DavisLogic Emergency Management Blog

Proposal for a Comprehensive Preparedness Grants Structure

2012-01-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

After what they described as more than six months of meetings, conference calls, and over 20 drafts, the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) issued a report that documents their examination of the suite of homeland security and emergency management grants which include the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) Program and the Homeland Security Grants Program (HSGP).

The report, a “Proposal for a Comprehensive Preparedness Grants Structure” follows last summer’s NEMA report titled “The Homeland Security Grant Program – Keeping a Promise to the Nation.” According to the NEMA web site , this effort was spurred by a desire to provide an alternative to calls to Congress to “please don’t cut funding”.

The calls to not cut funding fell on deaf ears as Congress proceeded to cut the budget sharply. Homeland security grants were targeted for a disproportionate level of cuts, down nearly two thirds from FY 2010.NEMA and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) have consistently lobbied rather successfully for maintaining EMPG funding levels while not lobbying for HSGP.

The NEMA document indicates that they intended to focus on principles and values with a suggested concept for grant reorganization . This was, according to the report, to provide grantees “increased flexibility and more comprehensive accountability to Congress”. Under the proposal, states would be awarded three allocations from DHS: Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG), a new homeland security “cadre grant”, and a project-based “investment and innovation grant.”

“The state is awarded three allocations from DHS, including one for EMPG, one for the new homeland security cadre grant, and one for the new investment and innovation grant.”

The NEMA document goes on to state that the outcome of this new system will result in several advantages over the existing system. “All current grant applicants remain eligible to receive funding including ports, nodes of transportation, and urban areas. This new system ensures all grantees are integrated within the state and local THIRA process as well as national priorities.”

The recommended changes include putting these grants in the hands of state officials to allocate. Homeland Security Advisors (HSAs), State Administrative Agencies (SAAs), and emergency management directors have, according to the report, “far more visibility on allocation of funds within the state and how projects and jurisdictions are working together for maximum efficiency of the taxpayer dollars.”

You will need to read the report to get the full picture but we’ve taken a look and have some observations.

Grant Life Cycle

The proposal keeps much of the core homeland security grant planning process (life cycle) including the state homeland security strategy, a comprehensive Threat Hazard Identification Risk Assessment (THIRA) and assess ment s of current capabilities to determine requirements and evaluate recent progress. However, the recommendation does not seem to stress risk or capabilities-based decision making regarding allocations.

Cadre-Based Allocation

While this may be a stretch on the definition of cadre, the cadre grant would maintain the existing EMPG program (helping staff emergency management offices).

The proposed reorganization would result in the first two allocations received by the state being for staff -based activities such as planning, assessments, grant administration, and other homeland security and emergency management functions. The emergency management responsibilities would continue to be administered through EMPG. The homeland security cadre-based grant would be very similar to EMPG in construct and administration, but managed through the HSA.

“Just as EMPG has been proven to reduce the reliance on federal assets during disaster response, this new construct would achieve the same benefit in the prevention of terrorism.”

Investment Grants

A majority of the funding through this proposed system would go toward investment grants made through a single allocation to the state. Unlike the current system which the NEMA report describes as “narrowly focused” and “uncoordinated”, the proposed system would be project-based. The SAA and local governments would apply for funding based on their THIRA and preparedness strategy. These applications would be reviewed by a multi-disciplinary advisory committee, and the SAA makes awards as appropriate.

This last step of SAA making awards removes this responsibility from FEMA and places it at the state. This, the report says, will provide “stability for jurisdictions currently operating in the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), ensuring a city can never again “fall off the list.”

But the report treats Tier 1 UASIs differently. “Due to their significant security issues, Tier 1 UASI’s would continue to be funded directly. This will ensure every urban area will be part of the THIRA and application process and no one is left out.”

In the end, this report appears to have merit but more discussion and stakeholder involvement is warranted before the system is overhauled. With grant guidance due out in February, it is unlikely that any changes, not already in the works at FEMA, will be made for the next cycle. Even without changes, the State Homeland Security Grant Program can address many of the goals laid out in the report.

Looking for a Job in Emergency Management?

2012-01-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

We know that the economy is bad: Budgets are being reduced, grants are being cut, and competition is fierce. We assume that many in the All Hands Community may be looking for work and we want to help.

All Hands Consulting tries to help place as many people as possible but we have grown to over 1,000 consultants and there is no way of keeping everyone busy.

We often get requests to either help fill jobs or to share information about job openings. We often do this on our various lists but we do not want to load up general mail lists with job announcements. For that reason, we focus on sharing job openings on a mail list designed for just this purpose: The Emergency Management Employment Yahoo! Group at EmergencyManagementJobs. If you are looking for a job, I would encourage you to join this list as that is where I will be posting job openings.

Another great resource for job seekers is the IAEM Job Board - you should check the board often. Steve Detwiler keeps up a steady stream of job postings there along with a few others.

Finally, I would encourage networking as it seems to be the best way to find out about opportunities. Feel free to join our social media efforts as well. A complete list of our accounts are on the www.allhands.us web site.

Regards,

Steve Davis, All Hands Consulting

All Hands Consulting Reviews 2011, Has Positive Outlook for 2012

2011-12-31T05:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve everyone. I prepared the following as an update on AHC activities past, present and future.

All Hands Consulting (AHC) is ending another successful year: its twelfth since rebranding DavisLogic as All Hands in early 2000. 2012 will be the thirteenth year of operations for this unique emergency management consulting firm. AHC is starting off the New Year with many exciting projects on the books. The 2012 outlook is positive despite the sluggish economy and cut backs in homeland security grants.

Reflecting on 2011

This is the time of year to reflect on our past accomplishments and keys to success. We want to thank everyone who has been a part of All Hands including our consultants, clients and partners. Despite the recession, 2011 was a year of steady work for AHC. All Hands consultants kept busy working with many returning clients and a few new clients. Our client list has grown to over 150 while our team of consultants has climbed well past 1,000.

AHC supported planning, training and exercise (PT&E) projects across the USA, both as prime and as sub–contractors. We also provided supplemental staffing support to large firms in a variety of PT&E efforts.

Our contracts included several projects across the northern tier of states. We helped with comprehensive emergency management plans (CEMPs), and developed operational procedures, guidebooks and playbooks. We supported several exercises, taught classes on incident command and Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), and conducted multiple organizational and capabilities assessments and workshops in Butte, MT and Saint Paul, MN.

Back east, we supported the NY-NJ-CT-PA Regional Catastrophic Planning Team with both an Executive Catastrophic Playbook and a Best Practices for Large-Scale Evacuations document. We also helped design Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) in Georgia and Florida. We continue to do a lot of work in Florida, and have developed CEMP and Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans for Miami Dade College and tested the plans by conducting two exercises. We also supported Miami Beach with planning and exercises and started a project in Palm Beach.

On the west coast, 2011 saw the sixth Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Conference that we supported. The 2011 conference was in San Francisco. All Hands President Steve Davis supported San Francisco as Planning Chief and organized the program for what was the largest conference ever. This was the final year of transition to a non-profit organization which will now organize the conferences in the future. We also helped with EOC design services in Brookings, OR.

We are also supporting a state-wide assessment of schools using the Automated Critical Asset Management System (ACAMS). AHC staff have been in the field collecting data through a series of site assessments.

In addition to the PT&E work, we did a couple of After Action Reports on real-world events and supported the response to the BP Oil Spill. We have been maintaining a “ready reserve” cadre of disaster responders for support to FEMA’s Individual Assistance Technical Assistance program and other state and local deployment contracts.

Our efforts on disaster response during 2011 included catastrophic planning efforts, workshops and interviews as well as IMT staffing. In addition, AHC supported several Business Continuity Plan projects for private sector organizations.

Social Media

We continue to be active in social media, and our presence and reach grew considerably during 2011. Our long time efforts to communicate by e-mail continue. For instance, our "Emergency Management Discussion" group has 2,372 members and has hosted over 20,000 messages. We have fully embraced the use of Twitter where we are nearing 2,000 followers on our @AllHandsDotNet account. We have integrated our Tweets with Facebook, and LinkedIn and our various web sites and we continue to blog about emergency management and the Urban Areas Security Initiative.

Our websites continue to lead the way in information sharing as evidenced by a total of over eight million hits this year across the enterprise of All Hands web sites. Together, our various websites and social media outlets have put the All Hands Network at the forefront of social media based information sharing.

A Look Ahead to 2012

2012 appears to be promising with many new projects already on the schedule. We will be doing municipal and county CEMPs in Florida, Louisiana, and Wisconsin and elsewhere as well as designing and conducting a transit exercise in Florida and a federal COOP project in South Carolina. Our on-going work in New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, West Virginia, Louisiana and Florida should also continue during the year. We hope to keep supporting other firms with PT&E projects as well as pursuing opportunities focused on hazard assessments, recovery planning, disaster response, supplemental staffing and other projects. In addition, we are currently working on several opportunities (both foreign and domestic) to do Emergency Operations Center design, operational planning, training and exercise work.

Thanks again to every who is a part of All Hands and a part of our continued success.

Steve Davis

FEMA's new Think Tank Project

2011-11-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

A New Collaboration Community

FEMA has created a new "Collaboration Community" where stakeholders can come to a forum-type website and view, contribute and comment on conversations about emergency preparedness, disaster response and recovery, and other emergency management topics. They are calling this the "FEMA Think Tank".

The FEMA web page giving background information on the Think Tank is at www.fema.gov/thinktank.

The site has gotten off to a great start since being announced at the IAEM conference last week. As of today, the usage statistics show that 72 ideas have been posted with 199 comments and 613 votes from 389 users. The ideas are very interesting, some are a bit off topic, some are venting, and some are a bit redundant. However, I am sure that FEMA is getting a lot of good ideas from the stream of consciousness presented on the site already.

How does it work?

The site is built to run on user ideas and votes. Users submit their ideas, then the community discusses and votes for ideas and the best ideas "bubble up to the top". I am not sure exactly how this will work but each idea can be voted on as "I agree" or "I disagree" and then each can receive comments and the comments can receive votes and comments in a nested forum structure. How all this ends up as a way to have ideas "bubble up" is beyond me. I am not sure that a "like or dislike" option is the best way to go here.

As I have worked with this IdealScales site, which I think is wonderful and robust (although it was slowed to a crawl this morning), I have been somewhat frustrated by the binary nature of giving ideas and comments either a thumbs up or thumbs down. It is not always that simple. And, I hate to say that I dislike someone' s ideas. I do not want to vote "I disagree" to someone's idea when I am really trying to say it is not as important as some of the other ideas.

Prioritization vs. Voting "Up or Down"

I tried to add this to the discussion on the Think Tank site but it was found to be "off topic" so I will do it here. My idea is that we need to prioritize what will eventually be a very large list of ideas if we really want the best to bubble up to the top.

It seems to me that a better approach might be to ask for a score on a five or ten point scale to help identify priorities for further research and implementation. I'm not sure if this is possible but I don't think that a number of people that "like" something is equivalent to the value of the idea. It is more important how much people think the idea is valuable.

So, I'm suggesting that the site change over to some form of value voting. That is my thought for the day...

National Disaster Recovery Framework Based on ERI / All Hands Consulting Best Practices

2011-11-16T09:51:00.001-08:00

I found this little bit of history interesting... Good work "back in the day" by my good friend and business partner Rick LaValla was the basis of the new FEMA doctrine for recovery. Rick did not get any credit for this groundbreaking work but the story below helps set the record straight.

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Reviewing the Origins of the National Disaster Recovery Framework

The basis for the newly released National Disaster RecoveryFramework is the concept of "Recovery Support Functions” (RSFs). The originalidea and concepts of RSFs was born in Cape Coral, Florida in 2001-2002. Thispioneering work was the result of Rick LaValla, President of ERI International and Co-Founder and VicePresident of All Hands Consulting,done under on contract with the City ofCape Coral.

Mr. LaValla conducted recoveryworkshops and focus groups with Cape Coral Fire Chief and Emergency Manager William“Bill” Van Helden in 2001 and 2002 which led to the development of the recoveryfunction concept. Rick recalled that “It was late one evening that the epiphanyoccurred; we were staring at the walls and reviewing the work of the focusgroup when suddenly it occurred to me that if we use ESFs for response, thenwhy not use RSFs for recovery?". Bill and Rick quickly brainstormed anddeveloped a recovery framework based on RSFs.

This pioneering work was thenutilized in Hilton Head Island, SC and Jefferson County, AL; many other localjurisdictions, and ultimately in Monroe County, FL. FEMA uses the Cape CoralRecovery Plan at EMI and its RSFs are a case study and best practice in theirDisaster Recovery Planning courses. Out of all this sprang the newly releasedNational Disaster Recovery Framework.

Many AHC clients are now usingthe RSF framework in their CEMP Recovery Annex and in their Recovery Plans andprocedures.

EmergencySupport Functions and Recovery Support Functions

Local government response to andrecovery from emergencies and disasters begins with activation of EmergencySupport Functions (ESFs). ESFs represent groupings of types of assistance activitiesthat local government citizens and visitors are likely to need in times ofemergency or disaster. A lead agency/department for each ESF is indicated, andis responsible for coordinating the delivery of that ESF to the emergency area.The lead agency/department is responsible for identifying the resources withinthe ESF that will accomplish the mission, and will coordinate the resourcedelivery. During emergencies, the County Emergency Operations Center (EOC)determines which County ESFs are activated to meet the disaster response needs.

Recovery planning also beginswhen the EOC is activated. Recovery planners begin an assessment of thedisaster impacts and determine which Recovery Support Functions (RSFs) will beactivated to meet the local government’s recovery needs. Just like ESFs,Recovery Support Functions represent groupings of types of recovery activitiesand programs that the local government and its citizens/visitors are likely toneed following disaster. Some ESFs will become RSFs as their scope changes from“emergency” to “recovery.” An example is the "ESF: PublicInformation". During the emergency phase, this ESF is concerned with theissuing of warning, emergency instructions and information. As the emergencyphase ends and the recovery phase begin, this function becomes RSF: Public Information,and is now concerned with providing recovery information, post disaster healthand safety information, and so.

Just like ESFs, a “primary”agency/department for each RSF is indicated, and will be responsible forcoordinating the implementation of the recovery activity or programs. Theprimary agency/department will be responsible for identifying the resources(support departments and organizations) within the RSF that will accomplish thepost disaster activities. The primary agency/department is also responsible forcoordinating the resource delivery.

Schedule of RSFs

While theNDRF describes six federal RSFs that can be activated to support state andlocal governments, there are many more RSFs to consider. Disasters are owned bylocal governments and they have many more recovery tasks to consider than thefederal government does.

Localgovernment RSFs can include:

RSF # 1 Impact Assessment (Disaster Assessment)

RSF # 2 Continuation of Government

RSF # 3 Public Information; Community Relations

RSF # 4 Human Services (Short–term)

RSF # 5 Individual Assistance

RSF # 6 Volunteers and Donations

RSF # 7 Unmet Needs

RSF # 8 Debris Management

RSF # 9 Reentry, Security

RSF # 10 Health

RSF # 11 Safety

RSF # 12 Repair and Restoration of Public Infrastructure, Services,Buildings

RSF # 13 Building Inspections and Permits

RSF # 14 Rebuilding, Construction, Repairs, Restoration

RSF # 15 Housing

RSF # 16 Redevelopment (Planning and Community Development)

RSF # 17 Economic Restoration and Development

RSF # 18 Environmental Concerns

RSF # 19 Mitigation

RSF # 20 Recovery Administration and Finance

RSF # 21 Mutual Aid

Many DHS Grants are Effective and Have Proper Oversight

2011-09-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Today's blog takes a twist on a recent piece that waspublished on the Homeland Security Newswire and repeated on several UASI and Emergency Management mail lists and blogs.

The title of this piece was "Many DHS grantsineffective, lack proper oversight" and it was based on an interview withDavid Muhlhausen, a research fellow in empirical policy analysis at theHeritage Foundation.

As our blog's title clearly indicates, we do not agreewith this premise. And, we question theHeritage Foundation's constant criticism of homeland security grants andefforts.

First some background on where this is coming from. The Heritage Foundation is a conservativeAmerican think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to"formulate and promote conservative public policies based on theprinciples of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom,traditional American values, and a strong national defense."

