On March 28, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano addressed the 2012 National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) Mid-year Policy and Leadership Forum. “Today,” the Secretary stated, “we are better prepared, better coordinated and more resilient than ever before.” She went on to say that, “We are committed to working with our partners across state, local, tribal, and territorial levels to continue making important strides in emergency management and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.”

The Secretary also noted, referring to the Administration’s FY 2013 budget proposal (PDF, 17MB), “DHS/the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced a new homeland security grants program for FY 2013 designed to create a robust national response capacity based on cross-jurisdictional and readily deployable state and local assets.”