Emergency Management (EM) 
July 2008
USNG:
18SUJ00449732
www.wecansolveit.org
July 4th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
NIOSH Director, Supporter of 9/11 WTC Workers, Reportedly Fired by Administration
POLITICO's David Rogers reported last night that the White House is seeking a new NIOSH director, this with only 7 (long) months to go in office.
One can only guess at the reasons such a fine public servant, Dr. John Howard, is being let go, but surely his support for documentation and follow-up medical care for those who worked WTC are most suspect. So much so, that this propaganda-driven Administration falsely believes it is providing itself cover and concealment by offering Rogers a "short term assignment as senior adviser related to NIOSH’s work related to the World Trade Center."
July 4th, 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer
Chris Satullo: A not-so-glorious Fourth
"We took the coward's way."
July 3rd, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) Benedict Oilmen
At least Arnold had a level of competence, and to a point, distinguished service. With this bunch it's simply treasonous blunt-force corruption, profiteering, and ineptitude.
USNG educational poster (1.8Mb)
produced by the Skagit County (2002), WA, GIS Office
Hosted by
www.FGDC.gov/usng
Jon Stewart - First Daily Show After 09/11/2001
"The Statue of Liberty"
Be sure to click on the image to download the Georeferencing Matrix and read all footnotes!
Man on Emission (The Daily Show)
John McCain makes a sharp break from his party's anti-critter wing and declares himself to be global warming's worst nightmare
May 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
Terrible Tragedies Define "Catastrophic"
Myanmar (Burma) - Tragic Cyclone and Devastating "Response"
and
China - Huge 7.9-Magnitude Earthquake in Sichuan Province
Right now, sending a financial donation is the best any of us can help our brothers and sisters in both Myanmar and China! Give whatever you can to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
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Time to Act on Myanmar's Crimes Against Humanity (Daniel Schorr)
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May 17th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
None of the homeland security related needs showed marked improvement
May 2008: In the United States of America, fire, police, EMS, and Emergency Management are still inadequately staffed, inadequately trained, insufficiently equipped, and organizationally almost completely unprepared ("there was no unification") to conduct operations of the complexity demanded for even somewhat successful response to and consequence management of disaster events of a large or catastrophic nature.
Consider this cost...
* $341.4 million per day.
(http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home)
In a report released the day after the 11/2006 election, having been "delayed" for nine months, the US Fire Administration (USFA) and NFPA reported to Congress the impacts of so little investment: “none of the homeland security related needs (i.e., ability to handle any of four unusually challenging situations with local specialized equipment) showed marked improvement nor did any of the personnel needs related to those situations.” (FA-303 Four Years Later – A Second Needs Assessment of the US Fire Service 11/2006)
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"A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction...
"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together."
(President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 17th, 1961)
Here comes the 2008 Hurricane Season! We need to be better prepared for all-hazards at all times. Maps are important tools. (PS> the Washington DC government produced paper street map of the city... now INCLUDES a full fine-line USNG grid overlay!)
The 'Last Lecture' - Randy Pausch (76 minutes)
Demonstration of map coordinate systems that conform to recommendations of the National Search and Rescue Committee (Google Maps mashup).
Florida's Incident Mapper - Uses USNG grid
designations or street addresses! (Powered by Google)
An excellent PowerPoint presentation (4.5megs)....
"Back to Basics"
One can only wonder why this presentation was up on a DOJ server for several years (no longer), but nothing related could/can be found on either FEMA or DHS websites (except for one page, in Spanish).
Jon Stewart's analysis, Obama's 'A More Perfect Union':
Followed up by Stewart's first "Open Discussion" with Larry Wilmore!
EmergencyManagement (EM) thanks you for making us on a Google search for the term "Emergency Management", one of the top (non-sponsored) results returned, out of millions of search results/links found.
EmergencyManagement (EM) is a completely non-profit endeavor accepting absolutely no paid advertising of any kind.
Emergency Management and Disaster Response ARE Map-Based Enterprises. The USA is in very fundamental ways regarding interoperability (even when everyone can “talk” to each other on a radio or phone), in almost all of the states, challenged by most disaster operations, especially those in multi-jurisdictional settings and thoroughly unprepared for consequence management of catastrophic disaster events (technological/human-caused or natural): we do not communicate "location" in a common language.
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Now the bad news - TOPOFF 4 (04/2008)
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DHS's first department-wide employee survey - The "Human Capital" employees of FEMA answered:
"How satisfied are you with the policies and practices of your senior leaders?"
Positive 30.7, Neutral 27.3, Negative 42.0
"In the past year I have seen improvement in the following area: Leadership."
Positive 33.9, Neutral 26.2, Negative 39.9
(04/2008)
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"...don’t even think about expecting the federal cavalry – DHS’s new OIG audit makes that much clear. And in the event of a pandemic, especially if one erupts within the next several years, the federal government is only rudimentarily prepared to respond nationally...."
(Anthony L. Kimery, HSToday, 04/2008)
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"Land SAR Responders must use U.S. National Grid."
(National Search and Rescue Committee (NSARC), 11/2007)
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"Maps were the key pieces of intelligence that were needed early on, but many crews did not have them."
(Californina Fires, 10/2007)
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"Katrina and Rita as representative of the lower end of potentially catastrophic events which could occur...."
(Army War College, 09/2007)
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"Recommends widespread awareness, training and education on the use of the USNG for first responders nation-wide; and...."
(GITA, 08/2007)
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Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction - 4.2 "To support homeland security and homeland defense...US National Grid (USNG) standard...."
(CJCSI, 06/2007)
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"Federal, state, and local emergency
managers should consider establishing a common grid or map system for identifying locations
following a disaster."
(FEMA Region VI, 06/2007)
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"Como preparación para la Temporada de Huracanes del 2007, el Concepto de Operaciones de Huracanes de US&R...El alcance del ESF9 ha sido extendido para que aborde también operaciones de búsqueda en un medio acuático/de inundación, búsqueda en un área grande, búsqueda aeronáutica y la ayuda y los estándares de búsqueda de la GIS/National Grid (USNG, por sus siglas en inglés). Esta extensión se ha logrado en coordinación con agencias colaboradoras, entre las que se incluyen los Servicios de Guardacostas de los EE.UU., el Departamento del Interior/Servicios de Parques Nacionales, el Departamento de Defensa, la Fuerza Aérea de los EE.UU. y la Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia Geoespacial." (http://www.fema.gov/spanish/nwz07/fs_0507_usr.shtm)
(FEMA, 05/2007 (Not available in English.))
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"Successful Response Starts
with a Map."
(National Academy of Sciences, 12/2006)
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"The US National Grid (USNG): A Simple and Powerful Geospatial Tool"
(FGDC, 11/2006)
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FA-303, Four Years Later – A Second Needs Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service
"...the vast majority of departments with a map coordinate
system have only a local system, which means the system they have is unlikely to be usable with
global positioning systems (GPS) or familiar to, or easily used by, non-local emergency response
partners, such as Urban Search and Rescue Teams, the National Guard, and state or national response
forces. Moreover, interoperability of spatial-based plans, information systems, equipment, and
procedures will likely be rendered impossible beyond the local community under these circumstances.
This reliance almost exclusively on local systems exists across-the-board, in all sizes of
communities. The U. S. National Grid (USNG-NAD83) standard, based on the grid system used by U.S.
military units and National Guard forces around the world, was adopted as the system best suited for
eventual national standardization. (http://www.fgdc.gov/usng/index.html)" - - -
Today in Afghanistan, 31,000 troops (including 12,000 from the USA) from 37 different nations came under unified command of NATO (maps/equipment/commo/training set to MGRS). - - - - - -
"Safe Convoy Movements of Fire Service Personnel...Map grid and GPS both set to USNG-NAD83 or interoperable MGRS-WGS84." - - - - - -
"The current status of plans and planning gives
grounds for significant national concern. Current catastrophic planning is unsystematic
and not linked within a national planning system." - - - - - -
"Lessons learned from recent hurricane seasons have taught us that standardized grid maps for search and rescue and other activities are a necessity." - - -
"The NIMS Integration Center is considering the adoption of the 'National Grid' unified mapping system as a potential NIMS implementation standard. The mapping system would help saves lives, reduce the costs of the disaster, and enhance all disaster related actions." - - -
"While many individuals went to heroic lengths to rescue victims, their efforts would have been far more effective if agency efforts were better coordinated. Officials from nearly every search-and-rescue agency told Committee staff that they lacked basic maps of the area. At one point, state and local officials tore maps out of telephone books, so that out-of-state search-and-rescue teams could have some sense of where they were going. However, high floodwaters in New Orleans hid street signs from view, complicating their efforts." - - -
(Metro Washington DC region) COG GIS Committee - Regional GIS Base Map Development and Maintenance SOW - VI. US National Grid Implementation Strategy - - - - - -
"Responders' lack of ability to share information between the MAC (Multi-Agency Coordination Entities) and area command posts is partially due to weak communications and interoperability standards. This is evidenced by situations where MAC and area commands may both be utilizing digital maps, but with different indexing standards. The result may be an inability to easily exchange map coordinates...."