The foundation is considered to be one of the mostinfluential conservative research organizations in the United States. Whilethis blog strives for neutrality, some people could surmise that homelandsecurity grants do not fit the hardcore conservative profile of "limitedgovernment" which the Heritage Foundation promotes. This may explain a history of anti-homelandsecurity grants opinion which has been pumped out by this foundation. One could surmise that, since the UASIprogram is focused on urban areas, which typically skew to the left and aremostly run by Democrats, that the right is not enthralled with the idea ofpumping government money to these areas. But clearly, this outfit has an agendawhich does not support the UASI grant program. So, one should take what theyhave to say with a large grain of salt.

Now, to the point of the article, it is the opinion of thewriter, and of many UASI grantees, that the DHS grants are very effective andmay even have too much oversight. Whilesome examples of poor choices will be easy to find, for the most part, greatthings have been done with UASI money. We have all shared examples of these at UASI conferences where weshowcase programs based on planning, organizing, equipping, training andexercising to enhance capabilities to fight terrorism. While we know that all of the grant programssuffer for a shortage of effective measurement devices, we know that theseprograms have increased our effectiveness. We have a good documented history of preventing terrorism; manyincidents have been avoided. Non-terrorism disasters, from the I-35 bridgecollapse to the recent natural disasters, have shown how much better we are atpreventing, responding to, and recovering from disasters.

UASIs need to do a better job of documenting thiseffectiveness; but, we all know with certainty that the UASI program worked. Weare better prepared on all fronts for all types of disasters.

UASI 2012: An Alternative Future

2011-09-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

One of my "UASI Friends" asked why the proposed 2012 UASI funding of $400 million couldn't be shared among the 2011 UASI awardees. It could obviously. That approach would amount to about 60% of the current award. An updated curve graphic of what this would look like is shown below. This is one alternative future, the money could be spread over more or less UASIs based on the decision of the Homeland Security Secretary.

The "Sixty Percent Solution"

You can click on this image to get a larger version which you may be able to actually read.

Just a note, this is all obviously very speculative. UASIs should consider what is realistic to expect given the funding and the previous clear desire to fund the most at-risk cities over those less at-risk. However, the argument can certainly be made that all of the cities currently receiving UASI dollars are at-risk and worthy of funding. I expect this will be a debate as the budget is finalized and finally implemented.

Why $400 Million Will Not Save Tier II UASIs

2011-09-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s blog provided a chart that shows how the Senate’s proposed FY 2012 Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) budget compared toprevious years. While the chart shows asteep decline, you may think that $400 million is still a lot of money. It certainly is a lot of money, and it isbetter than what the House bill would have provided, but the chart belies theimpact on what DHS calls “Tier II” UASI cities.

Today’s blog looks at the impact of the proposed fundinglevel on UASI cities.

Background

The total number of UASI cities grew to 64 in FY 2010 butsaw a dramatic decrease in FY 2011 when it was cut down to 31 due to a 21%decrease in funding. One can only guessat this point how many FY 2012 UASIs there will be; but, an educated guess isthat there will be no more than ten or eleven. Eleven is the current number of Tier I cities, while ten is a numberthat has been thrown around by both legislators and grants managers.

The Tier I cities have historically received the “Lion’sShare” of the UASI funding based on a DHS formula that allocated the majorityof the funding to these high-risk and heavily populated regions. With lessmoney available, and a desire to keep funding the most high-risk cities, onecan assume that only the top cities will be funded in 2012.

By The Numbers

In round numbers, the Senate’s proposed 2012 UASI allocationis 40% less than FY 2011 and only half of the FY 2010 funding amount. Due tothe funding curve, where smaller, lower risk cities get smaller amounts, youneed to drop a lot of smaller cities to maintain funding for the larger higherrisk cities. The 2011 awards dropped 33 of the smaller cities, many of themrelatively large cites like Kansas City.

Assuming that the strategy will be to keep as much fundinggoing to the top ten cities, the following chart demonstrates the impact on theother larger high-risk cities. The topten, if funded, would share funding which totals only 79% of their currentfunding levels. While these cities would see significantly reduced funding, allof the other cities would be dropped off the list. This means that 54 previously funded citieswould be dropped. The largest of these is Miami, while Boston is currentlyranked higher based on Risk.

Theoretical 2012 UASI Allocations Compared to Previous Years

Of course, this is all conjecture. It could end up that thefinal budget is more or less. The numberof cities could be less; DHS could opt to go back to the original seven UASI Icities that were the first funded after 9/11. If the House prevails, homeland securityfunding will be a block grant. If the FEMA disaster funding impacts the budget,as many think it will, the budget could be cut further. The states arecurrently proposing grant reforms which may totally change the funding process.The future is uncertain to say the least.

But for now, based on what the Senate Appropriations Committeeis voting on today, it seems safe to assume that only seven to eleven UASIswill be funded in 2012.

FY 2012 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill

2011-09-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Senate bill provides $2.58 billion for state and local grants - $557 million above the House level.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on HomelandSecurity approved a FiscalYear 2012 funding legislation bill on September 6^th. Thelegislation, which still needs to go through the conference committee processand be signed by the President before it becomes law, totals $41 billion indiscretionary budget authority, $2.6 billion below the President’s request, and$666 million (-1.6%) below FY 2011.

The good news for DHS and grantees is that this is $408million above the House-passed bill.

The Senate rejected the House approach to grants. In particular, The bill rejects the House proposal to eliminate the Urban AreaSecurity Initiative, Port Security Grants, and Transit Security Grants andother programs and replace them with a block grant.

The bill provides $2.58 billion for state and localgrants, which is $557 million above the House level. The bill rejects theHouse proposal to eliminate the Urban Area Security Initiative, Port SecurityGrants, and Transit Security Grants and other programs and replace them with ablock grant.

Included in the total are the following amounts:

· State Homeland Security Grant Program - $430million.

o Withinthe total, Operation Stonegarden - $50 million

· Urban Area Security Initiative - $400 million

· Emergency Operations Centers - $15 million

· Port Security Grants - $200 million

· Transit Security Grants - $200 million

No specific funding is provided for Citizens Corps,Driver’s License Security, Buffer Zone Protection Program, Metropolitan MedicalResponse System and Interoperable Emergency Communications grants.

Activities previously funded under these programs areeligible in the funded programs; – $10 million to help state and localcommunities cover law enforcement and other costs associated with hostingNational Special Security Events such as the Asia Pacific Economic Conference

The bill provides $350 million for Emergency ManagementPerformance Grants, $11 million above the FY 2011 level.

The following graphic displays the level of UASI fundingsince the inception of the program.

While this continues a steep decline in funding, the goodnews is that the cuts were not as much as proposed by the House ofRepresentatives. It is not clear at this point what the number of UASIgrantees may total. Last year, the numberof UASIs was reduced from 64 to 31 – with the level of funding proposed,this is an additional 40% cut to the program.

This may leave additional UASI citiesoff the list for FY 2012.

Tales of Irene: Did we over react?

2011-08-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

August 27, 2011 1100 hrs EDT (Maryland)

I have been watching Irene with interest, both as a resident of the east coast and as an emergency management practitioner. I have been impressed with the planning and preparation so far, surprised by some of the doom and gloom, and now listening to those that think that everyone overreacted. So, I am prompted to impose my opinions on my readers once again...

The short answer to the question of overreactions is, IMHO, that it was not overreacting based on what the emergency managers had in the way of a forecast. Hurricanes are unique, and preparedness officials are blessed, in that there is a lot of warning with tropical systems - almost too much it seems. The problem is there is not as much certainly as we would like. Forecast tracks change all the time and forecast strength is also seldom correct. But you need to work with what you have.

Evacuations are a tool to save lives. Getting people out of the impact zone is a no-brainier but when and how many is the tough decision facing emergency managers. It takes a long time to evacuate resorts and metropolitan areas. If you pull the trigger too fast (and the threat does not play out) you may have caused some unnecessary disruption to business and vacations. If you pull the trigger too late, you might put more people in harm's way, causing huge traffic jams and more suffering. The forecast was dire and the track was a worst case scenario; so, emergency managers had to weigh these factors and that is what lead to evacuations from the OBX up to New England.

Too Much Hype?
Almost everyone dislikes the hyperbole that politicians and newscasters seem to enjoy so much. I personally wish there was more of a "just the facts" approach to public information. I understand that it is a tough job to get people to pay attention to warnings and to react to government advice, so a little hype is understandable. You need to do something to get people's attention, denial and inertia are normal and a lot of people do not listen but the over-the-top hype seems to have a negative effect on many.

My pet peeve and dismay is reserved for the the weatherman on the beach, or in the street, watching the destruction. There they stand, crouched down against the wind, dodging flying debris, etc., all while warning everyone to stay inside! The hypocrisy is unbelievable! They set a bad example for everyone. If they can be on the beach why can't we?

Making Tough Decisions
With the storm weakening and the damage appearing to be minor (at this hour), I am sure that people are wondering if it was worth shutting down the entire eastern seaboard for this so called "storm of the century". I applaud the emergency managers and politicians for making the tough decisions and announcing them far enough in advance to work. The evacuations that I saw carried out went very smoothly. Ocean City and the State deployed buses which came down and fetched the international student workers, who do not have cars normally, and took them up to Baltimore to stay in a University. That was a good plan and well executed. It appears to have gone off without a hitch.

Irene impacts Surf Beach, North Carolina (Rick Paxton photo)

I was faced with a personal evacuation "decision dilemma" myself as I was enjoying some time at the beach. I immediately started weighing my options when the forecast track got close to my location. It would be easy to move in the deck furniture and leave. Part of me wanted to stay as I enjoy a good storm. I grew up at the beach and never evacuated before. As a fire fighter I went out and ran calls in storms and I must say I found it invigorating. However, with family and pets to think about, and having no first responder role to play, I decided to leave and then went to work trying to talk my family members who live there into leaving.

I left early and had no traffic. As soon as I got home the evacuation orders started so I would have needed to leave anyway. As for my family, and other "locals" I know, none of them wanted to go and many of them stayed. They wanted to watch over their property; even after evacuations were ordered and it was announced that water and sewer would be shut off. I hope that they all make out alright and I am watching closely to see how bad they get it.

Lessons to Learn

As with any disaster, or near disaster, there are lessons to learn. We will be watching for after action reviews and recommendations. I hope that no one thinks this was a "crying wolf" situation. When the next one comes, the threat may be worse and the issues will be the same. Bottom line, have a plan, be prepared, and remember it is better to be safe than sorry.

Looking forward to getting back to the beach to see if the roof is still on the condo!

Steve

Preparing for Hurricane Irene

2011-08-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this"Preparing for Hurricane Irene" letter from Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano to his constituents on Long Island. I think they have done an excellent job of communicating with the local residents in advance of Irene.

Dear Neighbors,

With hurricane Irene heading toward our coast, we urge all Nassau County residents to prepare appropriately for the storm. Below please find a list of precautions to take and items to have in your home to prepare you.

1. Select a safe place for the family to weather the storm. This may be a location in your home - consider a windowless room on the bottom floor. If your home doesn't have a safe area, you should know the locations of at least two emergency shelters near your home. If you have special medical needs and don't think you'll be able to get to the shelter on your own, contact the county in advance to make prior arrangements.

2. Stock up on food and water. You should have enough non-perishable food and water in your home to last the family for at least a week. If your stock of supplies is old, be sure to refresh it. You might want to purchase new canned goods every few years and rotate the rest through your pantry. Water should be replaced annually.

3. Prepare other disaster supplies. You'll need to stock up on batteries, flashlights, rope, tarps, plastic bags, bad-weather clothing and other essentials to help you through the aftermath of a bad storm.

4. Get your home ready. If you have hurricane shutters, make sure that you have all of the parts and have some extra screws/washers handy. If you don't, have a supply of plywood precut to fit your windows. Gather anything loose from your yard and store it in the garage. Watch the news when a storm is approaching and protect your home when advised by local authorities. If you wait until the rain starts, it may be too late.
5. Develop a family communications plan. You might become separated before or after the storm. It's a good idea to have an out-of-state contact (a relative up north?) to act as the point of contact for all family members in the event of an emergency. Make sure everyone in the family knows who that person is and carries their phone number in their wallet or purse.

6. Check your insurance coverage. Companies stop writing coverage when a storm is approaching. Ensure that your homeowner's insurance has enough windstorm coverage to rebuild your home in today's market. Also, remember that standard insurance doesn't cover flooding. You'll need special flood insurance from the federal government.

7. Plan for the family pets. Shelters will not accept pets. However, there will be Pet Shelters in close proximity to the Human shelters for your pets. The best idea is to evacuate early to a friend's home that's located in a safe area.

8. Keep your vehicles gassed up to at least half a tank at all times throughout hurricane season. When a storm approaches, lines WILL get long (up to five hours!) and gas stations will run out of gas before the storm hits. You need to have enough gas to safely evacuate if the situation warrants.

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit:

Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra
batteries for both
Flashlight and extra batteries
First aid kit
Whistle to signal for help
Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
Local maps
Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit:

Prescription medications and glasses
Infant formula and diapers
Pet food and extra water for your pet
Cash or traveler's checks and change
Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container. You can use the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit
(EFFAK) - PDF, 277Kb) developed by Operation Hope, FEMA and Citizen Corps to help you organize your information.
Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov.
Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes.
Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
Fire Extinguisher
Matches in a waterproof container
Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
Paper and pencil
Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

Find out how to keep food safe during and after an emergency by visiting FoodSafety.gov.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Stay safe.
Sincerely,

Edward P. Mangano
County Executive

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2011-08-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need to share a good picture. This is one of my pet peeves....

Supplanting - Will it be an issue for preparedness grants?

2011-08-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

As you may know, the FEMA preparedness grant programs are designed to “enhance community emergency preparedness and participation capabilities”, not to help fund baseline programs. The common concept for grants is that they are to “supplement not supplant” local dollars. However, many communities are looking at a loss of both local tax dollars and grant funds at the same time; what are they to do? Tough decisions must be made; is the option of shifting tax-funded program activities to grants a viable one? Maybe, but caution is warranted.

Many grant programs, including FEMA preparedness grants, have specific requirements that all grant-funded expenses must be new and that grant funds cannot replace existing state or local government funding. Substitution of existing funds with federal grants (supplanting) will be the subject of monitoring and audit reports. Non-supplanting rules are serious business, violations can result in penalties, including suspension of current and future funds, suspension or debarment from federal grants, repayment of monies provided under a grant, and civil and/or criminal penalties. So it is wise to carefully consider this as you restructure programs in light of shrinking fiscal resources.

The DHS Financial Management Guide offers one possible source of relief to the non-supplanting requirement in light of the situation presented by budget cuts.The guidance states that: “Recipients therefore must ensure that they do not reduce the current overall level of funding support to preparedness missions,absent exigent circumstances.”

Exigent circumstances are emergency conditions and many communities are certainly in situations that are deemed financial emergencies. So, does a budget crisis meet the test of an “exigent circumstance”? I am not going to answer that but suggest grantees may want to ask the question of their legal advisors and/or ask the Grant Programs Directorate for and interpretation. I think a lot of grantees are going to be finding themselves in this situation.

The DHS Financial Management Guide language on supplanting is quoted verbatim below.

Recipients of G&T funds shall not replace funding appropriated from State and local governments with their Federal grant funding. It is the purpose of these grants to increase the overall amount of resources available to any G&T funded organization in order to bolster preparedness and to increase services and opportunities. Current levels of activities or programs funded by State, local or non-governmental entity resources should only be increased by receipt of Federal funding. Recipients therefore must ensure that they do not reduce the current overall level of funding support to preparedness missions, absent exigent circumstances.

For example, if a State pays the salaries of three intelligence analysts, it cannot begin to pay the salary of one of them with Federal grant funding. It could, however, hire a fourth analyst.

Potential supplanting will be the subject of application review, as well as pre-award review, post-award monitoring, and audit. If there is a potential presence of supplanting, the applicant or grantee will be required to supply documentation demonstrating that the reduction in non-Federal resources occurred for reasons other than the receipt or expected receipt of Federal funds.

A confirmation during the application process may be requested by the awarding agency or recipient agency stating that Federal funds will not be used to supplant State or local funds.

Steve Davis, All Hands

Twitter Hashtags and Emergency Management

2011-08-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

While some emergency managers are embracing social media with both arms, others are still avoiding it. However, social media has emerged as an important tool for emergency managers. Emergency managers are using social media as a preparedness tool to engage the community, help with public information and as otherwise aid in dissemination of the preparedness message. In addition, social media is emerging as an important tool for situation awareness during the response and recovery phases of an emergency.

