Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Within the auspices of today's society, the subjects of civil rights and diversity go hand in hand - it seems that there cannot be one without the other.  This is true within organizations such as FEMA.  With there being such a multifariousness of employees within the different governmental agencies, the need for legislation, guidelines, reviews and revisions to protect the basic human rights of all individuals has become a major point of concern.

We simulate the effects of a hypothetical H1N1 epidemic in the U.S. using a quarterly CGE model. Quarterly periodicity allows us to capture the short-run nature of an epidemic. We find potentially severe economic effects in the peak quarter. Averaged over the epidemic year, the effects are considerably damped. Our results indicate that the macroeconomic consequences of an epidemic are more sensitive to demand-side effects, such as reductions in international tourism and leisure activities, than to supply-side effects, such as reductions in productivity. This suggests that demand stimulus policies might be an appropriate economic response to a serious epidemic.

America's national security is most often defined in the 21st century by referring to colossal scientific discoveries, military and industrial strengths and technological achievements that solidify and safeguard our collective well-being, economic continuity, community resilience and societal protection. While we understand the complex blend of military, economic, political, technical, scientific and cultural issues that buttress our nation's security, often overlooked are some obvious but less appreciated components. A bedrock element of our national security and well-being is the status of America's vast agricultural system. On the list of critical national infrastructures identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), American agriculture is noted, emphasized and reinforced. Agriculture accounts for one-fifth of our national GDP and looms critical to America's social and economic well-being. Yet, it is ordinary investments in energy, the economy, public health, telecommunications, the chemical industry and our defense industrial base that receive the most attention as sacred bulwarks of national security. The focus must shift to include, with genuine prominence, the enduring stability and security of America's agriculture. Agriculture has functioned silently in the background as a neglected stepchild of the collective national infrastructure, often overshadowed by headline-grabbing scientific and technological breakthroughs that acquire greater public attention and steady investment. The trillion-dollar market agricultural market gets nudged aside. Many remain unaware of its foundational influence on our nation's GDP and our collective national security. We tend to take for granted the operational integrity of our food supply, safety, production and abundance, not to mention the agricultural network that sustains it and the overall reliability of farm-to-market systems.

The password is the most widely used identity verification method in computer security domain. However, due to its simplicity, it is vulnerable to imposters. A way to strengthen the password is to combine Biometric technology with password. Keystroke dynamics is one of the behavioural biometric approaches which is cheaper and does not require any sophisticated hardware other than the keyboard. The chapter uses a new feature called Virtual Key Force along with the commonly extracted timing features. Features are normalized using Z-Score method. For feature subset selection, Particle Swarm Optimization wrapped with Extreme Learning Machine is proposed. Classification is done with wrapper based PSO-ELM approach. The proposed methodology is tested with publically available benchmark dataset and real time dataset. The proposed method yields the average accuracy of 97.92% and takes less training and testing time when compared with the traditional Back Propagation Neural Network.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) continue to gain important recognition from disaster practitioners and academic researchers during what is arguably the most publicly visible disaster management phase – disaster response. The broader world of GIS academic research and industry practice for disaster response continues to change. This review article inventories the current state-of-the-art in GIS for disaster response and demonstrates progress in the data and people aspects of GIS for disaster response since previous literature reviews. The review is structured to serve as a metaphorical bridge between two reader groups – disaster management practitioners interested in understanding developing trends in GIS for disaster response and academic researchers with minimal to no understanding of GIS and/or mapping concepts within the disaster response context. With this readership in mind, we outline definitions of GIS, disaster response and the need for GIS in disaster response, review ...

