**August 13, 2007 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Report**

\(1\) AGING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE:

Ripley, Amanda. \"We\'ve Come Undone.\" Time, August 9, 2007. Accessed
at:
[[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651502,00.html]{.underline}](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651502,00.html)

\[Excerpt: \"After the bridge collapse Minneapolis on Aug. 1, the
Department of Homeland Security announced that there was no evidence of
terrorism. Similar declarations followed the July explosion of an
83-year-old steam pipe in Manhattan and an August 2003 power blackout
that affected 50 million people and shut down airports across the
Northeast. All very alarming, but no terrorism here. Carry on. This is a
curious form of reassurance. Instead of sporadic attacks by a loosely
organized enemy, we face a systematic threat well distributed across the
nation. The strain on our foundations can cut Americans off from their
jobs, their families and emergency services, sometimes just for short
periods that don\'t make the news and sometimes permanently. While it\'s
always nice to know there was no malice aforethought, infrastructure
failures suggest a homeland that is less than secure.\"\]

\(2\) BIO-HAZARDS:

Department of Homeland Security. Better Management Needed for the
National Bio-Surveillance Integration System. Washington, DC: DHS,
Office of Inspector General (OIG-07-61), July 26, 2007, 39 pages.
Accessed at:

[[http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-61_Jul07.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-61_Jul07.pdf)

\[From Executive Summary: \"The ability to recognize quickly the signs
of an intentional biological attack or naturally occurring outbreak is
crucial to protecting the American public. Recognizing a gap in national
biological threat analysis, in 2004, the President directed the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to consolidate federal agency
bio-surveillance data in one system. In response, DHS began efforts to
develop the National Bio-Surveillance Integration System (NBIS), the
nation\'s first system capable of providing comprehensive and integrated
biosurveillance and situational awareness.

As part of our ongoing responsibility to assess the efficiency,
effectiveness, and economy of departmental programs and operations, we
audited the NBIS program. The objectives of our audit were to determine
(1) the efficacy of DHS\' plans, policies, and procedures for
collaborating with other federal, state, and local stakeholders to
gather and share bio-surveillance information via NBIS; and (2) whether
the system will meet user needs, information security requirements, and
privacy policies and procedures\....

NBIS, a key element of DHS\' bio-protection program, is falling short of
its objectives. Specifically, DHS has not provided consistent leadership
and staff support to ensure successful execution of the NBIS program.

For various reasons, NBIS ownership has shifted among department
organizations numerous times, with corresponding fluctuations in the
program approach, priority, and accomplishments. NBIS also has struggled
since its inception to secure the staff needed to manage program
activities effectively. As a result of the repeated transitions and
staffing shortfalls, planning documents needed to guide information
technology (IT) development have yet to be finalized. Program management
has not effectively communicated and coordinated with stakeholders to
secure the data, personnel, and information sharing agreements needed to
support system development. Additionally, program management did not
provide the contractor with adequate guidance, requirements input, or
data sources to deliver a fully functional system.

Margasak, Larry. \"Biological Detection Program Delayed.\" Associated
Press, August 10, 2007. Accessed at:
[[http://www.star-telegram.com/190/story/197876.html]{.underline}](http://www.star-telegram.com/190/story/197876.html)

\(3\) COMMUNICATIONS:

Federal Communications Commission. Recommendations of the Independent
Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Communications
Networks. Washington, DC: FCC (FCC 07-107), June 8, 2007. Accessed at:
[[http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-107A1.doc]{.underline}](http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-107A1.doc)

\(4\) DISASTERS WAITING TO HAPPEN:

Kelly, David. Scientist Makes Dire Earthquake Prediction - A Major
Earthquake in the Coachella Valley is Long Overdue, She Says, and Her
Research Foresees \'A Whole New Level of Disaster\'.\" Los Angeles
Times, August 10, 2007. Accessed at:

<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-seismic10aug10,0,246031.story?coll=la-home-center>

\(5\) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT:

Brandt, Steve. \"Experienced Hand With A Plan Is Behind the Disaster
Response.\" Star-Tribune (Minneapolis/St. Paul). August 8, 2007. At:

[[http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1349906.html]{.underline}](http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1349906.html)

\[Excerpt: \"\....The keys to knitting those operations together were
effective communication, planning, equipment and training. The Twin
Cities had months earlier been cited by the federal Department of
Homeland Security as one of six urban areas with top scores for how well
emergency agencies fund, set procedures and know how to use the
technology that lets them talk to one another in a crisis.\"\]

\(6\) HAZARDOUS MATERIALS:

North Carolina Public Interest Group. Pulp Fiction: Chemical Hazard
Reduction at Pulp and Paper Mills. Raleigh, NC: NCPIRG Education Fund,
August 2007, 33 pages. Accessed at:
[[http://ncpirg.org/NC.asp?id2=34754]{.underline}](http://ncpirg.org/NC.asp?id2=34754)

\[From Executive Summary: \"Across the country, pulp and paper mills,
petroleum refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities
use and store large amounts of hazardous chemicals that could be
released in the event of an accident or terrorist attack. Releases at
these chemical facilities could endanger thousands or even millions of
people working and living in nearby communities. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more than 100 facilities each
would endanger at least one million people in a worst-case chemical
release. Another 3,000 facilities each would endanger at least 10,000
people or more.\"\]

