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1. A publication of e.Repu
publication e Republic
November/December 2011
Issue 6 — Vol. 6
Governor’s quick response
puts Alabama on road to
recovery after tornadoes
EM11_cover.indd 2
Gov. Robert Bentley and his wife,
Dianne, survey the damage.
11/14/11 10:01 AM

2. Knowledge is Power.
Knowledge Center™ is Fusion.
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Interoperable with CADs
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3. “The
Knowledge Center’s ‘common operating
picture’ is something that every response
organization should strive for.”
— Commander Timme, US Coast Guard
“I
think this type of information sharing
is an example of how it should be.”
— Lieutenant Zupanc, Ohio Fusion Center
Don’t just report.
Communicate.
Call us: 412.635.3322
www.knowledge-center.com
Incident Management Software Solutions
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4. ON THE COVER
Contents
16
Rising to
the Challenge
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley
discusses the state’s response
to devastating tornadoes.
FEATURES
Cover photo AP Images
24
Training Gone Awry?
Is today’s antiterrorism training keeping
up with the diverging threat?
30
Disruption
Management
Health-care organizations expand their
emergency management focus.
DEPARTMENTS
40
DISASTER RECOVERY
Digging Out
Parts of New England and New Jersey
are on the long road to recovery after
Hurricane Irene.
42
PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Models to Emulate
Higher education institutions can learn
crisis management strategies from
federal models.
46
TRAINING AND EDUCATION
ADAM DuBROWA/FEMA
Colorado’s Unique
Radio Standards
A statewide set of standards and a
shared language was 10 years in
the making.
4
EM11_04.indd 4
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6. Contents
Group Publisher:
Founding Publisher:
VP Emergency Management/
Homeland Security:
Don Pearson dpearson@govtech.com
Tim Karney tkarney@govtech.com
Martin Pastula mpastula@govtech.com
Publisher:
Scott Fackert sfackert@govtech.com
Executive Editor:
Steve Towns stowns@govtech.com
(916) 932-1497
(916) 765-1875
EDITORIAL
Editor:
Associate Editor:
Managing Editor:
Chief Copy Editor:
Contributing Editor:
Staff Writers:
NASA/CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
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Karen Stewartson kstewartson@govtech.com
Miriam Jones mjones@govtech.com
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Hilton Collins hcollins@govtech.com
Corey McKenna cmckenna@govtech.com
Natalie August naugust@govtech.com
DESIGN
Creative Director:
Art Director:
Senior Designer:
Illustrator:
Production Director:
Production Manager:
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Joei Heart jheart@govtech.com
PUBLISHING
VP of Strategic Accounts:
Regional Sales Directors:
East
West, Central
Jon Fyffe jfyffe@govtech.com
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Account Managers:
DEPARTMENTS CONTINUED
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Business Development Director: Glenn Swenson gswenson@govtech.com
Bus. Dev. Managers:
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Director of Marketing:
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Sr. Dir. of Custom Events:
Whitney Sweet wsweet@govtech.com
Dir. of Custom Events:
Lana Herrera lherrera@govtech.com
Custom Events Managers:
Tanya Noujaim tnoujaim@govtech.com
Gina Fabrocini gfabrocini@govtech.com
Custom Events Coordinator:
Megan Turco mturco@govtech.com
Custom Events Admin.:
Sharon Remeiro sremeiro@govtech.com
Sr. Custom Media Writer:
Jim Meyers jmeyers@govtech.com
Custom Media Writer:
Noelle Knell nknell@govtech.com
Custom Media Proj. Asst.:
Courtney Hardy chardy@govtech.com
Dir. of Web Products and Svcs.: Zach Presnall zpresnall@govtech.com
Custom Web Products Manager: Michelle Mrotek mmrotek@govtech.com
Web Advertising Manager:
Julie Dedeaux jdedeaux@govtech.com
Web Services/Project Manager:
Adam Fowler afowler@govtech.com
Subscription Coordinator:
Eenie Yang subscriptions@govtech.com
East
50
12
TECHNOLOGY AND TRENDS
In the News
West, Central
Fighting Fire With Data
A partnership seeks to aid wildfire fighting with
real-time information while operating from a
next-generation emergency operations center.