As emergency management evolved to encompass a focus on supporting safe growth and development for communities, the role and responsibilities of government became increasingly complex with aspects of emergency management becoming quintessential. Issues with communication uncovered the need to understand how managers collect, disseminate, and adapt critical information through understanding crisis type and local community needs. This paper examines the use of crisis communication strategies in emergency management practice and how these strategies have been impacted by Situational Crisis Communication Theory. This theory’s prescriptive approach connects leaders’ response to strategies emphasizing adaptation to local community needs and crisis type. Utilizing structural equation modeling and qualitative analysis, results from a nationwide survey of county, and county-equivalent, emergency managers in the United States is included. The survey focused on the relationship between crisis ...

Recent events show a significant increase in the number of disasters with natural and/or technological causes, which could have potentially serious consequences for critical infrastructures. Were these infrastructures to fail or be destroyed, the resulting cascade effect (chain of accidents) could lead to catastrophic damage and affect not only the plants, but also people, the environment and the economy. This rise in the number of disasters over the years is due to industrial and human activity as well as society's sensitivity to major events (hazards). The construction of industrial complexes brings with it stocks of hazardous substances, increased transport infrastructure (road, railways, shipping and pipelines), a rise in population and its concentration, malicious behavior and human error. This paper presents a methodology for carrying out risk assessments on critical infrastructure through the analysis of cascade effects. The proposed methodology can be used to provide critical infrastructures with greater protection and to limit/mitigate the extent of the damage caused by their failure. The paper ends with a conclusion and as series of proposal for improving such an analysis.

Objective: Data from a sample of 391 respondents who responded to ABC News Hurricane Katrina Anniversary Poll, August 2006, are used to test the relationship between predictor variables (social vulnerability index, insurance and severity of damage in living area) and the dependent variable (perceived disaster impact). Methods: Multiple regression is used to test the theoretical relationships. The dependent variable disaster impact is regressed on seven predictor variables simultaneously. Results: Social vulnerability has a statistically significant, positive effect on perceived disaster impact. Fully insured variable has a statistically significant, negative effect on disaster impact. Finally, severely damaged living area has a statistically significant, positive effect on disaster impact. Conclusion: The social vulnerability theory holds true in the context of Hurricane Katrina. Those who possess mixed characteristics of social vulnerability tend to be more affected by the impact of a disaster. Insurance tends to help lessen the disaster impact when individuals have the policies that cover all of their property. Finally, those who live in areas that are severely damaged from a disaster tend to experience more impact than those whose living areas are less damaged or not damaged.

United States Code (USC) Title 10 (Armed Forces), Title 32 (National Guard), and Title 50 (War and National Defense) are segregated to protect Citizens from government officials wrongfully blending authorities. A 2010 executive summary to the U.S. Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and others highlighted some issues with the manner in which the segregation is carried out (Advisory Panel on Department of Defense Capabilities for Support of Civil Authorities after Certain Incidents).

Title 10, Title 32, and Title 50 each hold authorities and experience that is critical to their respective mission-sets. However, the titles stated above lack integration of allocated resources. This research was conducted to identify how the laws or processes governing Title 10, Title 32, and Title 50 can be attuned to allow for more effective integration for homeland defense.

The proposal to better integrate U.S. Government organizations is not a newly established one. The American Government has made known the understanding the need to integrate better the capabilities that exist. In line with these efforts, elements postured for homeland-defense response have been created in recent years. U.S. Northern Command and its subordinate Joint Task Force-Civil Support (JTF-CS), were a distinct step forward on the road to healthier homeland-defense readiness.
Each USC title’s secluded structure disallows for efficient posturing. This research project sought to propose an enhanced solution for homeland-defense response. The conclusions reached from my research and analysis depicted multiple critical factors in Title 10, Title 32, and Title 50 coordination as postured towards homeland-defense. Organizational partnering and sharing can build partnerships and strengthen the American homeland-defense package. This enhanced organizational package is one solution, but one solution better than the current design.

