Life Support – Ensuring Proper Regulation of the Electric Grid | Domestic Preparedness Photo: ©iStock.com/Waldemarus
Resilience

Life Support – Ensuring Proper Regulation of the Electric Grid

by Michael Mabee -

With few exceptions, human beings in the United States are literally on life support – plugged in to the electric grid. If that connection is unplugged, everything necessary to sustain the human population stops, including: food, water, fuel, transportation, medical resources, communications, and financial resources. According to a 28 March 2017 Senate report, in a long-term national-scale blackout, millions of U.S. citizens could die. After only a few weeks, deaths would escalate from waterborne diseases, starvation, and societal collapse. Immediate action could reduce these threats.

 
Resilience

Government Shutdowns: Emergencies, Disasters, or Expected Events

by Kay C. Goss -

The 35-day government shutdown of 2018-2019 became the longest in U.S. government history. Food banks, firefighters, and community services agencies ramped up their food and other care services. Much like during natural disasters, a significant number of federal workers and contractors did not have sufficient savings to cover expenses during this hiatus in pay and experienced uncertainty in insurance and other financial considerations during such a lengthy and uncertain time, occurring during the Christmas holidays.

Preparedness

Emergency Animal Sheltering Options

by Richard Green & Timothy Perciful -

When there is a need for sheltering animals, there are several options – each comes with advantages and disadvantages. Conditions, agency policies, experiences, resources, or timing typically drive the decision as to what type of shelter is used. Regardless of the type of shelter utilized, the primary goal is to provide quality daily care until animals are reunited with their families or rehomed to new families.

Preparedness

A “Pracademic” Approach to Homeland Security

by Terry Hastings & Eric Stern -

It is important for academics and practitioners to collaborate and learn from each other. Academic research can help to address real-world challenges, and practitioners are uniquely positioned to provide meaningful insight to help shape research agendas.

Updates

NIST Team Shows Atoms Can Receive Common Communications Signals

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a new type of sensor that uses atoms to receive commonly used communications signals. This atom-based receiver has the potential to be smaller and work better in noisy environments than conventional radio receivers, among other possible advantages.

FDA Action Makes Blood Product More Accessible to Warfighters in Combat

A recent action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will help the military treat severely injured warfighters suffering from traumatic bleeding on the battlefield. The FDA granted a variance request for the use of cold stored platelets in theater for the Department of Defense.

Rallying the Tech That Secures Our Infrastructure and Citizens

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is working with industry to improve security systems – whether at airports, government facilities, border checkpoints, or public spaces like arenas – to work faster and smarter. The second annual Biometric Technology Rally brought together subject matter experts, industry partners, security stakeholders, and volunteers to test new and emerging automated biometric technology systems for high-throughput use cases.

‘100-Year’ Floods Will Happen Every One to 30 Years, According to New Coastal Flood Prediction Maps

Princeton researchers combined storm surge, sea-level rise, and the predicted increased occurrence and strength in tropical storms and hurricanes to create new maps of flood-hazard possibility along the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. They find 100-year floods could become annual occurrences in New England; and happen every 1 to 30 years along the southeast Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico shorelines.

Emergent BioSolutions Awarded 10-Year HHS Contract to Deliver ACAM2000® (Smallpox [Vaccinia] Vaccine, Live) Into the Strategic National Stockpile

In support of the U.S. government’s policy to maintain a stockpile to be able to protect every American from smallpox, Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced a contract award by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the continued supply of ACAM2000® (Smallpox [Vaccinia] Vaccine, Live) into the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.