The Emergency Management Institute at 70: From Civil Defense to Emergency Management in an Education and Training Institution
Abstract
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Emergency Management Institute (EMI) celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2021. EMI plays multiple roles as an education and training provider, thought leader, and site for the development of emergency management (EM) doctrine. The disaster threats and hazards at the top of the national agenda have changed, and EMI aims to provide training content that reflects the dynamic threats and hazards confronting emergency managers today. EMI faces the challenge of determining how best to carry out its unique mission in the EM ecosystem while remaining agile enough to continue to meet the needs of emergency managers of the future. The institute and its predecessor, the Civil Defense Staff College (CDSC), faced similar challenges in finding its place in an education and training ecosystem, and a consideration of how EMI overcame these challenges in the past can inform strategy and planning today. EMI evolved in tandem with the field of EM. This report categorizes the fields development into three eras - civil defense (CD), EM, and homeland security and documents my conclusion that, as of 2020, the field could be entering a new era of all-hazards management. Therefore, EMI will need to adapt by building new partnerships and providing core disaster management skills applicable to a wide variety of events. EMI also has an opportunity to grow from a technically focused institution into a thought leader and educator of the next generation of EM leaders.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1210298
Entities
People
- Patrick S. Roberts
Organizations
- RAND Corporation