14
52
62
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
Product Spotlight
EM Bulletin
Preparing for Repopulation
64
Lessons learned from repopulating Louisiana
parishes after Katrina lead to the creating of
comprehensive re-entry plans.
Eric’s Corner
CORPORATE
CEO:
Executive VP:
Executive VP:
CAO:
CFO:
VP of Events:
Chief Marketing Officer:
Chief Content Officer:
The Changing Face of Disasters
66
REST OF THE BOOK
Last Word
8
The Power of Push Partners
Letters/Calendar
Dennis McKenna dmckenna@govtech.com
Don Pearson dpearson@govtech.com
Cathilea Robinett crobinet@centerdigitalgov.com
Lisa Bernard lbernard@govtech.com
Paul Harney pharney@govtech.com
Alan Cox acox@govtech.com
Margaret Mohr mmohr@govtech.com
Paul W. Taylor ptaylor@govtech.com
Emergency Management (ISSN# 2156-2490) is published bi-monthly by e.Republic Inc,
100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630. Application to mail at Periodicals Postage
Pending at Folsom, Calif. and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes
to: Emergency Management, 100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630. Copyright
2011 by e.Republic, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Opinions expressed by writers are not
necessarily those of the publisher or editors.
10
Point of View
Article submissions should be sent to the attention of the Managing Editor.
Reprints of all articles in this issue and past issues are available (500 minimum).
Please direct inquiries for reprints and licensing to Wright’s Media: (877) 652-5295,
sales@wrightsmedia.com.
The Cost of Neglecting Infrastructure
Subscription Information: Requests for subscriptions may be directed to subscription
coordinator by phone or fax to the numbers below. You can also subscribe online at
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100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA 95630
Phone: (916)932-1300 Fax: (916)932-1470
www.emergencymgmt.com
6
e
The inside pages of this publication are printed
on 80 percent de-inked recycled fiber.
A publication of
EM11_04.indd 6
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7. Law Enforcement
& Security
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& Recovery
Information
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to help you respond quickly to your state and local needs. GSA helps you generate efficiencies and savings for the
American people.
To learn more, call 703-605-9155 or visit www.gsa.gov/stateandlocal.
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8. Reader Feedback
BY EL AINE PIT TMAN | A SSOCIATE EDITOR
An Evolving
Profession
Some of the pre-eminent women in emergency management share
how they got into the field and how it’s changing (for the better).
Nancy Ward surveys
storm damage in
Kentucky as FEMA’s acting
adminstrator in 2009.
Emergency Management 17
The September/October article An Evolving Profession featured some pre-eminent women in emergency management and how they got into the field.
“We do, indeed, have some excellent women
currently in the emergency management field. I
can attest to the fact that with my 25 years in the
military, I’ve learned much from them. Resulting in
enhancing my skills and making me a more viable
and effective emergency manager. There needs to
be a continued effort to promote emergency management as a true profession. Furthermore, it’s
refreshing to see our higher education institutes
establishing emergency management programs for
students who have a desire to pursue this field.”
—Tim
“I agree with the commentators that this is a
great article, but please also know that emergency
managers are not strictly in the public sector. As
a health-care emergency management consultant, my colleagues and I also represent thousands
of private-sector emergency managers who are
equally committed to enhancing professional standards for all.”
—Nora
The article When the Sky Turned Black in the
September/October issue about what caused the
outbreak of tornadoes earlier this year stirred up
some comments at www.emergencymgmt.com.
“I’ve been an emergency management professional for decades, and although the newly available science behind what drives severe weather is
certainly interesting, it doesn’t matter unless people
take the warnings seriously. We have to do a better job in our schools, our chambers of commerce,
and our communities in general of educating people about severe weather (specifically) and about
emergency preparedness in general.”
