Security of the Nation: FEMA unified under the Department of Homeland Security

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed the face of homeland security and emergency management and drove major statute and policy changes to reorganize the federal government. In 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Homeland Security Act, leading to the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department was created on March 1, 2003 and united FEMA and 21 other organizations.

The agency coordinated its activities with the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, and FEMA’s Office of National Preparedness was given responsibility for helping to ensure that the nation’s first responders were trained and equipped to deal with weapons of mass destruction. Within months, the terrorist attacks of September 11th focused the agency on issues of national preparedness and homeland security, and tested the Agency in unprecedented ways. Billions of dollars of new funding were directed to FEMA to help communities face the threat of terrorism. Just a few years past its 20th anniversary, FEMA was actively directing its “all-hazards” approach to disasters toward homeland security issues.

On October 4, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act. The Act significantly reorganized FEMA, provided it substantial new authority to remedy gaps that became apparent in the response to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and included a more robust preparedness mission for FEMA.

EMI has continued its mission in preparing the nation, to make ready our nation's emergency management workforce and the whole community for disasters, both here on the campus of NETC and around the nation. As we look past our 70th year, EMI will continue to innovate how we deliver the important, essential training and education to further build the profession.

70 Years of Training: EMI Now