The Homeland Security Blog

From what I can tell from reading public comments and reactions on Bossier Parish’s (Louisiana) newest emergency protection plan, the next step for the parish officials may be to secede and form their own perfect union.

Introducing “Operation Exodus” on February 20th, the official press release alludes to the inclusion of citizen volunteers helping law enforcement personnel in times of the worst possible disaster. Community assistance is a recognized role for citizen volunteers trained by emergency services to provide support to victims of floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes and other potential disruptions on normal services. But this is not your typical Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) operation. In a newspaper article and video, the county law enforcement agency appears to be ready to arm volunteers willing to form a militia to fend off “Islamic extremists.”

Our country depends on volunteers to perform many functions in times of need, whether by a large group or an individual – from disaster relief to burn care to fire fighting and much, much more. And the CERT model is an excellent application (and illustration) of the dedication that Americans have for each other. But this is carrying the model way outside the boundaries of reason. Not only is this a dangerous program in the planning (if carried out as indicted by the available information), it is a misuse of the volunteer spirit that continues to serve our country and is an opportunity to create its own disaster in the execution.

Let’s use the great models that we already have for supplementing needed resources and avoid getting too carried away in empowering people beyond their capabilities.

How many real-life examples does it take to prove an initiative’s value?  Some would say one.  And some would pontificate for years to try to determine this number.  I like the former answer, because it means you actually get out there and start working toward that one tangible proof-of-concept.  In the following blog, I will share with you multiple stories of real-world applications of Virtual USA (vUSA) information sharing capabilities that have had tangible implications in the emergency preparedness and response community over the last year.  These successes were largely the result of a collaboration established in February 2009 known as the Regional Operations Platform Pilot (ROPP), a true partnership between the Department of Homeland Security and eight states in the Southeastern United States to improve regional — and ultimately national — information sharing.

During the floods of 2009 that hit Atlanta, Georgia, the state emergency management agency utilized VIPER, Virginia’s common operations platform, to help manage the response and recovery efforts.  Virginia uses VIPER on a daily basis in its emergency operations center (EOC); some noteworthy real-world applications of the platform include the April 2008 tornado outbreak, the 2009 Presidential inauguration, and “snowmageddon” of February 2010.  Meanwhile, just four days after Florida demonstrated that its new information sharing platform, GATOR, was technically interoperable with its ROPP partners on November 4, 2009, it used GATOR to help manage Hurricane Ida.  In neighboring Louisiana, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) is busy developing rich applications that are interoperable with its platform, Virtual Louisiana, in order to help its EOC better fulfill its mission.  The GOHSEP team built a dashboard tool, which is a business objects application that compiles data from WebEOC to help with recovery efforts, specifically in determining requirements for FEMA public assistance.  Louisiana decided to make this tool open source so that others could benefit from their technological discovery, which Virginia sought to leverage immediately (among others).  Over in Mississippi, on January 19, 2010, the state operationalized its platform known as Discover Mississippi in a life-saving mission to recover a lost hunter in the countryside.

These examples of Virtual USA in action prove that collaboration is a great means to expanding the horizon on the art of the possible and helping state and local practitioners better manage emergencies and incidents in real-time.  One year ago, most of these information sharing capabilities were still just a discussion; today, they are an operational reality and part of a ground-breaking history that is serving as a model for other states and regions across the nation.  Ongoing efforts include a second phase of the ROPP and a new regional information sharing pilot with five states in the Pacific Northwest, which will write the next chapter of Virtual USA’s history.  Stay tuned.

Perhaps my awareness on communications is up simply as the result of two coincidental events. One, the Boston Sunday Globe “Ideas” section featured an article entitled “Attack of the Light Drizzle: How Weather Was Taken Over by the Hype Machine.” In short, author Robert David Sullivan gives an account of how recent storms (i.e., one that occurred in the Washington DC/Philadelphia/NYC areas) received a lot of “news” about how it was going to move into New England and be worse. OMG! What a terrible thing! Some even recalled stories of the 1978 Blizzard that actually buried cars and stopped activity the Northeast for several days. But what really happened was… nothing. Schools were canceled. Workers told to stay home. Grocery stores were overwhelmed. All for, nothing. Sullivan points out that our weather forecasts are packaged and delivered not for information but for drama. Okay, that’s one.