The forthcoming case study will detail the October 2012 critical incident response of Hurricane Sandy that made landfall on the 29th of October in the southern portion of New Jersey and directly affected the New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut region. The storm also impacted secondary victims of over 20 other states that experienced the remnants from the storms path.
The case study will provide an overview of hurricane Sandy’s track including a timeline of its manifestation and the ramifications it had on the areas in its trajectory. The study will review the Emergency Management Cycle (EMC) of mitigation, preparation, response , and recovery, and overview the community effected by the storm and the responding organizations in regards to the EMC which includes but not limited to infrastructure, coordinated response efforts, public assistance, citizen preparedness, and support functions.
The study will span Incident Management structure and the implementation and set up of the Incident Command System (ICS), given hurricane Sandy was a large area incident. The effectiveness of the ICS command and its operations and personnel will also be explored. The responding entities will be discussed and assessed with a concentrated focus on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the roles of the state, local, and tribal groups, and the vitality of the nongovernmental organizations as well. The National Incident Management (NIMS) and the National Response Framework (NRF) will be included in the examination of the incident management and its effectiveness. The study will also probe the equipment and personnel used to respond to the incident.
The study will analyze the strategies of lessons learned from the storm and what management protocols to consider in future situations which incorporates the EMC and a major emphasis on the recovery element both in the short and long term. The study will address critical incident policies and plans which coincides with lessons learned, as well as examine the financial impact of the incident overall.
In evaluating command and control the study will examine structural conflict and the distinctions between the conflict and crises management. Risk assessment of the operations in the aftermath of the hurricane and how it may have affected the response and what risk were present and what was done to alleviate those risk.

The vulnerability of the United States electrical power grid, arguably perhaps the most critical among our nation’s critical infrastructure, has become an alarming and increasing reality. Various segments of our critical infrastructure, including transportation, telecommunications, public safety, the financial industry, and other utilities are dependent upon the electrical power grid.  Conversely, the electrical power grid is dependent upon other critical infrastructure, namely oil, gas, and telecommunications to operate.  Current threats to the United States electrical power grid include physical attacks, cyber-terrorism attacks, weather, natural disasters, electromagnetic pulse, and aging facilities.  The Department of Homeland Security has noted that state actors who are a threat to the United States electrical power grid include Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, while organized crime and jihadist extremist terrorists are among notable non-state actors (Angerholzer, Cilluffo, Mahaffee, & Vale, 2014).
The purpose of this study will be to discuss the vulnerability of the United States electrical power grid and steps that can be taken to protect this portion of our critical infrastructure through a qualitative review of current and potential threats, current policies and shortcomings within these policies.  Included in this discussion will be a summary of specific power failure incidents since 2001, an analysis of the risks to our electrical grid and recommendations to counter the threat to our electrical power grid.

There is always an instinctive intuition from inside of protecting the one we cherish the most. In this era where the crimes are increasing steadily, adults are concerned about the protection of his or their family and house. So, if you are seeking a sense of safety, peace and security, the home alarm systems promise you with all that. The up-to-date home security technology protects your house from incidences like burglary, kidnapping or theft. And, if an intruder enters your house, home alarm systems ensure that anything does not go mysteriously missing in your property. It informs the police and other emergency services immediately. And, if something happened then with the help of home security cameras, police can easily identify the culprit.
These smart and easy to use devices enable you to take care of your house, no matters where you are and what are you doing.

Crisis communications play a critical role in crisis management and emergency response.  Due to current events involving such incidents as terrorist attacks, mass shootings, chemical facility accidents, etc., the application of effective crisis communication is of dire importance in protecting an organization from reputational damage while simultaneously addressing the concerns of the public.  Serving as an effective crisis communication strategy, Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) attempts to resolve the issues which emerge as a result of a given crisis.  In this analysis of crisis communication and management, the role of SCCT as a communications strategy for Public Information Officers (PIOs) within the emergency response team will be examined.  In understanding how to implement SCCT into this component of the crisis management continuum, PIOs will gain an invaluable public relations tool by which to address the media and public in crisis situations.

