In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A new Congressionally-mandated commission has found that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) risk analysis capabilities and methods are not yet adequate for supporting DHS decision making.
The National Academies’ commission’s report — “Review of the Department of Homeland Security’s Approach to Risk Analysis” — does, however, approve of the Department’s current risk approach on natural [...]

[Read more →]

For government authorities one of — if not the most — important part of homeland security/disaster preparedness and response is its credibility with the public. There will always be skepticism about government communication, but the ability of the authorities to be able to be trusted during and after a crisis is vital. It’s in large [...]

[Read more →]

A congressionally-mandated commission says the United States has an “urgent” need to implement changes in the way the U.S. Department of Defense plans for and would respond to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) incident.
The report of the “Advisory Panel on Department of Defense Capabilities for Support of Civil Authorities After Certain [...]

[Read more →]

At college, it’s usually the students who do the pranks. But at the University of Delaware earlier this month, administrators turned the tables for, of all things, an emergency preparedness drill. According to an article (and video report) from WDEL-AM:
University of Delaware students lined up for what they were told was going to be a “GREEK” [...]

[Read more →]

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to retake action this week on the Zadroga Act, which would support health care programs set for first responders and civilians who became ill as a result of 9/11. The legislation got caught up in some political and procedural infighting earlier in the summer.
I hope and trust that the [...]

[Read more →]

On Thursday night, twin tornadoes and a microburst went through New York City killing one person, ripping out 150 trees and damaging a number of cars and homes.
Tornadoes are clearly not typical here in the Big Apple — though we had a similar if less serious incident with them earlier in the summer. But it [...]

[Read more →]

A report issued to Congress on Friday says that the U.S.’s ability to detect tsunamis has improved in the last few years, but many coastal communities remain at risk because the government is unprepared to quickly warn people. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times:
The United States is particularly ill-equipped to give warning [...]

[Read more →]

The Mineta Transportation Institute has released a report evaluating the security awareness tips campaigns aimed at the public, along the lines of the “See Something, Say Something” initiative, of five San Francisco-area transportation agencies.
Exploring the Effectiveness of Transit Security Awareness Campaigns in the San Francisco Bay Area finds: ”none of the five agencies analyzed for this [...]

[Read more →]

As readers of this blog know, I am advocate of establishing a single national day dedicated to emergency preparedness. I believe that it would be very useful to have a specific time each year in which the entire nation focuses on this challenging and sensitive subject.
This day would be the time that we developed and practiced [...]

[Read more →]

FEMA and the Ad Council today are releasing a new series of bilingual PSAs aimed at encouraging Americans to prepare for emergencies. The Spanish PSA’s direct viewers to Listo.Gov, the Spanish version of Ready.gov and the English to Ready.

One of the FEMA/Ad Council Listo.Gov Spanish PSAs.

One of the FEMA/Ad Council Ready.Gov English PSAs.

These icons link [...]

[Read more →]