Vital Systems Security

Stephen Flynn has a new article in Foreign Affairs with a range of familiar arguments. We are vulnerable, but our vulnerability (at least to terrorism) is not strategic, and the most damage that can be done is the result of irrational overreaction to terrorist events. Worth a read, although it is nothing new.

Curiously, the master category for Flynn is resilience. There are four dimensions:

“First, there is robustness, the ability to keep operating or to stay standing in the face of disaster…

Second is resourcefulness, which involves skillfully managing a disaster once it unfolds. It includes identifying options, prioritizing what should be done both to control damage and to begin mitigating it, and communicating decisions to the people who will implement them…

The third element of resilience is rapid recovery, which is the capacity to get things back to normal as quickly as possible after a disaster…

Finally, resilience means having the means to absorb the new lessons that can be drawn from a catastrophe.”

In other words: vulnerability reduction, preparedness, learning. The creeds of vital systems security.

In October Dale posted on the release of the National Response Framework (NRF), which at the time was roundly criticized both because it did not give adequate power to FEMA administrators (a major issue during Katrina and Rita response) and because it was weak on specifics and failed to take into account criticism from the emergency management community. At a press conference yesterday a revised NRF was released. And the response has been dramatically more positive thus far. The International Association of Emergency Managers, which derided the original NRF as a “public relations document” that lacked any usable specifics praised the new NRF. Russ Decker, the First Vice President of IAEM said in a press release that:

We are extremely pleased with the final National Response Framework (NRF) product. It is apparent that our counterparts in Washington were listening and genuinely interested in addressing the issues raised by local emergency managers. As result of the improved process, we believe the NRF is a document that local emergency managers will find very useful. This is the greatest compliment a local official can give a Federal document. We get many documents from Washington that go on a shelf, but this one will actually be used. We appreciated being included in the process and look forward to a continued dialogue on this and other issues.

More on this, no doubt, in days to come. But at least in this area it looks like DHS has finally gotten a bit more serious about distributed preparedness. The full range of documents DHS released yesterday can be found here.

Reporting from LA…. The southern CA firestorm is perhaps FEMA’s first major test since Hurricane Katrina. A big task is the evacuation. There are multiple fires and they are traveling fast and in unpredictable ways. People sometimes want to stay to protect their houses in the absence of firefighters. One criticism likely to emerge is that the SD fire dept lacked resources, despite the known fire danger. Another - which is always noted after fires, but does not seem to affect development - is that people should not be allowed to build houses in these zones. So far it seems that the evacuation has been handled in a very different way than New Orleans. According to reports, the 20,000 people in Qualcomm stadium are well-fed, the national guard is there with automatic weapons in case of social disorder. On the other hand it is not clear that there are sufficient resources available for people showing up in evacuation centers, such as the race track in Del Mar. This is a very different situation than Katrina, of course. First, the city is not totally engulfed: most of its infrastructure (communications, electricity, transportation) is operational. Second, the race and class dynamic is different: many of the burned and threatened areas are wealthy suburbs, and residents have resources and networks to find adequate accommodations after evacuating. Third, state and federal leaders know they are under scrutiny and must demonstrate quick response (not to mention that the CA governor is from the same party as the president). FEMA has set up a Joint Field Office in Pasadena; USNORTHCOM, the Red Cross, etc are in action. A lot now depends on how much longer the heat and Santa Ana winds continue….

This does not meet our usual standards of seriousness but was too funny to pass up. The Onion on a Jell-O attack by conceptual terrorists on the Sears Tower. A great line: “The DHS said it has taken additional measures to secure the Brooklyn Bridge following today’s Jell-O attack, as initial evidence suggests that the New York landmark may or may not be the site of “found terrorism.”

An article in today’s Times reports on a study of invasive MSRA infections contracted in health facilities. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study estimates that nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States can be traced to such infections (which are resistant to front-line antibiotics) every year, and found that they are contracted in a range of health facilities beyond hospitals. The remedy is simple hygienic practices (such as washing hands — which health care professionals do with astonishing infrequency, according to the article) and better surveillance by hospitals so that performance can be benchmarked.

Science reports on a recent Congressional hearing concerning the “proliferation” of biocontainment labs in the six years since the anthrax letters.  While BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs have sprung up in response to newly perceived biological threats, the GAO argues that these labs are themselves a source of threat.  Reflexive modernity in action:  “in a harsh critique, a government auditor told Congress today that the uncontrolled expansion of new biocontainment facilities has itself made the country more vulnerable to accidents and bioterrorism. Federal officials agreed that they need to take steps to improve safety.”

There is an article in today’s New York Times on anthropologists working in counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan Read the rest of this entry »

A quick follow on Dale’s post. I just wanted to direct attention to the nice posting from demfromct at dailykos on pandemic preparedness, emergency response, and related matters. A recent post addressing the National Response Framework included this choice graphic on pandemic flu authorities and responsibilities that seemed too good to let slip past. Note the dead bird in the upper left. (What is going on with that bird exactly? Maybe just resting? Hanging upside down? Etc.) Dynamic org. charts of emergency response certainly have come a long way since U.S. Civil Defense in 1950.

According to today’s Times the field of emergency management is burgeoning in the U.S. There are 144 college programs offering degrees in the field, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there will be 28,000 emergency management specialists by 2012. What is the source of growth in the profession? The article cites increases in disaster losses in recent years, but does not discuss the source of this increase. Are communities more vulnerable to disaster? Are disasters more expensive to manage? Or are governments more inclined to declare events to be emergencies?

Amazon.com just sent me an email directing me to Amazon’s Emergency Preparedness Store. Not a joke. Repeat. Not a joke. And that’s not all. The page says that “Every household should have an emergency kit in case of disasters. We’ve prepared a checklist of essential emergency items to help you assess your needs. Shop all categories in the Emergency Preparedness Store or use the scenario-specific navigation below.” Vulnerability assessment based on specific scenarios! Do as DHS does for national preparedness but for your own home and family! Click on the links below to go to the amazon.com store and prepare yourself for…

There is no mention of a bioattack, however. We will have to wait for amazon to sell “home vaccine stockpile” kits.