While it may be tempting to quickly move on from our failings and shortcomings, given the seriousness of potential consequences within the fields of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, having a method of practice and process to efficiently and effectively review and dissect past incidents and events can be useful to formulating future planning and strategy. Hindcasting, which is also sometimes referred to as backtesting, may be the perfect vehicle for just such introspection.

The Resilient America Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened the Committee on Applied Research Topics for Hazard Mitigation and Resilience to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in reducing the immense human and financial toll of disasters caused by natural hazards and other large-scale emergencies. FEMA asked the committee to identify applied research topics, information, and expertise that can inform action and collaborative priorities within the natural hazard mitigation and resilience fields. The committee, in consultation with the Resilient America Program, selected two large-scale themes within which to identify applied research topics: Social Capital and Social Connectedness for Resilience, and Motivating Local Action to Address Climate Impacts and Build Resilience.

Citation:
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2021. Enhancing Community Resilience through Social Capital and Social Connectedness: Stronger Together! . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26123.

This article presents several policy observations regarding evacuation planning and disaster mitigation in large urban areas. After reviewing the research literature pertaining to disaster evacuations, the article provides background information about and lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Dean in 2007. The often-erroneous planning assumptions in emergency management are then explored along with a discussion about future policy and management implications. Three themes are identified in this research, including: 1) public officials must anticipate a much broader scope of issues when issuing evacuation requests, 2) they must do more to prepare for disasters than write "fantasy" emergency operations plans, and 3) they must adjust development activities that have a negative impact upon disaster mitigation.

environment like a ship, instead of second in a dynamic and critical environment for the system as a hospital. Through the analysis of case happened, tabletop simulation, and the opinion of expert as doctors, firefighters, and rescue workers, we evaluate the hazard and we analyze the effect on the system, and how to interface The risk assessment is development the impact on systems, and how to interface with the national health system and its weakness. Analyzing the current system of response to events, there are analysis of the critical points. Moreover, It’s evaluate the current state of the art and the actors involved, their training and skill. Through the analysis of the critical points are identified solutions to optimize and improve the system. Keywords: Micro-organism; Bacterium; Virus; Drug; Outbreak; Epidemy; Biological evet; Biohazard; Bioweapon; Bioterrorism; HAZMAT; Risk; Hospital, Ship; Vessel; Port; First responder; University; Course; Emergency Medical Service; EMS; Firefighter;

Emergency management of biohazard events, outbreack on ship and hospital. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317329024_Emergency_management_of_biohazard_events_outbreack_on_ship_and_hospital [accessed Jun 3, 2017].

In the modern world, natural disasters are becoming more commonplace, unmanned systems are becoming the norm, and terrorism and espionage are increasingly taking place online. All of these threats have made it necessary for governments and organizations to steel themselves against these threats in innovative ways.

Developing Next-Generation Countermeasures for Homeland Security Threat Prevention provides relevant theoretical frameworks and empirical research outlining potential threats while exploring their appropriate countermeasures. This relevant publication takes a broad perspective, from network security, surveillance, reconnaissance, and physical security, all topics are considered with equal weight. Ideal for policy makers, IT professionals, engineers, NGO operators, and graduate students, this book provides an in-depth look into the threats facing modern society and the methods to avoid them.

