What Have We Learned since September 11, 2001? A Network Study of the Boston Marathon Bombings Response

• Author: Claire Connolly Knox,Qian Hu,Naim Kapucu
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12284
• Date: 01 November 2014
• Published date: 01 November 2014

Qian Hu is assistant professor in the

School of Public Administration at the

University of Central Florida. Her research

interests include collaborative governance,

network studies, policy informatics, and

strategic and performance manage-

ment. Her work has been published or is

forthcoming in Public Management

Review, American Review of Public

Administration, Administration

& Society, American Behavioral

Scientist, Research Policy, Journal of

Community Informatics, and Journal

of Public Affairs Education.

E-mail: qian.hu@ucf.edu

Claire Connolly Knox is assistant

professor and the Emergency Management

and Homeland Security Program coordina-

tor in the School of Public Administration

at the University of Central Florida. Her

research interests include environmental

policy and management, critical theory,

and environmental vulnerability and

disaster response. She has published

in Public Administration Review,

Journal of Public Affairs Education,

Journal of Environmental Policy and

Planning, and Journal of Emergency

Management.

E-mail: claire.knox@ucf.edu

Naim Kapucu is professor and founding

director of the Center for Public and

Nonprof‌i t Management in the School of

Public Administration at the University of

Central Florida. He chaired the Section

on Public Administration Research of the

American Society for Public Administration.

His research interests include network gov-

ernance, emergency and crisis management,

and decision making in complex environ-

ments. His book Network Governance

in Response to Acts of Terrorism was

published by Routledge in 2012.

E-mail: kapucu@ucf.edu

698 Public Administration Review • November | December 2014

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 74, Iss. 6, pp. 698–712. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12284.

Qian Hu

Claire Connolly Knox

Naim Kapucu

University of Central Florida

In light of recent disasters, it is evident that more research

is needed to understand how organizations can ef‌f ectively

coordinate disaster preparedness, mitigation, response,

and recovery ef‌f orts.  is research assesses the ef‌f ectiveness

of interorganizational coordination and collaboration in

response to the Boston Marathon bombings. After review-

ing the major changes in federal emergency management

policies and frameworks since September 11, 2001, this

article applies a social network analysis to compare the

disaster response networks embodied in formal disaster

preparedness plans with the actual response networks.

Data come from content analyses of the Boston Emergency

Operations Plan, national and local newspaper articles,

after-action reports, and situation reports.  e timely

response to the bombings is attributable to long-term

institutionalized planning ef‌f orts; multiple platforms

established for frequent interorganizational interactions

through formal plans, training, and exercises prior to

disasters; and an integrated communication system.

Since September 11, 2001, considerable research

in the f‌i eld of emergency and crisis manage-

ment has been devoted to studying interor-

ganizational communication, coordination, and

collaboration between government agencies and

across nonprof‌i t and private organizations (Cohen,

Eimicke, and Horan 2002; Comfort, Ko, and

Zagorecki 2004; Comfort, Waugh, and Cigler 2012;

Kapucu 2006a, 2006b; Moynihan 2008; Rosenthal

2003; Waugh and Streib 2006). To build and sustain

interorganizational collaboration, it is important

to ef‌f ectively communicate

information (Comfort, Ko,

and Zagorecki 2004), build

trust and social capital among

organizations before disasters

(Ganapati 2012; Kapucu and

Garayev 2012; Murphy 2007),

and engage key partner organi-

zations in emergency man-

agement planning (Brudney

and Gazley 2009; McGuire

and Silvia 2010). In light of

recent disasters, we still need more research on how

organizations ef‌f ectively coordinate and collabo-

rate throughout disaster preparedness, mitigation,

response, and recovery.1

 e bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 15,

2013, caused three deaths and wounded 264 people

(FEMA 2013a). Initial impacts to the local govern-

ment and economy are estimated to be between $225

million and $333 million (Green and Winter 2013).

While this incident demonstrated the vulnerability

of communities to man-made disasters, immediate

reaction from multiple government agencies and non-

prof‌i t and community-based organizations showed

the timely communication and coordinated ef‌f orts

of disaster response participants. Boston is one of

four U.S. cities with an all-hazards plan accredited by

the Emergency Management Accreditation Program

(EMAP) (Grabar 2013).  e Boston Marathon

bombings incident provides an opportunity to ref‌l ect

on how changes in federal emergency management

policies since the September 11 terrorist attacks have

inf‌l uenced local emergency management practice.

 is study examines how local emergency manage-

ment has evolved since September 11 and what les-

sons emergency managers can draw from the Boston

Marathon bombings response. By evaluating the

implementation of government emergency manage-

ment plans, this article investigates the ef‌f ectiveness of

interorganizational coordination and collaboration in

responding to the Boston Marathon bombings.

Data were collected through

content analyses of the Boston

Emergency Operations Plan

(EOP), newspaper articles (from

the New York Times and Boston

Herald), after-action reports,

and situation reports (e.g.,

from the Federal Emergency

Management Agency [FEMA],

local government, and non-

prof‌i t organizations involved

What Have We Learned since September 11, 2001?

A Network Study of the Boston Marathon

Bombings Response

 e Boston Marathon bomb-

ings incident provides an

opportunity to ref‌l ect on how

changes in federal emergency

management policies since the

September 11 terrorist attacks

have inf‌l uenced local emergency

management practice.