Looking for a way to keep up with who’s who among the senior management at the Department of Homeland Security?
An updated feature on DHS’s websites not only lists nearly 40 of DHS’s top department and component excutives–with links to each of their profiles–but also provides an email sign up provision to be notified when changes are made to the list. Keep reading →
How are government agencies using social media to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters?
The Federation of American Scientists recently posted on its Web site a CRS report, “Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations,” by Bruce R. Lindsay. The report argues that social media may be used in a “systematic” way as “an emergency management tool.
Systematic usage might include:
Of these four prospective uses, the first can be applied both to pre-event planning and inter-event communication. The second two can be understood as inter-event response activities, and the last for recovery efforts after the event has ended.
In each phase, agencies are turning to a different mix of tools to help them achieve their goals. Of course, all government agencies at every level should adhere to the roles and responsibilities laid out in the National Response Framework, which lays out the responsibilities of the federal and state governments as:
For us East Coasters, our recent experience with an earthquake was an unusual one. Of course, they’re comparatively rare here and not as strong as the ones that plague the West Coast, but it still makes you think about what would happen to your house (and you) if a really big one hit.
What about my house? Even aside from how it would stand up structurally, I’ve got a lot of books and bookcases – maybe an avalanche waiting to happen. Then there are the china cabinets – it really wouldn’t do to have grandma’s best strewn across the room in shards, would it? Keep reading →
As I sit here writing this, it’s raining. It’s been raining for days, as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Lee. Before that, we got rain from Hurricane Irene, although thankfully not what Vermont and Upstate New York received. Before that, innumerable August thunderstorms had dumped inches of precipitation on us. The forecast for the next few days? More rain.
Earlier this summer I read that our area was in a “moderate drought” state. Ha! I was just bemoaning our saturated state with a co-worker, in the course of which I said “I’ve been blogging about earthquakes and hurricanes, so I guess I’ll have to dig out a Government publication on floods.” Aha! Keep reading →
The Federal Disaster Relief Fund, the pot of money used to help communities and individuals hit by disasters, is nearly depleted. That’s bad news for victims of both Hurricane Irene and other disasters like the tornadoes that hit earlier this year.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Monday that the agency’s fund has fallen to less than $800 million. With less that $1 billion on hand, the agency is only authorized to pay for emergency repairs. That means that long-term projects, like rebuilding roads, schools and other damaged structures in the tornado-ravaged southeastern states and Joplin, Mo., will have to wait. Keep reading →
Which Android app is the real #FEMA Android app? bit.ly/oUISCL #mobile #opengov #android @AliceLipowicz
Craig Fugate has always been a man with a mission- and all the more so this week as the nation’s leading emergency responder, as the head of Federal Emergency Management Agency, tries to get 60 million people on the East Coast ready for Hurricane Irene. Keep reading →
The Homeland Security Department is putting cloud computing policy into practice, as the department begins migrating all of its public-facing, non-sensitive Web sites onto platforms maintained entirely by commercial cloud providers.
In addition, DHS is laying the groundwork to move two other programs to the cloud:an employment verification system and a data center services program. Keep reading →
Since the failed response to hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security has been fighting a pitched battle to restore the American people’s faith and confidence that it can prepare for, manage and respond to disasters and terrorist attacks like an integrated, effective, well-managed enterprise.
The department’s latest effort came on Aug. 3 when it brought out Secretary Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Craig Fugate, and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge for a round of keynote speeches promoting public-private partnerships at an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Keep reading →
Salesforce.com demonstrated its latest mobile version of Chatter, a secure social media and collaboration application–and how it might work for FEMA–at the 35th annual FOSE Exposition.