Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked in close cooperation to coordinate a recent nationwide demonstration showing the ability to deploy a common, interoperable credentialing system that enables electronic identity authentication for both government and industry personnel.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its 2010 U.S. Winter Outlook, which predicts extreme weather patterns for different regions of the country this winter. The Federal Emergency Management Agency responds by reminding individuals to prepare early for winter storms and extreme cold.
"For accurate customer experience management, enterprises need full access to all customer conversations - Facebook, blogs, forums and more - no matter where they take place," said Catherine van Zuylen, vice president of product marketing at Attensity. "With this partnership, we are providing access to all customer conversations on Twitter to improve discovery, analysis, and response to customer issues, recommendations, and questions."
Thanks to major improvements in military medical care, even on the battlefield itself, the U.S. combat KIA (killed in action) casualty rate has declined dramatically for more than half a century. Question: Could the same medical skills, training, and equipment be used to reduce the KIA rate of U.S. police and other law-enforcement personnel? The obvious answer is an unqualified "Yes!" But it will take time, patience, and determination.
A plane crash, a toxic-chemical spill, and other "mass-casualty" incidents all represent just the beginning of an extremely complicated response and recovery process. One of the most important "collateral duties" will be the dissemination of timely information to the media, the general public, and the worried families of those dead, missing, or hospitalized. Here is how one major U.S. jurisdiction is handling that responsibility.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross (ARC) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement that sets the framework for the ARC and FEMA to jointly lead the planning and coordination of mass care services to both strengthen and expand the resources available to help shelter, feed, provide emergency first aid, and deliver supplies to survivors of a disaster.
"Dr. Vanderwagen is a renowned public health official who brings a wealth of real-world experience in the public health community," said Scott Upp, CEO of Upp Technology. "We appreciate the practical wisdom that he - and everyone at Martin, Blank, and Associates - can provide as we look to increase our services for a community that has unique needs and limited resources."
FLIR Systems hosted its fourth annual "Corporate State of the Union" press breakfast. For the first time, Bill Sundermeier, president of FLIR Government Systems, publicly discussed the recent ICx Technologies acquisition and its integration within FLIR Systems.
In business, in politics, and in sports, one of the oldest human truths is that, "If you can't beat them, join them!" That seemingly eternal verity is being tested again, very effectively, by CDC and the nation's healthcare communities are using widgets, tweets, and Whyville to persuade the public at large that the global flu pandemic is not yet dead, only sleeping.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton joined Mexican Secretary of Finance Ernesto Cordero Arroyo and Tax Administration Service and Customs Director Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz-Mena in hosting the first-ever graduation of Mexican customs officials from a 10-week ICE-led investigator training course at the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in North Charleston, S.C.
"New World has continued our significant annual investments in research and development while working hand-in-hand with public safety customers across the country to constantly offer new and leading solutions for law enforcement, fire, and EMS," said Mark Prevost, Vice President of Marketing for New World.
CACI International Inc. has announced that it has been awarded a prime contract to support the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Information Technology Infrastructure work under an overall CDC Information Management Services (CIMS) contract. The 10-year, multiple-award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for IT infrastructure work has a ceiling value of $1 billion, represents new business for CACI, and leverages its position in the growing healthcare IT field.
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities - which consists of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - builds economic competitiveness by connecting housing with good jobs, transportation, and more. Last week, those agencies began releasing local grants to support sustainable living nationwide. The combined sum of the new agency grants is almost $410 million.
TeleCommunication Systems has received an additional $4.1 million in funding from the U.S. Army for equipment and maintenance of Secret Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) and Non-secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR) Access Point (SNAP) Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Satellite Systems.
GE has announced an addition to its Reuter Stokes product line: a radiation detection solution using boron-10 to detect radiation in homeland security applications. These detectors are key components of the radiation portal monitors used in a wide range of applications, including the screening of cargo at U.S. borders and ports.
Influenza and many other diseases spread with the speed of summer lightning. The "cure" for these frequently fatal viruses moves at a much slower pace - largely because the testing and validation processes take so long. Fortunately, there are new approaches coming into play to expedite those processes while still maintaining acceptable safety standards.
