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Since the events of September 11, 2001, all levels and branches of government have been focused on how best to assess national preparedness so that appropriate resource decisions can be made to enhance the nation's ability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from major catastrophic events. In nearly all national level policy documents dealing with national preparedness, particular mention is given to the principle of federalism as the foundation of American government and governance. However, as the development of public policy related to national preparedness evolved, one became aware that federalism meant (means) different things to different agencies, branches, and levels of government. As the nation has not faced this large a governance challenge since the end of the last world war, ensuring that a balanced perspective of federalism is in place as national preparedness policy evolves is a necessary condition for ensuring the safety of the nation and its citizens. Observation of intergovernmental relations and the associated actions of different levels of government in this policy arena indicate that three dominant theories of federalism exist and are in conflict. Those theories are cooperative federalism, coercive federalism, and competitive federalism. What is suggested by the literature and the qualitative analysis of associated intergovernmental relations, institutional pathologies, and persistent barriers to optimal policy development is that the nation is currently pursuing suboptimal policies for protecting the nation, and a more normative theory of federalism is appropriate---a theory that incorporates the constructive attributes of each theory while mitigating the negative manifestations of each, a theory whose fundamental attribute is collaboration. Specifically, this research effort focuses, in subsequent steps, on the conflicting theories of federalism affecting national preparedness policy, the evolution of policies and actions associated with the distribution of funds through federal grants in aid for national preparedness, and suggested normative actions to achieve the greatest possible level of national preparedness.