The other coincidental event was my listening to WNYC’s Radio Lab podcast examination of the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast by Orson Welles. In the off-beat but well researched podcast in front of a live audience, hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich explained the historical context and why the drama of a Martian invasion was taken seriously by about 12% of the listeners, resulting in some panic and hallucinations in New Jersey, panic calls to the New York Times about where people might find safe places to escape the deadly gases, and so on.  At that point, most of the audience agreed that that sort of thing could never happen again. But it did! The same drama was revised and broadcast in 1949 in Ecuador, resulting in a panicked population, as the military and police rushed to the “landing” site to battle the invaders from Mars. As soon as it was understood to be only a hoax, the panic turned to anger and six people died and the radio station was stoned and burned.  But wait. It was re-done by a radio station in Detroit in 1968 (high tension time of the Vietnam War) and caused panic not only in Detroit but in Canada as well.

The conclusion of the podcast indicates that Welles knew what he was doing. In a way, he and his radio actors (later called “terrorists” by the government) was poking at the current (1938) news broadcasting companies for exploiting hype and drama to garner listeners.

I think my point here is that, for emergency managers and responders, communications is essential but not at all easy.  Rocket science is based on physics, chemistry, mathematics – all relying on predicable results if the rules are followed. Communications is much more difficult because it deals with social science – you know, people.

When technology (mobile TV, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter , etc.) can outstrip our ability to provide accurate information and broadcast news seeks dramatic sound bites to offer as teasers, emergency managers and responders must have a communications plan that is as complete and well-conceived as their operations plan. When the message is clear, concise and accurate, then technology is best means to deliver the information and reduce the potential for adding disaster on top of any emergency incident.

A lot of attention is given to the approximately 1.5 million fire fighters in 30,000 fire departments in the U.S.  As a second-generation fire fighter, I’m certainly not alone in expressing gratitude that both the once-in-a-lifetime heroic and the day-to-day efforts of all fire fighters are being recognized by our country’s top officials and agencies.

Having said that, I would also like to recognize that the fire service is only one of the many agencies that play a significant role in public safety.  Others include law enforcement (of course), emergency medical services (indeed), public health agencies (certainly), the over-encompassing emergency management agencies and personnel on local and state levels, and many others, like the Red Cross and Salvation Army. The list goes on and on. You know who they are.

The issue that I see is that these key agencies are too often viewed (and treated) as towers, stovepipes, or, as one person recently stated, “cylinders of excellence.”  Yes.  Each one in their discipline.  From start to finish.  Excellent!

I sometimes wonder how the unifying leadership of DHS can pull all these excellent local ‘cylinders’ together for common, coordinated responses to the big disasters?  Local and state agencies and organizations have made remarkable accomplishments in coordination, cooperation, and planning. While there are hundreds of successes, there may be yet uncovered weaknesses caused by the failure to link these stovepiped organizations in time of national crisis. But wait! All disasters begin locally, right? So the real answer is in front of us – the best thing that DHS can do is lead in strengthening the links at the local and state levels!

The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation has established a solid relationship with DHS and associated public and private organizations. Although the NAPSG Foundation is relatively new, it is attempting to address the broader scope of public safety in its membership and outreach based on the common use and application of geographic information systems (GIS). One of the common threads that seem to tie all the stovepipes together is the need for data and data analysis and the physical representation of data (maps) that present a common picture of the scope of a disaster or single event in which everyone plays a role.

A little over a year has passed since the Administration issued the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. This memorandum directed federal departments and agencies to take specific actions to implement a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government; a government in which there is no barrier between the people and their government. Agencies have taken some steps in making their work more transparent for the American people, and in December, the Administration issued the Open Government Directive which called on all agencies to create an open government Web page by February 6, 2009.  Over the last weekend, DHS and many other agencies launched  Web pages to serve as the gateway for implementing their agency’s version of the Open Government Directive. 

So why is this so important to you?  Well, DHS wants your input on their Open Government Plan. How should DHS increase transparency? What is the best way to foster a culture of participation around critical homeland security issues? Do you have ideas to help increase collaboration? They want to hear from you! Their online participation tool will be available until March 19, 2010. You can contribute your own ideas and rate ideas that others have submitted.

The 2010 TCIP Conference was a whirlwind week of catching up with old friends, meeting new ones and advancing life saving emergency response technologies.  The theme for this year’s conference was critical connections and the dual purpose of that theme was not lost on this crowd. The sessions focused on connecting emergency responders with technology while the hallways were filled with practitioners, government officials, and members of industry connecting with each other for a multitude of collaboration opportunities.  It was great to have so many smart focused people at the same event working together to address the needs of the public safety community. The discussions in the sessions overflowed into the hallways – the GIS panel alone could have been a full day session, but alas the presentations and subsequent questions had to fit into an hour and a half.  It was very interesting to see which breakouts drew the biggest crowds: the GIS, open source, and federal resources panels all generated a lot of interest.  Planning for the TCIP 2011 agenda has already begun and we are looking for your ideas on which topics to cover. Let us know and we will be sure to convey them.

