U.S. Disaster Policy: Oversight Challenges and the Promise of Multi-Level Governance

U.S. disaster preparedness and response policy now plays an increasingly central role in the lives of many Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic and the strong uptick in extreme weather events have placed a heightened burden on our emergency management resources. In 2021, it seemed that hardly a week went by without a new emergency declaration as we battled devastating wildfires and drought in the West and catastrophic flooding and storms in the East. To further complicate matters, these unrelenting weather-related disasters played out within the context of an unprecedented and multi-year public health crisis—the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Article examines the history and structure of U.S. disaster policy with a special emphasis on the oversight challenges present in its multi-tier and multi-sector governance structure. It draws on lessons from past disasters and insights from multi-level governance (MLG) theory to promote ways to ensure that U.S. disaster policy is effective, efficient, and equitable.