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in November 2000, officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and the
General Services Administration's Federal Protective Service suggested
to Market*Access International that it organize a conference to
direct government and industry attention to a new area of interest
-- something called "homeland defense."
In those days
the word "homeland" was rarely heard and it was something largely
reserved for histories describing the wanderings of alien peoples.
Russians had their "motherland," Germans had their "fatherland"
but few Americans ever referred to the United States as a homeland.
Military planners used the acronym CONUS to refer to the continental
United States, but for the vast majority of Americans, America was
just America.
Nonetheless, Market*Access,
an information technology consulting company that had been holding
conferences on government's best practices, agreed. The resulting
conference, held in April 2001, brought together members of what
was then a tiny and fairly exotic subspecialty concerned with the
then-absurdly remote notion of terrorist attacks on American soil.
It dealt with the entire gamut of topics: weapons of mass destruction,
counterterrorism, disaster response, support for first responders.
It was a great success.
Then came Sept.
11 -- and the anthrax attacks in October -- and suddenly Americans
were acutely aware not only of the United States as a homeland,
but that their homeland was under attack.
Shortly after
those attacks, Market*Access provided a venue for the newly appointed
head of the White House Office of Homeland Security, Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Ridge, to address the Washington, D.C., technology community.
On Oct. 23 he did so at a Market*Access-organized conference in
the Reagan Building. Another conference followed on Oct. 29.
Responding to
the now-burgeoning homeland defense community, Homeland Defense
Journal was organized in November and launched in January 2002.
With anthrax fears disrupting the mail, it began as a PDF newsletter,
delivered over the Web. The response was enormous and grew with
time. Ultimately, new editions were being downloaded more than 50,000
times each issue, twice a month.
The interest paralleled
the growth of the homeland defense community -- a community that
goes well beyond the nearly 180,000 government officials being reorganized
into the Department of Homeland Security. It also includes officials
at all levels of government with homeland security responsibilities
and the companies and industries supporting them and providing solutions
to the challenges they face.
This is still
a very new community and one that faces daunting obstacles. As it
organizes American society quickly under pressure to face a real
threat, it has to work out complex relationships among its component
parts. It's still refining its tasks and responsibilities. It's
still even defining the term "homeland security."
It's to shape,
lead and inform this community that Homeland Defense Journal
introduced a monthly print publication. The printed Homeland
Defense Journal debuted in April 2003. The magazine features
in-depth looks and analyses of homeland-related topics, the people
leading this community and those that support them.
The website, Homeland
Defense Journal Online, features time-sensitive information.
Homeland Defense
Journal and Homeland Defense Journal Online Together
seek to facilitate communication among all levels of government
concerned with homeland security, covering the issues and the technology,
solutions, policies, people, case studies and events affecting that
community.
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