by Neil Canfield

The 2010 Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference (TCIP) offered a packed program.  After attending sessions scattered throughout the three day schedule, I walked away from Philadelphia with a notebook full of interesting initiatives.  As Bob mentions below, the initiative that drew the most attention from the attendees at TCIP was Virtual USA (vUSA).  The information sharing possibilities and “critical connections” that vUSA presents the first responder community was definitely the core theme of the conference.  In fact, one of the breakout sessions I attended highlighted how the vUSA model can change and revolutionize the way that technology solutions are utilized by first responders during a critical incident.  While listening to the speakers in the Breaking Down Stovepipes: Using Open Source Tools for Emergency Response Personnel panel, it was exciting to think about the benefits that open technology solutions can provide.  The panel gave an example of how open source tools can quickly and efficiently connect people, organizations, requests, and assistance through highlighting the Haiti 2010 Sahana Disaster Response Portal.  The Sahana Foundation built the site to assist in the response and recovery of the Haiti Earthquake, and as is true of open source solutions, it is specifically targeted to the need.  It was amazing to witness how technology innovations can help to transform the way that information sharing during disaster response is undertaken.  I am looking forward to the initiatives that will be undertaken using open source technology; they may be the next big thing highlighted at TCIP 2011.

by Bob Greenberg

To me this year’s TCIP conference was the best of all the 11 I’ve been involved with – and for one reason – there was a core thematic – Virtual USA (vUSA).  While not every panel addressed it – because there were plenty of other critical issues to talk about – vUSA provided a framework for numerous discussions  in the hallways, restaurants and bars about the dramatic transformations that can take place in the way public safety does their job through the use of Web 2.0 and related technologies.  By demonstrating to the audience in the opening session, followed by a powerful endorsement by White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Scott Deutchman the following day, how these new technologies are already working to transform emergency management and response – it served as an inspiration and guide for the rest of the conference.  As a result the Philadelphia Marriott was “abuzz” with conversations between technologists and practitioners on the application of social media to day-to-day operations;  the use of open source technologies and methods; linking advanced simulation and modeling to the visualization platforms used in vUSA; and even looking to the next phase – what is called the semantic web or  “linkeddata”  which will enable completely seamless – and almost effortless – sharing of information.  In fact, I was involved in one discussion with someone from MIT on this that had my head spinning with the art – and science – of the possible.

It all culminated in the Technology Roundtable that was hosted by Dr. David Boyd from DHS S&T – and the leader of the vUSA initiative – that brought together practitioners, technologists and academics for a “team” meeting on how all this needs to work.  The group – which was packed in like sardines in one of the rooms – had a spirited dialogue on how the private sector needs to work more closely with practitioners up front to avoid the tendency to create technology solutions in search of a problem and instead create solutions to solve practitioners’ problems. One of the core parts of the discussion was the need to create new business models so that the technologies being offered are not too expensive to deploy or don’t hamper interoperability due to their proprietary nature. This was the first in a series of such dialogues that will be coordinated between DHS and the TechNet Crisis Response Working Group. (E-mail KVernon@Technet.org for more info) While at times the dialogue was testy, at the end everyone understood that they were one team and had to act that way for the public good. It left me truly believing that the future is now!

Next week is the Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference, more commonly known as TCIP. There will be lots of interesting sessions including a keynote address from White House CTO Aneesh Chopra . Jim Smalley, an experienced emergency responder and blogger on EmergencyManagement.com blogged about the upcoming conference:

The Power of GIS, Virtual USA, and More!
January 23, 2010

How many conferences have you attended and wished you’d stayed home, doing something more productive, like counting paper clips? Well, that won’t be the case in this conference! And it’s free!!

The event is the 11 th Annual Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness (TCIP) Conference and Expo in Philadelphia, February 2-4, 2010.

For me, the highlight of this year’s conference will be the opening session on DHS’s recently announced Virtual USA initiative (an effort supported by the NAPSG Foundation to advance data interoperability/sharing for emergency responders) and the ‘Power of GIS’ panel session for which the NAPSG Foundation’s Vice-Chair Rand Napoli will serve as the moderator. (Insider tip: Rand is also a member of the Virtual USA GIS Working Group along with NAPSG Foundation Chairman Chief Keith Richter).

The conference includes sessions on prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery and the technological and training tools available for the emergency response community to effectively manage future hazards and incidents. The conference is an opportunity attendees to have directly meet with Federal agencies and members of the public safety community on current emergency response challenges and the brainstorming of potential solutions.

