Randy Beardsworth, spoke about his role as the co-lead of the Presidential Study Directive for President Obama.
October 20, 2009: Addressing an almost full house at the EMSL Auditorium, Randy Beardsworth, Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security and Acting Under Secretary and currently a partner with Catalyst Partners, spoke about his role as the co-lead of the Presidential Study Directive for President Obama. This directive aimed at examining how the White House should be organized to deal with the critical issues of homeland security and counter terrorism.
The directive came up with 15 major recommendations. Mr. Beardsworth summarized four of the most significant outcomes of the review:
- Consolidation of the homeland security and national security staff which avoids duplication of functions, but more importantly recognizes that homeland security is national security;
- Engagement of state, local, tribal and private sector representatives in policy making and strengthening of the process by which they could be engaged;
- Establishment of the position of Senior Director of Global Engagement to coordinate the spectrum of global engagement issues associated with a variety of policy issues, including counter terrorism, climate change, and stabilization;
- Creation of a Resilience Policy Directorate focused on preparedness and response functions , continuity of operations, and also a focus on individual resilience, community resilience, and system resilience.
Mr. Beardsworth underscored the importance of beginning to focus on resilience when he said, "Resilience is more than protection, prevention or response. We must develop a national policy that harnesses our national spirit of resilience."
All the recommendations resulting from the directive were accepted by President Obama. Mr. Beardsworth's lecture was followed by an interesting Q&A session in which he emphasized the importance of "tools" but also talked about the significance of science and technology.