Public Health Archives

Chlorine Tactics in Iraq; the Challenge to America

Joseph Steger August 15, 2007

For more than a decade, terrorist groups have been demonstrating an increasingly greater interest in using easily obtained chemicals as components of conventional explosive weapons. In Iraq, the first half of 2007 was marked by an alarming escalation of attacks using chemical-based “dirty” bombs. Meanwhile, police and fire services personnel

The Doctors Plot – Its Implications for America

David P. Wright August 15, 2007

Security experts dismiss the attempt by Islamic doctors to blow up a London nightclub as an “amateurish” operation. But that misses the real point, which is that physicians – people who know how to make biological weapons – are now on the terrorist team.

How to Expand the EMS Talent Pool

Glen Rudner August 8, 2007

In planning for large-scale terrorist incidents, U.S. decision-makers at all levels of government – local, state, and federal – must consider, among other things, how to triage and transport the maximum number of casualties at the incident scene with the probably limited assets available. Many first-responder agencies already keep emergency

Area Maritime Security Committees – A Unified Effort for Securing U.S. Ports

Christopher Doane and Joseph DiRenzo III August 8, 2007

The Coast Guard’s Captains of the Port have the primary responsibility for developing effective port-security plans for their jurisdictions, but it has to be an all-hands effort or there will be, in nautical terms, a bitter end.

Changing the Rules: First-Responder Data Communications Tools Make an Impact

Rodrigo (Roddy) Moscoso August 1, 2007

Since the deployment of the first mobile computers in police cruisers more than 20 years ago, the ability to access and exchange information between first responders in the field and their dispatch centers has grown steadily. Of course, early mobile technology involved customized hardware and software that was limited in

Hospital Evacuations: Planning, Exercises, and Common Sense

Joseph Cahill August 1, 2007

“Full-scale” exercises sound like, and are, the ideal – but only in certain almost-perfect circumstances, and not without a firm foundation of individual and team training exercises to build on.

Debris Removal – How to Avoid Jurisdictional Disputes

Kirby McCrary July 25, 2007

Several companies, each with a valid contract to clear debris from the same road. Who wins? Not the taxpayer, certainly. Advance planning can solve the problem, and a few federally funded programs will also help.

AIHA’s Mock Meth Lab Highlights Health and Safety Risks

Heather McArthur July 18, 2007

Of the numerous insidious threats currently endangering U.S. communities, one of the worst is the homegrown problem of clandestine methamphetamine labs. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that 6,435 “meth” lab incidents were reported in 2006, and that number is likely to increase in the foreseeable future. The labs

CERFPs: The Essential Elements

Jonathan Dodson July 18, 2007

Managing Editor John F. Morton met recently with Col. Jonathan B. (“Jon”) Dodson, USA (Ret.), DPJ’s National Guard correspondent, to discuss the National Guard’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosive Event Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP). Following are excerpts from that discussion. Morton: Jon, the two times we have met with

Important Gains Registered at Small-Vessel Security Summit

Joseph DiRenzo III July 11, 2007

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hosted a “National Small-Vessel Security Summit” conference in Arlington, Va., last month that could lead to several important changes in the nation’s maritime-security posture. Small vessels – i.e., those less than 300 gross tons – have been a vehicle of choice for terrorists

Emergency Medical Services at a Mass Casualty Incident

Joseph Cahill July 11, 2007

Standard operating procedures are by definition not enough when EMS responders are called to the scene of a mass-casualty incident. Extraordinary and/or non-standard procedures are not only permitted, therefore, but frequently mandatory.

The First Scenario – A Nuclear Attack

Jonathan Dodson June 27, 2007

DomPrep’s National Guard correspondent, Col. Jonathan B. (“Jon”) Dodson, USA (Ret.), joined LtGen. H. Steven Blum, USAR, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, on his flight from Andrews Air Force Base to Indiana to participate in the “Vigilant Guard” training exercises last month at the Mascatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC)

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