Federalism and National Security

The term 'federalism,' as it has been used historically, is that benchmark of the U.S. form of government that denotes the U.S. as a federation of sovereign states. The Constitution deliberately limits the power of the federal government, reflecting the values of the Founding Fathers. The vast majority of the power should be closest to the people, at the local and state levels.

Ever since 9/11 the federal government has assumed all of the responsibility for national security. That responsibility has been handed over to the Department of Homeland Security. There is no doubt that the department is needed and that it has a vital task. However, realistically speaking, the task with which it has been charged is simply too mammoth for it to handle alone. And indeed, a federal agency was never meant to be endowed with boundless power in the first place.

For this reason, a very interesting phenomenon has occurred which could be the start of a new movement in America, i.e., state and local governments stepping up to the plate and filling in the gaps at the federal level in the Department of Homeland Security.

A meeting took place recently in Charleston, South Carolina that denotes a grassroots initiative for greater control of national security at the local and state level. Over 200 government leaders, business leaders, emergency responders, and academics from five southeastern states met for a regional council meeting as part of a new non-profit organization called 'The National Council on Readiness and Preparedness.'

According to James Gilmore, former governor of Virginia and chairman of the National Council, securing America requires everyone to take a role, not just the Department of Homeland Security. Gilmore stated, 'By creating the Department of Homeland Security they captured homeland security and took it to themselves--the federal government did. It's not enough. Much has been accomplished but the simple core of what has to be done is a complete community of involvement, and that has not been done.'

Ideas gathered at meetings such as this will go into a blueprint for securing communities, said Gilmore, who was tapped by Congress to head a counterterrorism panel from 1999 to 2004. This blueprint will address not only national security with regard to terrorism but also port security in the event of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and the like.

Another attendee of the meeting, Charleston, South Carolina mayor Joseph P. Riley, stated, 'Every family needs a plan, so that if there is a hurricane or an earthquake or a terrorist event, people are in shape--mentally in shape about what they have to do.'

A non-profit organization that helps state and local governments find their rightful place on the front lines of securing the nation is long overdue. It is to be hoped that the National Council on Readiness and Preparedness will be a major first step in seeing the concept of federalism at work in the task of national security.