Introduction
This informational interview was conducted with Dr. Pamela Aaltonen, a Homeland Security instructor at Purdue University, and active member at the Tippecanoe Board of Health. Her role here is to frame issues in the concept of Homeland security and emergency management. Dr. Aaltonen holds a key role in Homeland Security, as many disasters contain human health issues, such as mass causalities, pandemic outbreaks, and sanitary issues following natural disasters. Dr. Aaltonen’s flavor of Homeland Security differs from the work that I normally see, but as displayed during the interview, Homeland Security is a multi-disciplinary field that requires cooperation across all fields. Dr. Aaltonen’s human health focus in homeland security makes her assistance needed in almost all situations. It was my hope to interview someone in a different
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However, it was not a standalone self-operating organization until March 1, 2003 ("History" 2015). As it stands today, Homeland Security encompasses a very large amount of tasks, which include but are not limited to: Health Affairs, the US Secret Service, Customs & Border protection, the US Coast Guard, and many more. In terms of Dr. Aaltonen, her position in Homeland Security would belong to the Strategic National Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) (HHS); HHS stands for Health and Human Services.
Health and Human Services, the Strategic National Stockpile and the National Disaster Medical System are all inter-related. These terms can be exchanged in conversation, but each of them perform their own tasks and their own hierarchy. The NDMS was established in 1984 and at this time belonged to the Department of Defense (DoD). NDMS was first formed to handle health needs of the US Military and has since grown into handling mass-incidents and medical concerns for Homeland Security (Franco, Crystal, et al