ABSTRACT
Responding to a domestic act of terrorism in the United States will be a major challenge for coordinated federal, state, and local response. The concept of federalism, so important in the American political system, itself will be one of the critical challenges. Conflicting goals may create tensions between the different government agencies at different levels. While the nation has been making efforts to improve preparedness, two distinct problems remain that threaten to undermine effective response. The first is that the majority of the effort to improve readiness has been made at the federal level. The second major problem with preparedness is that most of the preparation efforts have focused on either a chemical, nuclear, or conventional attack. Although these threats are important, they are not the only ones faced. The impact of federalism on these two challenges to preparedness, public administration, and effective response are the focus of this entry.
