I recently had the opportunity to interview Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on the subject of citizen preparedness. Speaking in his Capitol Hill office, Thompson told me that he believes there needs to be more emphasis on public readiness and engagement in the U.S.Â
He says he hopes President Obama will [...]
Entries Tagged as 'President Obama'
In Interview, House Homeland Security Chairman Thompson Calls For New Commitment To Citizen Preparedness, Urges President Obama To Ask Public To Prepare
April 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments
Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Preparedness Interviews · President Obama
“Kennedy Serve America Act” Passes Senate; Would Increase National Service Participants Involved In Disaster Preparedness, Response
March 27th, 2009 · No Comments
The U.S Senate yesterday passed the “Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act”, which would significantly raise the number of Americans who can participate in national service programs, including those to help prepare for and respond to disasters. The legislation calls for tripling the size of the AmeriCorps to 750,000 and expanding incentives for students and seniors to give [...]
Tags: Preparedness Groups · President Obama · Uncategorized · Volunteering
“Is Obama Ready For A Bomb On The Train?”
March 23rd, 2009 · No Comments
That’s the provocative question asked by the headline of an ABCNews.com article written by Leonard Marcus, Isaac Ashkenazi, and Barry Dorn from Harvard’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative with advice for the new Administration. The piece came out in December when this blog was on hiatus but I wanted to post it because the authors point out the [...]
Tags: International · Preparedness Lessons · President Obama
Obama Appoints Bioterrorism Expert Hamburg To Run FDA, Pledges To Improve Food Safety
March 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments
In his weekly radio/video address today, President Obama addressed the issue of food safety and announced the nomination of Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg as the Commissioner of the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Hamburg is a former Health Commissioner of New York City and is known as an expert in bioterrorism. She is currently Senior Scientist at [...]
Tags: Food Safety · President Obama
The ‘Obama Model’ Of Homeland Security Preparedness & Engagement
February 18th, 2009 · 1 Comment
I wanted to bring to your attention a terrific article in The Huffington Post, “Applying The ‘Obama Model’ For Homeland Security,” by Arnold Bogis from Harvard University’s Belfer Center.
Bogis argues that the bottom-up, community-driven organizational approach of the President during the recent campaign (and in some of his previous work in Chicago) can — and should be — [...]
Tags: Preparedness Ideas · President Obama
President Obama’s Inaugural Address & Citizen Preparedness/Engagement
January 26th, 2009 · 2 Comments
While President Obama did not mention the issue of citizen preparedness explicitly in his inaugural address, he did strike several themes in the speech directly relating to the subject. It is why I believe that preparedness can be a key element in implementing the President’s vision of increasing the public’s level of involvement and engagement in their [...]
Tags: President Obama