Lo scopo di questa tesi è analizzare il metodo attuale di soccorso e le successive complicazioni in un evento creato da un attentato terroristico o in cui siano coinvolte sostanze pericolose (Hazmat-CBRNe). In particolare, sarà seguito un percorso logico su come si dovrebbe effettuare un soccorso utilizzando un approccio olistico e omnicomprensivo, tenendo in considerazione tutte le variabili ed i pericoli. A questo scopo andrò a individuare un approccio progressivo, inizialmente spiegando la terminologia utilizzata e dei concetti fondamentali, in particolare per quello che riguarda tutti gli aspetti di pianificazione e prevenzione prima che un evento accada.  Seguirò con l’analisi di una scena del crimine e come si deve effettuare un soccorso corretto. In seguito analizzerò il fenomeno del terrorismo, poiché è una scena del crimine con nuovi pericoli. Infine tratterò il rischio CBRNe, in quanto, il terrorismo può utilizzare le armi non convenzionali per un attentato. Quest’ultimo capitolo approfondisce anche l’approccio al soccorso con presenza di sostanze pericolose, in quanto fino a indagini concluse, ci si deve relazionare sempre con una probabile scena del crimine, in questo caso anche contaminata. Come vedremo servirà lavorare approcciandosi con un metodo che tenga conto di tutto ciò, anche quando non si ha la certezza o la scena può evolvere. Attraverso dei “case study” e i fatti di cronaca reperiti attraverso un lavoro di “open source intelligence”, andrò ad analizzare le criticità e i punti deboli dell’attuale sistema del soccorso italiano anche per sottolineare la necessità per cui si adottano determinati protocolli e qual è il loro scopo. Vista la forte differenza con l’uso di terminologie e protocolli esteri, eviterò quanto più possibile l’uso e la descrizione del sistema italiano e di scenderne nel dettaglio, soprattutto perché la terminologia cambia in modo troppo radicale negli anni, e cambierà ancora nel futuro prossimo rendendo poco comprensibile questo lavoro tra qualche anno (oltre che distante dai fini di questa tesi). Come scelta tecnica quindi, ho deciso di adottare come linea di base il protocollo standard dell’ICS (Incident Command System) perché stabile nel tempo da decenni, e che ha una terminologia comune e conosciuta da moltissimi stati. Il nostro sistema riflette in buona parte il sistema ICS anche se con terminologie differenti. Utilizzare, la terminologia italiana (Es.: COC, COI, DICOMAC, ROS…) sarebbe di poca utilità a un lettore al di fuori del nostro Stato, e, tenendo anche in considerazione che il nostro sistema e la nostra terminologia sono sconosciuti alla maggior parte dei nostri stessi operatori, ho tentato di tenere il discorso quanto più semplice possibile e che possa essere una base di partenza per approfondire l’argomento.
Nel contesto italiano l’utilizzo della terminologia “anglofona” di questa tesi, ha un impatto limitato e trascurabile, in quanto, chi conosce il sistema sa facilmente riconoscere l’omologo italiano indipendentemente dalla evoluzione del nome e dalla normativa.

In May 2009, the Obama administration released its, Cyberspace Policy Review: Assuring a Trusted and Resilient Information and Communications Infrastructure, which it expected would lay the groundwork for a new national cybersecurity strategy. Staking out separate policy development space, Congressional leaders began hearings and introduced legislation. The most significant -the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 -proposed major changes in current federal government approaches. The common starting point of all of these reform efforts is that current federal organization and current national cybersecurity policy is inadequate for the task of securing cyberspace.

This study deals with the relationship between organizational flexibility, crisis response and learning. As a point of departure we use previous research from the field of crisis management which tells us that experience can shape crisis responses in two ways: as a way of repeating former routines or as a precondition for improvisation. Based on an abductive study we argue that the mandates of top-managerial teams, where we differentiate between centralized and decentralized, are closely connected to the way organizations learn -in behavioral or cognitive modes. Our findings from two case studies show how the decentralized managerial group learned in a behavioral fashion by creating new formal policies and structures, while organizational members in the centralized managerial group relied on individual cognitive structures as a way of 'storing' lessons learned. The study ends by discussing the findings from a crisis management perspective, where we propose that the two modes of learning profoundly affect the crucial issue of flexibility in organizational crisis response.