— Jim
“More than anything else, this article revealed that
we have better predicting and tracking technology
than in the past. Really, what we need to work on
is warnings and response issues. Just like the fires
in Southern California, no one took them very seriously until a majority of the population was exposed
to their effects. This year, our population is much
better prepared than in past years, mainly because
they all saw and felt the effects of some horrendous
fires over the past decade. Follow up the immediate
response with education and training of the public
while they can still see the effects of the tornadoes
from this year, and they will better prepare for
future incidents.”
— John
“Emergency management (the entirety of) is
going to have to become a better partner with the
NWS [National Weather Service] both in the detection of and a trusted source to say severe weather
is not occurring, in order to cut down on the
extremely high false alarm rate NWS has with its
warnings, which are jading the public’s response.”
—David
Your opinions matter to us. Send letters to the editor
at editorial@govtech.com. Publication is solely at the
discretion of the editors. Emergency Management
reserves the right to edit submissions for length.
Emergency Management Events
30-1 Nov./Dec.
1 December
6 December
17-19 January
INDUSTRIAL FIRE,
SAFETY & SECURITY
San Antonio, Texas
PUBLIC SAFETY
TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT
Sacramento, Calif.
ALL-HAZARDS/ALLSTAKEHOLDERS SUMMIT
Miami
Learn about best
practices for all types
of incidents from
industry leaders and
technical experts.
Timely, thoughtprovoking summits for
local law enforcement
leaders and industry
specialists to inform
and exchange their
expertise around bestof-breed technologies
and emerging solutions
that help prevent and
control crime.
The All-Hazards/
All-Stakeholders
Summit will address
man-made and natural
hazards — fires, floods,
earthquakes, terror
events — facing the
Miami area and address
best practices in
preparing for and mitigating these crises.
www.emergencymgmt
.com/events
Contact: Liese Brunner
at 800/940-6039 ext.
1355 for registration
information, and Scott
Fackert at 916/9321416 for sponsorship
information.
www.ifssevent.com
6-8 February
INTERNATIONAL
DISASTER CONFERENCE
AND EXPOSITION
New Orleans
The conference will
bring together emergency management,
homeland security
and disaster industry
professionals from the
public and private sectors around the world.
www.international
disasterconference
.com
NATIONAL SECURITY
TECHNOLOGY EXPO
San Diego
The conference
promotes international
innovation and technology to protect U.S.
maritime, airport and
land borders in the fight
against international
terrorism and criminal
activity.
www.nstexpo.com
www.emergencymgmt
.com/events
8
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9. In here, the unforeseen doesn’t
have the upper hand.
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES, COMMUNICATION BECOMES THE FIRST LINE OF
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improved and help is routed quickly to the areas where it’s needed most. It’s a
network of possibilities. Helping communities prepare for the unpredictable today.
To learn more, visit att.com/publicsafety
© 2011 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks
contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.
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10. Point of View
The Cost of Neglecting
Infrastructure
By Jim McKay | Editor
I
In this issue’s Eric’s Corner, The Changing Face of Disasters,
Eric Holdeman writes about the long-range forecast for
emergency management. He notes that a warming climate
may already be causing flooding in some places and drought
in others, and that climate change could lead to rising sea
levels and real damage to communities bordering oceans.
The report stressed that the failing infrastructure can’t
support a thriving economy. It’s clear that the “patch and
pray” mentality will lead to more disasters. Investments must
be made sooner or later, and investing too little now means
ultimately paying a higher price in our economy. Bad roads,
according to a 2011 ASCE report, cost $27 billion a year in
lost time and efficiency — and also resulted in lives lost.
During a recent conversation with Bryan Koon, Florida’s
Whether or not that happens, populations are moving
director of emergency management, he said we ignore aging
toward high-risk areas. This means “mega-cities” are
infrastructure at our peril, “knowing that it continues to be
springing up everywhere, which will lead to more “mega”
more and more susceptible to the hazards we face.” We could
disasters. Holdeman correctly points to the critical problem
all but eliminate the mitigation phase of emergency manage-
of America’s aging — and I’ll add decaying — infrastructure,
ment over time, he said — if we address the issue.
saying we have a “fix on failure” mentality.
