**August 15-19, 2005 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Weekly Activity Report**

"Please note: Some of the Web sites linked to in this document are not
federal government Web sites, and may not necessarily operate under the
same laws, regulations, and policies as federal Web sites."

\(1\) ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY \-- HAS NEW EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER
AND

LAB:

August 16, 2005 \-- Receive email from Mary Ann Rollans, Dean, College
of Community Education and Professional Development Arkansas Tech
University, and the lead in creating the school\'s Emergency
Administration and Management Bachelor\'s Degree Program \-- one of the
country\'s first \-- with attached newspaper article on \"ATU Celebrates
Emergency Operations Center.\"

According to Dr. Rollans, ATU had an \"open house\" on Monday, August 15
to \"unveil\" the schools new Emergency Operations Center. The new EOC
at ATU, one of only a handful of collegiate EOC\'s, will be used in the
event of campus emergencies and as a teaching lab for ATU students. The
attached article noted that \"The center features a mixture of tablet
computers, and laptops for incident response and data collection, fixed
work stations for modeling and simulation software and data collection
and global positioning receivers for geospatial location identification
and mapping.\" For additional information, Dr. Rollans can be reached
at:

maryann.rollans@atu.edu.

\(2\) BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY DISASTER PREPAREDNESS:

August 15, 2005 \-- Received Vol. 14, No. 3, 2005 of \"Disaster
Prevention and Management\" and found interesting statistic in the
following article:

O\'Brien, Geoff, and Paul Read. \"Future UK Emergency Management: New
Wine, Old Skin?\" Disaster Prevention and Management - An International
Journal, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2005, pp. 353-361.

\"The Home Office (Great Britain. Home Office, 1999, p. 15) in their
publication Business as Usual state that research has shown that 80 per
cent of small businesses without business recovery plans fail within one
year of a major disruption.\" (O\'Brien and Read, 2005, p. 358)

The government publication referenced is:

Great Britain, Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat. 2004.

Dealing With Disasters (3rd revised edition). London, UK: The Stationery
Office.

\(3\) CIVIL DEFENSE MAKES A COMEBACK \-- ARTICLE IN THE CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE

MONITOR:

August 16, 2005 \-- Accessible at:

[[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0816/p02s01-ussc.html]{.underline}](http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0816/p02s01-ussc.html)

\(4\) CLINTON JUNIOR COLLEGE, SC \-- INVESTIGATING DEVELOPMENT OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM:

August 17, 2005 \-- The Project Assistant talked with Dr. Willie Graham,
Professor of Business at Clinton Junior College, when he called seeking
information on the EM HiEd Project and a copy of our CD ROMs of EMI
training courses and BA and Graduate level educational college courses.
Dr. Graham is optimistic that this investigation process will lead to
the development of emergency management classes, if not some sort of
program, by Fall Semester 2006.

\(5\) COASTAL HAZARDS MANAGEMENT \-- GRADUATE-LEVEL COLLEGE COURSE
DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT:

August 15, 2005 \-- Received for review 2nd draft of Session 15,
\"Biological and Anthropogenic Coastal Hazards,\" by Dr. Stephen
Meinhold, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

August 19, 2005 \-- Received for review, 2nd draft of Session 14,
\"Technological Hazards Facing Coastal Communities,\" as well as the
50-plus slides associated with this session \-- developed by Dr. Stephen
Meinhold, University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

\(6\) CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION REPORTS:

August 15, 2005 \-- Learned of a reference I missed when it came out on
October 1, 2004 \-- a report by John Moteffa and Paul Parfomak,
Resources, Science, and Industry Division of the Congressional Research
Service, Library of Congress, entitled \"Critical Infrastructure and Key
Assets:

Definition and Identification,\" (19 pages), accessed at:

[[http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32631.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/RL32631.pdf)

August 18, 2005 \-- Learned of a GAO Report: \"Critical Infrastructure

Protection: Challenges in Addressing Cyber security,\" which was
released on July 20, 2005. The text version, which I printed out, comes
to 19 pages and was accessed at:
[[http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05827t.html]{.underline}](http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05827t.html)

\(7\) CYBER-TERRORISM:

August 15, 2005 \-- \"Christian Science Monitor\" article entitled \"New
Focus on Cyber-Terrorism \-- AT Risk: Computers That Run Power Grids,
Refineries,\"

by Nathaniel Hoopes. Accessible at:

[[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0816/p01s02-stct.html]{.underline}](http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0816/p01s02-stct.html)

\(8\) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, STRATEGY FOR HOMELAND DEFENSE AND CIVIL
SUPPORT, JUNE 2005:

August 15, 2005 \-- Another document which I missed when released (40
pages)

\-- accessed at:

[[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2005/d20050630homeland.pdf#search=\'Strate]{.underline}](http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2005/d20050630homeland.pdf#search='Strate)

gy%20for%20Homeland%20Defense%20and%20Civil%20Support

\(9\) DISASTER RESPONSE OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT \-- UPPER DIVISION
COLLEGE COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT:

August 19, 2005 \-- Reviewed Session 38, \"Record Keeping,
Transportation and Legal Issues,\" and provided review comments to
course developer, Dr. David McEntire, University of North Texas.
Forwarded session to the EMI Webmaster for upload to the Project
website, where it should be accessible shortly.

\(10\) DISCIPLINES, DISASTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT \-- BOOK
DEVELOPMENT

PROJECT:

August 15, 2005 \-- Received for review from lead book developer, Dr.
David McEntire, University of North Texas,

\-- 3rd draft of a chapter on \"Anthropological Contributions to the
Study of Disasters,\" by Dr. Doug Henry, Department of Anthropology,
University of North Texas.

\-- 2nd draft of a chapter on \"A Psychological Perspective on
Disasters\" by Dr. Margaret Gibbs and Kim Montagnino.

\(11\) GAO REPORT ON HOMELAND SECURITY: DHS\'S EFFORTS TO ENHANCE FIRST
RESPONDERS ALL-HAZARDS CAPABILITIES CONTINUE TO EVOLVE:

August 15, 2005 \-- Learned of this July 2005 report (69 pages) by the
U.S.

Government Accountability Office Report \-- GAO-05-652 \-- accessed at:

[[http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05652.pdf]{.underline}](http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05652.pdf)

\(12\) GUAM COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

August 15, 2005 \-- Communicated with Eric Chong, Associate Dean, Guam
Community College, concerning his interest in developing an emergency
management or homeland security program at GCC. For additional
information, Dean Chong can be reached at: echong@guamcc.edu

\(13\) HURRICANE FORECASTING \-- PRESENTATION ON SEPTEMBER 14TH,
WASHINGTON

DC:

August 19, 2005 \-- Received info today from the National Academies on
an upcoming presentation at the Koshland Science Museum in DC, from 6:30
PM to 8:30 PM \-- Cost: \$5 for subs and sodas; Age Range: 13+

\"It seems that hurricanes have become increasingly intense. Is this an
aberration, or indicative of a greater climatic cycle? Dr. Gerry Bell of
NOAA\'s Hurricane Prediction Center will share his experience in
hurricane modeling and forecasting, and discuss the relation between
hurricane activity and climate change.\"

\$5 admission includes subs and sodas. RSVP for this event to
ksm@nas.edu, or call 202-334-1201.

\(14\) LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY \-- DISASTER SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM:

August 15, 2005, Received for review from the Director of the Disaster
Science and Management programs at LSU, Dr. John Pine, a proposal to
create a Disaster Science and Management Concentration as part of the
LSU Bachelor Degree in Liberal Arts. Responded that the proposal looked
good to me.

Amongst some changes from the Interdisciplinary Studies Program DSM
Concentration is the addition of a course \"Introduction to
International Studies.\" For additional information, Dr. Pine can be
reached at:

jpine@lsu.edu

\(15\) METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE, OMAHA:

August 15, 2005 \-- Met with lead faculty responsible for the Emergency
Management Certificate Program at Metropolitan Community College, Keith
Deiml, and discussed the status and future projections of his program
and the EM HiEd Project. He notes that at the State level, funding for
emergency management in Nebraska has gone down in recent years. Talked
about marketing of the certificate program.