Wedding is a really important and precious event of our life. People always dream of a mesmerizing and unforgettable wedding. Everything associated with the wedding is always dear to the couple and they remember it their whole life. Wedding gifts are a great part of this whole event and it makes the bride and groom all the more excited. Normally people present the newlyweds with those gifts that are mere show pieces and artifacts, which is often forgeted by the pair soon. But if you gift them something that is useful and beneficial in their new life, then they would love you for that and appreciate you for a long time.
The real dilemma faced by everyone is the choice of gift. People are always confused in selecting the right gift for the wedding. They often end up purchasing the same type of gifts that majority of people buy. So here we present to you some unique yet useful wedding gifts for the newlyweds. These gifts would not only be liked by the couple, but also enhance your image and stature in their eyes:

Events such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 2004 terrorist attack on the school in Beslan, Russia demonstrate that terrorists are willing and able to attack large numbers of children. Moreover, pediatric casualties are likely when terrorist incidents occur in urban areas even if children are not the primary target. Very little research has been conducted on the management and outcomes of children during and after disasters. This paper discusses the known risks that terrorism brings to children, vulnerabilities in this population, basic principles of pediatric disaster response and current gaps in response capabilities.

This article provides an analysis of the problematic of foresight in traditional Chinese thought, articulating it with current developments in the epistemology of futures studies, planning theory, and strategic management. It is argued that in Chinese thought the answer to the question " Can the future be predicted? " depends on the forecasting horizon: whereas the immediate future can be sensed and taken advantage of by immersing oneself in the evolving situation, the remote future is fundamentally unpredictable. These dual answers are entrenched in discussions of what constitutes wisdom, opening up productive spaces of encounter between the problematic of foresight and the problematic of wisdom. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.2018.22(3).00A35

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist atrocities in the United States, a new organizational policy was introduced as "Homeland Security." Both a concept and a governmental department, homeland security became the "in" policy, and as such invented a new organization and a new approach to public safety. As a result, however, the dominant policing policy up to that time -Community Policing -was largely sidestepped by homeland security efforts as well as budgets. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the two public safety policies actually have a great deal in common, and that homeland security is to benefit from integrating principles of community policing in its localized strategies.

Far-right violence, right-wing extremism, and/or racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) terrorism are on the rise globally – including in Western countries such as the United States. FBI Director Christopher Wray has implied that the white-supremacist threat is significant, increasing, and the RMVEs are the “top threat” to U.S., domestically. Two reports published this year, one from the United Nations and one from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), support Wray’s argument. For example, the 2020 CSIS report states that “right-wing extremists pose the most significant terrorism threat to the United States, based on annual terrorist events and fatalities.” A 2019 International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Policy Brief  offered a similar conclusion, noting that white-supremacist and violent extremist groups are believed to have been trying to infiltrate some countries’ military forces, including those of the United States. Does the United States, particularly its military commanders and military officials, do enough to counter the actions of violent extremist groups that have or may attempt to infiltrate the ranks of the U.S. military? What security measures and preventive actions can be taken to stop such infiltration?

How should the United States organize itself to deal with the threat of cyberaggression? The initial effort of the Obama Administration, released in May 2009, focuses attention on the organizational and bureaucratic decisionmaking infrastructure necessary for cybersecurity and provides some general guidelines about goals and means. It does not address the more fundamental question of strategic approach. This article suggests the time has come to resolve the core issue of what organizing principle should drive national cybersecurity policy. Specifically, we argue that an offense-defense strategic framework must be adopted to think about and organize against cyber threats in the 21 st century. This means that the United States must set aside deterrence-the dominant strategic anchor of the past fifty-plus years-and adopt a full war-fighting posture. What has worked in the nuclear realm, and remains relevant for homeland security against WMD terrorism, will not work in cyberspace.

McCreight of George Washington University suggests it is time to initiate a constructive debate on the necessary core curriculum, educational requirements, and delivery mechanisms for career seekers in emergency management and homeland security. Citing a general lack of consensus within the higher education and professional communities, he raises a number of issues and professional challenges for consideration by the JHSEM readership. We thank Dr. McCreight for initiating the conversation, and look forward to reader comments on this very important topic.