"This technology is very important to our DOI customers, especially those who need to communicate with their surrounding fire and law-enforcement agencies with a cost-effective interoperability solution," said Michael Sheehan, President and CEO of Thales Communications Inc. "Further, this is a solution that works right out of the box."
How does one define "critical"? Far too often in today's interconnected world, that important designation is awarded retrospectively - i.e., after a terroristic attack or major weather disaster. A credible case can be made, though, that major hospitals and other healthcare facilities deserve that description because of their intrinsic value to the entire community.
The B-SCAN X-ray people scanning system provides advanced security to prisons and other security checkpoints by locating threats and contraband concealed in body cavities, artificial limbs, or elsewhere on a person's body.
The American Red Cross has released the 2010 World Disasters Report with a warning that the next urban disaster could be even worse than the earthquake in Haiti. One key finding is that between one third and one half of the population of most cities in low- and middle-income countries - approximately a billion people - live in slums or informal settlements in poor-quality homes on dangerous sites, with little or no access to the infrastructure and essential services that help to reduce disaster risks.
The American Red Cross and American Heart Association have announced changes to guidelines for administering first aid. Among the revisions are updated recommendations for the treatment of snake bites, anaphylaxis (shock), jellyfish stings, and severe bleeding.
The HICS/ICS (Hospital Incident Command System/Incident Command System) Cart is designed to fit the needs of hospital and public health response agencies. The cart can store response plans, ICS vests, and communication equipment - and function as a point of command and organization.
"Susan's diverse background and wealth of experience at TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has prepared her for the challenge of leading federal transportation security efforts at Dulles," said Lee Kair, TSA's Assistant Administrator for Security Operations. "Her outstanding leadership and determination to enhance transportation security will continue to be a significant asset to TSA operations."
The agreement enhances the Air Canada Cargo's AC Cool Chain solution offering in meeting the needs of healthcare and pharmaceutical customers that require strict temperature control of their products during transport.
"We live in a world of structured and unstructured data, and the State of Nebraska has very much been living in that world," said Neil Schlisserman, Vice President of Americas for Memex. "Now, with Memex, Nebraska officials have the opportunity to not only search and make sense of all that data, but also layer process and accountability on top of it."
As this year's U.S. elections clearly demonstrate, there is a built-in conflict between voters' desire for more and improved services and the equally compelling requirement, at all levels of government, to reduce expenditures. In the field of emergency medical services, this problem is particularly difficult to resolve because not only dollars, but also human lives, are at stake.
Everyone in any given community throughout the world suffers when a hurricane, earthquake, or other disaster occurs. Those who suffer the most, though, are usually those already suffering from other problems, specifically including medical impairments that make it difficult to function on their own, or even with assistance. Fortunately, new government plans and policies are beginning to catch up with the "special needs" of these special citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched the "Stop. Think. Connect." program - a national public education campaign designed to increase public understanding of cyber threats and how individual citizens can develop safer cyber habits that will help make networks more secure.
The Harris Corporation has received a $9 million contract from Ontario County, New York, to upgrade its public safety radio communications system with a Harris P25IP (Project 25 to the power of IP) solution. The new standards-based digital system will provide mission-critical interoperable communications to approximately 2,500 firefighters, police officers, EMS professionals, and sheriff's deputies within a 662-square-mile area.
The CEMPlanner from Previstar is a web-based emergency-planning software service that brings planners together on a collaborative platform and facilitates the planning process (based on FEMA's Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG-101)) to create and maintain standards-based plans. Such plans can be accessed online or downloaded into a printable format.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) station in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, continues working to improve the border-crossing experience for travelers through use of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, which is now is a built-in component of all new U.S. passports, passport cards, enhanced driver's licenses, and CBP's own Trusted Traveler Cards. By using this technology, the driver of a vehicle can display all entry documents for the entire vehicle at a "Display Card Here" sign located between the border-crossing stop sign and inspection booth.
