Most recently published
Vigilant Guard 2009
Domestic Preparedness
July 7, 2009
Iowa, Kansas and Puerto Rico held annual Vigilant Guard training exercises.
A Global Sensor Network for Disaster Warnings
Diana Hopkins
July 6, 2009
It would be much more complicated than “a two-step smoke-alarm process,” but the nations of the world now have the technology needed to develop and build a truly global international, and interoperable, sensor system capable of almost instantaneous detection of imminent disasters. So why don’t they?
Kids Encouraged to Participate in Disaster Preparedness
C. Todd Lopez
July 1, 2009
Ensuring families are prepared for emergencies is one of the roles of the Army Protection Division, & it does so through the Ready Army program. This year, the Ready Army program is sponsoring a new program, “”Prepared Kids,”” the aim of which is to get younger family members involved in
Mid-Atlantic Officials Cite Progress, Continuing Challenges
Daniel Brethauer
July 1, 2009
Recent AHC (All-Hazards Consortium) meeting in Wilmington (Del.) serves as a working model for all states and regions seeking to institute and/or improve cooperative multi-state programs, funding efforts, and mutual-assistance agreements.
Virginia Guard Conducts Hurricane Preparedness Exercise
Virginia Guard Public Affairs and Cotton Puryear
June 30, 2009
The Virginia National Guard conducted a four-day hurricane preparedness exercise at the State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach with the goal of improving the Virginia Guard’s ability to plan and carry out domestic operations in conjunction with state agencies and local first responders.
Wisconsin (The Adjutant General) TAG Holds e-town Hall
Wisconsin National Guard
June 27, 2009
The online town hall session is one of the methods the Wisconsin National Guard is using to communicate with internal and external audiences.
Trauma & Burn Centers – Coping with MCI Disasters
Theodore Tully
June 24, 2009
Numerous mass-casualty incidents have demonstrated the value of building and staffing a number of medical centers dealing primarily with trauma and burn patients. But even those centers may not be able to care for all victims of a “mega-disaster” such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Now Possible Dream: Communications Interoperability
Kay C. Goss
June 24, 2009
Firefighters, policemen, EMS technicians, & other first responders agree that one of their biggest on-the-job difficulties has been their inability to communicate with their counterparts from other jurisdictions. That huge capabilities “”gap”” may soon be closed, thanks to improved technology and better planning.
ServNC Shapes Quick Response to Icy Kentucky
Ann Marie Brown and Jeffrey B. Peterson
June 17, 2009
Thanks to EMAC, ESF-8, and other mutual-assistance policies and programs, individual states no longer have to go it alone when facing a hurricane, an earthquake, a terrorist attack, and/or other disasters, natural or manmade.
NLE-09: A Major Test for the Obama Administration
Dennis R. Schrader
June 17, 2009
The former TOPOFF domestic-preparedness exercises designed to test the capabilities and fortitude of the U.S. defense/DHS hierarchy have evolved into a new format – which the nation’s new commander in chief will meet face to face next month.
When Disaster Strikes: Duty First – Then Remembrance and Reflection
Joseph Cahill
June 10, 2009
The children and grandchildren of the Greatest Generation that won World War II are worthy successors, serving their nation as firefighters, policemen, EMS technicians, and hazmat specialists. Many of them also demonstrate, with their own lives, the last full measure of devotion.
EMS and Suicide Bombings – Some Potentially Deadly Considerations
Raphael M. Barishansky
June 10, 2009
Most terrorist attacks against the United States have been large-scale incidents. But the demonstrated willingness of individual martyr-terrorists to serve as suicide bombers has changed the equation and requires much greater attention than it has been given so far.
London 2012: Protecting the Olympic Games
Andy Oppenheimer
July 8, 2009
The greatest challenge facing UK and London officials will not be the staging of a worthy successor to China’s sterling 2008 Games, but maintaining tight security in an open society where the cuisine may be less varied but freedom and diversity are much more highly valued.
Vigilant Guard 2009
Domestic Preparedness
July 7, 2009
Iowa, Kansas and Puerto Rico held annual Vigilant Guard training exercises.
A Global Sensor Network for Disaster Warnings
Diana Hopkins
July 6, 2009
It would be much more complicated than “a two-step smoke-alarm process,” but the nations of the world now have the technology needed to develop and build a truly global international, and interoperable, sensor system capable of almost instantaneous detection of imminent disasters. So why don’t they?
Kids Encouraged to Participate in Disaster Preparedness
C. Todd Lopez
July 1, 2009
Ensuring families are prepared for emergencies is one of the roles of the Army Protection Division, & it does so through the Ready Army program. This year, the Ready Army program is sponsoring a new program, “”Prepared Kids,”” the aim of which is to get younger family members involved in
Mid-Atlantic Officials Cite Progress, Continuing Challenges
Daniel Brethauer
July 1, 2009
Recent AHC (All-Hazards Consortium) meeting in Wilmington (Del.) serves as a working model for all states and regions seeking to institute and/or improve cooperative multi-state programs, funding efforts, and mutual-assistance agreements.
Virginia Guard Conducts Hurricane Preparedness Exercise
Virginia Guard Public Affairs and Cotton Puryear
June 30, 2009
The Virginia National Guard conducted a four-day hurricane preparedness exercise at the State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach with the goal of improving the Virginia Guard’s ability to plan and carry out domestic operations in conjunction with state agencies and local first responders.