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"Sir, it was a train-wreck and what will we do if a disaster strikes again like this or one without warning? ...We may not have that time in an earthquake scenario or similar incident...." - - - - - - - - -
"Due to problems with navigation, a reported 6-hour drive took 12 hours." (PA-1 DMAT Strike Team, 09/2005)
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"Strike teams should never be sent out without at least some sort of physical map of an area.
This is a critical safety concern." - - - - - -
Introducing the United States National Grid - - -
"...a critical deficiency in U.S. consequence management...CBIRF´s ability to respond to threats within the United States will continue to be severely hindered. There will be continued friction in Homeland Security operations...." - - -
Get on the National Grid - - -
"I want to remind everyone of the importance of promoting the use of the U.S. National
Grid (USNG) among our Federal, State, and local partners, particularly its importance for
disaster readiness, response, and recovery applications...." - - - - - - - - - - - -
XMap GIS Suite, "GIS and Mapping and GPS Location Management for Public Safety," plus TopoUSA, all include USNG at the user interface. - - -
The US Fire Service The first ever US Fire Service
Needs Assessment reported to Congress that:
"The vast majority of (fire) departments with a map coordinate system have only a local system,
which means the system they have is unlikely to be usable with global positioning systems (GPS) or
familiar to, or easily used by, non-local emergency response partners, such as Urban Search and
Rescue Teams, the National Guard, and state or national response forces. Moreover, interoperability
of spatial-based information systems, equipment, and procedures will likely be rendered impossible
beyond the local community under these circumstances. This reliance almost exclusively on local
systems exists across-the-board, in all sizes of communities." - - -
"The study results also demonstrated how effective policy could help overcome another major barrier to implementation: a lack of standards." - - - - - -
"...One of the three most important
immediate steps that the Government could take to improve homeland security...." - - -
"This standard seeks to improve the current situation by identifying a single nationally consistent, humanly facile grid reference system as the preferred U.S. National Grid (USNG) and promoting its use within the NSDI. - - - - - -
"...help save lives, reduce the costs of
disaster, and enhance preparedness, response,
recovery, and mitigation efforts...." - - - - - - - - -
"An actual accounting of all the requests for emergency assistance that
went without, or the delay encountered by the countless movements of personnel, food,
and equipment will likely never accurately be tallied…." - - -
"...the mere thought that there were no such products stagers the imagination."
June 21st, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Observations on DHS’s Preparedness for Catastrophic Disasters
GAO Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight, Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives (06/11/2008)
"Achieving interoperable communications and creating effective mechanisms for sharing information are long-term projects that require Federal leadership ... the SAFECOM program has had a limited impact on improving communications interoperability among federal, state, and local agencies. The program’s limited effectiveness can be linked to poor program management practices, such as the lack of a plan for improving interoperability across all levels of government, and inadequate performance measures to fully gauge the effectiveness of its tools and assistance. We recommended, among other things, that DHS develop and implement a program plan for SAFECOM that includes goals focused on improving interoperability among all levels of government."
We are so totally frelled! So much more so than SAFECOM's failings posted above from GAO's prepared testimony. How fraught with error and bulked up with wordiness are NIMS and the NRF..., while as GAO reports there are still no real plans (for interoperable communications), nothing to even bring the Fed together, never mind the states and locals. Rabble. Paulison's Rabble.
One wonders if GAO understands the concept of a "common map grid" and why that is so very important, the starting place, when it comes to preparedness for catastrophic disasters? Did GAO bother to search either US Fire Service Needs Assessment reports (2002/2006) on the word "interoperability"? Think communications, operations, a plain and common language for location. (Plus, have they considered in the least, real lessons learned again, and again, the critical need for quality (USNG gridded) maps from day one, hour one?)
June 20th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
In Gulf Port, Il, only 28 resident's had flood insurance
Floods are terrible disasters, the home is often left somewhat intact but still damaged, soaked..., belongings ruined by foul water, mold, and mildew; homeowners left with smelly, dirty, terrible realities. However, anyone who says that FEMA encouraged homeowners to drop their flood insurance because of levee "protection" is not only flat-out wrong, but somehow the wires have been crossed in that object sitting atop their shoulders.
In this case, FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) deserve much credit for the work they do in terms of flood hazard insurance, mitigation, floodplain mapping, and advertising over and over about just how much more likely it is that homes will flood rather than burn over the life of the average 30-year mortgage..., (though it should be remembered, many, many more are injured or die from fire each and every year). No credible/competent FEMA employee would ever encourage someone to drop their flood insurance because a community has levee "protection" certified up to the one percent annual chance flood. Rather, they would much more likely have STRONGLY encouraged the continuance of a NOW LESS EXPENSIVE non-Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) flood insurance policy, knowing full well that history has taught us over the years..., that levees are an imperfect form of flood protection.
Are there incompetent, inexperienced, and hobbyist FEMA employees out there? Of course there are, just like any organization, somehow goof balls slip through using resumes that have been padded, friends and family, etc.... In fact, there is in the public record, for example, a few such non-career ding-dongs who recommended to the State of Louisiana during the year following Katrina that the state should not improve it's preparedness for the next time around in terms of mapping, interoperability, successfully communicating location, by understanding and fully implementing the (spatial reference standard) for a common operating grid (USNG). Something like that however, is the exception and not the rule. It is highly doubtful that there is any public record anywhere of any FEMA employee, part-time or career, in anyway encouraging people to drop their flood insurance policies.
Credit where credit is due: In fact, it has been the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and
FEMA Mitigation over the years, working with many others like ASFPM..., that have educated, stressed, and encouraged a lessening or elimination of residential and
commercial construction in floodplains against major forces pulling things the other direction; plus construction practices that have greatly lessened losses for those that do build or retrofit in flood hazared areas. FEMA has always encouraged the purchase of flood insurance. Taking the good with some of the pre-FIRM older construction bad, and while not perfect, the NFIP overall has been a very successful national mitigation effort for a substantial natural hazard risk. One of, if not the most successful of it's kind..., anywhere in the world..., ever.
Still, more needs to be done. The vast majority of the more than 100 recommendations made by the "Galloway report" (SHARING THE CHALLENGE: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century) following the 1993 floods, have been all but ignored by this Administration the the previous one as well. Even more wetlands destroyed, shoddy levees finished in 1999 for parts of New Orleans (the ones that failed, the older ones stood-up), as even more levees have been built to "protect" tens of thousands of new homes and the largest (3-mile long) strip-mall in the USA..., placed into flood prone areas near St. Louis.... Politicians and others must not give in to the easier path of short-term "recovery", followed by money-grubbing development, without long-term sustainability through stringent enforcement of required retrofit/elevation/relocation of flood prone properties. Sustainable use and regulation of floodplains is the only course to over time reduce the number of sad news stories about terrible losses; homes less often washed away whenever the water rises.
FEMA, under the
leadership of former director James Lee Witt, moved entire communities up onto the bluffs of the
Mississippi River following the 1993 floods and bought out many others, offering additional money in disaster aid to help flood victims purchase flood insurance in preparation for the next time around (that evidently many dropped as soon as they had to pay for the coverage themselves). Where funding has permitted, FEMA, states, and many communities alike have targeted repetitive loss structures for nearly two decades buyout assistance....
Flooding in the USA, like fire, is a huge problem. Here is an over-simplified view, just as there are builder associations that work and lobby against sprinklers in new residential construction to protect from fire, there are some builders and others who want to build where and how they will, as profitable to their short-term interests as possible; land owners who want to sell off their flood prone lands to development; some near-sighted local communities wanting tax revenue and a variety of other reasons who do not properly enforce their own floodplain regulations; home owners who will not take take responsibility upon themselves to purchase flood insurance; others who do anything they can to be sure the FEMA flood maps show their water-front property as outside of the "regulated" floodplain (so that they can perhaps sell their homes to others claiming they are not prone to flooding). Lastly, there is another separate group and unfortunate concentration of low-income folks our society has for decades trapped in homes that are in flood prone areas. It is this last group that needs the help of government to develop sustainability through insurance, elevation, buy-outs, and relocations. These are the only homeowners who should be allowed to participate in hopefully carefully administered programs like Louisiana's "Road Home" (and in NOLA, their “Road Home” may well be much less-than-sustainable or carefully administered, given the many physical and political factors challenging that dangerously located city; and the environmental degradation making things all the worse).
