**May 25, 2007 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) LEADERSHIP \-- RELATES TO PRINCIPLES OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT:

Miles, Donna. \"Gates Offers Leadership Philosophy to Graduating
Midshipmen.\" American Forces Press Service, May 25, 2007. At:

[[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46179]{.underline}](http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46179)

\[Excerpts from speech by Secretary of Defense Gates: \"Gates noted the
midshipmen have studied a lot about leadership during their four years
in Annapolis, and said he has come to realize that real leadership is a
rare commodity.

He offered his personal insights into what makes a leader, citing
vision, integrity, conviction, self-confidence, courage and common
decency.

Leadership takes vision, Gates told the midshipmen, and the ability to
see beyond immediate tasks and challenges to what\'s ahead. \"You must
see what others do not or cannot, and then be prepared to act on your
vision,\" he said.

Real leadership also demands integrity, Gates said, acknowledging with
dismay that it\'s a notion many tend to consider curious and
old-fashioned. \"For a real leader, personal values - self-reliance,
self-control, honor, truthfulness, morality - are absolute,\" he said.

\"These are the building blocks of character, of integrity, and only on
that foundation can true leadership be built.\" Gates called deep
conviction another critical leadership quality. \"True leadership is a
fire in the mind\" that\'s able to transform and transfix others, he
said \"It is a strength of purpose and belief in a cause that reaches
out to others, touches their hearts, and makes them eager to follow.\"

A true leader exhibits self-confidence, the secretary said. He
emphasized that he wasn\'t referring to \"chest-thumping, strutting
egotism,\" but rather, \"a quiet self-assurance that allows a leader to
give others both real responsibility and credit for success.\"

A self-confident leader is able to make decisions, then delegate and
trust others to carry them out, he said. In doing so, Gates said, the
leader \"doesn\'t cast such a large shadow that no one else can grow.\"

As essential as vision, integrity, deep conviction and self-confidence
are to leadership, they aren\'t enough to make a leader, he told the
midshipmen. \"A leader must have the courage to act, often against the
will of the crowd,\" he said.

A true leader works as a team, but also must be willing to buck popular
opinion and take an independent stand when it\'s necessary, the
secretary said. \"Don\'t kid yourself,\" he told the midshipmen. \"That
takes courage.\"

As the graduates move on to their Navy and Marine Corps careers, Gates
reminded them to apply another quality of real leadership: common
decency. A true leader treats everyone - superiors, peers and
subordinates alike - with fairness, respect and dignity, he said.\"\]

\(2\) NOAA FORECAST:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA Forecast, Vol.
1, Issue 2, May 25, 2007. Accessed at:

[[http://www.externalaffairs.noaa.gov/forecast/noaa-forecast-2.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.externalaffairs.noaa.gov/forecast/noaa-forecast-2.pdf)

\(3\) PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE:

Adcox, Seanna. \"Gov: State, Local Governments Should Retain Control In
Hurricane.\" Associated Press, May 24, 2007. Accessed at:

[[http://www.thestate.com/312/story/72435.html]{.underline}](http://www.thestate.com/312/story/72435.html)

\(4\) RECOVERY IN LOUISIANA FROM KATRINA:

Powell, Donald E. \"Re: \'Filling a Gap in Federal Aid\'.\" The Advocate
(Baton Rouge, LA), May 25, 2007. Accessed at:

[[http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/7678222.html]{.underline}](http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/7678222.html)

\[Note: \"Advocate\" subtitle is: \"Letter: Powell Says La. Botched Road
Home.\"\]

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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