**July 28, 2006 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Project
Activity Report**

\(1\) DHS:

Government Accountability Office. Internet Infrastructure: DHS Faces
Challenges in Developing a Joint Public/Private Recovery Plan (Report to
Congressional Requesters, GAO-06-672). Washington, DC: GAO, June 2006,
81 pages. At:
[[http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-672]{.underline}](http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-672)

Mandel, Jenny. \"Legislators Rip DHS Contracting Practices.\" Government
Executive, July 27, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34640&dcn=e_gvet]{.underline}](http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34640&dcn=e_gvet)

\(2\) DISASTERS WAITING TO HAPPEN:

USA Today. \"Feds Confirm Fears of New Orleans Flooding.\" July 27,
2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-27-flood-data_x.htm]{.underline}](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-27-flood-data_x.htm)

\(3\) EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE, JUNE 4-7, 2007:

Reached agreement with Kevin Mickey, Director, Professional Education
and Outreach, The Polis Center, Indiana University Purdue University
Indianapolis, involving his development and management of a full day
workshop entitled \"Introduction to ArcGIS\" during the June 4-7, 2007
EM HiEd Conference \-- most likely on June 4th.

\(4\) FEMA:

DHS Daily Brief: House Compromise On FEMA Reform Unlikely Before

September. The White House Bulletin/US News (7/27) reported, \"Contrary

to reports of a possible compromise in the works, Congressional sources
say the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee are unlikely to resolve their disagreement
on reforming the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week. The T&I
Committee recently passed a measure that would separate FEMA from the
Department of Homeland Security, which currently houses the disaster
response agency. The House Homeland Security Committee has passed a
competing measure that would keep FEMA within the 180,000-person-strong
DHS while adding safeguards that would prevent department heads from
raiding the agency\'s budget for overhead costs. A Congressional source
says two committees were coming close to a compromise that would involve
removing FEMA from the department, but negotiations were derailed when
they couldn\'t agree on what Homeland Security grant programs would be
included in the newly independent agency. Says the aide: \"This just
isn\'t something we\'ll be able to resolve before September.\" The stall
means the decision on FEMA will likely not be included in the Homeland
Security Appropriations bill both chambers hope to pass before the
August recess. Republican Sen. Susan Collins successfully attached an
amendment to the Senate version of the appropriations bill that would
keep FEMA within DHS, while changing the agency\'s name and offering it
an autonomous status similar to that of the Coast Guard and Secret
Service.\"

DHS Daily Brief: Senate Committee Approves Emergency Management Bill.

CQ (7/27, Yoest) reported the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Collins, approved emergency
management reform legislation Thursday that is \"designed to address
weaknesses that were glaringly evident in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina last summer.\" As in the Senate appropriations Bill, the measure
\"would reunite disaster preparedness and response functions within
FEMA.\" It would also \"give FEMA autonomous status within Homeland
Security, much like that enjoyed by the Coast Guard, and take other
steps intended to boost its authority.\"

Jordan, Lara Jakes. \"Congressman, Ex-FEMA Chief Brown Squabble.\"
Associated Press, July 27, 2006. At:
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060727/ap_on_go_co/brown_congressman_spat;_ylt=Aoawh4v6U0OTzbPcILqo4gk8KbIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA>

\--

Rahimi, Shadi. \"Sharing Katrina\'s Lessons\" (on Michael Brown). St.