The event is sponsored by the DHS Science & Technology Directorate and co-hosted by the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Defense (DoD). The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation (NAPSG Foundation) is a partner organization. (Check out my 1/12/10 blog for more information.)

Key speakers include White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison, and Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers.

I’ll be there, too, and look forward to meeting my readers (both of you!). Stop by the NAPSIG Foundation exhibit booth and say hello.

 

What could have been a terrible tragedy was averted by the brave passengers on Northwest flight 253. The Christmas Day terror plot reminded us that no matter how many security measures are present in airports, those intent on harming civilians will adapt and still make it through.

Now that the plot has been exposed, numerous investigations are ongoing…yet others are not.

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has authority to conduct investigations on any matter, has decided not to look into the security breach that allowed a terrorist onto a U.S. bound plane, at the direction of its Chairman, Congressman Ed Towns. This has prompted much criticism and repeated calls for an investigation by other members of the committee.

As the “…main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives”, the Oversight Committee is authorized to look into “…any matter with federal policy implications.” If the committee were to hold hearings on this issue it would immediately signal Congress’ recognition of the gravity of the situation and circumvent other committee jurisdiction issues/arguments that typically occur in these types of matters, possibly resulting in a more efficient, far reaching investigation.

Arguments are constantly made that the U.S. Congress is out of touch with regular Americans and its attention has seemingly been diverted to the topic of healthcare reform only. While the activities of the Oversight Committee may be a little known issue outside of Washington, D.C.’s insulated world, Americans across the country should be concerned with the current priorities of their elected officials. It seems to me that a systematic review of what occurred on December 25th should be a priority to Congress and for that reason the Oversight Committee should be taking a look.

Politics aside, what do you think? Should this committee be investigating the terror plot in the first place? Should it be left to other committees with a more specific purview over the issue such as the Committee on Homeland Security? Should Congress stay out of it altogether and let agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Transportation Security Administration handle it? Should this topic be at the top of our elected officials’ priority list?

A January 16, 2010 Washington Post article featured a little known but important movement that promises to greatly enhance the capabilities of the crisis response community, both international and domestic. It highlights the work of several organizations that are devoted to applying geospatial technologies to develop tools to improve situational awareness and provide better analysis to prepare for and response to crises. Among the groups, which tends to overlap in members are the International Network of Crisis Mappers, Crisis Commons, and Random Hacks of Kindness with the latter two growing out of the first ever Crisis bar camp held in Washington, D.C. last summer. Related to these is the Star-Tides program, which conducts technology experiments four times a year at Camp Roberts in northern California.

All of these organizations bring together technologists from the private sector as well as government laboratories with practitioners, government representatives, not for profits and individuals interested in using technology to help in preparing for and responding to crises as well as humanitarian relief – such as the current crisis in Haiti. What’s most important here is that most of the people involved in this movement are volunteers and, in the best tradition of the Internet Generation, are committed to mass collaboration to developing free, open source tools that can be provided to crisis response workers.

Currently much of the efforts of these organizations have been directed towards international crisis response efforts, but programs like the Department of Homeland Security’s Virtual USA are beginning to engage them to help with tools for domestic emergency preparedness and response efforts. An example of this is DHS’s engagement with the TechNet Crisis Response Working Group that was established after meetings with Secretary Janet Napolitano and other DHS officials. One place where this will be discussed in more detail is the Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference (TCIP) sponsored by DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate along with the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice and the Department of Defense’s Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs – which is being held in Philadelphia Feb 2-4.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday evening has highlighted the usefulness of Web 2.0 tools as a means of sharing information in times of crisis. Few phone calls have been reaching the Caribbean nation following Tuesday’s quake, however, a flurry of texts, twitters, photos, status updates, and other online communications have been published from social networking sites and Web 2.0 tool users throughout the disaster area.

In the hours following the quake, Web 2.0 tools were instrumental in the collection and aggregation of basic information. With much of the country’s infrastructure in ruins, Twitter updates provided an outlet for citizens to present real-time reports, a handful of videos uploaded to YouTube offered a physical view of the destruction, and pictures on Flickr showed some of the victims of the disaster.

The Google Earth platform has made data available to U.N. organizations and is encouraging users with ground knowledge to update the map of Haiti with disaster response data. One of Google Earth’s imagery partners, GeoEye, has provided post-earthquake satellite imagery of the country. This is a remarkable step forward in making data available in order to create a shared map of the country. What we need now is to systematically integrate these tools into response and recovery efforts, including a process for managing and sifting through the plethora of data to find what’s most relevant to the various groups who need it most.