Upp has announced that the Salt Lake Valley Health Department (SLVHD) of Salt Lake County, Utah, has selected the IRMS 360|Enterprise solution suite to manage the county's emergency response supply chain and patient tracking. The IRMS Go-Kit is a standalone mobile logistics platform that facilitates, in real time, the remote management, from any location, of critical emergency response inventories, assets, and resources as well as patient dispensing facilities.
"The private sector is an integral part of our nation's emergency management team," said FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Administrator Craig Fugate. "This podcast series is another important way we are continuing to work with the private sector to strengthen our overall preparedness and make sure that, as a country, we are bringing every resource to bear to help people and communities recover from tragedies."
ILC Dover is pleased to announce the hire of Paul Guglielmi as Director of Sales for their PPE Division. Mr. Guglielmi has over 30 years of experience in the PPE Industry and comes to ILC Dover with a great deal of experience leading Sales Teams.
Surgeons, trauma specialists, and other doctors are in short supply in many areas of the United States and for that reason are usually not assigned to the emergency teams dispatched to an accident scene. On the other hand, a well trained physician may mean the difference between saving the life of a critically injured victim or letting that person die before he or she reaches the emergency room of the nearest hospital.
Baltimore knows, and so do the great states of Oregon and Pennsylvania, that the first requirement in preparedness training is having the right type of equipment - in the quantities needed to meet all possible contingencies. The "other" first requirement is to ensure that all users of that equipment are well trained, as frequently as possible - and, again, to meet all possible contingencies.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced the beginning of Cyber Storm III, an exercise scenario that simulates a large-scale cyber attack on critical infrastructure across the nation. The goal of the exercise is to examine and strengthen collective cyber preparedness and response capabilities, involving thousands of participants both in government and in industry.
The AreaRAE Steel systems are performing around-the-clock monitoring for toxic and potentially explosive gases, as well as oxygen-deficient or -enriched atmospheres that can be prevalent in confined-space work areas. The advanced AreaRAE Steel systems continuously send real-time data to a command center near the Oakland commercial shipping wharf approximately one mile away.
"Thad Allen has served the U.S. government and U.S. Coast Guard with great distinction," said RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson. "We are delighted he will continue to take on the most difficult policy challenges as a RAND senior fellow. His experience and expertise will be apparent in our research and analysis on an array of homeland security, environmental, and national security challenges."
As part of its ongoing effort to partner with the private sector to strengthen disaster readiness and prepare for all hazards, including earthquakes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) earthquake mitigation campaign, "QuakeSmart," was highlighted in The ServiceMaster Company's Employee Earthquake Awareness Week. The week-long event, which started on 27 September, was designed to raise awareness of earthquake risk, provide guidance on reducing that risk, and encourage employees to take remedial action both at home and in the workplace.
This fall, a mobile operating room was set up along Manhattan's East Side as dignitaries from around the world convened for the 65th United Nations General Assembly. The operating room, a 442-square-foot Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelter (DRASH) system provided by DHS Technologies, was just one of several facilities deployed by the U.S. Secret Service as part of U.S. security efforts during the week-long event.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced the adoption of a new digital message format for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The goal of IPAWS is to expand upon the traditional Emergency Alert System by allowing emergency management officials to reach as many people as possible over as many communications devices as possible - e.g., radio, television, mobile phones, personal computers, and other communications devices.
"The addition of S&IS's market-leading capabilities positions ManTech as a major integrated security provider, allowing us to offer comprehensive solutions for the full range of security threats - from physical through cyber. We see a solid pipeline of opportunities to provide full-scope security services to new and current ManTech customers" said ManTech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer George J. Pedersen.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano has announced a key milestone in the Department's efforts to develop a robust small business preparedness plan - soliciting public comment on a private sector readiness certification program specifically tailored to the needs of small businesses.
The improved CROSSTECH footwear fabric from W.L. Gore & Associates now meets both NFPA 1971 (2005 edition) and NFPA 1992 (2007 edition) certifications. CROSSTECH provides outstanding protection against liquids and the common chemicals specified in NFPA 1971, and also protects against the more aggressive chemicals, such as 98 percent sulphuric acid, required for NFPA 1992 certification.
