Secretary Napolitano Announces Preparedness Task Force Members

Release Date: April 7, 2010

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the formation of the local, state, tribal, and federal Preparedness Task Force—a council of experts charged with assessing the state of the nation’s disaster preparedness and making recommendations to Secretary Napolitano about ways to build resiliency in communities across America.

“Enhancing preparedness across our nation requires close collaboration between all levels of government,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The recommendations of this Task Force—comprised of emergency management and homeland security experts from states, cities and tribes across the country—will help guide our ongoing efforts to ensure the resilience of communities throughout the nation.”

The Task Force is comprised of 35 members of local, state and tribal governments—many of whom have also served within federal government—offering a diverse cross-section of experience in homeland security and emergency management missions. The Task Force will also engage Congressional partners, as well as the private sector and non-governmental and development organizations through a variety of outreach activities.

The Conference Report accompanying the 2010 DHS Appropriations Act called for a Task Force responsible for “making recommendations for all levels of government regarding: disaster and emergency guidance and policy; federal grants; and federal requirements”—with an emphasis on identifying preparedness policies, guidelines and grant programs that should be updated and recommending paths forward to improve the nation’s collective capabilities for preparing for disasters.

The Task Force will conduct regular meetings and expects to deliver recommendations in September 2010.

Local, State, Tribal, and Federal Preparedness Task Force Members

Charles H. Ada II, Administrator, Guam Office of Civil Defense

Karen Baker, Secretary of Service and Volunteering, State of California

John Cary Bittick, Sheriff, Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Georgia

Dave Bunce, Fire Chief, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Fire Department, Arizona

Jeffery C. Cash, Fire Chief and Emergency Manager, City of Cherryville Fire Department, North Carolina

Salvatore Cassano, Commissioner, City of New York Fire Department

Nicholas Crossley, Director, Johnson County, Kansas, Emergency Management and Homeland Security

Edward F. Davis, Commissioner, City of Boston Police Department

Robert DesRosier, Director, Blackfeet Nation Homeland Security Program and Emergency Services Program, Montana

Patricia Dukes, Chief of Emergency Medical Services, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii

Brigadier General Donald P. Dunbar, Adjutant General, State of Wisconsin

Angela English, Executive Director, Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities

Charley English, Director and Homeland Security Advisor, Georgia Emergency Management Agency, State of Georgia

Anthony H. Griffin, County Executive, Fairfax County, Virginia

Dwight E. Henninger, Chief of Police, Town of Vail Police Department, Colorado

James D. Himes, Assistant Director, Metro Nashville and Davidson County Department of Public Works, Tennessee

Hubert Douglas Hoell, Jr., Director, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, State of North Carolina

Jeffrey D. Johnson, Fire Chief/Administrator, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, Oregon

Hans Kallam, Director, Colorado Division of Emergency Management, State of Colorado

Ron Lane, Director, County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services, California

Joseph Laporte, Public Safety Director, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan

John. W. Ledbetter, Executive Director, Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, State of Mississippi

Pamela L‘Heureux, Director of Emergency Management, Waterboro, Maine

John Madden, Director, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, State of Alaska

Raymond Orozco, Chief of Staff, City of Chicago, Illinois

Jim Page, Executive Director, Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System

Kerry Pettingill, Director, Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security

Mary Selecky, Secretary, Washington State Department of Health

David Taylor, State Chief Information Officer and Executive Director, Agency for Enterprise Information Technology, Florida

Lyda Ann Thomas, Mayor, City of Galveston, Texas

MaryAnn E. Tierney, Deputy Managing Director for Emergency Management, City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Alan Dennis (A.D.) Vickery, Assistant Chief of Risk Management, Seattle Fire Department, Washington

John Wageman, State Hazard Mitigation Officer, Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, State of Iowa

John Wheeler, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, State of New Mexico

Thomas Wyss, State Senator, Indiana State Senate

For more information, visit www.dhs.gov.

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This page was last reviewed/modified on April 7, 2010.