Colleges and universities that educate aspiring homeland security professionals are duty-bound to supply a national workforce that is capable and adequately prepared to meet the National Preparedness Goal. It is perhaps not an exaggeration to suggest that developing a qualified homeland security (HLS) workforce could be considered a matter of national security. Indeed, an appropriately educated workforce is not only (at least implicit) part of the current FEMA National Preparedness Goal, it was identified as a national security imperative as early as 2001 by the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. A baseline set of education standards for homeland security education would, at the very least, ensure that academic programs would consistently graduate a workforce that has a common set of competencies aligned to the needs of both public and private sector actors engaged in domestic and national security. In turn, employers and students alike would better und...

Police education must stay abreast of the nuances and changes in the field. This article identified three meta-focusing events: the Columbine High School shooting (1999); the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; and the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown (2014), which forever altered policing in the United States. Combined with other less discrete events and circumstances, these three events helped frame 21 st-century policing. The new norm of policing raised the questions: What do police officers need to know and what should they be able to do in the performance of their duties? What is the knowledge and base of policing as a profession? Using the Delphi technique, this study developed the intellectual infrastructure for an undergraduate degree in police studies. The results provide a basis for a core curriculum that supports professional police studies as opposed to criminal justice programs for educating police officers.

The ability of emergency management organizations to perform effectively in the eyes of the public has been argued to stem from organizational culture, and a proclivity to overcome path dependent effects that may inhibit changes to enhance service provision. One mechanism argued to be effective in overcoming organizational path dependence and ineffective service provision is public entrepreneurship. Several contextual characteristics of public entrepreneurship are necessary to spur innovation. This study examines the presence of contextual factors shown to encourage public entrepreneurship within FEMA, which are also applicable to local urban gov-ernance. FEMA has long been argued as ineffective and resistant to organizational change. Using a sample of FEMA employees, this study finds that most FEMA employees perceive the organization to be open to public entrepreneurship; however, this perception is influenced by in-dividual's personal characteristics. In addition to findings, this study offers recommendations for future research and implications in the area of public entrepreneurship within emergency management. Over the last twenty years, disaster researchers have made countless recommendations to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in an attempt to aid the agency in enhancing its effectiveness and efficiency in service provision. These recommendations are offered with the specific intention of making disaster response and recovery practices more equitable and efficient across social groups within American society. However, despite these recommendations, when disasters strike, especially large-scale disasters, there are typically anecdotal accounts documenting the continuing adherence to past service provision practices by FEMA that have been publicly viewed as ineffective, inefficient, or even discriminatory towards vulnerable communities. Although emerging literature on the equity of FEMA disaster recovery resource allocation is beginning to provide statistical evidence that helps to dispel some of these anecdotal accounts about discriminatory practices, the continued reliance on questionably effective service provision practices is problematic (Rivera, 2014). According to Rivera (2014), FEMA's reliance on past service provision practices, regardless of their success or efficiency, can be attributed to the role that path dependence and positive feedback play within the organization's choice of actions in disaster situations , in addition to day-today operations. Operating within this theoretical orientation, organizational changes that may enhance service provision efficiency are inhibited (Wendt, 1999), even in the face of apparent service failures, by complementary institutional arrangements (North, 1990a,b; Pierson, 2004), the ways in which organizational personnel filter information on existing or new operational approaches and ideologies on the implementation of services (North, 1990a,b; Denzau & North, 1994; Arthur, 1994), and competency traps that emphasize the use of inferior organizational practices and procedures over more superior alternatives (Levitt & https://doi.

How to keep your children safe?
For every parent the safety of their child comes first. Keeping our children out of any harm is the top priority for us as a responsible and caring parents. We are always worried whenever the child is out of our sight. Whether they are at school, gym or simply playing with friends. The scars a person receives in his or her childhood have deep impact on his life altogether. People do take precautions such as installing home security devices and even GPS tracker for kids, but still every parent want to make 100% sure that their child is safe and secure. We understand this plight of every parent, so we have complied few point that can be practiced and tried by parents, to keep their child safe while also ensuring their independence. Few tips are training your child and other tips are regarding being vigilant and prepared.