To the credit of many, like Tulsa, OK, for instance, there are many communities and states that before and after 1993 have had a long-held tradition of sustainable and thoughtful floodplain management.
A destructive cycle of simply blaming FEMA for flooding that has been experienced in the past, flooding that will surely be experienced again, does not protect nor serve citizens well and harms any community's long-term interests. It simply makes for news stories that sound just like so many other flood disaster news stories heard again and again over the years: "we were told we didn't need flood insurance."
If you live in an area "protected" by a levee, you most certainly need flood insurance, highly recommended for many other areas as well.
June 18th, 2008 Washington Post
"...There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account...." (Major General Anthony Taguba (Ret.))
June 18th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) One Year Later - The Loss Still Unacceptable
Mourning 9 Heroes
"'Charleston 9' to be Remembered on Anniversary of Tragedy"
Firefighters Need to Know
June 17th, 2008 Washington Post
Former Navy general counsel, The Honorable Alberto J. Mora: "our Nation's policy decision to use so-called 'harsh' interrogation techniques during the War on Terror was a mistake of massive proportions. . . . This interrogation policy -- which may aptly be labeled a 'policy of cruelty' -- violated our founding values, our constitutional system and the fabric of our laws, our over-arching foreign policy interests, and our national security."
June 17th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) SHARING THE CHALLENGE: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century
From the aftermath of the The Midwest Floods of 1993, the White
House-based reports SHARING THE CHALLENGE: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century, and
the SAST Report, stand to this day as principle studies for "Floodplain Management into
the 21st Century" and should be required reading for many who regulate and/or live in flood prone
areas.
Moreover, there is no such thing as a "one hundred year" or "five hundred year" flood or floodplain. Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS) portray the one
percent and a 0.2 percent annual chance flood/floodplain (ie. in any given year met or exceeded).
Many people play the lottery faithfully, spending hundreds of dollars in any given year gambling on
many millions to one chances of winning..., but won't spend a few hundred dollars to buy flood
insurance.... Go figure, somehow "one in a hundred," or "one in five hundred" odds seem for many to be so difficult to comprehend!
Take a read of this very good letter to the Editor of the Press-Register, FEMA Developing Technology for Accurate Flood Mapping, from one of FEMA's best leaders, DAVID MAURSTAD, the Assistant Administrator of Mitigation. All accurate, and though written a year ago (given floods like fires are persistent problems with common failures in terms of inspection, local regulation/enforcement), completely applicable to the current flooding in the Midwest.
June 15th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) For Iowa, The Long Road Home
These terrible Iowa floods, plus other states in the Midwest, looking at how this Administration and
Congress have operated over recent years, it looks as if
homeowners in Iowa may be eligible for on average a $59,000 dollar
GRANT, up to as much as $150,000.
The FEMA propaganda team has been busy putting out comparisons to Katrina in terms of "Response," let's see how well they do in terms of "Recovery," Mitigation, and Preparedness for the next time around..., and there will be a next time around.
June 13th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
June 13th, 2008 NY Times
In Eastern Iowa, the City That ‘Would Never Flood’ Goes 12 Feet Under
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This GazetteOnline.com story back in March said it all.
One can only wonder how many in Cedar Rapids heeded the direct and clear warnings three months ago to BUY FLOOD INSURANCE (there is a one-month period before the policy becomes effective)!! "...Homeowners are four times more likely to receive a loss from flooding than fire...."
June 12th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
Floods and tornadoes bring misery to the Midwest
Today's tragedy in Iowa including Boy Scouts killed, other Scouts responding like the future leaders this country needs..., in all of the states hit by disaster in recent weeks, the strength of Americans coming together to do the best they can in times of crisis shown again, no matter their race, creed, immigration status or color, Americans all, all stacking sandbags.
The true grit of a great Nation. Flag pins optional.
FEMA, State, and local agencies, as they did for the 1993 and 1995 Midwest floods, all doing a good job.
June 12th, 2008 CNN
June 11th, 2008 Salon
How Karl Rove played politics while people drowned
Nothing we (EM) have read over the past several years, has made so many of the pieces fall into place in terms of understanding how things could have possibly gone so wrong. Were there still a Constitution in the USA that anyone paid any real attention to, and/or Justice (eg. "law", had the White House kept their emails as the "law" required "...between March of 2003 and October of 2005...."), a good number of people would soon be behind bars..., for life.
June 5th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) SENATORS LIEBERMAN, COLLINS CALL ON DHS TO IMPLEMENT MODERN EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM
How about a "common map grid"...one set of street names, one universal map grid overlay and reference system for equipment, ops, plans (like evacuations), mitigation..., anywhere in the USA (or World)?
After all Senator Lieberman, was it not your Committee who over the past weeks, listened to testimony that the risk of nuclear attack "on U.S. cities has grown in the past five years because of the spread of nuclear technology and the growth of a global terrorist movement"?
May 28th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
Plus, another recommended read for those concerned with "Washington’s Culture of Deception"!
May 23rd, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
Hurricane Season 2008 - Chertoff and Paulison, "Emergency Response Super Stars"
The FEMA Administrator, R. David Paulison, evidently has had himself (along with his boss) crowned as "emergency response super stars" in the same breath as they encourage others to "get serious, be prepared." They and others are also putting on a display of "the joint activities being planned this year and their efforts to improve coordination when helping communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from hurricanes...FEMA released the new National Response Framework that will help coordinate activities at every level of government, as well as with the private sector. FEMA has improved its ability to deliver assistance...." (A National Response Framework that does not use the word "map" one single time, despite recommendations from DoD and others!)
How bizarre is it as they "get serious" about this, the last hurricane season for which they, Paulison and Chertoff, will keep their "emergency response super stars" crowns, that a search on their respective agency websites for "USNG", or "US National Grid", returns nothing at all? No information like "lets use a common map grid" is returned, nothing! This in the light of lessons learned (in their case, observed), while at the same time the Coast Guard and National Guard, along with US&R Teams and others will all be on the same map sheet of music (USNG) for a catastrophic hit (all-hazards) this 2008 season. With notable exceptions, it seems many parts of FEMA will super respond like in days of old (Katrina, SS Columbia...), encourage states and locals to do nothing in terms of geospatial/map preparedness..., basically what they did in 2005: just show up with no quality maps in any number whatsoever, no universal language for location, have GPS set to whatever, and/or telephone book maps and other hobbyist products with no reference grid overlay (or just as useless, a non-standard grid); still many unaware of why any of that even matters!
Thank heavens, in a surreal sense, when looking at what was said the year before Katrina, that the "emergency response super star" in charge of Federal "Preparedness" for several years leading up to Katrina is in charge of FEMA now, getting serious...being prepared! He surely understands just what he is doing, what he has done, someone so good, so experienced, such a "response super star" that he did not even need to listen to his own employees (or little 'ol DoD and many others),
or even read his own agency reports to say in 2004 that: "'FEMA was not very well organized (in 1992) to handle that type of emergency,' Paulison said. 'FEMA took too long.' Now, as a FEMA official himself, he says the federal agency is 'ten times better prepared' for such an event."
Contrast that with this seemingly complaining analysis to Congress from former FEMA director James Lee Witt (also in 2004): "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded. I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared."
It's not like Witt was not willing to pay proper respect, even congratulating the "leadership coming from the White House," as he did two years earlier, before the Bush Administration, with the same care they took to plan for the war in Iraq..., started to reorganize, then reorganize again, tearing things apart, stomping them into smaller pieces..., begining to drown capabilities and programs..., even great progress that had been made on a common map grid standard (USNG)... in the frelling bathtub..., thus, making things "ten times better prepared."
"There was no unification," he said. "Those were hard lessons learned."
May 13th, 2008 Slate
A Few Good Soldiers
May 10th, 2008 Washington Post
May 4th, 2008 Washington Post
Bush's War on Terror
"Our battle with al-Qaeda is a long one," he said. "It isn't our battle only. Our tragedy -- and what makes things worse -- is that al-Qaeda is united. And our coalition is divided, even though we have a common enemy."
"Relatives of the 17 sailors who died on the Cole said they are furious at Yemen for releasing the plotters. But they expressed equal disdain for their own government...'I was just flat told that he wouldn't meet with us...I'm sorry, but it's just like the lives of American servicemen aren't that important.'" April 26th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
When?
DHS Secretary Chertoff was asked by one of the USA's excellent fire chiefs at the
annual Congressional Fire Service Institute event, something along the lines of: "When is DHS going to
finally (fully) implement USNG?"
US Fire Administrator Cade, along with members of Congress were also in the room.
