St Joseph Hospital: Homeland Security Directive 5 Requires Federal Departments And Agencies To

Homeland Security Directive 5 Requires Federal Departments And Agencies To

The 107th Congress passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act in May 2002 (see References: Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act). The purpose of the Act is to improve national public health preparedness. This legislation includes the following key components:

Authorized more than $1.5 billion in grants to help states, local governments, and healthcare facilities to improve their planning and preparedness, enhance lab capacity, and train personnel and to develop new drugs and vaccines.

Authorized more than $1.15 billion for expansion of the Strategic National Stockpile, including the supply of smallpox vaccine.

Authorized $300 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to upgrade facilities for dealing with public health threats.

Imposed new registration requirements on all possessors of the 36 biological agents and toxins most dangerous to humans and provides for similar regulation of agents that are devastating to crops and livestock.

Authorized $545 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to hire hundreds of food-import inspectors, develop new methods to detect contaminated foods, and protect crops and livestock.

Empowered the FDA to detain suspicious foods for inspection, require advance notice of food imports, and gain better access to records needed for investigate the source of food contamination.

Authorized more than $100 million to help water utilities analyze the vulnerability of drinking-water systems to deliberate contamination.

The Homeland Security Act of 2002

In November 2002, the 107th Congress passed the Homeland Security Act of 2002; the President signed the Act into law on November 25, 2002 (see References: Homeland Security Act of 2002). The Act authorizes a major restructuring of the federal government in creating the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and specifies its primary responsibilities and functions. The Act became effective on January 1, 1003, with a transition period of at least 12 months. Information about the responsibilities and functions of th