Everyone wants to live a comfortable life. With the strongest economy in the world US offers one of the best living standards in the world. Even the richest of the third world countries are living in far bad conditions than the poor in the US. Though playing with your best golf club still is a luxury of the rich, yet an average American lives a pretty decent life. Nobody wants to be poor and nobody wants to lose all the hard earned money they have earned their life. But if we do not pay attention to small things in life we may very well spoil all that we have in one night. How? Well we would be learning just that in this blog.

Logistics operations are interwoven among the very fabric of emergency management and no aspect of a health care organization's business processes goes untouched by tenable supply chain management. The purpose of this work is to provide lessons observed during a response and recovery scenario resultant of a snow avalanche that occurred in Afghanistan north of Kabul. The lessons documented throughout this work are specific to how Soldiers, while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, were faced with one of the most unlikely of scenarios conceivable--responding to a natural disaster. In this work are observations, relayed by organization-level leadership during a deliberate After Action Review (AAR) related to communications, preparedness, warehouse security, the development of cross-functional teams, the adherence by clinical teams to a single source of supply, equipment and supply accountability, and the development of appropriate pre-configured push packs to support future scenarios such as the one experienced on February 9, 2010.

Ethics and morality are issues that touch many domains, none more so than war. In the War on Terror, there have been no shortage of news stories describing the atrocities and human rights violations of the American military, private military contractors (PMCs) and private security companies (PSCs). Names like “Blackwater” and “Abu Ghraib” leave a bad taste in the mouth of many Americans, even those who supported the war. More recently, drone strikes and the collateral damage they leave in their wake stoke the flames of ethical uncertainty. Events like these have staying power in the hearts and minds of everyone involved. American soldiers, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrorists we fight, and the American public all bear the scars of moral wounds.

There is a better way. America can use ethical responsibility to win this war without losing the moral high ground in the hearts and minds of the people we seek to free from oppression, and Americans at home. Homeland security should not be bought at the price of our honor, integrity, and morality.

This first section of this paper will give an overview of ethics and morality, their differences, and why they are relevant in the context of fighting terrorism. The second section will outline some of the ethical implications surrounding the use of private military and security contractors, unmanned aerial system (drone) strikes, enhanced interrogation, and profiling in combating terrorism. The third section will focus on the consequences of unethical conduct and the moral injuries that occur when ethics collide with counterterrorism. The fourth section will examine the effectiveness of applying ethical practices in counterterrorism and how public opinion shifts occur when applying them. The fifth section will detail how ethical problems can be ameliorated through standards of conduct, ethics training, and an adjustment in tactics and combat methodology. The final section will be the conclusion of this paper, and a call to action.

Since the late 1980's, al-Qa'ida expanded from a small group of mujahadeen freedom fighters combating the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to a highly sophisticated, distributed terrorist network able to conduct large-scale, international acts of terrorism. The terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001 brought to the fore a group of people who had a competing, devastatingly lethal philosophy to modern societies around the world. A systems dynamics model was created in order to better understand how this group attained its current status and what possible strategies the United States could take to counter al-Qa'ida's efforts.

This paper discusses incident management strategies widely used above the incident management team (IMT) level in the four Australian States namely, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland. It begins with an overview of how incident management approaches above the IMT might differ from the local IMT level. By exploring this difference, this paper provides an insight into how emergency management personnel working above or beyond the local IMT level often deal with large scale multiple emergency events and require an understanding of broader problems that they might confront in the future. Then, it provides an outline of how strategic emergency management objectives are addressed in the state level arrangements in aforementioned jurisdictions. Specifically, this includes response orientations, state level emergency management facilities, long term thinking, the management of stakeholder relationships, leadership, and organisational adaptation and capacity building. Later, some of the challenges associated with incident management above the IMT level are discussed. Finally, the paper concludes by discussing the implications of this study to the emergency management sector.