It is important, in using social media for all phases of emergency management, to understand that it is not just about Twitter. However, Twitter has clearly emerged as the most significant platform for emergency management engagement and situational awareness. Twitter is simple; it is a micro blogging tool which is limited to 140 characters. Anyone can follow what anyone else has to say. This stream of data (the Twittersphere or Twitter Stream) can be overwhelming based on the huge volume of silly Tweets that populate the stream. However, the use of a “hashtag” (a short term preceded by the hash or # symbol) makes it manageable. In addition, there are many Twitter aggregators and trend monitoring websites available; these use a variety of tactics to filter out what’s important or of interest to emergency managers. Currently some better software tools are emerging which may help automate the monitoring process.Any monitoring or use of the Twittersphere will ultimately need to use hashtags.

Hashtags are good to understand but hard to control; some say that hashtagging is a subtle art and I would have to agree. As a user-defined tool, hashtags are both organic and rapidly evolving and there is no way to control them but there are some established ones to use and follow related to emergency management. People will just start using a hash tag that seems to make sense given an emergency (Ex” #Joplin, #tornado, or #Earl) or use common terms like #hurricane. Hashtags help the public and emergency managers alike follow the conversation to see what I relevant to the event. It will be interesting to see what emerges as an effective way to integrate Twitter and other social media in emergency management but it is clear that Twitter, Facebook and a host of other tools are here to stay and these have already impacted the world of emergency management greatly.

Here is my list of commonly used hashtags (updated and in order of preference). But first, I am suggesting that we retire one and add one as follows:

Add: #FEMAThinkTank – FEMA’s Think Tank project is a forum to facilitate discussion on new ideas and suggestions in emergency management. FEMA has promoted the use of this tag when discussing on Twitter. I hate long tags and will keep using #HSEM and #UASI as primary tags but will use this one as appropriate.) (This now drives the new FEMA Think Tank Daily.)

Retire: #Homeland – This used to mean that a post was related to Homeland Security but this has now been overtaken by those discussing the TV series Homeland and other things that are not relevant to Homeland Security. Instead, I suggest that you use #HSEM, #UASI, or #SMEM as appropriate. (This drives the #Homeland Daily but that is now all about the TV show.)

Hash Tag List

Emergency Management and Homeland Security

#HSEM – Homeland Security/Emergency Management - This is becoming the preferred tagnow by many in emergency management and homeland security. Other hashtags are underused or used for different subjects as noted below.

#UASI – Urban Areas Security Initiative and anything relevant to those in UASI programs (past or present). Note: This started as a tag for the UASI conference but is now used to talk about relevant topics and Drive the #UASI Daily paper.

#Disaster – Disaster related (also used often for trivial things like, “My hair is a #disaster!”)

#DHS – Department of Homeland Security

#EM, #Emergency – Emergency Management – Used for many other things and not used that often now for emergency management.

Public Health

#Outbreak – Disease outbreak

#H1N1 – The H1N1 virus

#Health – Health related

Response

#BOLO – Be on the Look Out

#Quake, #Earthquake – All things seismic

#CBRNE – CBRNE is for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (or energetic) topics

#EMS – Emergency medical Services

#Fire – Fire and Rescue

#Hazmat – Hazardous Materials

#Missing – Missing person

#LEO – Law Enforcement Office or Organization

#WANTED – Wanted person or vehicle

Weather Related

#Hurricane – Hurricane (obviously)

#Storm – any sort of storm (You can use #tropical #storm for instance)

#Tropical – Tropical weather (Ex: #tropical #wave emerges in the #Atlantic and Will we have #Franklin and #Gert roaming the Atlantic soon? #Tropical update)

#Tropicalstorm #TS (Tropical Storm)

#Tropicalwx – Tropical Weather)

#Twoat – Tropical Weather Outlook Atlantic)

#WX – Weather-Specific (preface with state initials for state-specific, e.g., #MDTX)

Social Media

#SMEM – Social Media & Emergency Management(Often abused for things not SMEM related)

#SMEMChat – Used during Twitter chats about SMEM on Fridays between 9:30-10:30a PST

#SM, #SocMed, #SocialMedia – Social Media in general

What about THIRA - what does it have to do with my grants?

2011-08-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

THIRA is the acronym for a "Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment." While many people do not really understand the difference between the terms threat, hazard, and risk (that can be the subject of another piece) I’m sure most of our readers are familiar with Threat Assessments and/or Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments (HIRAs). The term THIRA may be something new but the concept is not. The reason that it is a term of some importance is that the term was included in the FY2011 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) guidance and it is causing a concern for some grantees. The HSGP guidance says that:

"In order to qualify for FY 2011 funding, all grantees shall develop and maintain a THIRA."

While good folks at DHS/FEMA are developing a Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) supplement that will aid in the conduct of these and other risk assessments, there is no specific guidance out about how to do a THIRA that meets the requirements of the grant.

The new CPG supplement guidance will be available for FY2012 and later but for now we need to figure this out for ourselves. But fear not, the HSGP guidance also says that:

"Current State Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments developed for the purposes of Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) or Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) that have a terrorism component satisfy the FY 2011 SHSP and UASI requirement."

I am not sure to what degree states have included a terrorism component in their HIRAs but the terrorism threat certainly should be a factor under human-caused hazards. However, some states have elected to exclude Hazardous Materials and Terrorism hazards from their HIRAs due to the perceived sensitivity of the related information and the potential for misuse.

That being said, my understanding is that a state (and by extension the UASIs within it) that meet this standard of a HIRA with a Terrorism component will meet the grant requirement. Those that do not, will need to do a THIRA in order to qualify for funding.

For those of you that will be doing THIRAs, remember to take a "Whole Community" approach. Numerous partners—including federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, faith-based and community-based organizations, and the public—should be included in the process. As FEMA has suggested, states and UASIs should engage these partners in building a shared perspective around threats and risk. Together they can identify how best the community can work together to minimize risk.

When you do a THIRA, you can start with using existing Hazard Vulnerability Analyses (HVAs) or HIRAs as a base and then work to identify the top threats and hazards for your community. Then look at the risks—and opportunities—across the spectrum of threats and hazards.

You might also want to check with your FEMA Region as I understand they are working to conduct their own THIRAs.

According to FEMA:

THIRAs are intended to be tools that allow organizations at all levels of government to identify, assess, and prioritize their natural and man-made risks. These assessments are meant to facilitate the identification of capability and resource gaps, and allow organizations to track their year-to-year progress to address those gaps. THIRAs should leverage existing hazard mitigation processes, but be conducted in a reasonably standard manner so that results may be incorporated into federal-level assessments. FEMA will use these assessments to develop regional planning assumptions and, working with its partners, identify and implement priority actions to address assumptions identified.

Obviously, there is a strong basis for this work in the long standing hazard mitigation program practices; however, there should be a common approach to doing THIRAs as part of the annual emergency management program life cycle.

If it were up to me, I would work to integrate these assessments with capability assessments, improvement planning, and performance metric activities.

UASI Collaboration Update

2011-08-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

Those of you that know me, probably know that I have been very involved in the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) and the annual National UASI Conference since the inception of both programs. I blog today to note that, while I am no longer going to be involved with the UASI conference, I am going to keep working to support collaboration among UASIs as I have been doing for the last five years.

Why the Change?
As you may know, the UASI conference is now managed by a Board of Directors, elected from UASI Points of Contact and organized as a 501c6. This group is now the "National UASI Association" and has taken full responsibility for the conference. Last year was a transition year and I helped plan the conference on behalf of San Francisco, the 2011 host. Going forward, the conference will be working to do the conference on their own.

Meanwhile, I plan to continue to support and facilitate collaboration and communication among UASIs as I have done for the last five years via the UrbanAreas.org web site and related mail lists. The UASI Association will have a new web presence (TBD) and the 2012 Conference has already established its own web page at uasicolumbus2012.us.

Background
Since my involvement with the Miami UASI (starting in 2003), I have been immersed in the UASI program as both a UASI program manager (contractor) and as a networker (volunteer). I and my business (All Hands Consulting) have been involved in the UASI program for eight years now.

In 2005, I was asked by Miami to help organize a UASI conference for the IAFC Metro Chiefs Section. That small conference lead to the first annual UASI Conference which Miami hosted in 2007. The Miami conference was followed by two conferences in Charlotte, NC. With the great support of the Charlotte Fire Department (Jeff Dulin and Christina Parkins in particular) the conference grew from an attendance of 400 to over 1,100. Subsequent conferences in New Orleans and San Francisco continued the trend of growth in attendance with this year's conference drawing 1,800 attendees.

We supported the National UASI Conference with web site development, creative media, administration and program support for the first five years of the conference (2007-2011). The 2009 Charlotte conference paid for web services thought June of this year; since that contract has now expired, the UASI Conference is moving to a new web address. This completes a transition from conferences supported by Charlotte and All Hands, to conferences managed by the National UASI Association Inc.

While we are no longer supporting the conference, we will continue to host the UrbanAreas.org web site as an information sharing portal for UASIs and other homeland security and emergency management program staff.

If you would like to stay up-to-date on UASI activities there are a number of information sharing tools at your disposal:

Urban Areas Web Site

@UrbanAreas Twitter Account

#UASI Twitter Hash Tag Feed and The #UASI Daily Newsletter

Urban Areas Facebook Page
LinkedIn UASI Networking Page

New Emergency Preparedness Tools for Local Health Departments

2011-08-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center, which represents a partnership between the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Diseases and Emergency Readiness, recently launched two new emergency preparedness products for local health departments: the Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) Toolkit and the Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Vaccination Assessment (SPIVA) Toolkit.

The IDER Toolkit provides local health departments with guidance and templates that can be used to develop and operationalize a National Incident Management System-compliant response plan for infectious disease emergencies at the local level. It draws on extensive public health preparedness activities, experiences from the recent H1N1 outbreak, survey findings, and discussions with health departments throughout the country. The IDER Toolkit addresses unique features of an infectious disease emergency response, such as disease containment and epidemiology and surveillance, and includes modifiable organizational charts, job action sheets, and public health-specific Incident Command System forms.

The SPIVA Toolkit gives an orientation to using community assessment methods as a tool for emergency preparedness. The SPIVA Toolkit provides an overview of how to use key informant interviews and focus groups to inform assessment activities, a step-by-step guide to designing and conducting effective vaccination surveys, a description of online tools and resources that may assist with data collection and analysis, and field-tested examples that show how other counties have implemented community assessments.

The IDER and SPIVA Toolkits are free and accessible online at www.sfbayapc.org. Help spread the word about these free resources for local health departments by posting one of our promotional web buttons on your personal page or organization’s website: http://sfbayapc.sfcdcp.org/button_gallery.

The 2011 National UASI and Homeland Security Conference is almost here!

2011-06-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

The 2011 National UASI and Homeland Security Conference team has been working hard over the last year to get ready for the 2011 conference. The final touches to the conference plans have been made and it looks to be an excellent program. The 2011 conference will be the largest ever with over 1,600 attendees. The 2011 conference will include all DHS preparedness grants and will be collocated with the GPD After Action Conference.

The theme of the 2011 National UASI and Homeland Security Conference is "Enhancing Capabilities through Regional Collaboration"

Conference Organizers

The conference has a long history of "bootstrap" approach, being put on by the same people that attend. I got involved from the start while working to support the Miami UASI and have been involved ever since. Host cities including Miami, Charlotte, New Orleans and now San Francisco do the heavy lifting in working to make each conference a success. The next conference is already being planned in Columbus, Ohio.

Who Owns the Conference?

The National UASI and Homeland Security Conference is "owned" and managed by the National Urban Areas Security Initiative Conference, Inc. (a 501c6). Also knows as UASICON, this group is represented by an elected group of directors who, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Grant Programs Directorate (DHS/FEMA/GPD), work to manage the conference.

Conference Goal

The goal of the Annual National UASI and Homeland Security Conference is to foster the exchange of information between all parties involved in the Department of Homeland Security preparedness grant programs under the Homeland Security Grant Program. The conference is targeted toward all those involved in the preparedness grant programs.

Even if you can not make it to the conference, you can follow related activities at the conference web site and via social media at the following links.

National UASI and Homeland Security Conference

@UrbanAreas Twitter Account

#UASI Twitter Hash Tag Feed and The #UASI Daily Newsletter

Urban Areas Facebook Page

FY 2011 UASI Awards Leave Many on the Sidelines

2011-05-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

The FY 2011 UASI grant awards were announced Thursday. The reduction from 64 to 31 UASIs caught many by surprise. While I was predicting that the UASI list might go down to 40-45, 31 was a deeper cut than was expected.

"Eligible candidates for the FY 2011 UASI program have been determined through an analysis of relative risk of terrorism faced by the 100 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in the United States, in accordance with the 9/11 Act. Based on that analysis, the eligible candidates have been grouped into two tiers according to relative risk. Tier I includes the 11 highest risk areas and will be allocated 81.6 percent (81.6%) of the total UASI funding available; Tier II includes the other 20 candidate areas and will be allocated the remaining 18.4 percent (18.4%) of the total UASI funding available."

Click to enlarge

This compares the FY 2011 UASI grant awards (red) to 2010 amounts (blue).

I plotted the 2011 awards against the 2010 awards to see how things changed. DHS decided to keep Tier One cities whole so you will see that their funding was maintained at 2010 levels. San Diego got promoted to a Tier One while everyone else took it on the chin. Many cities dropped, all Tier Two cities lost funding.

Note: I combined Miami and Fort Lauderdale for display purposes. Fort Lauderdale got cut for 2011 but is in the same MSA as Miami so the two areas are now in one UASI.

Interesting to see the cities that stayed vs. those that dropped off. The funding skipped many cities that got more last year than the ones that stayed on.

This obviously has upset a lot of people and I understand that a lot of good work that was being done may need to be curtailed.

Fortunately, these UASIs all have significant funding remaining in their pipelines from prior fiscal years and have some time remaining to continue their programs before the money runs out.

I expect more of this in FY 2012, Congress is already looking at proposals to cut the UASI list to only 10 cities. It will get worse before it gets better.

The Terrorist Threat is not Limited to the 10 Largest Cities

2011-05-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

The recent move by the House of Representatives to limit the Urban Area Security Initiative to only 10 cities has obviously caused concern for the 54 other UASI cities. These cities will be clamoring to make the case that they too are at risk from the threat of terrorism. While there are many past examples of terrorist acts or attempted acts across the country, from Oklahoma City to Seattle, one not need to look far to find a solid basis for this concern.

Let's look at some recent news for example.

NationalTerrorAlert.com is one of many sources that I use to stay on top of terrorism related news. (NationalTerrorAlert.com is a private homeland security blog and not affiliated with any government agency.) I get an e-mail daily with relevant news summaries and links to source news stories. Today was no exception and the headlines explain my point well:

From this one example we see that terrorism is still an issue in New York City but also in Oregon and South Florida.

South Florida has seen its share of the terrorism threat yet it may soon be off the list of Urban Areas receiving funding under the UASI program (if House members have their way).

The Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) was created in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to provide funds to selected urban areas to assist them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, respond to, and recover from threats or acts of terrorism. The UASI Grant Program addresses the unique equipment, training, planning, and exercise needs of large high threat urban areas. Program activities must involve coordination by the identified city, counties, and the respective State Administrative Agency (SAA).

The South Florida region is home to two UASI cities (Miami and Fort Lauderdale) who work together and with the State of Florida's Regional Domestic Security Task Force to protect, prevent, prepare, respond, and recover from terrorist threats.

In 2003, the first year the UASI grants were distributed, Miami was ranked 11th out of 30 designated high threat cities in the United States. As such, it is a good example of what type of program may be one of the victims of the budget axe.

In Miami, the UASI program brought federal, state, local, and regional first responders together to develop projects to enhance South Florida capabilities to address the terrorism threat . The UASI funding has been allocated to jurisdictions across the region to include Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, West Palm Beach, Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Palm Beach County, and Monroe County as well as many other jurisdictions within this region.

Funding has helped develop plans and provide equipment, training and exercises for special teams across the region. These investments have supported significant improvements in the regions anti-terrorism capabilities and have supported an overall rise in the level of preparedness and response capabilities.

The UASI grant has provided the South Florida region with equipment such as: chemical detectors, thermal imaging cameras, personal protective equipment, maritime response vessels, command units, satellite phones, notification systems, redundant radio equipment, generators, power supply back-up for 911 dispatch, tactical ballistic helmets and vests, a helicopter, medical supplies, and many other projects.

