by CHANDLER LOFLAND & RAYMOND WALKER, An Article Out Loud from the Domestic Preparedness Journal.
A cyberattack on water treatment plant in Florida significantly elevated sodium hydroxide levels for a brief period of time. A ransomware attack in May 2021 temporarily shut down the Colonial Pipeline. The Texas power grid is currently facing cybersecurity threats from Russia. These are just a few recent examples of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities that emphasize the need to secure and protect the nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure. This article explains how.
By BARBARA REYNOLDS , An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, March 28, 2007.
Crises and catastrophes are and will continue to be among the eternal verities of human life. Coping with them successfully requires effective communications – clear, concise, confident, and comforting. Leaders in Sacramento were recently challenged with this task as they consoled the public following a mass shooting that killed 6 and wounded 12 others.
By JORDAN SCOTT , An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, January 11, 2012.
News travels fast, especially on social media. In 2012, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) was embracing social media to better prepare its state for earthquakes. Since then, CalOES has continued to advance its efforts to provide early warning notifications to its residents through social media, mobile applications, and wireless alerts.
by SAMBAVI JANI, An Article Out Loud from the Domestic Preparedness Journal.
Experience required. Many jobs require wide-ranging qualifications and expertise to be able to apply and interview. However, people often ask, “How can I get the experience if I cannot get a job?” A great way to get “a foot in the door” is through internships, which can be vital in the emergency management field. Multifaceted and sometimes fast-paced, this is the type of profession where one must have the drive and passion for helping others and serving the community. Despite some public misconceptions that emergency management is only active during an event (which is often the only time an agency receives media attention), it is a 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year profession. Therefore, exposure to what happens in the field on “blue sky days” and during an emergency or disaster is paramount for someone new to the profession to experience.
By NATIONAL TRIBAL AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION, An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, February 14, 2018.
In September 2017, the National Tribal Amateur Radio Association (NTARA) – in conjunction with the Fresno Amateur Radio Emergency Services Group and Tulare County Amateur Radio Club – set up and operated Amateur Radio Special Event Station W7NTV during the National Tribal Emergency Management Council (NTEMC) annual conference. Since 2017, the NTARA and the NTEMC have continued to expand their operations to reach communities across the United States and Canada.
By RESEARCH GROUP AT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, October 12, 2016.
Recent active shooter events in multiple cities across the United States have raised concern in other communities with people wondering if their city is next. However, the phrase “It’s not if, but when” may distort how certain people perceive emergency preparedness, especially in cases such as active shooter threats. This common expression leads to inaccurate threat perceptions and can result in leaders becoming complacent. This 2016 article explains this odd pairing of a sense of inevitability with complacency, and the importance of being prepared to counter not only the threat, but also the perceptions of threat.
by BRIAN MCGINLEY, An Article Out Loud from the Domestic Preparedness Journal.
There are moments during a disaster that something needs to be purchased. Depending on the nature of the purchase, it could be something small, perhaps something that can be purchased with a company credit card. On the other hand, it could be a purchase for millions of dollars and, not only do procurement laws come into play, but so could federal procurement laws if the organization is going to seek Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement after the disaster closes. In the moments of needing to spend large dollar amounts, the procurement office should be consulted, not because all purchases need to go through that office, but because they work year-round to establish relationships, contracts, and price lists with suppliers that could save time, money, and allow focus to be on the disaster at hand.
by RON CAIN, An Article Out Loud from the Domestic Preparedness Journal.
It seems that every day over the past two years there are plenty of news stories covering the strain hospitals are facing in staffing shortages and the impacts from a global pandemic. Emergency medical services (EMS) are also dealing with their own similar issues across the nation. Many of these critical facilities and services are located in the proximity of nuclear power plants in which previous agreements were established to provide treatment, patient transportation, radiation monitoring, and decontamination in the event of a patient-generating event within a nuclear power plant’s emergency planning zones.
By RICHARD SCHOEBERL, An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, September 19, 2012.
As events of the past week have shown, the 18-month upheaval that has devastated Syria continues to present a major risk that the Syrian government’s caches of CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive) materials might fall into the hands of looters, defectors, opposition groups, and/or terrorist organizations. Moreover, as governments throughout the world continue to combat terrorism, groups with weapons-making capabilities, combined with clear intentions to acquire and use CBRNE materials, particularly nuclear, pose a threat of unprecedented magnitude.
By STEPHEN GRAINER , An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, October 14, 2009.
The Department of Homeland Security resumed the “next” series of its NIMS Incident Command System (ICS) training in August with the delivery of eight ICS position-specific Train-the-Trainer (T-t-T) programs in College Station, Texas, where the Texas Forest Service is headquartered – on the Texas A&M campus. Over a three-week period all eight command and general staff T-t-T courses were delivered.