Mr. Chertoff, when pressed ("Katrina was certainly a lesson observed...NIMS...") for an answer,
beyond the "isn't Google already doing that?" he gave at first, reportedly turned to Mr. Cade and said "this sounds like a good idea, we'll check into it." (Seemingly neither recognized or understood why Sec. Chertoff himself and Sec. Ridge before him had placed their signatures on the DHS grants guidance documents that "strongly recommended (Grantees) to review"
USNG; or that for Fed agencies, the USNG standard is by Presidential Exec Order...mandatory.)
Mr. Chertoff, Mr. Cade, respectfully, please consider this as awareness training:
this is a critically important issue ("one of the three"). USNG is the solution for the no "common
language of location" problem that causes substantial operational friction in emergency and disaster
operations large and small.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda: "Clinton convoy escort...Officer down, South Houston
Aqueduct, Grid: 0546 2826" Instead of THIS!
Goodness gracious, DHS sent all of it's assets and those of all other federal agencies (excepting DoD) to a Katrina disasterground with a "NIMS" but without a common map grid! Let's frelling repeat that, almost four years after the FGDC adopted USNG, DHS sent all of it's assets to work Katrina without a common map grid. Of course, the states and locals were all over the place in terms of maps and mapping as well. (Neither MS or LA were/are unique in this lack of preparedness.)
When Mr. Chertoff, when are you going to pay serious attention to a serious problem that is so relatively easy to (geo)address?
DHS (SAFECOM) took the term "interoperability" and turned it on it's ear, narrowing the meaning
to basically radios and being able to speak to one another when needed, ignoring what was being said and how (a common language). NIMS was also supposed to have addressed the common language ideal, but failed, beyond the "no 10-codes" mantra. Basic stuff, like using the correct International Phonetic Alphabet never
mentioned, the notion of a common map grid, a universal language for location (often in support of
street addressing) not mentioned in NIMS v1, kinda inferred post-Katrina in a muddled fashion for NIMS v2,
mostly stating the problems but still not specifying the already adopted solution (standard), USNG
(2001).... Goodness gracious, who's running this circus? NIMS is how thick a document with how many (mostly BS) training courses required for all, fed, state, local..., but no stipulation of a common operating grid?
Imagine, Messieurs Chertoff and Cade, all those frelling dollars spent on spatial
(location-based) technologies, maps, plans..., but so few of them set/used at the human interface using the standard (in support of street addressing) for such a critical element of information: location! (See 1.3 - Applicability)
The term "common operational picture" has also been misapplied by many. A common ops picture for
most applications in the USA today is really only a sometimes "common picture," when multiple
entities are looking at the same map/image view, often including mission relevant content
(overlays/themes)..., then attempting to operate in a unified manner. In reality, such a "picture" remains
just that, a simple picture moderately useful (better than nothing) by the few who share the same view.
Former FEMA director James Lee Witt understood this
(so did the White House) back in 2001/2002. USNG is where "common operational" gets added to the
"picture" (the same sheet of music: all paper maps products at scales of approximately 1:1,000,000 and larger, plus USNG
coordinate readout at the user interface for digital systems).
By the time Katrina hit in 2005, the State of Florida had already decided to adopt and implement a common operating grid. One of the reasons was told by a professional GISer who works for the state emergency management office, how a commercial imagery
provider had shot/printed/provided at no cost..., hundreds of large format rectified air photos of the impacted areas..., thinking they would be of
use to the disaster responders working the largest of that (2004) season's four hurricanes. The APs/maps were basically useless without a reference system overlay (of any kind) and never used.
Messieurs Chertoff and Cade, don't focus on GIS or technology (while important) without first
understanding/solving for the basics: it's not solely about the GIS techy, your frelling computer
displays in command centers in DC tracking ice shipments, or JFOs with the oh so useful declared county maps by
the hundreds..., it's much more about EOCs and CPs, responders and disaster workers in the
field, on the ground, all needing (USNG gridded) large format paper maps, hopefully GPS and
vehicle mounted nav/info systems..., all set to the same thing at the (trained) user interface (USNG) day one, hour one (updated frequently with ops info, enter GIS)! Moreover, it's about having Leadership at high enough levels to make the difference necessary.
Nice thing, even when maps or map images (rectified "pictures") are different but cover the same geographies, USNG-NAD83 makes them "common" and "operational" (interoperable). Wouldn't it be nice if someday, all of those gas station maps, phonebook maps, ADC/Thomas/McNally maps..., all used a common map grid? One set of street names, one map grid? (Given they tend to be the only maps available on the ground...hour one, day one.... Today each and everyone has either a different grid reference system, or none at all.)
What happens on large or catastrophic disasters given our current status of "preparedness"?
"When is DHS going to finally (fully) implement USNG?"
April 21st, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) Two things that are good, one not nearly
- - - -
‘We have had lessons learned' - by Anthony L. Kimery (HSToday)
Great article from Mr. Kimery in this review of the TOPOFF 4,
"Conducting and Coordinating" - Messaging - Unified
Actually, a very well done "Quick Look" report on TOPOFF 4. It's readable, with many good observations including: "Participants reported delays in receiving “tear-line” versions of reports...Problems were observed that affected coordination within Unified Commands. Examples include the existence of multiple Unified Commands, command structures that did not follow the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and inexperienced personnel...Departments and agencies (D/As) at all levels of government lacked critical information at times....There was difficulty conducting and coordinating multiple missions at the incident sites...Decision-makers had difficulty interpreting plume and consequence prediction models, and using this information to support decision-making and public messaging...The Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) had difficulty coordinating its activities with state officials in Oregon as is called for in its SOP...The private sector had difficulty effectively integrating into some aspects of the response...Public Information Officers (PIOs) at all levels of government had difficulty obtaining substantive information on response activities."
Wonder if a common map grid would help?
Interestingly enough, the United States Fire Administration has included a link to www.FGDC.gov/USNG and the NETC's grid designation (geoaddress), at the bottom of it's Homepage since before Hurricane Katrina. It's still there today...(USNG: 18SUJ005965).
April 18th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) FEMA "Leadership"
October 2007, DHS first department-wide employee survey - The "Human Capital" employees of FEMA answer:
"How satisfied are you with the policies and practices of your senior leaders?"
"In the past year I have seen improvement in the following area: Leadership."
One wonders what the numbers look like from FEMA employees who remain that have seven years or
more of service in the agency, witnesses to the troubled fire chief epoch in the history of such a troubled agency, especially given the size of FEMA has doubled since Katrina and folks who are
new to the job tend to be (only) slightly more positive.... As it is, seven of ten Negative or
frelling Neutral; reckon that's a "return on investment!"
But then again, everything just might (not) be coming up roses.... Imagine, a group of employees so dedicated by their sense of mission, service to others, and ability to work with each other to not just identify problems but also develop solutions..., yet so unconvinced those in charge of their frelling "human capital" can take advantage of such excellence.
In this spin, notice the outright disinformation: "10. With the exception of personal job satisfaction, aren't the positive survey results relatively low? In general, overall results are consistent with results for all of DHS."
What crap, "with the exception of personal job satisfaction," FEMA throughout the entire survey was consistently at the bottom of the responses along with TSA, Border, Immigration and most interestingly of all, the Secretary's Office! Moreover, components like TSA, Border, Immigration with their large numbers of employees and respondents have a substantial statistical impact on the "consistent with results for all of DHS" way of thinking..., and the FEMA spin ministry knows it (or should). To make such a comparison is complete garbage. It would make more sense to compare the FEMA results with the Coast Guard scores. Heavens forbid.
PS: Speaking of the Coast Guard, they will be using USNG for the next catastrophic disaster operation (having listened to and supported "Pathfinders").
April 18th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) Two Sides of the Same Iraq War Research - Related to Emergency Management?
Many believe that if anything has been learned over especially the past decade of "news" coverage in the USA, the run up to war in Iraq for example, it's that you can't
rely upon practically anything the media puts on the air or in print. NPR and Public Television seem to have
become the last remaining portals where for the most part, issues are put into proper context, quoted
correctly...(add Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, the only commercial interest...and it's not even
"real" news!).
The Small Wars Journal today posted a perfect example regarding the Iraq War, and while neither what the media reported nor Joseph Collins' "fair summary of my personal research" is very reassuring, the media has something of a responsibility to be accurate and timely in what they report.
Related, have we really become a society of dimwits ruled by propaganda ministers that put out spin, taken up by select media/reporter buds who agree to reprint rather than report...so that they are first in line...all others take up the same message and repeat as if "news"? At least some are honest/competent enough to notice a similar reality: "Reading some of the news reports on the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) new report, “FEMA’s Preparedness for the Next Catastrophic Disaster,” which the OIG released Thursday, I found myself unable to keep from shaking my head and frowning in disbelief...."
April 15th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
FEMA's Green Success!
