THE FEDERAL RESPONSE

The project has addressed a number of homeland security challenges at the federal level, including: 1) the creation and implementation of the Department of Homeland Security and issues agencies face in the new organizational structure; 2) challenges related to domestic intelligence-gathering and how agencies such as the FBI and the CIA can better adapt themselves to thwarting domestic terrorism; and 3) trends in legislation and other anti-terror measures introduced since September 11 that threaten to undermine civil liberties, public access to information, and individual privacy.

The working group originally formed on this issue was chaired by former White House chiefs of staff John Podesta and Kenneth Duberstein. Contributors include Stephen Flynn, Ivo Daalder, I.M. "Mac" Destler, and Gregory Treverton.

Browse publications on federal organization issues and civil liberties.

FEDERALISM ISSUES

University of Pennsylvania political scientist Donald F. Kettl coordinates the project's activities in this area, which focus on issues such as whether minimum standards for states and localities should be set with respect to homeland security challenges, what "best practices" have been implemented to date around the country, and how federal, state, and local officials can best coordinate funding, resources, and expertise to ensure preparedness.

Browse publications on homeland security challenges at the state and local level.

THE PUBLIC'S NEED TO KNOW

The Homeland Security Project has examined a range of issues related to the public's need to know in the post-September 11 era, including: the decisions journalists and public officials made in handling several major post-September 11 stories, and the intersection of privacy, national security and technological advances in surveillance and information management.

The Century Foundation Working Group on the Public's Need to Know in a Post-9/11 Era was chaired by John Seigenthaler, head of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. John Stacks, the former executive editor of Time magazine served as executive director. Contributors include Anthony Lewis and Paula Diperna. Browse publications on the public's need to know and privacy and information issues.

IMMIGRATION CHALLENGES

The law-enforcement response to the September 11 attacks, as well as significant changes to immigration laws over the past few years, have spurred a wide-ranging debate on how U.S. immigration policy should be changed to enhance national security while preserving our identity as a "nation of immigrants." Supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Century Foundation is convening a series of regional seminars for journalists throughout 2004-2005 with the goal of educating reporters, editors, and columnists about the complexities of immigration. Learn about the seminars and read publications on immigration policy at www.immigrationline.org.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND BIOTERRORISM PREPAREDNESS

With support from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this group has studied how states are spending federal bioterrorism funds, analyzed state and local public health preparedness efforts, and recommended strategies for rebuilding the public health infrastructure. While the importance of strengthening the public health infrastructure to respond to such an event has been broadly acknowledged, critical challenges, such as whether the promised flow of federal funds is actually being used to revamp the nation's eroding public health infrastructure, need to be examined. Leif Wellington Haase, senior program officer and Health Care Fellow at the Foundation is executive director of the project on public health and bioterrorism preparedness. Browse publications on public health and bioterrorism preparedness.