\(16\) MUSLIMS IN THE US AND POST LONDON BOMBINGS REFLECTIONS ARTICLE:

August 12, 2005 \-- Christian Science Monitor article by Adam Karlin
entitled \"A Round of Soul-Searching Among Muslims.\" Accessible at:

[[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0812/p03s01-ussc.html]{.underline}](http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0812/p03s01-ussc.html)

\(17\) NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY \-- EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FACULTY
POSITION

OPEN:

August 15, 2005 \-- Received faculty position announcement, pasted in
below, from Dr. Jennifer Wilson, Co-Director of the Emergency Management
program at NDSU, for posting to the \"EM Faculty Position
Announcements\" section of the Project website:

North Dakota State University (NDSU), Assistant/Associate/Full
Professor, full-time, tenure-track position open in emergency management
to begin Fall 2006. NDSU\'s Department of Sociology and Anthropology
offers an undergraduate minor, major, a master\'s degree, and a
doctorate in emergency management. A Ph.D. is required in sociology,
anthropology, or a closely related field. Minimum qualifications include
demonstrated expertise in emergency management and the ability to teach
undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. NDSU expects faculty members
to demonstrate excellence in teaching, research, and service in an open
and collaborative environment. The candidate also must demonstrate
effective oral and written communication skills. Preference will be
given to those with a strong academic background and research expertise
in disaster preparedness, mitigation/prevention, response and recovery.
Preferred qualifications include a graduate or undergraduate degree or
significant concentration in sociology or anthropology, teaching and/or
research expertise, grant writing experience, and the demonstrated
ability to obtain external grants and to manage personnel, programs, and
budgets. Rank and salary based on experience and merit are competitive.
A letter of application, curriculum vitae, Ph.D. and Master\'s
transcripts, and names, addresses, and phone numbers of three references
should be addressed to Daniel J. Klenow, Search Committee Chair,
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Dakota State University,
Fargo, ND 58105-5075. Inquiries can be directed to Dr.

Klenow at daniel.klenow@ndsu.edu, telephone: (701)231-8925. Applications
should be received by December 1, 2005 for full consideration. NDSU is
an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. \[AA/EOE\]

\(18\) PANDEMIC FLU:

August 17, 2005 \-- Read article \"Hospitals Plan For Possible
Pandemic\" in the Maryland \"Business Gazette, by staff writer Fred
Lewis. Quotes several Maryland public health and medical personnel on
the inevitability of a future pandemic flu and notes:

\"Pandemic flu, a global outbreak of a highly contagious new virus that
causes illness and spreads rapidly from person to person, differs from
the flu that hits each year in that currently available vaccines would
have little to no affect on the virus, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. With a wait of between five and eight
months before a vaccine could be ready, pandemic flu could be
catastrophic, depending on the severity of the strain, the ability to
quickly vaccinate and the success of isolating those affected.\"

Goes on to note that \"Influenza pandemics in 1957 \[Asian Flu\] and
1968 \[Hong Kong Flu\] killed a combined 100,000 people in the United
States.\"

\"The most deadly pandemic, the Spanish flu, caused illness in about 20
to 40 percent of the world\'s population and accounted for approximately
675,000 deaths in the U.S. between September 1918 and April 1919,
according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.\"

\"\...both HHS and the CDC say a \'medium-level\' pandemic could be
devastating in the United States, affecting between 15 and 35 percent of
the population.

Such a pandemic could result in as many as 89,000 to 207,000 deaths,
between 314,000 and 734,000 hospitalizations and 18 to 42 million
outpatient visits and could leave another 20 to 47 million people
sick\...\"

August 18, 2005 \-- Received Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2005 edition of the
\"Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management,\" and found article
(pp.

21-28) by Anna Thorson and Karl Ekdahl entitled \"Avian Influenza \-- Is
the World on the Verge of a Pandemic?\...And Can it be Stopped?\" This
article was followed by Dr. David L. Heymann\'s review of two books (pp.
29-31) \-- one by T. Price-Smith (ed.) entitled \"Plagues and Politics:
Infectious Disease and International Policy\" (Palgrame Macmillan,
2001), and the other by T. Barnett and A. Whiteside on \"AIDS in the
Twenty-First Century and Globalization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).

Thorson and Ekdahl do believe that we are on the verge of a new
influenza epidemic, noting that the three influenza epidemics noted
above were all influenza a epidemics and that \"All influenza A
epidemics in humans originate from birds,\" the significance of which is
the avian influenza currently threatening to morph into another
cross-over to humans big time strain.