The grant has also provided funding to help coordinate planning, training, and exercises that ranged from interdepartmental incident command training and tabletop exercises to Citywide emergency exercises to regional cross-discipline/multi-agency mock events. All of the exercises are then evaluated through After Action Reports and improvement plans which are used to continue the cycle of improvement.

The South Florida UASI, like many others across the nation, have been measuring these improvements. The State of Florida led early efforts to develop a "Capabilities Assessment for Readiness" to measure local capabilities. Miami built on this to develop a new capabilities assessment tool and worked with FEMA on a pilot capabilities assessment project. The state and regions conducted several capabilities assessments which were used to measure and plan improvements. As a result, the gains were documented and were available for use in making strategic planning updates and investment decisions.

Despite this good work in Miami and other similar UASI cities, Congress seems to think that the program is inefficient and without a means for the measurement of effectiveness.

The record shows us something different.

Budget Axe Looms Large Over Local First Responders

2011-05-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

A proposed 2012 budget bill in the House of Representatives slashes the current level of local first responder funding, with the biggest cuts coming in areas critical to anti-terrorism and emergency preparedness.

American community leaders are reeling. They did not see this coming. Many of their leaders are in a state of shock and denial. The United States Congress is prepared to make heavy cuts in homeland security grant funding unlike anything they had imagined.

While Congress shaved local first responder funding by about 20% for 2011, their current plans for 2011 are to cut 67% from the FY 2010 level of $3 billion to $1 billion overall.

The Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) which was created to help enhance capabilities in the most at-risk cities will go from a high of 64 cities down to 10 cities under the current House of Representatives proposal. Cities that were making great headway enhancing capabilities are going to lose ground on preparedness.

This means that potentially 54 cities will lose funding. This includes major U. S. cities from Miami to Seattle, from San Diego to Baltimore, from Detroit to Las Vegas.

The $1 billion remaining, based on the draft legislation, would need to fun nine formerly separate grant programs and would leave it to the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine how best to use it.

States will also feel the impact. Many will be left with the minimum amount of funding required and they will need to drastically curtail programmatic activities.

What will the impact be?

The impact will not be felt immediately as prior year grant funding is still in the pipeline. While previous grant funding levels had been generous, cities, counties, territories, and states will need to start a process of program contraction. Emergency equipment purchases will be curtailed, grant-funded positions will begin to be cut and projects closed out ‑ many planned initiatives will need to be re-evaluated and some will be cancelled.

Can previous enhancements be maintained?

While many capability enhancements are already in place, there is an ongoing cost of sustaining preparedness. Equipment replacement and upgrades, staffing, training, and exercising are all part of the improvement cycle. Without sufficient funding to replace or update equipment, develop new plans, maintain existing plans, and provide training and exercising of personnel – the previous level of capabilities will erode. Cash strapped communities will be forced to curtail special teams designed to deter or respond to acts of terrorism and other emergencies.

Why did they choose to cut such an important program?

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chairman Robert Aderholt gave a statement which included:

“However, programs that have been underperforming and failing to execute their budgets or measure their results are significantly reduced.”

“In short, this bill puts the taxpayers’ precious, but limited dollars towards the security programs that will have an immediate impact upon our Nation’s safety and security and responsibility reduces spending wherever possible.”

Chairman Aderholt is referring to first responder grant programs. The majority of the House bill’s reductions come from state and local first responder grant programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security cited the inefficiency of these grant programs and their inability to demonstrate measurable return on tax payer investments.

Some in Congress have long complained that these state and local grants are inefficient and have been slow to draw down funding. And there is also concern that there has not been any effective measurement of how the grant funding has helped improve the state of preparedness. This is not surprising as the grant program was rolled out with lose guidance and no performance measurements. Efforts to develop capability assessments were tried and then shelved. No one has yet found a good way to measure how the investments in first responder capabilities are paying dividends.

Many grantees will admit that they have trouble explaining how much the money helps then, and that they have a backlog. These grantees are overwhelmed with the workload associated with applying for and spending and then accounting for the grant spending. They are dealing with a tangle of red tape, audits on top of audits, and difficult grant reporting processes. Very few have had the time to take the initiative to develop performance measures. And, many thought that was FEMA’s job to come up with performance measures.

Just this year, as a sign of frustration, Congress commissioned a study. They asked the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to assist FEMA by with studying, developing, and implementing a plan for promptly developing a set of quantifiable performance measures and metrics to assess the effectiveness of the programs under which covered grants are awarded.

Why is it so hard?

The process of requesting and spending grant dollars can take years due to red tape and procurement processes at the federal, state and local level. Without getting into the details, suffice it to say that it often takes over a year just to get authorization to spend a grant award. This is regrettable, but it is not a sign that the money is not needed. These grant dollars are being used to reduce the likelihood of a terrorist attack and to position local first responders to be better prepared to respond to and recovery from terrorist acts.

These improvements in planning, organization, equipment, training and exercises are making the nation better prepared overall. These improvements have been making a positive impact on our nation’s ability to respond to all sorts of disasters and emergencies, events that are occurring more and more frequently. Unfortunately, the grantees have been unable to tell their story; and, the lack a common and effective voice to help explain this to congress.

Where will this end up?

No one can say how the legislative process will turn out. The subject bill needs to wind its way through Congress and then to the President. A lot can happen in that process. There may be compromises and trade-offs.

The House is actually recommending an increase to post-disaster aid funding. This is probably needed given the recent increase in disasters. However, reducing investment in protection, preparedness, and response and recovery projects is being seen by many first responders as being short sighted and defeatist.

Why, when “all disasters are local”, is it that other national homeland security and domestic programs are not being hit as hard as first responder programs?

Is it “penny-wise but pound-foolish?” Yes, Congress is risking having to pay more (in human and economic impact) when disasters happen...

Are first responders caught in the middle? Of course they are…

Opinions expressed here are my own and no others.

BCM Compensations and Interesting Study Findings for USA and Canada

2011-05-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

I just got this great comprehensive report in the mail and thought I would pass it along.

BC Management recently published complimentary BCM Compensation reports as a result of the 9th Annual BCM Study (2010) findings, which closed on December 15, 2010. The next study (soon to be released) will focus on 2010 compensations.

USA BCM Compensation Complimentary Report - Published March 2011. Focus is on 2009 compensations for full- time, permanent employees in the USA.

Some interesting findings include:

BCM Average Total Compensation for USA is $105,980 USD
57.89% of Global Managers received an increase in total average compensation and the average total compensation increase was 14.44%.
39.08% of study participants indicated 4-10 years of business continuity related expertise while 53.94% of the study respondents indicated 21 - 35 years of total work experience.
According to our study results, the top certification for the USA was the Certified Business ContinuityProfessional (CBCP) - DRI International, which made up 66.96% of the study participants.

Download Complimentary USA BCM Compensation Report - http://all-hands.net/url/bcmusa10

Canada BCM Compensation Complimentary Report - Published May 2011. Focus is on 2009 compensations for full-time, permanent employees in Canada.

Some interesting findings include:

BCM Average Total Compensation for Canada is $94,132 CAD
90.91% of Vice Presidents/Directors received an increase in total average compensation and the average total compensation increase was 15.14%.
34.15% of study participants indicated 1-3 years of business continuity related expertise while 42.96% of the study respondents indicated 21 - 35 years of total work experience.
According to our study results, the top certification for Canada was the Associate Business Continuity Professional ( ABCP) - DRI International, which made up 54.17% of the study participants.

Download Complimentary Canada BCM Compensation Report - http://all-hands.net/url/bcmca10

Those professionals who completed BC Management’s 9th Annual BCM Study qualified to receive a BCM Compensation Comprehensive report (40+ pages) as a complimentary report for completing the study. The comprehensive report goes into greater depth highlighting how job responsibilities, experience, certification, location, management expertise and leadership expertise impact a business continuity professional’s earning potential. Please contact BC Management if you have an interest in receiving this in-depth report or if you completed the 2010 study and haven’t received your complimentary copy – info@bcmanagement.com.

BC Management is delighted to share this information with the business continuity profession. We hope that you see the value in these reports . Please contact a BC Management representative with comments/inquiries at info@bcmanagement.com.

It's Baaack! Bill to limit number of UASIs (Updated)

2011-04-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Updated 4-21-11

Once again, there are efforts afoot to limit the number of Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) cities. However, this legislative maneuvering may be moot. A combination of less funding and a new risk formula may result in less UASIs without legislative action. Read on for a full explanation.

UASI program funds address the unique planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high-threat, high-density Urban Areas, and assists them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism.

The proposed legislation, H.R.1555, was recently introduced by Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY18] as an effort to limit the number of cities and funnel more funding to New York City. The bill's stated purpose is: "To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to limit the number of Urban Area Security Initiative grants awarded and to clarify the risk assessment formula to be used when making such grants, and for other purposes."
The bill proposes to make three changes:

Limit then number of designated UASIs to "not more than 25".
Change the risk formula process by requiring that, "when weighing considerations of threat, vulnerability, and consequences from acts of terrorism, assign a percentage value that is not less than 33."
Change the law so that the minimum allocations apply only to the State Homeland Security Grants.

The text of the bill is now available on the GPO website. Number 2 seems to be missing some language at the end of the sentence. I believe the intend it to assign at least 33% of the formula's weight to threat. The third item would limit the amount that states receive as a minimum allocation by taking UASI dollar out of the base on which the minimum percentage is applied.

If the bill passes (I would not take a bet on it) in its current form, the Homeland Security Act would then read as follows (additions indicated):

The Administrator shall designate NOT MORE THAN 25 high-risk urban areas to receive grants under this section based on procedures under this subsection.

As of April 14, 2011, the bill status was: "Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security." I will try to keep an eye on this bill's progress and update the blog as needed. Here is the latest status:

This widget should help keep you up-to-date with current bill.

Note that this is not the fist time Rep. Lowey introduced legislation under this title. H.R. 4182 was introduced in the House during the 111th Congress on Dec 2, 2009. The original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the House for consideration is available on GovTrack.

That bill called for limiting the number of UASI grant to "not more than 35". Apparently, she is now setting her target at 25 UASIs.

While everyone is focused on the Lowey bill we seem to be missing the elephant in the room.

The elephant? UASI funding was cut dramatically (by $162 million) and there is a new risk formula that will change the allocation of grant dollars among UASIs. These two changes, working together, will likely have a dramatic impact on the UASI allocation and may render the Lowey bill moot. (Changes to the Tier I/II construct may also change the distribution.) If more cuts are made in 2012, which sounds likely, this will exacerbate the situation further.

The situation? With less money, and a new formula that may skew dollars further to the left of the curve (see chart below), there will be so little left on the right hand side of the curve that it may be necessary to drop cities due to little or no funding being available (based on a combination of the budget reduction and the formula). The question may become: How much does the grant need to be for a particular MSA for it to be worth the effort to follow the UASI program guidance? Will a million dollars be the threshold as it seems to have been in the past? Will this cause 10 cities to drop off? 20? More?

Ultimately this decision is up to the DHS Secretary (as I understand it) although the process is influenced by Capitol Hill. No matter the outcome, for 2011 the clock is ticking. Guidance will come out soon and it will include the list of cities allocated funds for 2011 so UASIs will soon know where they stand.

It is too late to influence the outcome for 2011 and the UASI allocation list will be an important indicator on the future of UASI funding. The 2012 budget deliberation will be next and will likely be even more important to the future of UASI. This might be the issue to focus attention on as grants may be a further target.

UASIs and other grantees will need to have a way to explain the value and effectiveness of the program. A topic which will be addressed at the UASI Conference (in the sessions and in the hallways, I am sure).

The New Formula

The new 2011 Risk Formula places 30% on Threat, 50% on Consequence, and 20% on Vulnerability. The graphic below describes the factors that go into the calculation.

It will be interesting to see if the allocation process repeats the use of "tiers" to shift funds to larger cities when the new formula should accomplish this with a greater emphasis on consequences. If the new risk formula works well, the tiering is no longer needed in my view. The resulting grant curve should be smooth, as opposed to how it was in 2010 based on the tiering and the previous formula (see below).

How Funds Were Allocated in FY 2010
Eligible candidates for the FY 2010 UASI program were determined through an analysis of relative risk of terrorism faced by the 100 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in the United States, in accordance with the 9/11 Act. In the past, funds have been allocated to as few as 30 and as many as 64 metropolitan areas (the current number). Based on the 2010 risk analysis, the eligible candidates were grouped into two tiers according to relative risk. Tier I included the 10 highest risk areas and was allocated 63% of the total UASI funding available; Tier II includes the other 54 candidate areas and will be allocated the remaining 37% of the total UASI funding available.

The tier approach was reportedly "employed to allow applicants with a similar level of risk to compete for funding on a level playing field." However, some see it as an arbitrary cut-off (it was seven cities previously) designed to skew the outcome of the risk formula "analysis".

Again, in my view, if you have a good formula you do not need to add an artificiality like tiering. You should expect to see a smooth curve IMHO.

What to Expect for 2011
Of course, the big question is what will the 2011 allocation process look like. We will see soon enough as 2011 UASI grant guidance is expected within the next 30 days or so. Given the almost 20% reduction in UASI dollars and the new risk formula, I think that the curve will steepen; meaning that the top ten UASIs will gain in terms of a percentage of funds received (however loosing overall due to the cuts). I think that many of the cities on the right hand side of the curve (that long flat "tail" shown below) will get so little in funding that it may not be worth granting funds to them. While the minimum grants are now over one million dollars, if DHS attempts to keep the list at 64 cities, it will likely shrink to less than half of that as a product of less money and less consequences. That being the case, I am expecting the list of cities to total no more than 50. However, if the Lowey bill passes, this number would apparently be 25. See this previous blog for a look at what a list of 25 might look like and who might get left off the list.

2010 Funding Curve, Click to enlarge.

Of course, it would be nice if the funding did not shrink. Unfortunately, shrinking funding for first responders, seems to be the current trend. Budget times are tight but everyone needs to remember that "All Disasters Are Local" is not a slogan, it is reality.

More when I know it.

crisis comms command post: A staged approach to integrating social media into...

2011-04-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

crisis comms command post: A staged approach to integrating social media into...: "Had a great discussion today on #smemchat on the future of the SMEM movement and the continuous need to promote the integration of social me..."

DavisLogic - Blogging on Emergency Management: What is an EOC information management system?

2011-03-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

DavisLogic Blog: What is an EOC information management system?

What is an EOC information management system?

2011-03-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

What is an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) information management system? With all of the talk about the use of Social Media in Emergency Management and the use of new technologies for "Situational Awareness" and a "Common Operating Picture" it is important to remember the basics. After all, EOC management is all about information and resource management. So I thought I would share a summary of EOC information management issues that we recently prepared.

The EOC needs an effective information management system to work.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS DURING A DISASTER

The following problems are often seen at all EOC levels:

Activation takes place after the fact resulting in a “catch up” process.
Lack of good and complete information at the beginning.
Possible loss or degraded communications capability.
Possible loss or late arrival of key, trained staff.
Often a shortfall of resources available to meet demands.
Lack of inter-agency coordination.

Information management is the essence and key to successful EOC operations.

It is the EOC Planning Section's responsibility to establish and operate the EOC information management system so that they and everyone else in the EOC understands:

What is going on: What are the existing and emerging threats?
What are the locations and types of damage and injuries?
What new incidents are occurring?
What is like to happen in the future?
What is being done about it: What ongoing incident response is taking place?
Are the incidents stable or growing in magnitude?
Resource management and accountability: What resources are committed and where?
What resources are available and not committed? What resource needs are unmet?

EOC information management is a process that collects information from a variety of sources, uses multiple methods and tools to manage message flow in the EOC, documents vital information about EOC operations, and analyzes and displays information in useful ways to assure everyone in the EOC maintains a common operating picture.

An efficient EOC information management system will allow planning staff to quickly:

Determine probable disaster impacts, identify incident goals and objectives for the current and for the next operational period, and develop EOC Incident Action Plans (IAPs) and deadlines to meet incident goals and objectives.
Determine the geographic scope of the incident(s) and layout of deployed response assets, impact on governmental and critical infrastructure facilities, boundaries, resource locations, and personnel assigned.
Prioritize requests for scarce resources and make decisions on who gets those scarce resources.
Determine the appropriate staffing for the Planning Section and effectively manage the wide range of functions (units) that fall under this section.
Maintain a common operating picture (COP) for everyone in the EOC.
Deploy damage assessment teams and incorporate damage assessment team information into the situation analysis.
Provide continual updates on changing situations and resource availability so that a common operating picture is maintained in the EOC.

