TERRORISM ARCHIVES
International vs. National Standards Development – Sister Processes
Diana Hopkins
July 21, 2010
From the glory days of the Roman empire to the space age the mandatory width of a public road had to be “enough to accommodate two horses pulling a chariot and trotting side by side” – or so the story goes. Today, the setting of minimum widths, sizes, etc. –
Just When Americans Thought the Cold War Was Over
Neil C. Livingstone
July 21, 2010
To many Americans the well publicized apprehension of 10 Russian spies seemed to be a throwback to the Cold War – except for the amateurish bumbling and fumbling involved, which changed a potentially damaging international incident into a quasi-comedy. But the situation was not as funny as it seemed, and
Wisconsin Guard Helps Train Civilian Emergency Responders
Domestic Preparedness
June 30, 2010
About 120 personnel from more than 20 law enforcement agencies enhanced their awareness of weapon of mass destruction. The two-day training, spearheaded by the Madison-based 54th Civil Support Team, Wisconsin National Guard, ranged from briefings and equipment displays to hands-on training and tactical demonstrations at the Regional Emergency All-Climate Training
Needed: A Comprehensive Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act
Vayl S. Oxford
June 30, 2010
U.S. homeland-security capabilities have improved immensely over the past decade. But there are still too many gaps – in funding, in legislative authority, and in the dwindling pool of career-minded nuclear scientists and engineers. A distinguished former DNDO official discusses some important steps the executive and legislative branches of government
Coping with Chaos: The Aftermath of a CBRNE Incident
Richard Schoeberl
June 23, 2010
U.S. emergency managers and worst-case planners have been warning for many years that the possibility of a WMD attack against American cities is a “when, not if” scenario. The nation’s ability to prevent, respond to, and recover from such an attack is much improved. But there are still serious deficiencies,
All Hazards Evacuations: All Means Every Disaster & Everyone
Kay C. Goss
June 23, 2010
No one – whether they be political decision makers, first responders, or individual citizens – will ever be satisfied with less than perfect safety. But major advances have been made in detection, deterrence, and response. One of the most important but relatively unpublicized advances is in the field of crowd
NIMS/ICS Case Study: Evacuation & State-Managed Shelters
Stephen Grainer and Patricia Snead
June 16, 2010
If a hotel has been overbooked most people go to another hotel just a block or two away. That solution does not work when a mass-casualty incident requires the evacuation of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of citizens. Immediately. Which is why local evacuation plans must anticipate the need for additional sheltering
The Times Square Bombing Plot: What It Means For America
Neil C. Livingstone
June 9, 2010
Experts in aviation safety have long recognized that what is described as a “near miss” is actually a “near hit.” The Times Square bombing attempt deserves the same unflinching judgment: Disaster was avoided not because of the superior competence of DHS and TSA, but because of the greater incompetence of
Leadership and Stewardship in Microeconomic Decision-Making
Dennis R. Schrader
May 19, 2010
Protection of the nation’s “critical infrastructure” has long been one of the highest priorities of senior officials at all levels of government. After 9/11, response and recovery started to receive equal billing. Now comes belated recognition that “resilience” also is needed – and should be built into construction projects at
10 Questions About Shahzad and Times Square
Judith Miller
May 8, 2010
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter shares her thoughts on botched Times Square bombing.
Law Enforcement Pandemic Resilience: Time to Recalibrate
Joseph W. Trindal
April 28, 2010
The global-disaster scenario originally forecast fell far short of the dire predictions. Which is a good reason to celebrate. But not a reason to stop planning and preparing for “what might have been.” Hurricane Katrina taught many lessons worth learning, the most important of which is that states, communities, and
H1N1: Learning from a Less-Than-Worst-Case Scenario
Craig DeAtley
April 14, 2010
The best that can be said, usually, about worst-case scenarios, after the fact, is that they never actually happened. But the just-in-case preparations for the 2009-10 H1N1 “Swine Flu” global scare generated some residual training benefits, and even the mistakes made can, and should, be transmogrified into valuable lessons learned.
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