Critical Infrastructure Archives

A Helping Hand from the Defense CBRN Response Force

Jamie Stowe March 28, 2012

The recent upgrading of the Defense Department’s former CBRN Consequence Management Response Force means that states, cities, and smaller communities throughout the country will have much greater medical response capabilities – personnel as well as equipment – than was ever before possible.

Libya’s Missing Chemical Caches: The Weapons of Armageddon?

Richard Schoeberl March 27, 2012

There are several “known” unknowns – namely, how to develop, produce, and deploy chemical and biological weapons that are more toxic than ever before possible. There also are some “unknown” unknowns, the most important of which is this: Where are the tons of chemical weapons that disappeared from Libya’s reported

Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI) Roundtable

W. Ross Ashley March 27, 2012

In the 21st century, combatting terrorism could be as simple as seeing something and saying something. Suspicious activity may signify terrorist activity, but that can only be determined if the right information gets into the right hands. Listen to W. Ross Ashley’s audio roundtable discussion on the Nationwide Suspicious Activity

Hospital Preparedness for ‘Chemical/Detergent’ Suicides

Craig DeAtley March 7, 2012

The Hospital Accreditation Standards established by The Joint Commission, and followed by almost all of the nation’s healthcare facilities, mandate that U.S. hospitals should be prepared to decontaminate patients who have been exposed to hazardous materials. However, although thousands of incidents involving hazardous materials occur annually in the United

Needed: ‘Off-the-Shelf’ Solutions for CBRN Protection

James Wilcox March 7, 2012

Ready to Wear – When There Is No Time to Spare! That is, or should be, the slogan of the far-sighted and foresighted PPE clothing and equipment manufacturers who recognize that there is absolutely no time that can be wasted when a CBRN incident occurs and that first responders must

Emergency Responses to CDLs: The Hidden Dangers

Christina Spoons February 29, 2012

Meth labs are another clear and present danger not only to individual users and the nation as a whole, but also to the lab workers, innocent “civilians” living in the same neighborhood, and – most of all, perhaps – firefighters and other first responders who are risking their own lives

FINAL REPORT: Information Sharing Across Emergency Management Disciplines

Joseph W. Trindal February 23, 2012

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, great strides have been made to share information across disciplines, but gaps still remain. Timely, actionable information is needed to effectively protect against and respond to future attacks. This report discusses a multi-discipline, “need-to-share” approach, which includes sharing information within and between communities.

Addiction in Emergency Services: Coworkers Help, Denial Hurts

Victor Welzant February 22, 2012

Major stress and constant pressure are all part of the job for emergency-services personnel and other responders. A less obvious but greater danger is caused by drug and alcohol addictions. Professional help is available, but not always wanted. What is most needed, and in the long term most effective, is

IT and the New Fight Against Drug Trafficking & Gangs

Rodrigo (Roddy) Moscoso February 22, 2012

Tighter laws, high-tech data systems, and considerable operational experience are making it “easier” for law enforcement agencies at all levels of government to fight the unprecedented growth of drug trafficking that is now a major danger in neighborhoods throughout the country. The winner of that fight has yet to be

NIMS/ICS and Drug-Enforcement Operations – Yes and No

Stephen Grainer February 15, 2012

Drug trafficking throughout the United States has become such an omnipresent danger that it can be diminished and eventually defeated only by the combined efforts of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies at all levels of government – local, state, and federal. Here, with the names of specific sources necessarily withheld, is

PTSD: The Front Lines of a New Conflict

Kate Rosenblatt February 8, 2012

The “save rate” of military personnel wounded in battle used to be extremely low. Now it is much higher, thanks in large part to better medicine and improved medical transport (ambulances and helicopters, primarily). However, one unanticipated result has been a huge increase in the survival of personnel suffering from

Operation Tomodachi: The U.S./DoD Response to Fukushima

Jamie Stowe January 25, 2012

When Japan was faced with a Level-7 radiation event following the 2011 earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami, it drew attention from agencies and governments around the world. The Tomodachi response team was deployed by the U.S. DoD to join Japanese forces in sharing radiation-related information to help contain the

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