\(7\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

Sheridan, Mary Beth. \"Upkeep Of Security Devices A Burden.\" Washington
Post, August 13, 2007. At:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/12/AR2007081201244.html>

\[Excerpt: \"In 2003, the FBI used a \$25 million grant to give bomb
squads across the nation state-of-the-art computer kits, enabling them
to instantly share information about suspected explosives, including
weapons of mass destruction. Four years later, half of the Washington
area\'s squads can\'t communicate via the \$12,000 kits, meant to be
taken to the scene of potential catastrophes, because they didn\'t pick
up the monthly wireless bills and maintenance costs initially paid by
the FBI. Other squads across the country also have given up using
them.\"\]

\(8\) KATRINA AND NEW ORLEANS:

Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (Brookings). Website accessed
at: [[http://www.gnocdc.org/]{.underline}](http://www.gnocdc.org/)

\[Note from website: \"Information to support nonprofit grant-writing,
advocacy, planning & decision-making in post-Katrina New Orleans.\"\]

\(9\) LAW ENFORCEMENT AND DISASTER:

Department of Homeland Security. Improvements to Information Sharing are
Needed to Facilitate Law Enforcement Efforts During Disasters.
Washington, DC: DHS, Office of Inspector General (OIG-07-60), July 26,
2007, 51 pages. Accessed at:

[[http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-60_Jul07.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_07-60_Jul07.pdf)

\[From Executive Summary: \"Law enforcement efforts to provide public
safety and security, and detect disaster assistance fraud, are
complicated by: (1) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) concerns
about improperly disclosing Privacy Act-protected information; and (2)
the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act, which prevents federal
Inspectors General from expeditiously conducting computer matches among
recipients of disaster assistance. Law enforcement agencies were not
given direct access to FEMA disaster recovery assistance files to locate
missing children, sex offenders, and fugitive felons following Hurricane
Katrina. Instead, to obtain FEMA disaster recovery assistance files, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the New Orleans District
Attorney\'s Office, and state and local law enforcement agencies were
required to follow a time-consuming process, according to the Privacy
Act\'s general law enforcement exception\.... on January 8, 2007, DHS
and DOJ executed an agreement for the purpose of locating missing
children displaced due to disasters. However, DHS and DOJ have not
established an arrangement that provides law enforcement with direct
access to FEMA disaster recovery assistance files for all public safety
and security needs, such as identifying the whereabouts of registered
sex offenders and fugitive felons following a disaster.\"\]

\(10\) MITIGATION:

Grunwald, Michael. \"The Threatening Storm.\" Time, August 1, 2007, 9
pages. Accessed at:

<http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/printout/0,29239,1646611_1646683_1648904,00.html>

\[Excerpt: \"The most important thing to remember about the drowning of
New Orleans is that it wasn\'t a natural disaster. It was a man-made
disaster, created by lousy engineering, misplaced priorities and
pork-barrel politics\.... Two years after Katrina, the effort to protect
coastal Louisiana from storms and restore its vanishing wetlands has
become one of the biggest government extravaganzas since the moon
mission-and the Army Corps is running the show, with more money and
power than ever. Many of the same coastal scientists and engineers who
sounded alarms about the vulnerability of New Orleans long before
Katrina are warning that the Army Corps is poised to repeat its
mistakes-and extend them along the entire Louisiana coast. If you liked
Katrina, they say, you\'ll love what\'s coming next.

> \....for all the talk about restoring wetlands, almost every dime of
> the
>
> \$7 billion the Corps has received since Katrina is going to
> traditional
>
> engineering: huge structures designed to control rather than preserve
> nature. And its latest plan seeks to extend those structures along the
> entire coast, calling for such massive levees across so much of the
> state that scientists call it the Great Wall of Louisiana\....
> \"Nothing has changed,\" says G. Edward Dickey, a former Corps chief
> of planning. \"It\'s the same engineering mentality, except now
> they\'ll build the levees even bigger.\"\....The Corps has announced
> \"12 actions for change,\"

but it\'s hard to find outsiders who believe that it has moved beyond
its \"teach Mother Nature a lesson\" roots. It\'s still not a Corps of
ecologists.\"\]

\(11\) PANDEMIC:

Congress. Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act. Washington, DC:

109th U.S. Congress (S.3678), January 3, 2006, 70 pages. Accessed at:

[[http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s109-3678]{.underline}](http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s109-3678)
\-- See,

also:

<http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ417.109>

\(12\) STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, ULSTER:

From August 13, 2007 SUNY Ulster Press Release entitled \"SUNY Ulster
emergency management degree program open to students in other
counties:\"

\"Stone Ridge \-- Beginning this fall, courses from SUNY Ulster\'s
Emergency Management program will be available online to students from
SUNY Rockland Community College, Orange, and Sullivan Community College,
thanks to a collaborative new cross-registration agreement between the
four colleges.

The Emergency Management program\...provides an academic background for
professionals in emergency planning, disaster operations, and risk
assessment\....

Under the cross-registration agreement, students will take their general
education courses at their home campus while completing their Emergency
Management requirements online.

In September 2006, the four colleges announced the formation of the
Hudson Valley Domestic Preparedness Community College Consortium, an
innovative collaboration aimed at bolstering the Hudson Valley\'s
domestic preparedness by broadening the availability of a variety of
first-responder degree programs offered by the schools, including
emergency management, fire protection technology, paramedic services,
and cyber security.\"

\(13\) TERRORISM:

Angus Reid Global Monitor. \"More Americans Feel Unsafe in Post 9/11
Era.\" August 8, 2007. Accessed at:

<http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16769>

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

wayne.blanchard@dhs.gov

[[http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu)

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