Remember, it is the Planning Section's responsibility to establish and operate the EOC information management system so that they and everyone else in the EOC.

Is your EOC Plans Section organized and prepared to handle all of the planning function tasks?

Special thanks to my business partner Rick LaValla for his thoughts on this topic.

Steve Davis, All Hands Consulting

Emergency Management Consulting

http://twitter.com/AllHandsDotNet

DavisLogic - Blogging on Emergency Management: Is E-Mail Still the King of Social Media?

2011-03-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

DavisLogic - Blogging on Emergency Management: Is E-Mail Still the King of Social Media?

Is E-Mail Still the King of Social Media?

2011-03-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

I just realized that our "Emergency Management Mail List" (a Yahoo! Group) is now over ten years old! It made me think about the importance of e-mail as a medium and how far we have come from the early start of communication across the Internet and where things stand now...

First, about this 10 year milestone: I have been so busy that I missed our list's birthday (it was actually back on Feb 17th). In the ten years (and a month) since our start in February of 2001, we have shared almost 20,000 messages among our group of over 2,300 emergency management professionals.

Milestones, such as ten year anniversaries, are a time for reflection and thanksgiving.

My reflections include remembering back to when I had more time to do things like starting up a mail list. And also back to the early days of the Internet and how much things have changed. And that, how now, in a day of Tweets, Blogs, and Facebook pages, e-mail is still the king in communication in my book.

The difference between e-mail, which I think of as the second "social media" tool after Usenet, (I just dated myself -_-) and the "new social media" is that, as a push technology, it always gets to the intended recipient. You do not need to go look for it, it comes to you. That makes it a bit of a chore to read e-mails but unlike our "feeds" and "streams" where we might see only a few recent postings, we actually get around to reading all of our e-mail (eventually).

I also want to thank all of you who contribute to the discussion and share information -- that is what the list is all about. In particular, I want to thank Lloyd Colston and Ed Kostiuk who actually do most of the moderation nowadays. The moderation process certainly adds value to the list. As a result, there are not flame wars, advertisements, or other junk that can clutter a list.

In addition to moderating, Lloyd servers as Vetter-in-chief, making sure that everyone who asks to join has a good reason for doing so. I suspect only 1 in 10 get through this process. We are currently at 2,379 members and 22 pending. Those who want to get on the list need to let Lloyd know who they are and he confirms the appropriateness of their professional involvement in the field. It is surprising how few applicants make it through the process. This certainly adds to the quality of the list.

As advertised from the start (see message #1) we created this mail list as a way to foster open communications among emergency management professionals and to support a wide ranging discussion

that includes all aspects of the emergency management profession.

After 10 years I guess we can say "mission accomplished" So, now on to the next ten years!

Thanks for being here.

Regards,

Steve Davis, All Hands
All Hands Consulting
AllHandsDotNet Twitter Feed

2011-03-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Why Have and EOC?

Emergency Managers know that bad things happen. Whether it is an accident, earthquake, fire, flood, storm, or act of violence or terror, your community is at risk of a disastrous event. That is why planners plan; they work to save lives, prevent damage, and to ensure continuity of operations. After conducting a hazard vulnerability analysis, detailed plans are constructed to describe response and recovery actions. Planning to manage these emergency events involves mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. A critical part of this planning process involves preparing to operate an Emergency Operations Center (EOC.) Good response and recovery management requires a good “Concept of Operations” and a robust approach to communications, coordination, and information management. EOCs hold the key to successfully managing potential problems associated with any disaster.

So what must an organization do to successfully address the response to an emergency? In addition to comprehensive emergency management planning, you must plan to establish and operate an EOC that is organized and equipped to manage all of your response and recovery plans, information, and resources.

But why, exactly, do you need an EOC? What should it do?

NFPA 1600 Says So

The NFPA “Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs” Has a section on Incident Management that specifies that:

The entity shall develop an incident management system to direct, control, and coordinate response and recovery operations.
The incident management system shall describe specific organizational roles, titles, and responsibilities for each incident management function.
The entity shall establish applicable procedures and policies for coordinating response, continuity, and recovery activities with stakeholders directly involved in response, continuity, and recovery operations.
The entity shall establish applicable procedures and policies for coordinating response, continuity, and recovery activities with appropriate authorities and resources, including activation and deactivation of plans, while ensuring compliance with applicable statutes or regulations.
Emergency operations/response shall be guided by an incident action plan or management by objectives.

These activities need to occur and an EOC is the best facility for supporting thee activities.

Direction, Control, and Coordination requires that an organization have:

The capability to direct, control, and coordinate response and recovery operations.
An incident management system.
Identified specific organizational roles, titles, and responsibilities in an emergency operations plan.
A mechanism to determine the level of implementation of the incident management system according to the magnitude of the incident and the capabilities of the entity.
Procedures and policies for coordinating response, continuity, and restoration activities with appropriate authorities and resources while ensuring compliance with applicable statutes or regulations.

Understanding the EOC’s Mission

The EOC is a physical facility designated for information gathering, resource coordination, and disaster analysis. It is where executive decisions concerning emergency policy are made that result in resource coordination and emergency response. That response comes in terms of warnings to evacuate and dissemination of information or instructions to the public that are designed to protect lives and property. The EOC’s mission can be best understood in terms of three vital tasks:

Communication and Intelligence. The EOC must be able to effectively communicate and receive information. It is critical to inform everyone about an event and to communicate amongst the parties involved. It is equally important to undertake intelligence gathering to manage an incident and to provide notification to responders and the public.
Command and Control. The EOC must provide the command and control functions necessary to put multiple response and recovery plans into action – triggering them as needed, providing the triage structure required to deploy resources and personnel, and assuring effective direction of the response operations.
Coordination and Documentation. The EOC must create a mechanism to coordinate all of the steps taken to respond to an event and create a record of the actions taken to protect employees, infrastructure, and stakeholder value... as well as demonstrate adherence to “best practices” by documenting all information received and steps taken.

It All Happens in the EOC

The EOC is ultimately a center for information management, decision-making, and resource allocation. Its primary purpose is to gather and process all of the information required to plan for and respond – quickly and effectively – to emergency incidents. Within the EOC, staff are typically organized according to the Incident Command System. The Communications team is responsible for gathering incoming messages and situation reports and sharing them in order to optimize decision-making. Incident information is posted to an Operations Log. The EOC functions to select or prepare an incident action plan most appropriate to that incident. This plan should be developed with the involvement of all impacted parties and provide the guidance you’ll need to apply appropriate response personnel and resources. The EOC serves as the vehicle for this decision-making.

Outside the EOC, there are several groups who need to be informed of the status of an ongoing incident. These groups should be briefed periodically by a trained communicator who will be tasked to work with the EOC to provide an effective, appropriate message to the outside world. There are two main audiences for these briefings: the organization’s executive group and the organization’s public relations team. Working together, the executive group and public relations will craft the final messages that will leave the organization to be provided to the general public as well as stakeholders in the organization. This last, inside-to-outside, information flow is instrumental in establishing and maintaining the credibility of the organization to manage the emergency event. Timely, accurate information will go a long way toward reassuring interested parties in the success of the organization’s mission that it will indeed be able to as-sure continuity throughout the event.

The primary role of an EOC is to provide strategic direction and support to the response organization at the emergency/incident site(s). Clearly, it is not to address tactical decisions or actions at site level!

To be effective, your EOC should fit the needs of your community, agency or jurisdiction. Despite the existence of many different EOC models, there is no single definitive approach to EOC construction, staffing, resource allocation or operation. If you do not yet have an EOC, research your neighbors’ EOC (and other structures) looking for “best practices”. Chances are that in your next emergency you will have to interact with your neighbors. Therefore, ensure that what you set up will easily function with their EOC facilities (i.e., organization, terminology, management). Then, hold emergency exercises to ensure that your expectations and plans are realistic.

Lost in Translation: Getting out of Japan after the Earthquake

2011-03-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

I’m sure that the recent earthquake in Japan affected each of us in some way; if for no other reason the loss of life and devastation, as shown in the remarkable video reports from Japan, was mind-blowing. I think we all understand the power of a tsunami, and we have seen several recent examples, but the pictures from Japan displayed a new level of shock and awe for the world as to the power of natural hazards.

Here is the story of my day and how the quake impacted it.... but more importantly, it is a story of the power of our network.

I saw the earthquake alerts as I read my e-mail while waiting to board a plane. I did not have much of an idea of the impact; but, since a tsunami was predicted, I certainly started thinking ahead to possible impacts on the US Pacific states and territories. So with limited situational awareness, I was watching events unfold on my iPhone and wondering if we would be called to help. As I took a morning flight and disconnected for a few hours, I reflected on the impact of similar events happening here in the states as it is only a matter of time before significant earthquakes and tsunamis impact us again.

When we landed, I had a lot of new e-mail to sort through along with plenty of text alerts. the number of after shocks over 6.0 was unlike anything I had seen before. There were lots of e-mails as should be expected. Many of our team members were asking if we would deploy and let me know that they were available. As some of you may know, we were eventually alerted for possible deployment under the FEMA Individual Assistance Program (as we manage a cadre of disaster response reservists). As usual, soon after being asked to “stand up” we were told to “stand down” – an experience we went through with the Samoa and Haiti disasters. Alas, that is our lot as emergency management consultants.

Meanwhile, as I got to the hotel, I got a call from a private sector client that made the rest of my day interesting. The CEO of the company and other corporate executives, were in Tokyo and trying desperately to get out. They wanted our help - they were scheduled to fly out but could not get to the airport and security was becoming a concern. After checking out of their hotel and going to the train station, only to find that they trains were not running, the group was stuck in Japan with no place to go, no place to stay, and no way out.

When I got the call, I was getting ready to attend a family dinner. Nonetheless, our EOC (my mini Dell) sprung into action in our 4th floor office (my Hilton Garden Inn room). My internet connection was giving me fits so I contacted one of our crisis management consultants who went to work gathering intelligence on the situation. I called one of our security partners, one with international experience in security and executive protection, to see if they could help. And, having traveled all day, I turned on the TV for the first time to see what the situation was. It was at that point that I started to get the full picture of what was happening in Japan.

Our network is our strength. Fortunately, the security guy I contacted had worked in Japan, knew the lay of the land and, as is the norm with the large All Hands Consulting network, he “knew a guy” there. (I think we only have one degree of separation from about 100,000 guys and gals all over the world now.) Thanks to the growth of our network, we “know a guy” (or gal) to take care of just about any exigency.

In short order, albeit with a lot of e-mail, phone calls, and text messages (when the smart phones failed us), we were able to provide the latest information on the situation including travel advisories, flight status and transportation options. Despite news reports that everything was shut down, we determined that flights were taking off and trains were running. However, ground transportation was tied up in knots. We were able to provide the group with up-to-date information, checked their flight status, worked with the on options (helo, ground, train) as we went back and forth by text, e-mail and phone (despite being in meetings and restaurants).

More importantly we were able to send a local ex-pat security “guy” to their hotel to meet with them and their Japanese hosts to review the options. This was a small miracle as our security guy was in a two-hour meeting, the guy in Japan already had his hands full, and I was going out to dinner and had little or no signal (thanks AT&T). Despite all of this, we worked past the distractions (and poor reception) and we were able to get them out of Tokyo safely. I enjoyed the opportunity to help someone out tremendously; however, my family did not feel the same way as I was outside trying to find a place with reception while dinner was being served.

The good news is that, late last night, our client reported that they would make their flight after taking two trains to the airport. It was nice to go to sleep knowing that we accomplished something for once! We are, along with our client, indebted to the professionals who dropped everything to help this group out of Japan.

We Lost a Father, a Friend, and Hero

2011-02-27T05:59:00.000-08:00

That was the subject line of a sad e-mail that I received today. We did indeed lose a friend, a hero, and a father figure to many of us.

The e-mail informed us that Wm. "Bill" Vargas passed away last night, peacefully and from natural causes.

Bill was a legend in our business and a dear friend to all of us at All Hands. In his memory, I thought it would be appropriate to recap his career, based on his excellent resume. Bill, you will be missed by us all. Those of us that knew you well, know what a large hole you leave in our profession and was a leader you were over the years as new concepts in search and rescue and incident management were under development.

Bill Vargas had over forty years of experience in our business, having served in the military and as an an administrator in both federal and state government. Bill worked for us from the beginning of All Hands as a consultant and instructor. Bill was our though leader on all things incident management and search and rescue. His extensive experience and education as an academic instructor was a huge help to us in developing instructional programs. Bill was able to teach us how to be our best and lead the work to develop the "All Hands way" of teaching ICS. Bill inspired confidence in all of us and was a dear friend. He will be missed by us all.

Bill's Resume

Bill served in the United States Army in Airborne Infantry where he was a NCO and Mountain Climbing School instructor. He attained the rank of Chief Master Sergeant (E-9), and retired from military service. As a U.S. Air Force Pararescueman, he served as team member and supervisor, culminating as Commandant of the USAF Pararescue School during last 4 years of service. In this role he was a true leader in the development of the pararescue program.

Bill moved to the New Mexico State Police where he was the State Search and Rescue (SAR) Office Chief. Bill was the driving force in mandating, by Governor’s Executive Order, the implementation of the National Interagency Incident Management System (NIIMS) Incident Command System (ICS) during all state emergency operations. Bill was an author of NIIMS, which he often referred to as "two-eyed NIIMS" after the National Incident Incident Management System ("one-eyed" NIMS) was published.

Bill was the initiator and Task Force Leader of the first New Mexico Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (one of the 25 original FEMA national Task Forces developed to support the Federal Response Plan). He also served five years on the state Hazardous Materials Emergency Management Task Force, which developed the Statewide plan for response to hazardous materials incidents. Served on the Governor's State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) and was a Member of the Statewide EMS Advisory Committee for 9 years. Served 10 years on the board of directors of the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR).

Bill was a member of the following orgainzations:

National Emergency Management Association (NEMA)
Board of Directors of the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue
Life member of the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR)
President of the National Pararescue Association
Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)
International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM)
National ICS Curriculum Development Steering Committee
National Interagency Fire Center
National Instructor Trainer Team.

Bill was also an excellent instructor and teacher. Bill taught incident command and search and rescue curriculum for federal, state, and local governmental agencies as well as private corporations. He was an evangelist when it came to the merits of adopting ICS as their management system for all types of emergency response. Was consulted in the development of the Department of Defense (DOD) Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) Delta ICS curriculum and taught as an adjunct instructor for NASAR and at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute. Bill was also an adjunct faculty member for numerous State Emergency Management Agencies, the New Mexico Fire Fighters Academy, Federal Department of Energy, Central Training Academy, and the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy.

What UASI Cities would be impacted by the proposed reduction to 25 cities on the list?

2011-02-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

One recent news paper headline read:

Victory! New York to Receive Increase in Anti-Terrorism Funding

The story indicates that Representatives Nita Lowey and Steve Israel announced that an amendment has passed the House that would enable New York City to receive more anti-terrorism funding. Under the new amendment, the story reports, grant recipients of the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) would be limited to 25 of the highest-risk cities in the nation.

"I am pleased this amendment passed to ensure UASI grants benefit highest-risk cities and will work to ensure the Senate passes this provision and President Obama signs it into law," said Lowey.

Based on the 2010 allocations, which may change due to new risk calculation formulas, the following top UASI cities would appear to be safe. However, the impact of new risk formula is not yet understood. The two lists below are in order based on the 2010 allocations as announced almost a year ago...

New York City
Los Angeles/Long Beach
National Capital Region
Chicago
Bay Area
Houston
Jersey City/Newark
Dallas/Forth Worth
Philadelphia
Boston
San Diego
Atlanta
Detroit
Anaheim
Seattle
Miami
Baltimore
Phoenix
St Louis
Twin Cities
Las Vegas
Tampa
Memphis
Kansas City
Norfolk

The cities that would presumably be left of the funding list are the following:

Portland
Indianapolis
Denver
Pittsburgh
San Antonio
Fort Lauderdale
Buffalo
New Orleans
El Paso
Jacksonville
Riverside
Cleveland
Orlando
Cincinnati
Providence
Honolulu
Charlotte
Tucson
Oklahoma City
Columbus
Milwaukee
Sacramento
San Juan
Baton Rouge
Austin
Salt Lake City
Nashville
Bridgeport
Hartford
Richmond
Oxnard
Rochester
Toledo
Louisville
Tulsa
Bakersfield
Omaha
Albany
Syracuse

The final outcome of UASI will depend on the Senate and the final resolution of the Continuing Resolution and 2011 budget in conference committee. However the proposed changes will loom over the 2010 UASI award process and likely be a topic of discussion at the upcoming UASI & Homeland Security Conference.

