Serving as an advisory body to the Governor, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force provides statutory recommendations and guidance on homeland security laws, policies, protocol and procedures. The task force continues to establish and maintain long-term strategic solutions to the threats and realities of major events as Federal, State, and local entities, their private and non-governmental partners, and the general public collaborate to achieve and sustain risk-based target levels of capability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from these incidents in order to minimize the impact on lives, property, and the economy.

Members of the task force understand that domestic preparedness in response to major events is a priority of the highest magnitude and to that end, maintains an all-hazard approach to preparedness. The task force continues to build upon a strong foundation of established working partnerships among Federal, State, and local entities, their private and non-governmental partners, and the general public toward the facilitation and coordination of resources. Jointly, the fifteen committees, sub-committees and working groups of the task force, through the integration of thoughts and actions among subject matter experts, work toward cooperative preparedness, prevention, protection, response and recovery goals and objectives, the standardization of equipment and response protocols, and the sharing of finite resources in the attempt to build Illinois' capacity to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

Currently, the task force has representation from 60 member organizations, including Federal, State, and local entities, private and non-governmental partners; hospitals; statewide first responder associations and mutual aid organizations; and every jurisdiction with a population of 100,000 or greater, including the county of Cook. The memberships of the task force are responsible for senior management and annual budget development for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Grant Program. From 1999 to 2005, the task force met on a monthly basis. In 2005, the membership voted to change the meeting schedule for the full task force to bi-monthly, with the committee, sub-committee and working group chairs meeting on the other months.

The task force produces an annual report on the status of homeland security programs and funding. The report is available in the publications section of the website.

Executive Order creating a Terrorism Task Force