An infrequent look at FEMA's Homepage found this fantastic press release posted several days ago: "the first commercial building in Frederick County to be certified "green" by the U.S. Green Building Council"!! Absolutely fantastic and congratulations to the agency (in this case) leadership and all involved.
April 10th, 2008 Washington Post
White House torture advisers - History will not judge this kindly
April 9th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
FEMA wins 2008 Jefferson Muzzle Award from free-speech group
DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff: "I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I’ve seen since I’ve been in government....”
"Nonetheless, grave damage had been done to the Agency’s credibility, and perhaps even more broadly to the news media’s level of confidence in official government dispatches and releases," according to the Jefferson Center. "While this event did not entail efforts to restrict or suppress information of the type that usually occasions a Muzzle, FEMA’s incredible and unique attempt to substitute false or fabricated speech for free speech surely merits a 2008 Jefferson Muzzle."
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression is a unique organization, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Center enjoys close ties to the University of Virginia, but is an autonomous, not-for-profit entity devoted solely to the defense of free expression in all its forms. Convinced that an informed citizenry is the strongest defense of free expression, the Thomas Jefferson Center has made education the cornerstone of all its programs.
The Center's director Robert M. O’Neil said that “this year, perhaps more than any other, the incidents on which the Muzzles are based range from the imperious to the ridiculous."
One could easily conclude that FEMA was able to manage both, and then make matters worse still by baking a layered dishonesty cake, lying about why it had conducted the faux news conference in the first place with excuses that were "outlandish on so many levels, we don't know where to begin."
Yet another layer of the cake...and the icing...from a FEMA management culture that takes no responsibility for anyting, including this event, rather, they quickly
blamed their "career people" ("...It wasn't intentional, but he (Johnson) was set up," Paulison said, "and he walked in
there, and he didn't know everyone in the room...." "Those are career people. They should have
stepped up and said something, they really should have. But their bosses said 'Do this,' and they
did it -- some reluctantly, but there's no excuses for that," Paulison said...). Paulison two
months later, after things had quieted down, stepped up
and gave two of those supposed "career people" promotions.
"Identified in the photo are staff members that Johnson works closely with on a daily basis."
As is the norm with this Bush Administration, Medals of Freedom for all (except for General Shinseki)! Instead of "fire these people and the people who hired them, and then explain to the new people that the best way for a disaster relief agency to get good publicity is to do a good job helping disaster victims" (Bob Schieffer, CBS Face The Nation), FEMA's good ship propaganda continues to sail onward across the flat planet earth (winning awards).
Which Way to the National Grid, Note: the FEMA PIO statement (Walker)
per latitude/longitude is by his own agency's report (first US Fire Service Needs Assessment, excerpt posted below on this web site for
years) an
outright and intentional misrepresentation of truth (fact)! Divided by the three versions of
lat/long, fewer than two percent of US fire departments would use lat/long in an emergency to guide
other non-local responders to a specific location. It would also be very interesting to see in the
four years before Katrina the FEMA maps, if any, that can be shown to have ever used USNG! Where are
they? Who made them? When? For what purposes?
April 8th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
A challenged agency?
Several weeks ago, the FEMA director/administrator sat in front of Congress and testified that
his agency paid taxpayer dollars to bring in contractors to tell FEMA what was wrong with itself,
why it was “a challenged agency.” Evidently, paying large dollars to a company
was somehow preferable to bringing together a group of it's own agency professionals. Such an
approach, speaking with it's own troops (something Paulison simply will not do), using those who know the agency better than anyone else from the outside ever could,
evidently would not have worked. Or, perhaps that sort of approach would
have worked even better, but resulted in things the current FEMA management just does not want to hear; FEMA is more
challenged now than at any time in it's history.
According to the testimony, FEMA management and
Congress
"began repairing the damage to what was, frankly, a challenged agency" some two years ago!(?)
FEMA evidently was good enough to do the political dirty-work for President Bush the
election year before Katrina. One wonders, given FEMA's own press releases at the time, was FEMA a
"challenged agency" then, in 2004? Others noted at the time that: "Seldom has any
agency delivered for a president as FEMA did in Florida."
What happened? Or can nothing from or about FEMA be taken literally 2001-2008? Perhaps FEMA's true role is to be used...and abused as an agency, a convenient (necessary?) whipping agency. Maybe this latest cycle was different though, the ruling class pursued it's
political and business aims using FEMA's appointments and contracts..., worked to remove public
service and servants from the mix to the extent possible, ignoring them, reorganizing them till many either spew, or grow
silent.... Contract out as much as possible to expensive commercial machines, then when things go wrong, throw it all out onto the "challenged agency" trash heap, blame the beueracracy, plus "Brownie" at the bottom (and to think in 2004 how appreciated Mr. Brown had been). A process that perhaps has at the same time
corrupted a public agency's fundamentals to the core, and the public trust it once enjoyed (perhaps
mistakenly so). Cronies and a blurry “new vision.” The process repeats itself, new versions of past
"visions" with new names, titles, committees, subcommittees, sub-working focus groups, meaningless metrics for many
government services and programs where such concepts make very little sense, and of course, more reorganizations.
Perhaps Bush's management style is best put, congratulate and promote those in who had direct responsibility of "preparedness" for a storm just like Katrina (for the federal
government and more), during the three years leading up to Katrina.
When in doubt, reorganize.
From the same recent Congressional testimony noted above, it appears the major
success for the past year was a reversal of the mistaken decisions made by the “buds” a year before Katrina, where they tore FEMA apart renaming everything. The new success, putting it all back together again with even more new names and promotions for literally all involved. Reshuffled chairs, more chaos, more
reorganizations, back into the FEMA fold after less than two year years (and the music seems never to stop, nobody sits down).
Of course, in the testimony things were stated differently. What was removed is simply placed "into the FEMA fold," as if for the first time: "We have made major changes over the past year as we integrated the
Preparedness and Grants Programs Directorates into the FEMA fold and added their
capabilities and strengths to our existing preparedness and assistance programs."
Congratulations.
In addition to those reorganizations noted above, the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) is also being reorganized, so that, it appears, a few of the
chosen can be promoted and other slots created for yet more "buds." Keep the managers and staff busy on the important stuff, reorganizations, till the next
Administration reorganizes things again...one year later (and you know they will).
"This realignment looks very much like the way the organization was before we realigned several years ago. What is going on? Why are we being shuffled about? The staff is beginning to put names to greed and dysfunction; how can senior managers claim to be managers if they don't know how to manage change to improve the organization and its ability to deliver on its mission?" (USFA Response Section Staff - National Fire Programs, 09/2007)
Instead of "not this time," it's "tis time for another reorganization."
The little stuff? Heavens frelling forbid that FEMA management, via NIMS, would simply recommend (the) common map grid (standard, USNG)!
April 7th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
Professional Football Quarterback Marc Bulger Endorses Firefighter Seat Belt Pledge
St. Louis Rams Quarterback Marc Bulger is making public service announcements with USFA Administrator Greg Cade to stress the importance of seat belt use by firefighters. Excellent, someone like Bulger understands from his work on the gridiron that not only are plans, practice, and clear communications important, but arriving to where you are needed using proper safety equipment is a must!
Seat Belts - - - - A Common Map Grid
Next thing you know, USFA will team with someone of both Cade and Bulger's competence to encourage all to use a common map grid (USNG) in plans, training, equipment, operations, communications before, during, and after disasters strike the USA. This recommendation would be analogous with driving at night while wearing seatbelts, headlights on and eyes open.
H.R. 4847 just passed the House this past week by a vote of 412-0 - a bill to reauthorize the U.S. Fire Administration for four years and authorizes the agency to focus its resources on important issues facing firefighters today, such as fires in the wildland-urban interface and hazardous material incidents. Authorization bills provide the authority (not the funding nor competence) for NFA to train fire service personnel to respond to catastrophes resulting from terrorist related activities; response coordination to multiple large-scale events (such as Katrina/Rita); requires USFA to provide training and info to federal agencies to clear biomass on federal wildlands (that's a laugh); and advanced emergency medical service issues.
A very tall glass of milk for a FEMA as judged by whether or not the current Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) taught at the National Emergency Training Center uses maps with a common (intergrated) operating grid (USNG, the standard language of location to supplement street addresses/place names nationwide). Moreover, it is doubtful that the bill authorizes
nearly enough funding for USFA to carryout all of it's missions, not even close, and the appropriations eventually funded will end up driving USFA even further into the ground, more mission with less funding. Additionally, funding the US Fire
Service itself to overcome the their many needs, as identified twice in the past six years in the US Fire
Service Needs Assessment reports (USFA/NFPA), has lacked by great measure from what was and is
required (see Four Years Later - A Second Needs
Assessment of the U.S. Fire Service). (The Iraq War was recently estimated to cost over the coming years in the $3+ Trillion dollar range.)