One can anticipate that the various representatives of the 39 cities will be active participants in the ensuing national conversation on how best to protect high-risk cities.

Note: I tried to keep opinions out of this but any expressed or inferred are my own and no one else's.

New Addition to the Conference: The 2011 National Training Expo

2011-01-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

Homeland Security Colleague,

The National UASI Homeland Security Conference has become the best event of the year for networking, training and learning. From Miami to Charlotte to New Orleans, we have produced the Nation’s premier homeland security and emergency management conference. This year's conference in San Francisco is shaping up to be our best conference yet.

In addition to the best practice panels you have come to expect Monday, June 20, thru Wednesday, June 22, we are very pleased to announce a new addition to this year’s Conference - The 2011 National Training Expo which will be held in San Francisco on Thursday, June 23rd along with FEMA's After Action Conference. This Expo is a first for us and we are inviting all of our federal partners and nonprofit training providers. It will add real value to the conference for participants since you will be able to learn about, and sign up for, training that in most cases is provided to first responders in your jurisdiction at no cost. When you register for the 2011 UASI Homeland Security Conference, plan on being in San Francisco from June 20-23 and include The National Training Expo 2011.

In addition to the Expo, San Francisco will be providing tours of facilities and equipment like its’ EOC and watercraft on after the formal conference, so plan on staying in the Bay Area for Thursday and Friday for post conference events and activities.

San Francisco will mark an important transition for the Conference, with a new, fresh approach to the tracks, panels and presentations. You will also notice the change in our name, we have become The National UASI Homeland Security Conference. In San Francisco, our Conference will include all FEMA grantees; States, Urban Areas, Sovereign Nation’s, Territories, Port and Transit Systems, MMRS and Buffer Zone Programs. So, this will be the one meeting this year you really want to attend.

Teresa Serata and the local Host Committee, the City of San Francisco and the Bay Area Super UASI are putting together the best National Conference yet. We will keep you informed as Conference planning progresses with regular updates and encourage you to register now at urbanareas.org.

National UASI Homeland Security Conference “Call for Speakers”

2011-01-13T04:33:00.000-08:00

The National UASI Homeland Security Conference Planning Committee is issuing a general “Call for Speakers” and presentation topics. We want your thoughts on what information is most needed and what will stir up stimulating exchanges among our participants. The conference seeks to encourage lively discussions among preparedness grant participants from different regions and levels of government who might not otherwise connect. We often combine different proposals and mix suggested panelists to reframe issues and encourage discussion. Track session design is how we achieve this goal. You can offer to speak on a topic yourself, or ask for a presentation on a particular topic. Just send an e-mail to speakers@urbanareas.org.

This year's theme is "Creating capabilities through regional collaboration." While presentations do not need to directly address the theme, finding a way to address how the topic may be influenced by regional collaboration or may influence collaborative efforts is of interest to us. This could range from a simple mention within a presentation to a case study or more extensive discussion.

You may submit specific or general ideas or topics for sessions; however, things to keep in mind when proposing a presentation:

We are very interested in presentations which tie into our theme, cover emerging issues, provide answers to related questions, highlight new perspectives, showcase best practices, and share successes and topics of interest and applicability to our attendees across the various grant programs.

• Provide as much information as you can—the more we know about your ideas and desired panelists, the more likely we are to include them somewhere in the program.

• You can submit as many topic or session ideas as you would like.

• If you want to present on a particular topic, please give us a brief abstract using the attached form. When submitting your abstract we ask that the following information be included:

o Your name, title, agency and affiliated grant program(s) represented.

o An office phone number, a mobile phone number (if applicable), and e-mail address.

o The name of the track you would like to present on, or the topic you would like to propose.

o A concise description of the presentation content. This should include information on what will be presented (best practice, lesson learned, academic study, etc.)

o An indication of the delivery medium to be used (PowerPoint®, video, speaking only, etc).

Even if you do not want to present, we are anxious to hear your thoughts; so, please take a moment and let us know what you’d like to see at your conference. Please submit your offer or suggestion to: speakers@urbanareas.org by no later than February 18th.

Registration for the National Urban Areas Security Initiative Homeland Security Conference is now open

2011-01-07T15:53:00.000-08:00

Registration for the National Urban Areas Security Initiative Homeland Security Conference is now open.

Please register now and join us in San Francisco June 20-23, 2011.

The National Urban Areas Security Initiative Conference, Inc., in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Grant Programs Directorate, is hosting its 5th annual conference in San Francisco this June 20-23. Please register now and join us in San Francisco June 20-23, 2011.

Registration is now open at www.urbanareas.org

A drunk Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt

2010-12-19T14:39:00.000-08:00

I saw this Tweet today from the New York Post:

New York Post: Drunk Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt -- by accidentally killing a shark with his butt http://t.co/ztqqx9S

I bought it hook line and sinker (hee). I mean what a story! A Serbian man reportedly has become a hero in Egypt -- by accidentally killing a shark with his butt while drunk. The article says that one "Dragan Stevic" was soused to the gills (not my fish reference) while partying at the Red Sea resort Sharm El Sheikh when he he inadvertently felled the beast that had been terrorizing tourists for weeks.

Stevic reportedly cannonballed into the water from a high-diving board, according to a Macedonian news outlet. Instead of making a splash, he reportedly came down right on the shark's head, killing the toothed terror instantly. The story goes on to say that "The fun-loving party boy was immediately touted as a local hero who saved tourist season, which had dried up after the shark had injured three people and killed one vacationer. Stevic swam to shore and is currently in the hospital recovering from alcohol poisoning."

3rd Annual Regional State Border Coordination Workshop

2010-12-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

All Hazards Consortium - 3rd Annual Regional State Border Coordination Workshop

On January 24-25, 2011, the states and urban areas of the All Hazards Consortium (AHC) will hold the 3rd Annual Regional State Border Coordination Workshop. The AHC will further develop the findings and discussions that came out of the 2nd Annual State Border Coordination Workshop regarding existing catastrophic evacuation planning efforts within the states of NC, VA, DC, MD, WV, PA, DE, NJ & NY including challenges and opportunities to achieve the long-term vision of a coordinated plan and support of integrated planning. Breakout sessions cover: credentialing, mass care, transportation, resource management and situational awareness.

I will be attending the workshop again this year as a facilitator. We have helped with the facilitation of this event each year and have found it to be a worthwhile and positive effort.

Last year. over 190 people from various states, federal and private organizations jointly discussed many topics at this two-day meeting. Several common themes became apparent during the 2010 Workshop:

Governance: There is a need for an overall regional governance structure for planning activities and a coordinated regional incident command and control structure for use during and after an event.
Collaboration: The region needs a mechanism for on-going regional collaboration activities.
Coordination: There is an ongoing need for regional planning and collaboration between homeland security, emergency management, transportation, law enforcement, public health, the private sector and other related organizations.
Resources: The regional officials need to know what resources are available and from whom before an event occur and need a mechanism to coordinate resources that are available from both the public and private sector.
Funding. A regional funding and sustainability strategy is needed.

Everyone was in general agreement that a regional effort of this magnitude is a considerable challenge but that it could be accomplished if everyone works together. The 2011 Workshop will build on the outcome of the previous year's efforts and gauge the regional progress in enhancing capabilities related to cross border issues. I hope that you can join me there.

For more information, or to register, visit www.ahcusa.org

Corporate sponsorship of disaster relief, is it altruism?

2010-11-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

A recent article which was shared via the IAEM Discussion Group got me writing this morning. The article discussed “corporate social responsibility” efforts in Java, in response to the volcanic eruption there. The story observes how the "disaster relief teams aim to augment efforts by a stretched Indonesian government to house, clothe and feed evacuees from the volcano."

According to the story, representatives of various companies are working on the mountain said their efforts are "entirely altruistic", and balked at any suggestion that the aid teams double as a marketing campaign for the companies. But local residents and evacuees were not so sure.

“Why can’t they just do the good stuff, but without the advertising?”

“Why can’t they just use plain white vehicles or something?”

Dave, who posted this to IAEM, found this article interesting for the ethical aspects. When doing good for someone or when providing relief during crises, Dave thinks that most of us in this field follow a moral imperative.

"To wit, we help our fellow human beings because it's the right and good thing to do."

So, should we castigate companies for advertising their wares during a crisis? Or should we be grateful?

This question, "What are your thoughts on corporate sponsorship of disaster relief?" got me thinking...

And I think it is a good thing. And a little free advertising is not a bad thing. We need private industry involved in disaster response and relief. Whether they donate it or get paid to do it, private industry have much more resources that f/s/l agencies and VOADs do and they are much better in distribution than we are. If they get a bit of advertising and good press for their efforts, it is only fair when they are giving away tons of stuff and money. For example: Anheuser-Busch has donated 5.7 million cans of water to relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina. You can see the can here:

While there is certainly a need and a place for donations, the idea of us giving away stuff as the response to disaster needs to change IMHO. If you have heard Administrator Fugate talk about the "Whole of Community", you know that the concept is that the community needs to do more in the event of a disaster. To me, corporate America is part of our community.

“We need to move away from the mindset that federal and state governments are always in the lead, and build upon the strengths of our local communities and, more importantly, our citizens. We must treat individuals and communities as key assets rather than liabilities.” - Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator

After seeing people drive past an open supermarket to go line up for hours to get free ice and water, I think he has a point. If the big box stores and other retailers can get open we do not need to be giving stuff away. If the community can take care of itself, we do not need to swoop down and hand out water. Public and private organizations and love to make donations after disasters, so much so that Donation Management becomes a huge problem. Maybe it is time to rethink this and change.

As for the moral imperative to help your neighbor? Of course there is such an imperative but better that we help them prepare than give them stuff they should already have or be able to get in their community. Do we need to send truck loads of donated clothing and water? Maybe not. Maybe in some communities but not all. Maybe we cannot get there due to the size and scale of the catastrophe. Maybe the community needs to be able to take care of itself for a while.

My final thought on moral imperatives and altruism (to benefit others over one's own interests). I do not think there is much true altruism in what we or corporations do. We do it because we have a reason. The reason may be because it is what we do, how we were raised, what we believe in, what our job is, or because we think it will benefit us. A story about Abe Lincoln describes an example.

One day while President Lincoln was going to the Congress, he saw a helpless pig stuck in the mud. He felt pity for the animal and wondered how he would feel if he was in the pig's place. He decided to help the pig. He told his driver to stop the carriage, so that he could pull the pig out of the mud.

The driver stopped the carriage, and President Lincoln got out. The driver said to the President, "You wait, I will take him out. I don't want your clothes to get dirty."

The President replied "I do not care for my clothes. The pig's life is more important."

The driver said, "Please wait and let me try. If I fail, I will ask for your help."

The driver tried very hard, but he could not pull the pig out of the mud. So the president helped the driver pull the pig out. While doing that the President's clothes became very dirty. The driver offered to take him back home so that he could change his clothes. The president however told him that he did not want to be late for the meeting, and asked him to drive towards the Congress building.

When he reached at the meeting, everyone wondered what happened to the president. The driver explained everything. He told them how the president saved the life of a helpless pig. Everybody in Congress praised the president for his kindness.

When you show kindness, friendship and love towards other living beings, you get lot of happiness and satisfaction in return. You also get regards from others.

In another version of this story the President is to have said that he did it because he would have felt awful if he did not help. That is the motivation to help, you just don't want to feel bad for not helping, you want to feel good to have helped. Perhaps that is why many of us are in this business...

Thanks, now that I have posted this, I feel better!

Steve Davis

National UASI Homeland Security Conference

2010-10-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

I am currently beginning work on the 2011 National UASI Homeland Security Conference. This will be the 5th one. It should be getting easier but it is not...

The National Urban Areas Security Initiative Conference, Inc. in cooperation with The Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Grants Programs Directorate, is hosting its 5^th annual conference in San Francisco. The theme for the 2011 conference is “Creating Capabilities through Regional Collaboration”. The conference will provide an opportunity for stakeholders from all areas of homeland security and emergency preparedness to gather together and exchange important information to make our country safer. The conference will include all grants under the Homeland Security Grant Program.

June 20-22, 2011

National UASI Homeland Security Conference

San Francisco, California

www.urbanareas.org

Best Practices Request

2010-06-25T13:58:00.001-07:00

Our web site at www.all-hands.net was created as an Emergency Manager's Toolbox and still serves that purpose (as recently mentioned in the IAEM newsletter).

I would like to encourage all of you to use it to share documents with other Emergency Managers. We have shared a lot through this list and that site in the past and hear that it has been very useful.

I now want to ask for your help. I am working on two best practice research projects. If any of you have information on best practices for evacuation and/or playbooks/FOGs/SOGs plans, documents, and related tools, please let me know. I can treat it as close hold or share it on the site, whichever you prefer.

You can reach me at Steve at All-Hands.net

Regards,

Steve Davis, All Hands

Consulting Honorably

2010-06-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

There is an old saying that "There is honor among thieves". Honor connotes personal integrity and a belief in certain moral principles, and it can exist even among thieving bastards apparently.

Today I ask the question: Is there honor among emergency management consultants?

Obviously there are no absolutes in life; and, in my experience, in consulting there are honorable and not-so-honorable consulting companies and individuals.

My past experience with “partner firms” has been good and bad. I have some good partners and some soon-to-be-ex partners thanks to varying degrees of honor that they have exhibited.

If someone says there is honor among thieves, they usually mean that even corrupt criminals can have a sense of honor or integrity, or justice, even if it is skewed by disregard of the law. Teams of people (thieves or consultants) can accomplish more than individuals in almost any undertakings. Customs, mores and informal rules evolve in a group. It is not good to disrupt the team by treating each other unfairly.

"We must be able to trust each other in order to be maximally effective."

Why would a consultant want to make this comparison to thieves to his business? Good question, we do not think that consultants are thieves obviously but there is an important parallel to discuss.

First, some background is in order. If you are familiar with All Hands Consulting, you know that we are a large consortium of individual emergency management consultants and small firms. While we often work as a prime that builds teams of independent consultants to serve our client’s needs, we sometimes partner with larger firms to help meet their staffing requirements. While specific “no compete” language in contracts is often used to protect the various business relationships we each have, the issue of honor in the business relationship is not always clear in black and white. We rely to some degree on the integrity and loyalty of our associates but we also expect partner firms to treat our team members as “All Hands Consultants” and not work to use them independently of us.

We do not force our consultants to be exclusive to us as we want them to have the ability to work for others when they can but we do not want to do the work on the front end of the relationship only to be cut out of other projects.

We expect honor in business dealing and will avoid working with those that do not exhibit it.

By “honor in business” I mean that we each treat the other with respect and work toward “mutually beneficial” business ventures. But honor also means that we do not try to work outside of the established relationships that we have forged. For instance, I would expect that neither the client, nor the prime, would try to work with our team members independent of us. While this is clear in most contracts, it is a principal that is sometimes breeched. For example, we cooperate on a bid with another firm and we offer resumes to help staff the projects. We expect that the prime firm and other partners would not attempt to use our resumes on other jobs independent of All Hands. But, as you can guess, that does happen. Some consulting firms actually forge so called “strategic partnerships” only to work behind our backs to use our people against us without our knowledge.

In business, the “honor among thieves” rule becomes "we must treat each other with respect”. If we are to continue working together, it is certainly not good business to cheat your partner. So, treat “the other thieves” with honor or else find yourself on the outside looking in.

"Dance with the one what brung ya" in other words.'

Obviously, teams of people can form social groups and accomplish more than individuals. A team of thieves can be organized and cooperate; so can consultants. Thieves steal. It is good to steal if you are a thief. It is not good to disrupt steal from each other. Consultants work to earn their pay, it is not good to disrupt the working relationship along the way...

So here are some rules for you to consider if you are in the consulting business and you want to prosper as part of a “team of rivals”:

1. Treat each other with respect and honor.
2. Do not use the “letter of the law” to hide behind.
3. Do not steal resumes from a partner firm.
4. Do not try to steal a client.
5. Remember those that helped you on the way up.
6. Do not use resumes to win a job and then forget the person when you start the work.
7. Communicate, collaborate and cooperate with your partners.
8. Do not expect to build a bridge with broken promises.
9. Be fair in your business dealings.
10. Give credit to those that deserve it.