The title of Dr. Heymann\'s book review gives one a sense of his views:

\"Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases From Plague and Cholera
to Ebola and AIDS: A Potential for International Spread that Transcends
the Defenses of any Single Country.\"

\(19\) PEW GLOBAL ATTITUDES SURVEY ON ISLAMIC EXTREMISM\--COMMON CONCERN
FOR MUSLIM AND WESTERN PUBLICS:

August 17, 2005 \-- Ran across July 14, 2005 released 50-page report by
the Pew Global Attitudes Project \-- \"Support for Terror Wanes Among
Muslim Publics \-- Islamic Extremism: Common Concern for Muslim and
Western Publics\" \-- a 17-nation, 17,000 people, survey. The report has
sections on:

How Muslims and Westerners See Each Other How Non-Muslim Publics View
Muslims How Muslims See Themselves and Islam\'s Role How Muslims View
Relations with the World

Amongst the question topics:

Is Islamic extremism a threat to your country?

What are the perceptions of Muslims in your country?

\-- Want to remain distinct

\-- Increasing sense of Islamic identity Support for suicide bombings
\[declining, except for in Iraq\] Confidence in Osama bin Laden
\[declining, except in Pakistan and Jordan where it\'s increasing\]
Views of Christians, Jews, Muslims

Amongst results:

\"Most people surveyed in predominantly Muslim countries identify
themselves first as Muslims, rather than as citizens of their country.\"
(p. 4)

Accessible at:
[[http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/248.pdf]{.underline}](http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/248.pdf)

\(20\) PUBLIC OPINION POLLING ON \"WAR ON TERRORISM\" RELATED TOPICS:

August 17, 2005 \-- Since shortly after the 9/11 attacks the American
Enterprise Institute Resident Fellow, Karlyn Bowman, has been collecting
public opinion polling in the US on the \"War on Terrorism\" and related
topics. This collection is entitled \"America and the War on
Terrorism,\" and is a work in progress, with the latest update being
August 5, 2005. The current version runs to 125 pages and can be
accessed at:

[[http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22819/pub_detail.asp]{.underline}](http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.22819/pub_detail.asp)

Includes such questions and topics as:

Are we winning?

Has the Bush Administration made us safer?

Has the Iraq war made us safer?

Views of preemptive strikes.

\(21\) RISK:

August 17, 2005 \-- Received Vol. 25, No.3, June 2005 edition of \"Risk
Analysis,\" read and recommend an article by Catherine E. Althaus,
entitled \"A Disciplinary Perspective on the Epistemological Status of
Risk,\" pp.

567-588. This article is a long essay on the different conceptual
approaches brought to an attempt to understand \"risk\" by differing
disciplines, and is preceded by a useful etymology of the term. Specific
\"disciplinary\" treatments are:

Linguistics

History

Mathematics and Logic

Science and Medicine

Economics

Psychology

Anthropology

Sociology

The Arts

Philosophy

Law

Theology

In that within emergency management and within homeland security there
can be found growing interest in risk assessment and risk management,
there needs to be a growing appreciation of just what it is that is
being assessed and managed \-- not everyone means the same thing when
they use the word \"risk\" in the hazards and threats context. As an
aside, one can find a collection of over 40 definitions of \"risk,\" as
well as related definitions of such terms as \"risk analysis,\" risk
assessment, and \"risk management\" in my \"Select Emergency
Management-Related Terms and Definitions\" document, found on the EM
HiEd Project website at:

[[http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/edu/HDAppendix%20Select%20EM%20Related%20Ter]{.underline}](http://training.fema.gov/emiweb/edu/HDAppendix Select EM Related Ter)

ms%20and%20Definitions.doc

\(22\) SURVEYS:

August 19, 2005 \-- Received for posting to the Project website a final
report on an \"Educational Needs Survey\" of big city emergency managers
conducted in the Fall to 2004 by Dr. William Parle and Dr. Anthony
Brown, Fire and Emergency Management Program, Oklahoma State University
(17 pages).

As the report notes, \"The purpose of the survey was to determine the
types of technical and theoretical knowledge that emergency managers at
the local level of government considered to be most helpful in their
professional work.\"

Forwarded this survey report to the EMI Webmaster for upload to a
to-be-newly-created \"Surveys\" tab (or section) on the EM HiEd Project
homepage (left blue column), immediately after the \"Articles, Papers
and

Presentations\" tab \-- to be renamed \"Articles, Papers, etc.\" In
addition,

asked that three survey reports currently found within the \"Articles,
Papers, Materials\" tab be moved to the new \"Surveys\" tab, and that a
recently received survey report from Craig Marks of members of the
International Association of Emergency Managers, which has not yet been
uploaded, be placed in this new \"Survey\" section as well. The Oklahoma
State University survey should be accessible shortly.

