CONTINGENCY TODAY: EU and NATO should work together on crises

The House of Lords EU Committee has today called on the UK Government to use NATO's 60th anniversary next month as an occasion to promote cooperation between the EU and NATO.

SECURITY MANAGEMENT: Military Support Critical to Homeland Security, but Risky, Ex-Bush Official Says

02/27/2009 -

After Hurricane Katrina, former President George W. Bush was poised to shift responsibility for federal disaster response to the Pentagon until a senior defense official, harboring fears that date back to the country’s founding, warned that the move might violate the Constitution and federal statute.

That official, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense Paul F. McHale, Jr., addressed the American Bar Association’s Fourth Annual Homeland Security Law Institute conference Thursday in Washington, D.C.

FLORIDA SHIPPER: BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING CRITICAL FOR CENTRAL AMERICA REGION

Recent events have highlighted the reality that the Caribbean Basin is particularly vulnerable to major climate and geological disasters. Unexpected weather patterns and the highly erratic hurricane season projected for 2009 indicate that the region must continue to develop sustainable and effective disaster preparedness strategies.

In the past, focus has been squarely on disaster responsiveness and key regional agencies such as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Recovery Agency and the Central American Coordination Center for Natural Disaster Prevention charged with working with national emergency management organizations to coordinate response to any event affecting member states. However, with the private sector being the key to the region’s economic development, all key stakeholders must be challenged to focus attention and resources on ensuring that businesses in particular have the necessary plans in place to recover quickly from the effects of a major event.

JAMAICA INFORMATION SERVICES: Trelawny Emergency Services Test Disaster Response

The quiet of the Primary and Infant School in Trelawny was on Wednesday (Jan.14) broken by the blast of sirens from emergency vehicles attached to the Trelawny Fire Station, the Falmouth Hospital, and the Police Department.

As the vehicles descended on the school compound, the startled children were quickly but orderly ushered from their classrooms into the school yard. They were to participate in an earthquake evacuation drill, which would test the school's and the parish's readiness for such an occurrence.

SEATTLE TIMES: Dam discharge that swamped Pacific spurs finger-pointing

Floodwaters that pushed through the city of Pacific last week could have been controlled 11 hours earlier if word had reached the federal agency that was releasing a torrent of water upstream at Mud Mountain Dam.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday it had no clue it was flooding two of the city's subdivisions. Still, once it learned the extent of the flooding, it took two more hours before there was an order to slow the release of water at the dam.

Who was responsible for alerting the corps — or whether the agency should have known better — has provoked finger-pointing among city and King County emergency officials. Fundamental questions also have been raised about the chain of command for disaster response and communication in King County.

CQ HOMELAND SECURITY: Nonprofits Should Play Greater Role in Disaster Response, Says Former FEMA Official

By Daniel Fowler, CQ Staff

As a former FEMA employee and official at James Lee Witt Associates who now serves as director of disaster services for a leading hunger relief charity, Patrick Crawford has worn a number of hats in the emergency management world.

Since entering the field in 1994, Crawford has held positions ranging from disaster specialist in FEMA’s Region IX (Oakland, Calif.) and Congressional Relations Officer for Appropriations at FEMA headquarters to director of the Midwest region for James Lee Witt Associates, a crisis and emergency management consulting firm. Crawford joined Feeding America in 2007.

“I feel fortunate to have had an opportunity to work on emergency management and disaster relief from a variety of perspectives — from the government sector, the private sector and now the nonprofit world — and also had the opportunity to work with officials at all levels of government — local, state and federal,” Crawford said. “I think it gives me a more holistic approach to some of the issues we all work on in common.”

In a recent interview with CQ Homeland Security, Crawford discussed topics ranging from the state of disaster preparedness and response in the country to the role of food banks in disasters and whether FEMA should remain part of the Homeland Security Department.

TIME: Should the Military Be Called in for Natural Disasters?

Theoretically, even pacificists would probably admit that no one can respond as quickly and efficiently to a major U.S. disaster as the military. But the news that active duty soldiers fresh from a combat tour of Iraq will be gearing up to assist civilian agencies charged with responding to anything from accidental chemical spills to terrorist attacks has sparked mixed reactions from experts in emergency management and civil liberties advocates.