Wisconsin (The Adjutant General) TAG Holds e-town Hall
Wisconsin National Guard
June 27, 2009
The online town hall session is one of the methods the Wisconsin National Guard is using to communicate with internal and external audiences.
Trauma & Burn Centers – Coping with MCI Disasters
Theodore Tully
June 24, 2009
Numerous mass-casualty incidents have demonstrated the value of building and staffing a number of medical centers dealing primarily with trauma and burn patients. But even those centers may not be able to care for all victims of a “mega-disaster” such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Now Possible Dream: Communications Interoperability
Kay C. Goss
June 24, 2009
Firefighters, policemen, EMS technicians, & other first responders agree that one of their biggest on-the-job difficulties has been their inability to communicate with their counterparts from other jurisdictions. That huge capabilities “”gap”” may soon be closed, thanks to improved technology and better planning.
ServNC Shapes Quick Response to Icy Kentucky
Ann Marie Brown and Jeffrey B. Peterson
June 17, 2009
Thanks to EMAC, ESF-8, and other mutual-assistance policies and programs, individual states no longer have to go it alone when facing a hurricane, an earthquake, a terrorist attack, and/or other disasters, natural or manmade.
NLE-09: A Major Test for the Obama Administration
Dennis R. Schrader
June 17, 2009
The former TOPOFF domestic-preparedness exercises designed to test the capabilities and fortitude of the U.S. defense/DHS hierarchy have evolved into a new format – which the nation’s new commander in chief will meet face to face next month.
When Disaster Strikes: Duty First – Then Remembrance and Reflection
Joseph Cahill
June 10, 2009
The children and grandchildren of the Greatest Generation that won World War II are worthy successors, serving their nation as firefighters, policemen, EMS technicians, and hazmat specialists. Many of them also demonstrate, with their own lives, the last full measure of devotion.
Ice Storm 2009: Kentucky’s Regional Response
Margaret Riggs
June 3, 2009
First-person report: How Kentucky coped with “frozen Hell” earlier this year by making full use of not only its own responder capabilities but also those available through CDC’s Career Epidemiology Field Officer program.
Preparing for the Worst in Cyber Security
Amit Yoran
May 27, 2009
The high-tech professionals entrusted to protect and preserve a company’s – or country’s – IT networks do not always recognize that their first operational priority should be the protection of their own equipment, specifically including detection and encryption systems and devices.
Mass Prophylaxis: The Brass Ring of Public Health Preparedness
Bruce Clements
May 27, 2009
It sounds like a mission impossible, but U.S. public health officials are determined to find a way to provide pandemic medications, within 48 hours, to everyone within a major metropolitan area endangered by pandemic influenza or a potentially lethal bioterrorism attack.
Questions of Preparedness: A Spring of Tragedy for Law Enforcement
Joseph W. Trindal
May 27, 2009
The murder of a police officer is both a community and personal tragedy. Better equipment and improved training are helping to improve survivability, but society’s criminal element has access to the same equipment and the result has been an increase in law-enforcement fatalities.
Field Testing or LRN Laboratories – Why Not Both?
Rob Schnepp
May 20, 2009
First responders & emergency managers must make many difficult decisions. One of the most consequential involves choosing between the field testing of potential biological agents at the scene of an incident & the safer but slower option of waiting for verified lab results.
Worst-Case Scenario: Pakistan Falls to the Taliban
Neil C. Livingstone
May 20, 2009
Israel & India could be first in the line of fire if the resurgent terrorist group gains control of Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal, but the United States would not be immune from attacks that could potentially evolve into a global nuclear holocaust.
License Plate Readers: Automated Situational Awareness
Rodrigo (Roddy) Moscoso
May 13, 2009
LPR systems are resented by drivers who are caught speeding and/or running stoplights. The same technology can be used, though, to quickly identify stolen cars and for other equally important law-enforcement tasks.
Isolation, Quarantine, and the Compression of Time
Joseph Cahill
May 13, 2009
At one time it took 80 days to go around the world. It now takes only one day. The speed of person-to-person communications has dropped from several weeks to instantaneous. Unfortunately, medical capabilities have not moved forward at quite the same pace.
A Change in Fashions for the Well-Suited Responder
Glen Rudner
May 6, 2009
Today’s first-responder community is continually searching for the most effective technology to provide protection during a hazardous materials or WMD (weapons of mass destruction) incident. However, because most incidents to which first responders are dispatched do in fact involve hazardous materials, it is imperative that the responders are wearing
The Beslan School Massacre: A Threat with No Easy Solutions
Patrick D. Bird and Michael Allswede
May 6, 2009
The 2004 Chechen massacre of almost 400 students, parents, and teachers at Beslan School Number 1 shocked the entire world. The United States learned numerous lessons from that horrifying incident – but has yet to translate them into its own preparedness plans.
Green Building Plus Greater Safety Equals Survival
Joseph Cahill
April 22, 2009
Emergency management is an evolving discipline that requires a progressive emergency manager to fulfill new and expanding requirements for success. Successful leaders in this field follow a systematic problem-solving process and excel at coordinating multiple agencies and information sources rather than simply being experts in one subject. The seven and
Needed: More Effective Resources for Homeland Security
Dennis R. Schrader
April 22, 2009
Few if any states will reject federal funds earmarked for any purpose or program. But recent analyses suggest that a high percentage of federal-level allocations for local homeland-security plans and programs are not as well targeted as they should be.
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