In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

I wanted to bring your attention to a brand new blog authored by Col. Randy Larsen (ret.), Biosecurity Blog.
Randy, a friend of this blog, has an illustrious and varied career in the military, homeland security and communications. Most recently, he was the Executive Director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction [...]

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The New York Times’ Idea of the Day blog summarizes a new study (which sounds like it could have come from The Onion) in a new post, “The Botox-Terror Connection”:
And you thought people with cosmetically frozen facial expressions were scary. Writing in the latest Scientific American, two bio-terror experts, Ken Coleman and Raymond A. Zilinskas, [...]

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On the subject of preparedness ‘carrots’, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s Ready Georgia campaign is working with the private sector to provide a free or discounted NOAA Weather Radio for residents who use its new online family preparedness planning tool.

According to the agency’s press release:
…Through July 19, Georgians who visit ready.ga.gov and sign up to [...]

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In today’s Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan has a column about the nation’s lack of readiness for weapons of mass destruction (WMD), “‘We Are Totally Unprepared’: Nine years after 9/11, a chilling complacency about WMD attacks.” She writes:
The most important overlooked story of the past few weeks was overlooked because it was not surprising. Also because no [...]

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The Menu: Alaskan Dungeness crab flan with fresh ginger-yuzu broth; organic Long Island duckling in almond and spring garlic broth, parsley root puree, white truffle honey glaze and fresh chamomile; and Colorado cherries roasted with fresh verbena and lavender, strawberry sorbet, rhubarb granité, and pomegranate…and CPR?
This blog’s ongoing effort to find creative ideas for engaging [...]

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A bill, co-sponsored by a bi-partisan group of members of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee and introduced yesterday, would require the U.S. government to better inform the public about weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Those provisions are part of comprehensivelegislation addressing the WMD threat which is based largely on the recommendations of the Commission on the [...]

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A top Department of Homeland Security Department official said yesterday that the U.S. has “to start thinking very seriously about what we would actually do the day after [a biological or nuclear] attack” and explain to the public that we could recover from such an incident.
The speech was reported in an article by Martin Matishak [...]

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I wanted to mention two events from this past weekend, which I think offer a lesson for citizen preparedness:  The first was a family preparedness event held by the American Red Cross at Fort Belvoir just outside Washington in which free readiness kits and other emergency supplies were distributed to 1100 military families. At the other [...]

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A recent post on the New York Times’ interesting “Well” blog focused on emergency preparedness for pets. In “Disaster Planning For Pets,” Tara Parker-Pope describes her own lack of readiness when a flood forced her — along with her dogs and cats — from their New Jersey home.
When my neighborhood was evacuated because of Delaware [...]

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In the May/June issue of Emergency Management magazine, there’s an interesting “Point of View” column by Elaine Pittman, “Simplifying The Message” (p. 12 on this pdf). She begins the piece:
There are 27 items on Ready.gov’s list of supplies to incorporate into an emergency kit, divided by recommended supplies (12) and additional items to consider (15). At [...]

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