Obviously, All Hands Consulting lives by these rules and expects others to do so as well. We trust our consultants and will only work with other firms that we can trust as well.

Job Opportunities with All Hands Consulting

2010-05-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

Here is an update on current projects we are working on at All Hands. If you are interested, please drop me a line and an up-to-date resume along with rate requirements and availability.

Disaster Reservists. We continue to recruit for disaster reservists for mass care missions. Should the "big one" happen we will likely be asked on short notice to support coordination, field operations and shelter management along with possible support to feeding, base camps, logistics, etc. (If you are already signed up with our partner ConOps there is no need to reapply.) See more information at http://allhandsconsulting.com/pr08.htm

EOC Operations. We are looking for good people to include on a proposal that we are working on . Candidates must have "hands-on” experience with an EOC (to include JOC, ROC, etc.) at the federal or state level with 24/7/365 operations. Work would be part-time and may only require limited travel to support planning activities towards operation of an EOC, this is not staffing the EOC at this point.

Oil Spill. As the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has begun to reach some shorelines this morning, we expect potential requests to support operations on the ground there. Most likely this will be EOC support (IMT type) missions. This event will require extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local, and sector resources to contain and clean up the mess. If you are experienced working in ICS organizations and free to deploy for an extended period, let me know.

Planners. We continue to pursue catastrophic planning projects and have recently won a new task order. We are always looking for good planners with local, state or federal experience including military planners. We are working with several other firms and may be able to refer you for work or use you as a sub on any projects we capture. If you are interested let me know.

REP. We may support a bid on Radiological Emergency Preparedness (REP) Planning and Exercise work. If you are an experienced REP planner and not constrained by non-compete provisions in contracts with other firms, please let me know if you are interested.

Florida. We are picking up a little work in Florida and hope to be bidding on more soon as some procurements start to come out. We are in under contract now as a “prequalified” contractor with Miami-Dade.

Facebook. Finally, please join us on facebook. We have a corporate page at http://all-hands.net/url/ahcfacebook and a Community page at http://all-hands.net/url/ahdnfb.

Regards,

Steve Davis, All Hands

Phone: 410-730-5677

Fax: 866-236-5999

http://www.allhands.us

http://www.linkedin.com/in/allhands

All Hands Consulting is recruiting for on-call disaster response reservists

2010-03-31T03:49:00.000-07:00

Reservists Needed

All Hands Consulting is recruiting for on-call disaster response reservists

Reservists are needed to support FEMA’s response to catastrophic disasters or incidents as defined by the Stafford Act. Deployments will be on short notice for up to 30 days or longer and will require long and/or odd hours in support of emergencies and disasters. In some cases, 12 hour shifts seven-days-a week will be expected. The size and scope of the mission will vary based on the geography, scale and magnitude of damage, type of incident, impact on the national security, and the projected number of affected individuals and households, as well as the availability of resources (housing, personnel, supplies, and materials).

Background, job descriptions, and contact information for interested candidates are included below.

Background: Individual Assistance – Technical Assistance Contracts (IA-TAC)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded Individual Assistance Technical Assistance Contracts (IA-TAC) to support FEMA's implementation of the agency's ESF6 Mass Care/ Emergency Assistance programs as authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Managed by FEMA’s Individual Assistance Branch, one of four regional contracts was awarded to the Partnership for Temporary Housing, LLC (PaTH), a partnership between three federal contractors: DynCorp International (www.dyn-intl.com), Dewberry (www.dewberry.com) and Parsons Infrastructure (www.parsons.com). Under the IATAC III contract, PaTH provides a variety of mission support for people affected by disaster incidents, including emergency sheltering, feeding, evacuation, medical services, security, and more.

All Hands Consulting is a subcontractor to PaTH team member CONOPS Consulting. Our contract includes planning and staffing support for FEMA’s Individual Assistance mission. Together these two firms are responsible for providing reservists to PaTH for mass care/emergency assistance program support. As a part of our preparedness efforts, we are augmenting our existing cadre of part-time and intermittent staff to develop a large force of disaster reservists who will be available and prepared to deploy to perform work for PaTH following catastrophic incidents.

PaTH requires individuals with a variety of skills, experience, and technical capabilities to fulfill this mission. We are filling command and general staff positions for PaTH coordination centers at the national and field level as well as staff to manage and support large emergency shelters (see below). All positions are intermittent (part-time), on-call (rapid deployment), with travel and field work required in most cases). Experience with one or more large-scale disaster relief operations is a plus.

Command and General Staff Positions

Senior command and general staff positions, with mass care, logistics, and incident management experience are needed to fill positions in the following command and control facilities:

1. PaTH National Coordination Center located in Falls Church, Virginia.
2. Field Management Team Center located at the disaster site (may be at a base or shelter).
3. Shelter Management Teams located within a shelter facility.

Specific positions are described below.

PaTH National Coordination Center Positions

Located in Falls Church, Virginia.

Applicants should have some mass care knowledge and incident command system training (through ICS 400) and incident management experience. Experience in incident management command and general staff positions required. (Ideally, you should live within reasonable driving distance to the Washington DC metro area.)

PCC Manager (ICS equivalent Incident Commander)

The PCC Manager is responsible for the daily operations at the PCC (national-level coordination center), and leads the PCC Team. Responsible for overall management of the PaTH PCC, establishment of immediate priorities for task order support operations, development of objectives and strategy, organizing and staffing the PCC organization to meet workload demands,
and approval of the incident action plan (IAP).

PCC Deputy Manager (ICS equivalent Operations Chief)

The PCC Deputy Manager is responsible for assisting the PCC Manager with overall management of the PaTH PCC and the establishment of immediate priorities for task order support operations, development of objectives and strategy, organizing and staffing the PCC organization to meet workload demands, and approval of the incident action plan (IAP).

Liaison Officer

The Liaison Officer is responsible for managing and monitoring task order operations and advising the PCC Manager on all matters relating to interagency coordination. Responsible for coordinating continuing contact with cooperating agencies to understand the capabilities, limitations, needs and desires of cooperating agencies, and to identify and resolve any potential interagency problem.

PCC Planning Section Chief

The PCC Planning Section Chief is responsible for collection, evaluation, and dissemination of PaTH response situation information and intelligence to the PCC Manager and PCC management personnel. Assures preparation of status reports, displays situation information, maintains the status of resources assigned to the PaTH response, and prepares and documents the IAP and quality assurance plan, based on Deputy Manager (Operations Section) input and guidance from the Manager; prepares the risk management plan and advises the PCC Manager and other command and general staff on all matters relating to planning for task order operations and support of deployed personnel.

PCC Logistics Section Chief

The PCC Logistics Section Chief is responsible for all logistical support requirements needed to facilitate effective and efficient incident management, including ordering resources from off-incident locations. Provides facilities, security (of the incident command facilities and personnel), transportation, supplies, equipment maintenance and fuel, food services, communications and information technology support, and emergency responder medical services, including inoculations, as required. Responsible for coordinating the systems and procedures necessary to ensure ongoing logistical support for the performance of task orders and implementation of measures to monitor and resolve issues in logistics section activities.

PCC Finance & Admin Section Chief

Responsible for all financial and administrative and cost analysis requirements needed to facilitate effective and efficient incident management. Responsible for coordinating the systems and procedures necessary to ensure ongoing monitoring of multiple task orders and sources of funds, and the accrued cost as the incident progresses; and continued support for the performance of task orders and implementation of measures to monitor and resolve issues in logistics section activities.

Other Positions

Other branch directors and unit leaders will be needed as required by the scope of the incident.

Field Management Team (FMT) Positions

The Field Management Team will be located at the disaster site (may be at a base or shelter).
Applicants must be able to deploy within 12 hours, be on site in 24 hours to western U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands). Applicants must have mass care and incident command system (through ICS 400) and incident management experience on large disaster relief operations. Applicants must be able to pass an FBI Background Clearance check and secure a FEMA ID badge. See specific positions below.

The FMT is scalable, based on the size and/ or complexity of the Task Order(s), and may include:

Task Order Manager (TOM) (ICS equivalent Incident Commander)

The TOM is responsible for the daily operations in the field, and leads the Field Management Team. The TOM will ensure that technical and financial objectives are achieved in accordance with the Task Order and FEMA policies and authorities. Depending upon the nature of the Task Order and work to be performed, the FMT may include technical specialists and subject matter experts to support the TOM in operational planning and execution.

Deputy Task Order Manager (DTOM) (ICS equivalent Operations Section Chief)

The DTOM is responsible for operational execution of the Task Order and components. The DTOM is responsible for managing the daily activities of the QC Specialists to ensure that they perform their duties in accordance with IATAC III contract Task Orders.

Senior Disaster Response Specialist (ICS equivalent Planning Section Chief)

The Disaster Response Specialist works with operations and logistics to plan for the next operational period and identify resources needed to accomplish the goals of that operational period.

Logistics Manager (ICS equivalent Logistics Section Chief)

The Logistics Manager is responsible for coordinating PaTH personnel, transportation, hotel accommodations, and property control records for all furnished equipment.

Finance / Admin Manager (ICS equivalent Administration Section Chief)

The Finance / Admin Manager is responsible for contract administration, finance accountability, procurement activities and basic administration during the period of mission performance.

Operations Branch Directors - Other Subcontractors

Task Orders are executed using a variety of resources, including PaTH fulltime staff, temporary/ cadre staff, and subcontractor staff and resources. Subcontractors will staff branch and unit positions and are directed by and report directly to the FMT during execution of TOs.

Quality Assurance/ Quality Control Inspectors

The QA/QC Inspector is responsible for conducting inspections, recording inspection data, planning inspections (including preparation and set-up of shelters), evaluating the validity and acceptability of inspection, examination and testing results, reporting inspection, examination and testing results, and providing leadership to lower-level QA/QC Inspectors.

Shelter Management Team Positions

Shelter Management Teams are located within a shelter facility.

Shelter Management Teams include command and general staff positions as well as branch chiefs and specialists operating under the Incident Command System. Shelter Management Team applicants must be able to deploy within 12 hours, arriving on site in 24 hours to western U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii). Applicants should have shelter management/shelter operations/mass care training and experience, particularly on large disaster relief operations, and be familiar with ICS. Applicants must be able to pass an FBI Background Clearance check and secure a FEMA ID badge.

The following is a list of positions which are currently being recruited.

Shelter Management Team Members:

Shelter Manager
Asst. Shelter Manager
Safety & Security Supervisor
Liaison Officer
Information Officer
Operations Chief
Dormitory Supervisor
Feeding Services Supervisor
Planning Section Chief
Logistics Section Chief
Finance/Administration Section Chief

Other Positions

Other team members will be needed as required by the scope of the incident for specific support functions in a variety of roles required by shelter operations.

Shelter Management General Requirements:

• Experienced in mass care sheltering and/or feeding on a large disaster response operation: shelter manager/supervisor; feeding manager/supervisor; bulk supply distribution, or logistical support of these activities.
• Completion of FEMA Independent Study classes IS 100, 200, 700a, 800b, 26, 288, 701, 806. Otherwise candidate must complete within 30 days of hire. Other related training may be required.
• Must be able to effectively manage multiple priorities under extreme pressure in a highly stressful environment.
• Able to work independently with little supervision, but also work well as part of a cohesive team.
• Able to focus on details while handling multiple tasks independently.
• Proven leadership and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft Office including Outlook, Excel, and Word. SharePoint experience a plus.

Specific duties, responsibilities and qualifications will be available for all positions.
Pay will be established based on experience and qualifications and will be comparable with that of FEMA on-call reservists (Disaster Assistance Employees).

How to Apply

Interested candidates should send a resume to Annette Rhoads at Info@conopsconsulting.com with “PaTH Candidate” in subject line. Time is of the essence but recruitment will stay open indefinitely.

For More Information:
Annette Rhoads
Business Development Consultant
www.conopsconsulting.com
571-215-7633

Security and Privacy on Social Networking Sites

2010-03-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

I thought that this bulletin from the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) was worthy of a repost.

CIP Bulletin 2-10 March 23, 2010

Security and Privacy on Social Networking Sites

What are the security and privacy issues associated with social networking sites?

Social networking sites have become very popular avenues for people to communicate with family, friends and colleagues from around the corner or across the globe. While there can be benefits from the collaborative, distributed approaches promoted by responsible use of social networking sites, there are information security and privacy concerns. The volume and accessibility of personal information available on social networking sites have attracted malicious people who seek to exploit this information. The same technologies that invite user participation also make the sites easier to infect with malware that can shut down an organization’s networks, or keystroke loggers that can steal credentials. Common social networking risks such as spear phishing, social engineering, spoofing, and web application attacks attempt to steal a person’s identity. Such attacks are often successful due to the assumption of being in a trusting environment social networks create.

Security and privacy related to social networking sites are fundamentally behavioral issues, not technology issues. The more information a person posts, the more information becomes available for a potential compromise by those with malicious intentions. People who provide private, sensitive or confidential information about themselves or other people, whether wittingly or unwittingly, pose a higher risk to themselves and others. Information such as a person’s social security number, street address, phone number, financial information, or confidential business information should not be published online. Similarly, posting photos, videos or audio files could lead to an organization’s breach of confidentiality or an individual’s breach of privacy.

What are the precautions I should take?

Below are some helpful tips regarding security and privacy while using social networking sites:

• Ensure that any computer you use to connect to a social media site has proper security measures in place. Use and maintain anti-virus software and keep your application and operating system patches up-to-date.

• Use caution when clicking a link to another page or running an online application, even if it is from someone you know. Many applications embedded within social networking sites require you to share your information when you use them. Attackers use these sites to distribute their malware.

• Use strong and unique passwords. Using the same password on all accounts increases the vulnerability of these accounts if one becomes compromised.

• If screen names are allowed, do not choose one that gives away too much personal information.

• Be careful who you add as a “friend,” or what groups or pages you join. The more “friends” you have or groups/pages you join, the more people who have access to your information.

• Do not assume privacy on a social networking site. For both business and personal use, confidential information should not be shared. You should only post information you are comfortable disclosing to a complete stranger.

• Use discretion before posting information or commenting about anything. Once information is posted online, it can potentially be viewed by anyone and may not be retracted afterwards. Keep in mind that content or communications on government-related social networking pages may be considered public records.

• Configure privacy settings to allow only those people you trust to have access to the information you post. Also, restrict the ability for others to post information to your page. The default settings for some sites may allow anyone to see your information or post information to your page; these settings should be changed.

• Review a site’s privacy policy. Some sites may share information such as email addresses or user preferences with other parties. If a site’s privacy policy is vague or does not properly protect your information, do not use the site.

Additional Information:

• MS-ISAC Monthly Cyber Security Tips Newsletter: Social Networking Sites: How To Stay Safe
• OnGuardOnline
• StaySafeOnline – National Cyber Security Alliance
• Social Networking Privacy - A Parent’s Guide
• US-CERT--Staying Safe on Social Network Sites

For more monthly cyber security newsletter tips visit: www.msisac.org/awareness/news/.

FAIR USE NOTICE

This Bulletin may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I believe this constitutes “fair use” of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

REPORTING NOTICE

DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by e-mail at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.

Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans

2010-02-06T04:59:00.000-08:00

Whether you call it a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP), or an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), you are probably wondering about what the best way is to structure your plan given the new FEMA Comprehensive Preparedness Guide, CPG 101. We have long stressed the need to adapt the plan to the local concept of operations but always start a CEMP project by lookin at the ConOps to see if it should be adjusted. The central question is normally related to organizing under the Incident Command System (ICS) or by Emergency Support Functions (ESFs).

Background

A jurisdiction's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) establishes a framework for an effective comprehensive emergency management program. A CEMP describes the basic strategies, assumptions, policies, operational goals and objectives, and mechanisms through which a jurisdiction will mobilize resources and conduct activities to guide and support emergency management efforts through prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. To facilitate effective response and recovery operations, the CEMP adopts a functional approach that groups the types of emergency assistance to be provided into Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) and groups recovery tasks into Recovery Functions (RFs).

Often, contractors are hired to work for, and in close coordination with, the jurisdiction's emergency management staff, to provide administrative, research, planning, publishing services and best practices required to develop a complete CEMP.

ESFs VERSUS ANNEXES

CPG 101 encourages use of the Target Capabilities List (TCLs) when developing a schedule of ESFs (or annexes) Quotes from CPG 101:

"The Target Capability List’s “Planning” common target capability provides guidance to jurisdictions on building the capacity to perform emergency planning."