\(23\) TECHNOLOGY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT \-- TEXTBOOK TO BE DEVELOPED:

August 16, 2005 \-- Received news from Dr. John Pine, Louisiana State
University, noting that he will be taking the lead on developing a
textbook for John Wiley & Sons, as part of their initial emergency
management textbook series, on \"Technology and Emergency Management.\"
Dr. Pine was the developer of the \"Technology and Emergency
Management\" upper division college course for the FEMA EM HiEd Project,
and is currently heading a team developing the \"Hazards Mapping and
Modeling\" course for the EM HiEd Project. For further information, Dr.
Pine can be reached at:

jpine@lsu.edu

\(24\) TERRORISM RELATED BOOKS AND REPORTS WORTH CONSIDERING:

August 19, 2005 \-- Have given up on trying to find the time to develop
notes for the Activity Report on a couple dozen books read this summer
\-- will thus just note some titles in this and upcoming activity
reports. For this week, have chosen several terrorism-related books:

Clarke, Richard A. Against All Enemies: Inside America\'s War On Terror.

New York, London, Toronto & Sydney: Free Press, 2004.

Friedman, George. America\'s Secret War: Inside The Hidden Worldwide
Struggle Between America and It\'s Enemies. New York: Doubleday, 2004.

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The
9/11 Commission Report (Final Report of the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States; Authorized Edition). New York:
W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.

National Research Council. 2002. Terrorism: Perspectives from the
Behavioral and Social Sciences.

Washington, DC: Panel on Behavioral, Social, and Institutional Issues,
Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, Neil J.

Smelser and Faith Mitchell, editors. Division of Behavioral and Social
Sciences and Research, National Academies Press.

Scheuer, Michael (Anonymous). Imperial Hubris: How The West Is Losing
The War On Terror. Washington, DC: Brassey\'s, Inc., 2004.

Scheuer, Michael (Anonymous). Through Our Enemies\' Eyes: Osama Bin
Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America. Washington, DC:
Brassey\'s Inc., 2002.

Note 1: Clarke worked on counterterrorism within the National Security
Council during several administrations.

Note 2: Scheuer is the frequently cited and quoted \"Mike\" in chapters
2 & 3 of the 9/11 Commission Report \-- quoted as \"Mike\" since at the
time he still worked at the CIA \-- had served as head of the bin Laden
Unit in the Counterterrorism section of the CIA for three years of his
27 year career.

Note 3: If anyone who has read any of these books wishes to discuss them
\-- there are very different takes on the war on terrorism within this
assortment \-- just email.

On a terrorism-related subject, for those interested in the roots of
terrorism, I recommend taking a look at a new Center on Islam,
Democracy, and The Future of the Muslim World report (Hudson Institute),
entitled \"Current Trends in Islamist Ideology\" \-- 88 pages. Contains
chapters on

Recent Statements of Islamist Ideology: Bin Laden and Zarqawi Speak The
Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups Radical Islamist Ideologies in
Southeast Asia The Impact of the War in Iraq on the Global Jihad The
Penetration of Islamist Ideology in Britain Al Qaeda\'s Ideology

Can be freely accessed at:

[[http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/Current_Trends_in_Islamic_Ideology\_]{.underline}](http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/Current_Trends_in_Islamic_Ideology_)

vol_1.pdf

While there, one might also check out other reports on their website:

[[http://www.futureofmuslimworld.com/]{.underline}](http://www.futureofmuslimworld.com/)
\-- such as:

Beyond Radical Islam? \-- A Conference Transcript Democracy, Elections
and the Insurgency ion Iraq America in Islam

\(25\) US NATIONAL GRID:

August 19, 2005 \-- Received July-September 2005 issue of \"ArcUser \--
The Magazine for ESRI Software Users,\" and note for possible interest
the article by Mike Price entitled \"Introducing the United States
National Grid.\" As the article notes, \"In 2005 the Department of
Homeland Security

(DHS) recommended that any DHS grant submission reference the use of a
nationally defined co-ordinate system for all spatial referencing,
mapping, and reporting.\" The US National Grid is in response. For
further information, the article recommends going to \"ArcUser Online\"
at:

[[http://www.esri.com/arcuser]{.underline}](http://www.esri.com/arcuser)

\(26\) US TERRORIST SLEEPER CELLS:

August 14, 2005 \-- New York Times Magazine article on \"Finding the
Sleeper Cells,\" by Richard Clarke \-- accessible at:

[[http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/]{.underline}](http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/)

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, N-430

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)