In addition to the everyday house fire, the US Fire Service must be prepared to respond to an wide array of hazards ranging from floods, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks (the danger of which has grown) that could take the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens (or more), leaving millions needing help. This legislation does little to insure the continuance of the USFA except in name only, precious little more, let alone make up for the budget cuts in every year since 2001.
FEMA management also needs to develop and support leadership from within their own organization that in turn work with the men and women who form the core of the nation's emergency response forces.
When experienced professionals suggest year after year to FEMA and USFA management that for all disasters, due to a lack of fundemental preparedness, maps are the key pieces of intelligence needed early on but
many crews and other disaster workers will not have them, or they'll be torn from phone books (Andrew/Katrina) and few if any will include a professional common operating grid (USNG) overlay required for interoperability, it could be that there was someting to what they were/are saying, so listen!
From an agency that developed a National Response Framework that does not use the word “map” one single time, one wonders if some of the profoundly inexperienced actors who helped to develop it and the national Incident Management Team (IMT) structure, NIMS... (without any doctrine, like a common frelling map grid), that still has not effectively solved for many critical (basic) deficiencies in response coordination to multiple large-scale events (by implementing USNG), including biological and chemical attacks, one wonders if they can comprehend such things, and then train “the core of the nation's emergency response forces” to overcome: "a critical deficiency in U.S. consequence management...CBIRF´s ability to respond to threats within the United States will continue to be severely hindered. There will be continued friction in Homeland Security operations...." (USMC - Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (2005))
April 7th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
FEMA To Take Over Mass Care Role Formerly Held By Red Cross
An article on GovernmentExecutive.com includes: "...A recent report by the Government Accountability Office raises concerns about the new arrangement, however. While GAO supports FEMA's role as the primary agency for providing mass care, it questions whether it has the staff and resources to do so adequately. Additionally, neither FEMA nor the Red Cross nor other volunteer organizations are sufficiently prepared to support the elderly or people with disabilities during a disaster, auditors found...GAO specifically chastised FEMA for not coordinating efforts with the National Council on Disability, a federal agency that addresses disability issues. Such coordination is required by the law...."
The United States National Grid (USNG-NAD83) is "required"
for Federal agencies by both OMB Circular and Presidential Executive Order (were any of that to
matter under the Bush Administration). USNG since 2001, has been and is recommended for state and local agencies alike (and the general public for a number of reasons that in this country, due to a lack of leadership, most don't yet understand: location services; private; commercial..., it's much easier/accurate to enter a grid designation than most street addresses on your typical GPS...).
April 6th, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
Congressional (Senate) Hearings
No more trailers (or) ice, plus DHS's IG says "moderate," "modest," and "limited" progress in preparations for catastrophe
From the prepared statement of the DHS IG, an office one can have confidence in, it seems evident that they are doing a fairly competent job in evaluating FEMA's performance over the past almost three years, since Katrina came ashore and pulled back the curtains like Toto on the Wizard of Oz, exposing the charade that is our national preparedness for anything larger than the “run of the mill” type of disaster that FEMA is plenty capable of working just fine, "leaning forward since Hurricane Andrew." Using the IG's "four-tiered scale: substantial progress, moderate progress, modest progress, and limited or no progress", FEMA basically gets a D+ or C- at best in terms of progress made for preparedness of it's (and the nation's) consequence management capabilities for catastrophe.
Not terribly surprising, given the earlier finding for the fire service, a principle component of FEMA's "New Vision" in responding to catastrophic incidents: “none of the homeland security related needs (i.e., ability to handle any of four unusually challenging situations with local specialized equipment) showed marked improvement nor did any of the personnel needs related to those situations...," including, "...the vast majority of departments with a map coordinate
system have only a local system, which means the system they have is unlikely to be usable with
global positioning systems (GPS) or familiar to, or easily used by, non-local emergency response
partners, such as Urban Search and Rescue Teams, the National Guard, and state or national response
forces. Moreover, interoperability of spatial-based plans, information systems, equipment, and
procedures will likely be rendered impossible beyond the local community under these circumstances.
This reliance almost exclusively on local systems exists across-the-board, in all sizes of
communities. The U. S. National Grid (USNG-NAD83) standard, based on the grid system used by U.S.
military units and National Guard forces around the world, was adopted as the system best suited for
eventual national standardization. (http://www.fgdc.gov/usng/index.html)" (Four Years Later – A Second Needs Assessment of the US Fire Service USFA/NFPA – 2006)
Given FEMA still has not, according to their website, addressed the "common grid reference system, and standardized procedures" (US Senate recommendation from Katrina: A National Still Unprepared report), a critical deficiency with impacts to so much else, logistics, response, recovery, mitigation...preparedness (not addressed by the IG), the grade might well be a D- or solid F (as in frelled).
No less than the Defense Science Board in their report (now almost three years old), The Future of the Global Positioning
System, called for the USNG: "Those map products that do include grids may use any of several grid systems to identify locations, a lack of standardization that can create time-consuming confusion in time of emergency... standard grid for such applications that can eliminate this spatial confusion. Called the U.S. National Grid (USNG)...More focused leadership by the Federal Government to promote such basic education
as well as training in the uniform application of GPS at federal, State and local levels by
emergency responders would pay nationwide dividends for Homeland Security."
Imagine, in a city like Dallas, with a fine
police, fire, EMS, Emergency Management enterprise, one of the best of all major cities in the USA, having also
received many millions in DHS grant money to completely "modernize" their computer aided dispatch
(CAD), computers and GPS in many emergency vehicles..., but still no universal map grid (USNG standard) to
supplement street addressing at the user interface in CAD, GIS, paper maps, in-vehicle systems, radio communications..., which would add a great deal of "system" and solution to major
problems existing nationwide (read about the police officer killed while escorting Sen. Clinton's motorcade in Dallas).
There is a plan: Even when all radios ARE working, recognizing today's CAD/GIS geocoding and street addressing can often be very problematic, whether street signs are present or not, the language of location, what is said and how from those already on scene to those coming from outside areas in command posts, EOCs, and dispatch offices..., ALL using a life-saving universal (unified) standard language of location (USNG): Remember this major DHS report finding only weeks into the Katrina disaster: "Responders' lack of ability to share information between the MAC (Multi-Agency Coordination Entities) and area command posts is partially due to weak communications and interoperability standards. This is evidenced by situations where MAC and area commands may both be utilizing digital maps, but with different indexing standards. The result may be an inability to easily exchange map coordinates...."
Now, add in tens of thousands of responders coming into Dallas (or any city/region) from outside
areas for something catastrophic..., a universal language of location and many thousands of copies
of large format gridded maps (USNG) from day one has been proven critically important.
NIMS in many important respects, including maps (for a map driven enterprise), is an outright failure. FEMA seems willing to identify which organizational chart all will use, but gives a pass to a common operating grid (standard, USNG). Command without the proper tools for integrated control and coordination making for sloppy and ineffective (feckless) command. (Where has SAFECOM been all these years?)
Warm beer might be of more interest to the average citizen reading this; in the name of
individual preparedness, FEMA administrator Paulison has made the decision with only 288 days (11
hours and 15 minutes, but who's counting) left in George W. Bush's Administration, that no longer
will FEMA deliver ice to most disaster victims. This was mentioned in the hearings, no more trailers
too, and re. the ice, Paulison told the press at a recent hurricane conference that "ice can be a comfort, but it is
not a necessity."
Mr. Paulison is absolutely correct, problematic though following through will be, especially if
as he testified that
"special needs" populations will still be supplied ice at times when all feel as though they have
special needs. Citizens and businesses really do need to become much better prepared. States should
also be prepared with things like plastic sheeting for goodness sake,
even power generators! The law authorizes assistance by the fed only when local and state resources are overcome, yet Presidential declarations are given freely. Why on earth should states and locals expect the Federal government to provide
such services on tornado type of disasters that they know are going to happen year in and year out and are seldom beyond their own capabilities to respond and recover?
This makes as much sense as the expectation for ice deliveries,
but it seems some examples of "leaning forward" are more foolhardy than others; a "system" run a
muck
where claims are made of "locals" being in charge, but it turns out many are not very responsible in terms of
most elements of preparedness (but more than willing to blame others after-the-fact when things go wrong). This includes
understanding that they can't possibly expect
the federal government's responding agencies, in the interest of interoperability, to be expected to use each and
every local or state spatial reference system in times of crisis, it just doesn't work (for many reasons). A common map grid to robustly support street addressing for all types of activity just makes common sense in order to reduce operational friction to the extent possible under the worst of conditions when human lives are in the balance.