"The Target Capabilities List (TCL) is a comprehensive catalog of capabilities (response functions) . . ."

"The Target Capabilities List, Respond Mission Area target capabilities for On-Site Incident Management and for EOC Management provide tasks and measures that are helpful for . . . (CEMP/EOC) . . . development . . ."

Regardless of what they are called, the schedule of ESF (or annexes) should encompass all of the emergency functions and tasks that will need to be performed by the community during disaster. A singular ESF analyzes a particular emergency function. The ESF is concerned with that emergency function and specifies the specific tasks to be done, who will do the tasks and if more than one agency/organization is involved, then how they will work together.

Quote from CPG 101:

"The EOP contains annexes and appendices appropriate to the jurisdiction’s organization and operations."

WHAT FORMAT TO USE (ESFs versus Functional Annexes)?

CPG 101 says it does not matter; choose what best works for you:

"(CPG 101) outlines a variety of formats that a jurisdiction could use for an EOP, to include a Functional format, an Emergency Support Function format, and an Agency/Department-Focused format. These format options come from EOPs used by State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal governments across the nation. No matter the source, these formats are, at best, suggestions ... for developing an EOP. "

"As the planning team begins to develop a new EOP, members must discuss what format is the most effective and easiest to use by their jurisdiction."

In short, "form follows function" in the sense that operational needs should help determine the EOP format a jurisdiction uses. The planning team may modify any of these formats to make the EOP fit the jurisdiction’s emergency management strategy, policy, resources, and capabilities.

AHC'S APPROACH

All Hands believes that Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) comprise the core response elements of a comprehensive emergency management plan and program. We work with each jurisdiction to ensure that their schedule of ESFs works for them.

Notional ESF schedule. (Note per CPG 101 jurisdictions are encouraged to develop an ESF schedule that best works for them)

ESF 1 Transportation

ESF 2 Communications; or Communications &Warning

ESF 3 Public Works & Engineering

• Debris Management (3.1)

ESF 4 Firefighting

ESF 5 Information, Analysis & Planning; or Emergency Management

• Managing Emergency Operations: Community Emergency Management System (5.1)

• Situation Analysis & Reporting (5.2)

• Alert, Warning, Notification (5.3)

• Military Support (5.4)

• Initial Disaster & Life Safety Assessment (5.5)

• Public Protection - Warning, Evacuation, Shelter (5.6)

ESF 6 Mass Care, Housing & Human Services

ESF 7 Resource Support (Management?)

• Food & Water (7.1)

ESF 8 Public Health (move EMS to separate ESF); or Public Health & Medical Services

ESF 9 Search & Rescue

ESF 10 Oil and Hazardous Materials

ESF 11 Agriculture & Natural Resources (or make this Food and Water)

ESF 12 Energy & Utilities

ESF 13 Public Safety & Security (law enforcement)

• Evacuation Traffic Management (13.1)

• Military Support (31.2)

ESF 14 Community Recovery & Mitigation (or make these programs separate annexes to CEMP)

ESF 15 Public Information

ESF 16 Volunteers & Donations

ESF 17 Animal Services

ESF 18 Special Needs Services

ESF 19 Finance & Administration

ESF 20 Information & Technology Services

ESF 21 Employee Assistance & Deployment

ESF 22 Damage Assessment

ESF 23 Emergency Medical Services

• Hospitals (23.1)

• Special Medical Needs (32.2)

ESF 24 Fatality Management (Coroner)

ESF 25 Business & Industry Coordination

Other ?

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) versus CEMP

• An EOP is a response oriented operations plan (maybe includes recovery).

• A CEMP is a strategic document that is the blueprint for a jurisdiction's comprehensive emergency management program and as such contains the 4 phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. An EOP is contained with a CEMP (it is the response element)

A CEMP/EOP Should:

• Serve the needs of a local jurisdiction first (emergencies/disasters are owned at the local jurisdiction level).

• Be all hazards.

• Be the "blueprint" for a jurisdiction's emergency management program and contain the 4 phases of emergency management.

• "Dovetail" with the next levels of government plans: region, state, federal as per CPG 101:

"National guidance and consensus standards expect that a jurisdiction’s plans will be coordinated and integrated among all levels of government and will consider critical infrastructure planning efforts. The NIMS and the NRF support a concept of layered operations. They recognize that many operations start at the local level, and, as needs exceed resources and capabilities, State, Regional, and Federal assets are applied. This approach means that planning must be vertically integrated to ensure that all response levels have a common operational focus."

AHC CEMP PLANNING PROCESS INCLUDES:

1. Obtain background information.

• Review existing plan(s), procedures, and relevant written materials and agree on which portions of the existing plan(s) are relevant.

• Review, research legal planning requirements and basis.

• Review all relevant laws, policies, guidelines to ensure plan compatibility and compliance.

• Determine relevance of state planning guidance.

2. Analyze current situation.

• Gain an understanding of how the jurisdiction is organized, and how it intends to function during emergency and disaster conditions.

3. Identification of hazards.

• Obtain existing community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) to obtain knowledge of hazards facing the community. Summarize this information for inclusion in the Basic Plan.

• Determine and agree on best approach to integrate specific hazards concerns, i.e. schedule of special subjects appended to CEMP.

• Summarize mitigation data contained in the HVA (and from other sources) into CEMP Mitigation Section.

• Suggest mitigation strategies.

4. Determine City’s “Concept of Operations” to include:

• Use of ICS and EOC (ICS/EOC interface).

• Relationship of jurisdiction's emergency management program to higher levels of government, i.e. city to county; county to state..

• What emergency functions are performed by jurisdiction.

• Levels of emergency.

5. Determine CEMP structure, format, content.

• Present, review examples of "best practices."

• Develop CEMP outline (table of contents).

• Establish outline and format of Basic Plan.

• Determine schedule of emergency function annexes or ESFs.

• Establish common outline, format, content for emergency function annexes or ESFs.

• Determine and agree on best approach to including special functions and hazards of local concern.

• Determine which “special subjects” will be appended to CEMP. Develop list.

• Determine schedule of diagrams, charts, maps.

6. Identify planning process participants and development of planning process workbook.

• Determine which jurisdiction departments, agencies, organizations will be involved in the planning process, and exactly how the contractor will work with and through jurisdiction's Emergency Manager.

• Develop questionnaire/planning process workbook to be distributed to planning process participants.

• Collect questionnaire/planning process workbooks, compile information and data for inclusion into CEMP, Special Subjects Digest, and EOC Manual.

• Establish data collection filing system.

7. Develop an ESF "primary/support" responsibility matrix.

• Identify and list the plan participants (potential resource providers).

• Develop a matrix that will be used to identify and assess participation of the various agencies involved. (CEMP participants listed on one axis, and the schedule of ESFs listed on the other axis.)

• Fill in matrix. For each EFS indicate which agency will have the lead role (primary) and which agencies will be in a supporting role.

8. Design EOC organization chart (basis for the jurisdiction’s incident management system).

• Determine the EOC functions.

• Determine the sections, branches, units, and assign appropriate departments and EFSs to each.

• Summarize and include details in CEMP Basic Plan.

• NOTE: Organizational chart is the table of contents for the EOC Manual.

9. Establish computer protocols, i.e. central control, back-up system, etc.

• Set up files for the various CEMP parts/sections on computer.

10. Begin writing plan.

11. Produce a first draft of the CEMP.

• Determine what information, content is missing.

• Include first draft of charts, diagrams, other display items.

• Submit to jurisdiction's emergency management staff for comment.

12. Produce a second draft of the CEMP from comments received on first draft and submit to jurisdiction's emergency management staff for comment.

13. Prepare final draft, making appropriate changes as per comments received from jurisdiction's emergency management staff for comment.

• Review and suggest changes to final draft.

14. Produce and submit to jurisdiction's emergency management staff final electronic copies of plan both in "Word" and "PDF".

All Hands Supports NY-NJ-CT-PA Regional Catastrophic Planning Efforts

2010-01-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

COLUMBIA, MD - January 2, 2010 - All Hands Consulting (www.AllHandsConsulting.com), a emergency management and homeland security consulting firm, announced that it has been selected by the NY-NJ-CT-PA Regional Catastrophic Planning Team (RCPT), co-chaired by the New York City and Northern New Jersey Urban Area Working Groups, to provide ongoing services related to regional catastrophic planning.

The Indefinite Quantity Delivery Contract is for Professional Emergency Planning Services. "All Hands is excited about this opportunity to support the nation's largest metropolitan area," said All Hands President Steve Davis. "AHC has assembled a team that has incredible expertise in comprehensive emergency management, catastrophic event planning, training and exercises and real-life disaster management, as well as homeland security." AHC has provided similar services to the Miami and Fort Lauderdale Urban Area Security Initiative since its inception in 2003.

The All Hands team, which includes partner firms Tetra Tech and PBS&J, specializes in comprehensive approaches to emergency management and homeland security. "The combination of skills, knowledge and experience included on our team makes us uniquely qualified to support the Regional Catastrophic Planning Team," Davis said.

The RCPT is a steering committee that oversees a major all-hazards catastrophic planning effort funded through the Department of Homeland Security's Regional Catastrophic Planning Grant Program (RCPGP). The regional project site for New York City and Northern New Jersey also includes Long Island, several New York counties, and portions of Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Members of the RCPT represent the interests of stakeholders throughout their communities, including counties, cities, businesses, non-profit groups and volunteer efforts. One of the primary objectives of the RCPT is to create a foundation for ongoing regional collaboration in emergency management issues.

Since 1995, All Hands Consulting (a trade name for DavisLogic Inc.) has supported over 100 clients on comprehensive emergency management and planning projects for risk assessment, continuity of operations planning, strategic planning, capabilities assessments, and training and exercises. The firm has been hired by some of the country’s largest urban areas to develop comprehensive regional plans, including Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles/Long Beach and has supported numerous planning, training, and exercise projects for federal, state and local government as well as the private sector.

Tough Time Finding Work in Emergency Management?

2009-12-29T07:01:00.000-08:00

It is a tough time (economy-wise) for those of you just starting out in the emergency management field but there are plenty of positions out there - If you are looking for work, I encourage you to keep trying and not to get frustrated. Here are some tips for those of you in the hunt.

First, if you don’t have experience, you need to get some. I would look for volunteer opportunities with your local emergency management agency, fire department, LEPC, ARC, or other VOAD organizations. Volunteering is one sure fire way to get some real life on-the-ground experience.

Second, you need to find the job opportunities. You need to go hunt. You can search the job boards at places like All-Hands.net and IAEM.com to see if you can find a ground floor opportunity. There are mail lists like the EM Jobs list on Yahoo! Often, there are lower level positions or internships available where you can get on-the-job experience.

Third, get connected. It is a Web 2.0 world and you better get with it. Try networking with other emergency mangers by participating in associations and networking groups. My favorites include the Emergency Management List and the list run by IAEM. See this page for more lists. Our EM Community web site at All-Hands.Net includes links to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - all great ways to network.

Finally, consider emergency management consulting. There are some ground floor opportunities for junior positions where you can learn the ropes and get good experience. All Hands Consulting manages a database of available personnel with either (or both) experience and education in the emergency management, homeland security and continuity of operations fields. We often have opportunities for entry level oppositions and if we hear of job opportunities we share these with the team.

So, get busy, get connected, and stay in touch!

Steve

Climate Change and Emergency Management

2009-10-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

Climate change is an issue that is of concern to many emergency mangers.

It is, based on my limited understanding of the science, not "global warming" that we need to worry about per se. We need to be concerned about the risk of a major change in global weather patterns.

In my experience, many EM offices are adding this to the list of things to worry about (or HVA in most cases). I have seen it mentioned in several RFPs for instance.

If the predictions are correct and the trend continues, climate change will lead to an increase in weather related disasters. Weather patterns may shift to impact areas not typically prone to a particular weather hazard. As we already know, despite what mitigation is occurring (or not), weather-related disasters will continue to increase because of population growth in vulnerable areas - now our paradigm as to what is a vulnerable area, and what are the prevalent hazards, may need to shift (example, Atlanta went from drought to floods in this decade).

Climate change, as I understand it, can potentially have a pronounced effect on the evaporation rates and on the distribution of water vapor and clouds in the atmosphere and of ice at the polar caps. Whether it is greenhouse gases or a cycle of climate change, climate change will certainly increase the frequency and intensity of weather related disasters.

Emergency Managers should be reevaluating risk and vulnerability due to weather patterns changing, potentially in dramatic fashion. This will increase the need for better mitigation, preparedness, awareness, and education for many.

So, it will be necessary to evaluate the vulnerabilities of climate change and the short and long-term risks of potential disasters. The usually look at historical occurrences may become less meaningful. A sound assessment of risk will require some new thinking and better hazard modeling. Then we will need to do what we do: Mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

The All Hands Community

2009-10-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the All Hands Community. Since I announced the launch of the new and improved version of our community collaboration and information sharing portal, All Hands Community 3.0 (http://all-hands.net/) we have had over 350 people register and many more visit. As was the case before, only one or two people are contributing.

Our goal is to provide our members with a complete community-based social networking experience. the new site offers a lot of these features but it is not catching on as much as we had hoped. Still, the site is popular for sharing information. While it is great as a toolbox, we still want to make it more social. I guess we will need to keep trying to get people to use more of the social features.

We have linked All Hands Community to other sites such as this Blog and, of course, to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Followers and connections on these sites are growing steadily.

In the coming months, we will be introducing new site features including customizable pages populated with user defined content, content only available for our members, and additional multimedia.

Let me know what you think!

PS: I just added an e-mail subscription for those of you that want to subscribe.

Best, Steve

Get Connected with the updated All Hands Community 3.0

2009-08-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

For the last decade or so, my passion has been the use of the Internet to collaborate. The All Hands Community has been my way of doing that and a sort of "giving back" to the community of emergency management, homeland security, and business continuity professionals that I work with.

So, today I want to announce the launch of a new and improved version of our community collaboration and information sharing portal, All Hands Community 3.0 (http://all-hands.net/network/).

Our goal is to provide our members with a complete community-based social networking experience coupled with a wealth of multifaceted information resources. The new version of the All Hands Community is also linked to Blogger, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The updated site features an array of information including our Emergency Manager's Toolbox, Glossary and Link Directory. Users can now easily access archival and cross-referenced information. The upgraded site also enables our members an easy, instant, and secure way to share information, ideas and files. Bookmarking and social media tags are also embedded throughout the site so that visitors can share community news and information with others on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

In addition to the site’s many new technical features, the graphic design and interface present an improvement over our previous design. We have streamlined the site’s navigation, making it more intuitive and user-friendly.

In the coming months, we will be introducing new site features including customizable pages populated with user defined content, content only available for our members, and additional multimedia.

Let me know what you think!

Designing Fusion Centers

2009-06-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Been thinking a lot about how we design and use fusion centers. Big centers, little rooms, or virtual connected information sharing? What works best?

Whatever the approach, fusion centers must be designed to operate as a truly collaborative information sharing environment. That is what matters the most. Effective acquisition of information and "fusing" it in order to support the rapid development of intelligence should be the prime mover for a fusion center.

Fusion centers are defined as “a collaborative effort of two or more agencies that provide resources, expertise, and information to the center with the goal of maximizing their ability to detect, prevent, investigate, and respond to criminal and terrorist activity.” As is the case with EOCs, these centers demand clear operating procedures, staff roles, and responsibilities, and a supportive workspace, to include effective technology. Too often, design centers on the look and feel of a center and not on the effective operation of the center. A fusion center needs to be seen as a system of systems and a node in a larger network of information sharing platforms.

The ultimate goal of the fusion center concept is to prevent terrorist attacks; however, these centers can and should be used to prepare for and respond to other man-made or natural disasters.

"Data fusion involves the exchange of information from different sources - including law enforcement, public safety and the private sector - and, with analysis, can result in meaningful and actionable intelligence and information... The fusion process turns this information and intelligence into actionable knowledge."

Public safety and private-sector components are integral in the fusion process because they provide fusion centers with crime-related information, including risk and threat assessments, and subject-matter experts who can aid in threat identification. While many of the fusion centers began with purely counter terrorism goals, many have moved toward an all-crimes and all-hazards approach.

Fusion centers are relatively new and can be expected to continue to evolve. How these are designed will need to be determined based on evaluation of what has worked so far in the existing centers.

Tweetboard

2009-06-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try out Tweetboard. Nested Twitter conversations is just what we need, right?

Steve