US FLU
rom GAO
COMPLEXITY:
Most of these federal leadership roles involve shared responsibilities
between HHS and DHS, and it is not clear how these would work in
practice. According to the National Pandemic Strategy and Plan, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services is to lead the federal medical
response to a pandemic, and the Secretary of Homeland Security will lead
the overall domestic incident management and federal coordination. In
addition, under the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of
2006, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) was designated as the principal domestic emergency management
advisor to the President, the HSC, and the Secretary of Homeland Security,
adding further complexity to the leadership structure in the case of a
pandemic.13 To assist in planning and coordinating efforts to respond to a
pandemic, in December 2006 the Secretary of Homeland Security
predesignated a national Principal Federal Official (PFO) for influenza
pandemic and established five pandemic regions each with a regional PFO
and Federal Coordinating Officers (FCO) for influenza pandemic. PFOs
are responsible for facilitating federal domestic incident planning and
coordination, and FCOs are responsible for coordinating federal resources
support in a presidentially-declared major disaster or emergency.
However, the relationship of these roles to each other as well as with other
leadership roles in a pandemic is unclear.
\
Roles and responsibilities for influenza pandemic preparedness can also
be unclear within individual federal agencies.
private sector officials have told us that they are unclear about the
respective roles and responsibilities of the federal and state governments
during a pandemic emergency.
One of these was a lack of clarity regarding the roles and
responsibilities of federal and state governments on issues such as state
border closures and influenza pandemic vaccine distribution.
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