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Abstract
Studies of federal reorganization provide an incomplete perspective on its
implications for intergovernmental relations and by extension the role of the states in
U.S. national policy. The literature reflects persistent theoretical and practical debates
over how best to characterize the U.S. federalist system. From these debates emerge
normative and empirical arguments that serve to bring into focus the fundamental role of
"states’ sovereignty" in influencing U.S. national public health policy and practice. This
paper presents a preliminary case study of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, with
particular focus on Section 505, which governs the health and human services’
components of national counter bioterrorism policy. The goal is to illustrate through the
prism of theory and public administration praxis — how the U.S. public health system
exemplifies the basic tenets of collaborative federalism.
Convention