In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

On the train back from Washington last week, I was riveted to my iPod watching one of the best hours of television I’ve seen in a long time – the first segment of “Carrier,” PBS’ 10-part documentary, which follows a six-month deployment of the USS Nimitz to the Persian Gulf.
The episode is wonderful – informative, funny, inspiring, frank, and beautifully shot. There [...]

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The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes — And Why by Amanda Ripley goes on sale today.
I have had a chance to read the book, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly not only to any readers of this blog — who tend think about disasters more than most folks — but also to anyone who ever thinks about what they would do if [...]

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I recommend anyone interested in the role of the public in homeland security should read “Civic Security”  an article in the Winter 2008 edition of a terrific new policy magazine, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Dallek, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, cleverly offers a new take on homeland security by citing an old model –World War II’s Office of Civil Defense. He writes:
“In May 1941, President Franklin D. [...]

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The Department of Homeland Security has just released the transcript of Monday’s ”Blogger Roundtable” on emergency preparedness with Secretary Chertoff and FEMA Administrator Paulison held at DHS Headquarters in Washington, D.C. 
I had the opportunity to join Jonah Czerwinski of Homeland Security Watch and Rich Cooper of Security Debrief as one of three questioners.
It was a lively, back and forth discussion of emergency preparedness, much of it focusing on the role of the [...]

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The transcript of my Washingtonpost.com online discussion Monday on civilian preparedness can be found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051603186.html
Sorry for the lack of capitalization. It was my first online discussion, and I was trying to keep up with the questions.  
 

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I will be participating in a washingtonpost.com online discussion today at Noon.  The subject will be the article I wrote in the Outlook section on citizen preparedness.
If you’re near a computer, please jump on. Just follow this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/05/16/DI2008051603186.html

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I have a piece on citizen preparedness in today’s Washington Post “Outlook” section. It can be found through this link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603735.html
If you are arriving at the blog on for the first time as a result of the article, welcome. I hope you stick around.
I would love to hear any comments, criticisms, or questions about the story or anything regarding citizen emergency preparedness.
Below [...]

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In recent posts, I have suggested a number of websites for readers interested in citizen preparedness. Today, I am happy to be able to recommend my first radio show, “Homeland Security Inside & Out“.
HLSI&O is produced out of KAMU-FM, the local NPR affiliate in College Station, Texas. It is hosted by Dave McIntyre, Director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at [...]

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I don’t know how interesting and helpful my ‘Are You Ready’ series was for most of Brian Lehrer’s listeners on WNYC. However, I was thrilled to hear that it may have at least had a small, albeit important, constructive impact on New York City’s emergency efforts.
Roger, a listener from Brooklyn, New York, emailed me through this site after the second episode to [...]

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Thank you for all the emergency preparedness questions called or emailed in during the fourth installment of the Brian Lehrer Show’s ‘Are You Ready’ series. Though I’m not sure I’m knowledgeable enough to be dubbed a preparedness guru, I hope the series was somewhat informative on an issue — public emergency preparedness – that doesn’t always get a [...]

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