What happened on 9/11 dramatically changed the field of emergency management. Most of those changes are fairly obvious; some not so much. Among the latter, it occurs to me that one of the most profound changes is the impact those seminal events had on who is doing emergency management and, more importantly, who will be doing emergency management for the next several decades. Changes to the emergency management paradigm, specifically those caused by the amalgamation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) altered the face of the future of emergency management.

How? The creation of a new discipline — Homeland Security — opened up a new field, and significant financial incentive, to job-seekers. The plethora of homeland security-related academic programs that followed offered a great opportunity to the emerging generation of workers, who are now poised and energized to make a difference.

This group earned homeland security or emergency management degrees and entered the burgeoning marketplace with new knowledge, new ideas and new technologies. . .and promptly ran headlong into the “old guard” of emergency managers. This has caused some friction and some would say has slowed progress. Take, for example, the use of social media. It’s everywhere…EVERYWHERE….and yet its use is still subject to extensive debate in emergency management forums. And this is just one instance where “this is the way we’ve always done it” may be stymying great ideas. Our field is now at a critical juncture, not too dissimilar to the passage of command between incident commanders, and we need to remain focused as we go through this generational change.

To provide context, let’s look at a bit of the history and the evolution of the field. In 2006 the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Preparedness Task Force produced a succinct primer covering this subject. Its timeline begins right after World War I, highlighting how civil defense really began in earnest during the Depression era. Civil defense remains at the forefront through World War II and into the 1960s when a more focused emergency management-centric track emerges with the 1968 passage of the National Flood Insurance Act. The amplifies during the 1970s culminating with the creation of FEMA in 1979 and the 1988 signing of Public Law 100–707, informally referred to as the Stafford Act. The latter empowered FEMA to coordinate the federal government’s disaster response and relief efforts, which got of to a rough start (think Kate Hale); however, as the 1990s progressed, James Lee Witt and others reinvigorated FEMA and improved its stature. And then 9/11 happened.

In the FEMA/emergency management narrative until that point, emergency managers typically seemed to be former (e.g. retired) first responders or military members and, except in times of disaster, their work remained far removed from the spotlight. Experience trumped education because much of their focus was on response, with which they were usually familiar from their previous careers, and because there was quite simply a dearth of educational programs focused on emergency management. Not FEMA courses, mind you, but degree-producing programs that forced a broader exposure to writing and critical thinking courses, and encouraged debate (instead of tacit acceptance) about doctrine and practices. The internet was virtually nonexistent and social media was reporters following debutantes and celebrities.

The tragedy of 9/11 significant changed that. First, the creation of DHS brought tens of thousands of people under one umbrella and the homeland security-industrial complex offered thousands, if not tens of thousands, of more job opportunities. Thus, the lucrativeness of homeland security attracted massive interest from potential employees and subsequently the world of higher education. Specifically, to capitalize on the need to be educated and/or more competitive in this emerging market, universities created over 200 degree programs. These programs produced, and continue to produce, thousands of graduates that want to contribute immediately.

The result was a massive influx of educated, technologically savvy but inexperienced staff led by experienced, less technologically adept and less formally-educated management. Sandwiched between these two extremes is the current crop of mid-level managers, the Gen Xers that grew up with PCs (ones without touchscreens) and can navigate social media (Facebook, not Flickr); who have a university degree, albeit maybe not one in emergency management or homeland security. This group…my peers…become critical to filling that generational gap. We must figuratively keep one eye on the past and one eye on the future. (Yes, I just quoted “The Wolverine.” May god have mercy on my soul.) Doing so will ensure that we keep the best of what have learned to date and most effectively incorporate the novel ideas that will make us better tomorrow.