July 16, 2007 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project Activity Report

(1) BACK FROM BOULDER HAZARDS CONFERENCE:

Today is the first day back in the office and while there is much to say about this very good conference and some of the presentations heard there, today is not that day -- working through more than 500 email backlog. Speaking of which, after my email box filled somewhere shortly after the 500th email, the "system" stopped accepting incoming emails and did not store them to provide to me upon my return -- theoretically sending "failed delivery" messages. My last received email was on Friday July 13th. So if anyone received a "failed delivery" notice or sent an email which needs a response on the 13th through morning of 16th, then you need to resend now that space has been created in the mailbox.

(2) COMMAND OR COLLABORATION:

Canton, Lucien G. "Command or Collaboration? A Group Discussion on Effective EOC Organization." EIIP Virtual Forum Presentation, July 11, 2007. Accessed at: http://www.emforum.org/vforum/lc070711.htm

(3) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE:

Government Accountability Office. Critical Infrastructure: Sector Plans Complete and Sector Councils Evolving (Testimony before the Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration, Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, U.S. Senate). Washington, DC: GAO (G-07-1075T), 27 pages. Accessed at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d071075t.pdf

(4) FUSION CENTER CONCERNS:

Congressional Research Service (Todd Masse, et al.). Fusion Centers:

Issues and Options for Congress. Washington, DC: CRS Report for Congress, July 6, 2007, 100 pages. Accessed at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34070.pdf

[Excerpt: "Fusion centers are state-created entities largely financed and staffed by the states, and there is no one 'model' for how a center should be structured. State and local law enforcement and criminal intelligence seem to be at the core of many of the centers. Although many of the centers initially had purely counterterrorism goals, for numerous reasons, they have increasingly gravitated toward an all-crimes and even broader all-hazards approach. While many of the centers have prevention of attacks as a high priority, little 'true fusion,' or analysis of disparate data sources, identification of intelligence gaps, and pro-active collection of intelligence against those gaps which could contribute to prevention is occurring. Some centers are collocated with local offices of federal entities, yet in the absence of a functioning intelligence cycle process, collocation alone does not constitute fusion."]

(5) HEALTHCARE PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE:

Maldin-Morgenthau, Beth et al. "Meeting Report - Roundtable: Promoting Partnerships for Regional Preparedness and Response." Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2007, pp. 180-185. At:

http://www.upmc-biosecurity.org/website/resources/publications/2007_orig-articles/2007_article_pdfs/2007-07-03-regionalhealthcare.pdf

(6) LOOTING -- OF A DIFFERENT SORT:

Heath, Brad. "Katrina Fraud Swamps System." USA Today, July 5, 2007.

Accessed at:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-05-katrina-fraud_N.htm

[Excerpt: "Federal agents investigating widespread fraud after the Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2005 are sifting through more than 11,000 potential cases, a backlog that could take years to resolve. Authorities have fielded so many reports of people cheating aid programs, swindling contracts and scamming charities after the hurricanes that Homeland Security inspectors, who typically police disaster aid scams, have been "swamped," says David Dugas, the U.S. attorney in Baton Rouge."]

(7) PANDEMIC:

Maldin-Morgenthau, Beth, et al. "Roundtable Discussion: Corporate Pandemic Preparedness" (Meeting Report). Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2007, pp. 168-173. Accessed at:

http://www.upmc-biosecurity.org/website/resources/publications/2007_orig-articles/2007_article_pdfs/2007-07-03-corporatepreparedness.pdf

(8) RESOURCES:

CPM Global Assurance (Where business continuity, security and emergency management converge). The CPM (Contingency Planning & Management) Group, Falls Church, VA. http://www.contingencyplanning.com

[Just received the July 2007 edition (Vol. 4, Issue 7), containing, amongst other things, articles on "Safeguarding Against Nuclear Terrorism," and "A Changing Climate -- Risk Management and Insurance Aspects of BC Planning: Part II."

B.Wayne Blanchard, Ph.D., CEM

Higher Education Project Manager

Emergency Management Institute

National Emergency Training Center

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

16825 S. Seton, K-011

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

(301) 447-1262, voice

(301) 447-1598, fax

http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu

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