U.S. Government Coordination H1N1

On May 7, 2009, the DRLA was invited to participate in the U.S. Government’s Disaster Coordination Committee (USG DCC) made up of both domestic and international agencies and offices (Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), etc.).  At that meeting, coordination was identified as a leadership issue and as a result, the DRLA was asked to facilitate an after-action review of the USG H1N1 response to review the activities and actions of the USG agencies and offices with a mandate to manage the H1N1 response.  The objective is to look at coordination within the USG as well as between the USG and the international community.  Through this process, DRLA will: (1) identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current approach to USG inter and intra agency coordination of disasters; (2) review legislative and administrative authorities that help or hinder effective USG coordination and action; and (3) propose recommendations to strengthen real time USG coordination of disasters.