Petersburg Times, July 27, 2006. Accessed at:

[[http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/27/State/Sharing_Katrina_s_les.shtml]{.underline}](http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/27/State/Sharing_Katrina_s_les.shtml)

\[Excerpt: \"Brown blames federal, state and local governments equally,
accusing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff of being \'out of
his league\' and not knowing \'the first thing about running a
disaster\'. Bush was \'overconfident\', Brown said, adding that the
president and other federal officials seemed to think Katrina would be
\'just another hurricane\'.\"\]

\(5\) HOMELAND SECURITY:

DHS Daily Briefing: \"45% Worry Terrorist Tracking Will \'Go Too Far\'.
The Wall Street Journal (7/28, Harwood, 2.03M) reports in its
\'Washington Wire\' column that \"a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News
poll found that a \"45% plurality frets terrorist-tracking will \'go too
far\' and trample privacy, up from 31% three months after 9/11.\"\]

\(6\) MATERIALS RECEIVED:

Homeland Defense Journal. (Monthly published by Homeland Defense
Journal, Arlington, VA,
[[http://www.homelanddefensejournal.com]{.underline}](http://www.homelanddefensejournal.com/))

Homeland Protection Professional, Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006. Published 10
times a year by A.J. Parrino & Associates Ltd. For information go to:
[[http://www.hppmag.com]{.underline}](http://www.hppmag.com/)

\(7\) NIMS PREPAREDNESS \-- EMI TRAINING COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT:

An EMI Training Manager has asked if the EM HiEd Project could assist in
locating an academic who would be willing to be interviewed on the
subject of NIMS Preparedness. A contract has been awarded to develop a
\"NIMS Preparedness\" training course \-- starting with a classroom
based version, to be followed by an Independent Study course. In that
funding does not currently exist to hold a focus group meeting of
subject matter experts and stakeholders at EMI, the training course
manager intends on a series of telephone conversations with such
personnel. A diverse array of perspectives will be sought to inform the
initial stages of this course development project \-- and at least one
will be a representative of the academic community. If an academic
reader of this activity report is interested in investigating
participation in this project, just send an email to the email address
in the signature block at bottom of the activity report.

\(8\) PANDEMIC:

Bannon, Anne Louise. \"Not in Isolation: A Quarantine in the Event of a
Pandemic or a Bioterrorist Attack Will Entangle Emergency Planners,
Responders and the Public Alike.\" Homeland Protection Professional,
Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006, pp. 20-22.

\[Excerpt: Amongst several quarantine problems noted, one is what will
\"first responders do with their kids when the schools are closed
because of a quarantine. Without effective child care, even those who
aren\'t afraid to work may not be able to, simply because they have to
be home with their children.\" Another issue is with regular hospital
occupancy rates of approximately 90% \-- \"finding beds, let alone
appropriate isolation units, will be all but impossible\...\" Another
issue: \"\...would people, particularly Americans, comply?\" Later, and
a bit optimistically, \"The answer to all of these issues is planning
and communication between first responders, emergency managers and
public health officers.\"\]

Berman, Russell. \"Plan To Combat Bird Flu Put Into Effect.\" New York
Sun, July 28, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.nysun.com/article/36886]{.underline}](http://www.nysun.com/article/36886)

\(9\) PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE:

Bridges, Jeremy. \"Tensions High In Disaster Planning.\" Baton Rouge
Advocate, July 28, 2006. Accessed at:
[[http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3440251.html]{.underline}](http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/3440251.html)

\[Excerpt: \"Col. Jeff Smith, the acting Director of the State Office of
Emergency Preparedness, is worried that the Federal Government is not
following the proper chain of command.'If any party does not follow the
National Incident Management System and the principles outlined in the
National Response Plan, it certainly will impair and affect the
response,\' said Col. Smith. According to Col. Smith, the new plans for
disaster relief are being created with Louisiana officials being left
out of the loop. In Gov. Blanco\'s response to Chertoff\'s letter,
several instances of local agencies not being told of federal disaster
plans were listed, including a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
department security plan for the New Orleans Convention Center\....When
the Department of Homeland Security was asked about the concerns of
Louisiana officials, department officials were surprised with the
apprehensions. \'I wouldn\'t say the state\'s being left out of plans at
all,\' said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knaocky. \'I know we have
had planners sitting side by side in the same room with state planners
for months now.\'

