SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
AI and 911 Call Systems: A New Ally or a Hidden Risk?
In today’s world, where the unexpected can strike at any moment, the systems designed to protect people – 911 call centers – are facing unprecedented challenges. From natural disasters to sophisticated cyberthreats, the risks to public safety are evolving fast. For example, a devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Maui, in August 2023 destroyed much of the town, causing significant loss of life and property. The call volume overwhelmed 911 dispatchers. A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare…
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Dual-World Tabletop Exercises – Addressing Unmet Infrastructure Needs
Charles (Chuck) L. Manto
August 21, 2024
The U.S. critical infrastructure is vulnerable to many forms of cyber and electromagnetic threats. This article presents a new tabletop exercise concept for addressing these ongoing threats to critical infrastructure. Similar to medical research groups that involve treatment and control groups, two exercise groups would work simultaneously on the same
Lessons in Social Media – Preparing Kids and Community Leaders for Disasters
Patricia Frost and Michael Prasad
August 7, 2024
Addressing children’s needs during a crisis can be challenging. Leveraging social media to create crisis communication campaigns can be an effective way to boost community outreach efforts and raise awareness of the unique needs children have in disaster planning and response. Successful social media campaigns by governmental and non-governmental organizations
Drones – A Life-Saving Time-Saver
Kevin Jones
July 24, 2024
As drone technology continues to evolve, it is important for law enforcement and other first responder agencies to understand the range of possible applications and physical and legal limitations of these tools. This article highlights the uses that save lives and time during incidents.
The Key Bridge Collapse – Through the Lens of Community Lifelines
Michael Prasad
July 17, 2024
The eight major elements of Community Lifelines use traffic-light-type color-coding to categorize the adverse impact status of a disaster. The article’s author has applied this same system to the recovery efforts following the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland. Learn how he applied this information-gathering tool to an ongoing recovery
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Archives
The Missing Plague Vials
Robert C. Hutchinson
April 17, 2024
A true story of missing bubonic plague vials, an airport bomb threat, and other suspicious activities again demonstrate continued national and homeland security vulnerabilities and
Dungeons and Disasters: Gamification of Public Health Responses
Michael Etzel and Michael Prasad
April 10, 2024
New technologies offer new ways to train personnel and exercise public health responses like COVID-19 and prepare response agencies for many other threats and hazards.
Interoperability During Mass Casualty Incidents
Charles J. Guddemi and Catherine L. Feinman
April 3, 2024
During a mass casualty incident, response agencies must be able to communicate in real-time. This means that interoperability plans need to include everyone involved in
The Evolution of Homeland Security Higher Education
Heather Issvoran
March 27, 2024
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, homeland security education expanded to ensure that local, state, tribal, territorial, and federal agencies had the tools
April 2024 Eclipse – Moving From Planning Into Operations
Laurel J. Radow
March 13, 2024
On April 8, 2024, the path of the total solar eclipse will cross much of the middle section of the United States – from Mexico
Support and Planning Inside 911 Centers
Heather McGaffin
March 13, 2024
In an emergency, call 911. This simple instruction is easy to remember, but many do not know about the people, training, and technology required to
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
AI and 911 Call Systems: A New Ally or a Hidden Risk?
In today’s world, where the unexpected can strike at any moment, the systems designed to protect people – 911 call centers – are facing unprecedented challenges. From natural disasters to sophisticated cyberthreats, the risks to public safety are evolving fast. For example, a devastating wildfire in Lahaina, Maui, in August 2023 destroyed much of the town, causing significant loss of life and property. The call volume overwhelmed 911 dispatchers. A ransomware attack on Change Healthcare…
Most Recent
Fentanyl Hazards and Detection
Ashley Bradley and Kristin Omberg
June 12, 2024
The deadly opioid epidemic in the United States does not stop at overdoses. It also poses life-threatening exposure to first
A Modern Take on an Age-Old Biological Weapon
Raphael M. Barishansky
June 12, 2024
Reports about North Korea launching balloons filled with fecal matter and propaganda into South Korean territory were intriguing. However, this
The Psychology of Crisis
Mary Schoenfeldt
May 22, 2024
The psychological side of a disaster or other impactful event is a critical component of crisis management. However, many people
Resilience-Based CI and Domestic Preparedness: A Long-Overdue Imperative
Jeff Gaynor
May 15, 2024
For decades, preparedness leaders have known and publicly warned about the rapidly growing and metastasizing threats to and exploitable vulnerabilities
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Archives
Protecting Infrastructure – Cyber, Physical, and EMP Attacks
David Winks
February 21, 2024
Imagine 3,500 spiders, each with their own style, getting together to create a giant web. That’s how this author describes the U.S. power grid and
Needed: More Imagination for Countering Domestic Risks
Jeanne Benincasa Thorpe
February 7, 2024
From “Lord of the Flies” to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, significant consequences have been blamed on failures of imagination. Avoid repeating past mistakes and
Commercial Facilities Sector Perspectives
Kole (KC) Campbell
January 31, 2024
Commercial facilities dominate the U.S. economy, contributing trillions of dollars to the U.S. gross domestic product while employing and supporting millions of jobs. Learn more
Rising Above the Flood: A Decision Tool for Structural Safety
Cedric Ling, Debashish Kar, Nur Yazdani, Eyosias Beneberu, Maria Koliou and Yong Yoo
January 24, 2024
When homeowners choose to elevate their homes above flood levels, they may compromise the structural integrity of the building if the elevation method does not
Weathering the Unknown: Inside Grant County Emergency Management
Tara Leigh Goode
January 24, 2024
When threatening weather approaches, communities must make tough decisions. Grant County, Minnesota, is building on its lessons learned to better prepare for future severe storms.
Multimodal Transportation Perspectives
Nathan DiPillo and Derek Kantar
January 17, 2024
Without transportation and communications, emergency response can move at an uncomfortably slow pace, enough so that life, property, and the environment may be unnecessarily compromised.
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