Until we all take more responsibility for ourselves and our neighbors, and demand accountability
from our local, regional, state and national political office holders, it really should be warm beer and
nothing else until the stark realization takes hold that waiting for the government to respond and
make everything all right..., does not and will not work without substantial re-thinking and even a
more substantial investment into the “system” we don't yet have.
PS: it is almost without doubt that when Mr. Paulison told the news folks in
Florida that he would at some point be leaving the agency to in part “get a real job again,” he
probably meant a new job that is much less demanding, not that his current job isn't real. It does
appear when reading this news article however, that he was willing to only fess up to his duties
before Katrina as the Administrator of USFA (it would be most interesting to see a listing of what he
views as accomplishments while there, if any), the FEMA Preparedness Division and later
Preparedness under DHS-EP&R evidently slipped his mind.
One further note, during the Senate hearing last week, it became clear that the DHS IG and Mr.
Paulison have a disagreement over Paulison's continued blame of the “FEMA culture” (whatever that
means, given he was one of the three of four top people in charge) prior to
Katrina, his needing to fix it.... Here, the IG gets a solid grade of an A+! FEMA has never had a
Golden Age, at best only Bronze with many problem areas, programs...like any large organization run
by the most SESers (generals) per employee than any other federal agency. For the past 15 years,
plain and simple, the largest afflictions
have been a seeming addiction to propaganda and cronyism. This, given the tasks at hand and the way
we do
things in the USA, with all of our independent fiefdoms, a herding of cats that all wear
stars or bugles... but so far are unable to do
even the simple things...in most states..., makes building a Nation better prepared for
catastrophe much more difficult...(and Katrina representing the lower (moderate-limited) end of that
scale). That's the culture that Paulison should have given his consideration, rather than making it
worse.
April 5th, 2008 Denver Post (Bob Ewegen)
West Point trains a new generation for new kinds of war
April 5th, 2008 Washington Post
Tortured Logic
April 2nd, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM) "Put the focus back on FEMA's response to the fires in California"
Given yesterday's extraordinary (non-journalistic) Governement Executive Magazine article about "FEMA's Rising" and the evident pushing of such information by the FEMA propaganda ministry, including how the California fires "response was widely, and favorably, compared to the agency's response to Katrina," the notion of doing exactly what the FEMA deputy administrator Harvey Johnson, administrator Paulison, and others, wanted folks to do back in October of 2007 (trying to make the fiasco of a fake news conference go away), "put the focus back on FEMA's response to the fires in California," seemed like a good thing to do.
So, here we go.
The "Initial Impressions Report" by
the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center,
entitled, Southern California Fires 2007: What we learned, how we worked, is a very competent (and independent) work.
Just search the report on "FEMA" and read for yourself the reality of "FEMA's response to the fires in California." Simply amazing, here are just a few excerpts: "...FEMA as a 'blesser/denier' of resource orders impaired logistics from setting up a camp that met all requirements in a timely manner...there was no FEMA liaison onsite
at the mob center and wondered if that may have helped the situation that developed...The way FEMA resources were called to the southern California fires had negative
impacts...personnel on some fires had not been notified of the incoming resources and did not
have assignments for them when they arrived. One respondent said, 'The mob center sent
resources that had not been ordered. Those resources were then turned around and sent back –
wasting everyone’s time'...instead of using FEMA
Mission Assignments, the use of Memorandums of Understanding would be more productive.
When FEMA and MultiAgency
Coordinating Groups work together on an incident, colocating
FEMA’s Joint Field Office at the State Emergency Operations Center may produce more of a team effort. One respondent said, 'Incident Command System mentors needed to be inserted into
FEMA to help them move quicker using ICS'...would like to see FEMA become more proactive...The FEMA Mobilization Center experienced multiple logistical problems that could have
been alleviated with more preplanning...Verbiage on the FEMA generated
resource orders appeared to require engine crews to
break driving and workrest rules in the effort to arrive on time..."
There were successes, including in the realm of geospatial technologies. However, and beyond the
(obvious) basic failure of no common operating grid (USNG), plus inability for a rapid production and distribution capabilities
of thousands of copies of maps in a ever-so-timely manner, the other geospatial lessons learned are
likewise the same, disaster after disaster: "...They noted
the use of five independent realtime mapping platforms used on the fires with no coordination
between them. The simultaneous efforts in gathering imagery from several different platforms and
sending it digitally to the IMTs lacked good communication and coordination. During an incident,
it was universally declared, is not a good time to introduce new programs...While a broad spectrum of Geospatial imaging tools are available, the communication and
coordination in using them is not as readily accessible. New technology must be intuitive
and easy to use or fireline personnel won’t use it. Introducing new GIS platforms during an
incident does not ensure their applicability...."
Another good source for showing how much propaganda production there was to the FEMA and DHS
management appearances in California in 2007...dramatic statements of this fire event showing how much
better things have become since Katrina...the "New FEMA"..., can be found on
the FEMA website. (Update: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/wildfire/ca_2007.
shtm)
On Wednesday, October 24th, the day weather conditions started to give state, local, and 83 DoD
firefighters a break in the extraordinarily difficult fireground conditions, FEMA lists their only contribution to date
as sending a Coast Guard C130 to fly a Federal Incident Response Team (FIRST) out of the FEMA
Regional Office in Atlanta. A FIRST team
is composed of five members but may be supplemented by others if required.
The mission of these five people was to "coordinate emergency support for the thousands of evacuees
at the Qualcomm shelter by ensuring essential communications channels remain accessible and
operational." (Whatever that means.) By the time this team arrived, the job was perhaps more of
disaster tourism, Qualcomm was being emptied as evacuees were allowed to go home. The Stadium was
closed on Friday. Why a five person "FIRST" team did not simply drive down from the FEMA Region in
San Fransico...,
fly from Denver, Seattle, Dallas FEMA Regions, all closer...remains a mystery. It could mean that
the State of California has a difficult time working with it's own FEMA Region (IX), but that's
simply conjecture (the Republican Govenor sure played nice).
In the final analysis, the State and Local officials, the Red Cross, DoD and lots of volunteers
had things well in hand at Qualcomm (certainly with lessons learned for the next time) and FEMA's
FIRST team assistance was not needed at all. But, if you don't send something, you can't claim
having responded to anything. Leaning forward from Atlanta to get there for an empty stadium.
FEMA the next day, October 25th, "as
federal, state and local firefighters make continued progress fighting the Southern California
wildfires" (why not "local, state and federal firefighters"?), FEMA begins a recovery effort by
having on-hand and ready to deploy four Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers (MDRCs). Basically, motor
homes/trailers with telephones and a few FEMA employees to assist folks who can't dial the FEMA
1-800 number on their own. All very good. The beginning of the recovery process is dialing
1-800-621-FEMA (3362). The TTY number is 1-800-462-7585. Telephone lines are open and Internet
registration is available 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Internet registration is easier and
faster for those with access to the Web. Given the numbers of mostly insured homes lost to the fires, a comparison
to Katrina here, by anyone, would be April foolish at best.
On October 26th, as the fires continued to burn but mostly away from the Coast (the Santa Ana
Winds had died off), the "response" work continued with in actuality no meaningful FEMA
involvement (as is normal for wildland/interface events), the "chief" FEMA propagandist along with
his DHS boss were in front of microphones telling the world how much better things had become since
Katrina...President Bush with them in California, and blocking traffic all over town (San Diego),
leaving it to the historians to determine how things were going. Meanwhile, back at the FEMA propaganda bat
cave, another five FEMA workers were “responding” (driving) to California from Denver with a few
pieces of communications equipment (a need at this point is uncertain at best, but it makes good
press and now there are ten FEMA employees in "response" roles to the fires).
Add to the list, but not found in press releases discovered to date, the large resources spent on deploying DMATs, who basically had nothing to do. Again, disaster tourism.
Impressive.
Credit where credit is due, at least FEMA did not send 4,000 firefighters to hand out the 1-800 teleregistration number...Community Relations, nothing else, a repeat of
the multi-million dollar Katrina fiasco.
Back to California, it must have spoiled an otherwise wonderful smoke-filled blue sky and absolutely
blue ribbon propaganda day for FEMA, DHS, and President Bush...to have the
Washington Post report on FEMA's fake news conference.
One can surmise, that this time, there was a great deal more care taken with regards to internal
FEMA and DHS emails and text messages...or like the White House, regardless of the law, they were simply deleted and lost to history.
April 1st, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
April Fools!
Making (Up) History!
