supporting an element of the adaptive management theory. However, with regard to using performance systems to gain accountability in homeland security this was not commonly occurring. The federal government's color‐coded homeland security advisory system is viewed by 32% of city managers who responded to the survey as being ineffective. The largest administrative/management homeland security concerns were lack of money and personnel limitations.