Defense Daily. \"Katrina Showed Need For Rapid Damage Assessment,
Improved Communications.\" (Vol. 231, No. 16), July 27, 2006. Accessed
at:
[[http://www.highbeam.com/library/docFree.asp?DOCID=1Y1:96066639]{.underline}](http://www.highbeam.com/library/docFree.asp?DOCID=1Y1:96066639)

\[Excerpt: From interview with Paul McHale, Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Homeland Defense:

\"Katrina was something above and beyond the historic norm in terms of
the effect of major disasters. That more destructive impact is what we
characterize as a catastrophic event,\" he said. \"Having said that, it
is accurate to say that as tragic and painful Katrina was, Katrina by
comparison to foreseeable terrorist attacks must be viewed as a
catastrophic event at the low-end of the spectrum,\" McHale continued.

\"Many terrorist scenarios would involve a loss of life and destruction
of property far exceeding that which was inflicted on the Gulf Coast by
Katrina.\"

Enander, Ann and Susanne Hede (Swedish National Defense College).

\"Public\'s Participation Adds Value To Exercises.\" Homeland Protection
Professional, Vol. 5, No 5, June 2006, pp. 14-16, 18-19.

\[Excerpt: \"Preparing the community for emergencies is often viewed as
the task of civil authorities, professional organizations and other
experts. The public\'s role is limited to receiving information, such as
warning signals\...However, there are advantages to be gained by
increasing citizen participation in planning for emergency situations or
disasters.\" The authors go on to describe two large scale Swedish
exercises wherein citizens participated and the results of a survey of
the citizen participants afterwards. They note that \"The general
response to this type of realistic exercise was positive. Among the
public, over 70% were in favor of involving the public by providing live
information.\" Also: \"Professional participants are sometime engaged to
play the role of the public in emergency exercises. We have found that
exercising with real citizens, acting as themselves, provides more
meaningful experiences and lessons. Our experience of involving the
public has been very positive so far. There are also ideas about how
this can be developed further, for example, by involving local
businesses and schools in major exercises. In the event of an emergency,
it will be important that the public and the authorities cooperate and
that confidence in the measures to be taken has been established. This
is one reason for increasing public involvement in emergency
preparedness.\"

Larson, Randall D. \"Interoperability Goes Mobile.\" Homeland Protection
Professional, Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006, pp. 34-38.

Page, Douglass. \"Geospatial Odyssey.\" Homeland Protection
Professional, Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006, pp. 30-33.

\[Excerpt: \"FEMA calls GIS a database system capable of generating
digitized maps and tables for planning and decision-making. Emergency
officials, more and more, are calling it a must-have.\"\]

Rielage, Chief Robert R. \"NIMS: A Good Idea That May Be Going Astray.\"

Homeland Security Professional, Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006, pp. 11-12.

\[Excerpt: \"\'Use it or lose it\' is a mantra preached to any serious
student of ICS. If that is in fact the case, training everyone in NIMS
is an exercise in futility. Any teaching method used in adult education
tells us that what is not used is not retained. Therefore the only
benefit from universal mandatory NIMS training becomes maintaining local
government\'s eligibility for federal grant programs. The truth is that
most public workers will never have an opportunity or a need to use
their NIMS training\....the federal government needs to acknowledge that
NIMS isn\'t for everyone. Instead, each city, county or region needs a
designated team of highly trained fire, EMS, law enforcement, public
health, public works and emergency management personnel, backed by a
Regional Incident Management Assistance Teams who regularly use both ICS
and NIMS\....The solution to the problem of seamless ICS among all
levels of government\...does not rest with universal requirements, but
more with select, extensive expertise in using the system.\" Robert
Rielage is Chief of the Wyoming, Ohio Fire-EMS; a former Ohio Mire
Marshal; is the immediate past president of the Institution of Fire
Engineers; and is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives in
State and Local Government, Harvard University.\]

\(10\) WAR ON TERROR:

USA Today. \"Al-Zawahiri Calls on Muslims to Rise Up in Holy War Against
Israel, U.S.\" July 27, 2006. At:

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-27-zawahri-warning_x.htm?csp=24>

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)

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