In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

In my research for this blog and my book, I have found that you can sometimes learn a lot about public preparedness from people who aren’t experts in public preparedness. Historian Matt Dallek does not usually write about preparedness nor even homeland security. However, he wrote a very insightful and helpful article, ”Civic Security”, this past winter in the policy journal Democracy (free signup required) on what the U.S.’s civilian defense efforts during World War II can teach us about how to engage and involve the public in the present day.

In this “What Should We Tell The Public?” segment, Dallek explains that grass roots citizen involvement in our homeland security dates back all the way to the American Revolution and that we can learn a lot from our own history when it comes to mobilizing the citizenry.

 

MATT DALLEK, “CIVIC SECURITY”

Matt just completed a fellowship with the Woodrow Wilson Center For International Scholars. He is currently teaching at the University of California’s Washington, D.C. Center.

In September, he’s embarking on a 60-mile bike ride through the Civil War battlefields of Maryland to raise money for pancreatic cancer research at Johns Hopkins Medical School. I encourage you to read his inspiring letter about his own personal experience with the disease and his efforts to raise awareness and money to support research at Johns Hopkins (pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas/dallekLetter.html). And, if you are so inclined, support his ride.