Engaging the Private Sector to Fortify Strategic Base and Port Community Resiliency in the Aftermath of a National Crisis

Engaging the Private Sector to Fortify Strategic Base and Port Community Resiliency in the Aftermath of a National Crisis by Rosalie J. Wyatt MBA, Nova Southeastern University, 1999 BS, Pepperdine University, 1979 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy and Administration Walden University May 2017 Abstract The initial 72 hours after a large-scale crisis are critical in terms of preserving life and property, and the private sector and its critical infrastructure are often called upon to assist government organizations in such events. However, little research explores the unique circumstances surrounding the relationship between public-private partnerships and community resilience in strategic communities including military installations and ports. Using Bryson, Crosby, and Stone’s conceptualization of cross-sector collaboration, the purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a theory of private sector engagement and collaboration with military base and port community leaders in response to large scale crises. Data were collected through interviews with 43 public, private, and military sector leaders in six strategic communities of the East, Gulf, and West coasts. Data from ReadyCommunities Partnership symposia summaries were also considered. Data were coded and analyzed using Eisenhardt’s grounded theory procedures. Findings resulted in the identification of emergent themes from which the mutual mission theory emerged. This theory acknowledges the key elements of tension between private sector incentives to collaborate and the undercurrent of sector-silo bias. Further, the findings of this study support collaboration through policy with incentives to institutionalize extraordinary community-based mutual missions while overcoming sector-silo bias. Positive social change may be achieved through utilization of the applied mutual mission theory by military base and port community leaders in order to better leverage private sector engagement in response to national crises.The initial 72 hours after a large-scale crisis are critical in terms of preserving life and property, and the private sector and its critical infrastructure are often called upon to assist government organizations in such events. However, little research explores the unique circumstances surrounding the relationship between public-private partnerships and community resilience in strategic communities including military installations and ports. Using Bryson, Crosby, and Stone’s conceptualization of cross-sector collaboration, the purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a theory of private sector engagement and collaboration with military base and port community leaders in response to large scale crises. Data were collected through interviews with 43 public, private, and military sector leaders in six strategic communities of the East, Gulf, and West coasts. Data from ReadyCommunities Partnership symposia summaries were also considered. Data were coded and analyzed using Eisenhardt’s grounded theory procedures. Findings resulted in the identification of emergent themes from which the mutual mission theory emerged. This theory acknowledges the key elements of tension between private sector incentives to collaborate and the undercurrent of sector-silo bias. Further, the findings of this study support collaboration through policy with incentives to institutionalize extraordinary community-based mutual missions while overcoming sector-silo bias. Positive social change may be achieved through utilization of the applied mutual mission theory by military base and port community leaders in order to better leverage private sector engagement in response to national crises. Engaging the Private Sector to Fortify Strategic Base and Port Community Resiliency in the Aftermath of a National Crisis by Rosalie J. Wyatt MBA, Nova Southeastern University, 1999 BS, Pepperdine University, 1979 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy and Administration Walden University May 2017 Dedication This endeavor is dedicated to America’s volunteer and professional first responders, to the few who have committed their lives to the protection of all of us, and to those who would help and support them. Acknowledgments With gratitude I acknowledge the leadership of my academic committee chairman, Morris Bidjerano, Ph.D., and committee members David Milen, Ph.D., and Tanya Settles, Ph.D. Respectfully, I also acknowledge America’s public, private, emergency response, law enforcement, and military sector leaders for their steadfast and unrelenting devotion to community resiliency and national security. Furthermore, I acknowledge those whom I met and with whom I collaborated over the past decade through the ReadyCommunities Partnership while continuing the work of the Gilmore Commission. Nearly 3,000 public, private and military sector stakeholders participated in one or more of the 30 ReadyCommunities Partnership symposia and pilot meetings held in at least 18 distinct locales across America. This effort to understand best practices and recommendations of community-based leaders culminated with ReadyCommunities Partnership’s Strategic Military Base and Port Community Resiliency Initiative conducted between 2010 and 2014 in Washington, DC, and in several port and military base communities including Charleston, SC, Miami, FL; Doral, FL; New Orleans, LA; and Long Beach, CA. Through this initiative, gaps in community resiliency were identified and recommendations made to reinforce America’s response capacity in the first 72 hours of a large-scale or national crisis. My study through Walden University is rooted in these public-private stakeholder recommendations, seminal pieces of scholarly literature, and gaps in the literature. Inasmuch, my research purpose is to understand incentives and barriers to private sector engagement and cross-sector collaboration in the face of a large-scale crisis so that this knowledge might be acted upon to reinforce if not augment the existing capacity for resiliency in America’s strategic military base and port communities. Over the years, advisory board members and other public and private sector stakeholders in the ReadyCommunities Partnership whom I acknowledge for their leadership and devotion to America’s resiliency include The Hon. W. Asa Hutchinson, II (former DHS under secretary), LTC Jeff Brady (U.S. Army, ret., and former FBI-national joint terrorism task force officer), The Hon. Byron W. Brown, II. (mayor, Buffalo, NY), Jennings I. Carney (former editor, national blueprint for secure communities), The Hon. Michael Chertoff (former DHS secretary), Dan Connole, Bill Donaldson (Priority5), The Hon. Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, Jr. (former assistant secretary, DHS private sector office), The Hon. George W. Foresman (former DHS under secretary), The Hon. James E. Geringer (ESRI, and former governor of WY), The Hon. James S. Gilmore, III (former governor of VA), Raymond Seth Greenberg, MD (former president, Medical University of SC), The Hon. Bonnie M. Hunter (chairman, American Red Cross), LTG Russel L. Honore’ (U.S. Army, ret.), Harris L. (Shrub) Kempner, Jr. (president, Kempner Capital Management), The Hon. Mary L. Landrieu (former senator, LA), Tanya Lin-Jones (Sprint emergency response team), Chief Gregory G. Mullen (Charleston, SC police department), The Hon. Billy Nungesser (former president, Plaquemines Parish, LA), Antonio Oftelie, (Harvard fellow and executive director, Leadership for Networked World), Gen. Victor E. Renuart, Jr. (former commander, U.S. Northern Command; U.S. Air Force, ret.), The Hon. Tom Ridge (former DHS secretary), The Hon. Joseph P. Riley, Jr. (former mayor, Charleston, SC), Lindy Rinaldi (former police chief, SC State Ports Authority), Michael F. Rogers (former alumni affairs director, Citadel Military College), Jacqueline Snelling (former senior policy advisor, Federal Emergency Management Agency), The Hon. Lyda Ann Thomas (former mayor, Galveston, TX), Charles Werner (former chief, Charlottesville, VA fire department), CDR Steve Ruggiero (Port of Long Beach, U.S. Navy Reserve), Sara K. Tays (formerly with ExxonMobil), and former captains of the port and sector commanders of the U.S. Coast Guard, Ari Vidali (Envisage Technologies), and many others.