Congratulations to GovernmentExecutive.com for doing their part to make this a special April Fools Day, literally 29 years to the day since FEMA was founded. The interviews sounded real, the names familiar, but there were clues hinting that it was all a traditional April 1st hoax of a story. Here are a few:
Who really lead the entire Florida State response to Hurricane Andrew? Was it the same person who also lead the entire operation (local/state/fed)? The “where is the calvary” emergency management person? If the local fire chief did so, but had such a hard time with FEMA during that operation, would it make sense that years later he would, as FEMA's Administrator, hire back into Federal government (at the civilian equivalent grade of General) the then Hurricane Andrew Federal Coordinating Officer to be the permanent Director of FEMA Region IV (an area that includes the entire SE USA)?
"Paulison was the antithesis of Brown." Pretty much gave the story away as a fake for those students and employees at the National Emergency Training Center who had shortly before Katrina heard Paulison say that Mr. Brown was the greatest boss he had ever worked for! All of the hurricanes and disasters the previous year and more..., all the evidence that was needed at the time to prove Brown was plenty experienced.
Just who was really on watch back then, who was for example, in charge FEMA preparedness in the years before FEMA was put under the new DHS..., and after? Hmmm. If three years later, the first problem that this person found was the lack of a unified command system for responding to storms like Katrina, then what in the hell was going on for all of those years in terms of preparedness for storms/earthquakes just like Katrina... by FEMA and DHS..., on their watch? Perhaps the "experience with FEMA was very poor," while he and just a very few others, were at the very top of the agency and in complete charge..., or, they could not change things till "Brownie," the greatest boss ever, was out of the way! The chiefy-chiefs perhaps were forced to send 27 US&R teams (plus all other civil response/recovery assets) to the same disaster area of operations without maps, and/or maps that did not include a common operating grid. They were also perhaps forced by Mr. Brown to instruct all, that GPS were to be set to whatever coordinate system anyone wanted, but could not, under any condition, use the standard (USNG) so that GPS, paper maps/commo/plans/operations..., all set to the same thing, would be interoperable.
A 2007 hurricane that did not hit the USA? This was a great clue that it was indeed April 1st! FEMA spent $70 million in a state that at the same time was saying: "The state of Texas has decided that it cannot count on the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help in a disaster...."
The CA wildfires (2007)? Did FEMA have nothing, a little, or a lot to do with any of the successes? How about specific problems (that in times of catastrophe are critical deficiencies, as was plainly evident with Katrina two years earlier): "Maps were the key pieces of intelligence that were needed early on, but many crews did not have them."
Manufactured successes for the fires, politico's throwing a fake news conference and then blaming their "career people" subordinates for "setting up" the Admiral, "not standing up" and stopping him from doing the wrong thing, i.e., propaganda, lying to the American public (and it wasn't even April 1st) . If any of that had been in the article, it just would not have been a very effective April Fools day joke, because of course, this is the real "New FEMA."
Congress had such nice things to say about FEMA's rising (to the occasion) this past July, something GovernmentExecutive also thought best not to mention (a dead giveaway): "...FEMA exists to serve the public. But it acts as though protecting Director Paulison from embarrassment is more important than protecting the health of the victims of Hurricane Katrina…," "...It is impossible to read the FEMA documents and not be infuriated. Americans don’t mind paying their taxes if they get a government that works. But when that bargain is broken — and tax dollars are squandered and health jeopardized — frustration rises and trust in government erodes...."
In terms of “striving to retool his agency before the next catastrophe strikes,“ metaphorically speaking, the FEMA "chief" may, without his knowledge, have a few of his own department's 10 stations (the FEMA Regions) on a common operating grid (USNG), along with others like DOD, USAR Teams, Florida, Missouri.... The chief just doesn't know how many or which ones. As of 02/01/2008, a search of www.FEMA.gov for "USNG" resulted in only one lonely return, and the webpage, regarding USAR Teams that now all use USNG..., was in Spanish. Today, April Fools Day 2008, even that page has been removed, the agency's website sanitized of something so odd for emergency managers to even consider on April 1st, a common map grid (if in Spanish). Saying someone has been striving to retool an emergency management agency, given the lessons learned, yet in reality they have not performed even such basics..., pure April Fools (in more ways than one).
Best clue of all, from the reading of the the GovernmentExecutive article, only four or five people in all of FEMA is what it took for the "New FEMA" to be ready for catastrophe. Their pictures and/or names are all there. Just five, just amazing (and the Admiral wasn't included in the article at all, which would have given the whole thing away as fake...in a catastrophic second).
Truly, a FEMA rising to (soon) see off to high paying contractor jobs...a few who even now believe their own press (propaganda) (given they make so much of it up themselves), but somehow, do not regard in a serious way the word “preparedness” (or "narcissism"); or how things such a this April Fools day joke in such poor taste might be perceived by a workforce, that in reality, does have many good, honest, hardworking, and experienced people!
March 31st, 2008 Emmitsburg (EM)
The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore.
Today, EmergencyManagement (EM) joins the Alliance in promoting the "together we can stop global warming" campaign because not only can we do something about it, we can easily do a great deal much sooner and at a greater advantage to all than is believed possible by so many.
Want one small and personal example? The 105 year-old residential structure (roughly 1,600 sq/ft)
where the EmergencyManagement (EM) computer is located (18S UJ 0044
9732), simply swapped out the the very smelly oil boiler, a converted coal burner using
$2,600 of fuel oil during 2007 season (oil prices are up 80% in 2008), for a Natural Gas boiler that has a computer,
inside and outdoors temperature sensors, a burner that works at 1%-100% burn-rate, depending on only
what is needed (the biggest saver of all, plus 95% efficient for what fuel it does burn).... Get this, the entire heating season
will in 2008 dollars come in at less than $400 (new thermostat with four settings, 67 degrees wake/shower, 65 during the day while at work, 67 degrees for the afternoon and evening, 65 comfortable sleeping temperature overnight (upstairs, including shower/bath, all temps are probably two degrees higher)). Needless to say, the system will repay itself in
three years and has very significantly lowered the carbon footprint of this structure (50-80%?) for years to
come....
What's more, and vastly more significant in terms of the planet on a whole, electric cars powered by renewable sources, biofuels from algae..., currently available off-the-shelf engines and components (for huge improvements in horsepower, mileage, while practically eliminating emissions), hydrogen,
(USFA/NFPA, 11/2006)
(10/05/2006)
(USFA FA-306, 07/2006)
(DHS - Nationwide Plan Review, 06/2006)
(State of Florida, 06/2006)
(FEMA Director Paulison, 05/2006)
(US Senate Report Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared, 05/2006)
(Metro COG, 04/2006)
(Hicks and Associates, Inc., for The Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and the United States Department of Homeland Security, 10/2005)
(The Generals, 09/2005)
(PA-1 DMAT Strike Team, 09/2005)
(Mike Price, ESRI ArcUser, 07/2005)
(USMC Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, 06/2005)
(Fire Chief Magazine, 08/2004)
(US Geological Survey, 10/2003)
(DeLorme, 2002)
(USFA/NFPA, 12/2002)
(Someday, someone will ask why USNG was not mentioned here in this USFA report, given it's adoption one year earlier by FGDC (OMB Circular A-16 and Presidential Executive Order) and support from the President's Science Advisor....)
(Claremont Graduate University, 07/2002)
(The White House (President Bush's Science Advisor), 12/2001)
(FGDC, 12/2001 (USNG, submitted by non-profit Public XYMapping Project in 1998, is adopted for everyday civil applications/location services + disasters.))
(FEMA, 04/2001 (as reported by the National Journal 04/2006))
(Hurricane Andrew, 10/1992)
(Hurricane Andrew, 10/1992)
A Few of the USNG Implementation & Pilot Projects (FL, OH, NC, MS...)
Others say they were told levee would hold; many dropped insurance
(The 02/1994 map that launched a concentrated effort by NFIP to improve it's address/location file for all insured properties.)
The Post and Courier's reporting (www.Charleston.net)..., one of a kind.
FireHouse.com's Comprehensive Coverage
www.EveryoneGoesHome.com
and the SAST Report
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole ~ Somewhere over the Rainbow
Have Yet to "Get serious. Be prepared."
More members of the military turn against the terror trials.
By Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick
Now the bad news: FEMA's “After Action Quick Look Report"
Positive 30.7, Neutral 27.3, Negative 42.0
Positive 33.9, Neutral 26.2, Negative 39.9
"It was not an NDU study, nor was it a Pentagon study."
National Journal April 29, 2006
Plus, USFA Reauthorized and Served Up Tall Glass of Milk
Wet Paper Bags
"The New FEMA: Is the Agency Better Prepared for a Catastrophe Now Than It Was in 2005?"
"South Houston Aqueduct, Grid: 0546 2826"
An infamous memo gets a public vetting -- five years too late
GovernmentExecutive.com offers a faux report of a mythical FEMA "before the next catastrophe strikes"