“If we decided as a nation to do it, we could take miti-
You can read the rest of Eric’s Corner for more insight
gation out of the cycle of emergency management because
about the future, how social media factors in and more, but
we could design all our building standards to be resistant
I wanted to jump in on the issue of critical infrastructure.
to hazards that could impact them,” Koon said. “We could
Holdeman’s right. We do have a fix on failure mentality,
and that will cost us greatly. Remember when in 2007, the
that infrastructure would be good to go. We’d spend years —
and injuring 145? After that incident, Kent Harries, a
dozens, hundreds — cleaning up all the old stuff, but reach
University of Pittsburgh engineering professor, told me,
a point where mitigation is no longer part of the emergency
“We will see more bridge collapses.”
2009, 2010 and 2011
Maggie Awards
against those types of hazards, and from a certain point, all
I-35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 people
Best Public Safety/Trade
design our infrastructure, maintain our infrastructure
management cycle.”
Reports on the state of the nation’s infrastructure suggest
In the current political and economic climate, the idea of
why. In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers
investing in infrastructure might seem too costly. The alter-
(ASCE) issued a report grading the condition of 15 infra-
native, however, will be even more costly. k
structure entities in the country. Bridges, which fared better
than roads, got a C. Roads, along with drinking water, waste-
Note: For more on critical infrastructure protection, check out
water systems and levees, got a D-. Dams received a D.
our special section in the upcoming January issue.
2010 and 2011 Magazine
of the Year Top 3 Finalist
Less Than $2 Million Division
Questions or comments? Please give us your input by contacting our editorial department
at editorial@govtech.com, or visit our website at www.emergencymgmt.com.
L E A D , F O L L O W O R G E T O U T O F T H E W AY.
10
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11. nc
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12. In the News
2011 has been a costly year for natural disasters. In the last 31 years, the
United States has experienced 110 weather- and climate-related disasters in
which the costs and damages reached or exceeded $1 billion. And as of October,
10 of those disasters occurred this year and caused more than $45 billion in
damages. Here’s a look at 2011’s billion-dollar disasters.
SOURCE: NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER
9 BILLION
9 BILLION
$
$
SOUTHERN PLAINS/SOUTHWEST
DROUGHT, HEAT WAVE AND WILDFIRES
SOUTHEAST/OHIO VALLEY/MIDWEST
TORNADOES
Spring-Summer
April 25-30
Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas,
Louisiana, New Mexico,
Oklahoma and Texas
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Tennessee,
Texas and Virginia
8 BILLION
$
MIDWEST/SOUTHEAST TORNADOES
7 BILLION
$
May 22-27
Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
and Wisconsin
HURRICANE IRENE
Aug. 20-29
Connecticut, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, Rhode
Island, Vermont and Virginia
2-4 BILLION
$
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOODING
Spring-Summer
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/TFOXFOTO
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Missouri and Tennessee
12
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13. 2.8BILLION 2.2 BILLION
2 BILLION
$
$
2 BILLION 1.8BILLION
$
$
MIDWEST/SOUTHEAST TORNADOES
MIDWEST/SOUTHEAST TORNADOES
UPPER MIDWEST FLOODING
April 14-16
Summer
GROUNDHOG DAY BLIZZARD
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
Mississippi, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Texas
and Virginia
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota
and South Dakota
Jan. 29-Feb. 3
$
SOUTHEAST/MIDWEST TORNADOES
April 4-5
Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee
and Wisconsin
April 8-11
North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Alabama, Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa
and Wisconsin
Central, eastern and
northeastern states
13
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14. EM Bulletin
MICHIGAN will develop a cybercommand center and “cyberdefense response teams” as
part of a plan to heighten the state’s profile in the computer security industry. The Michigan
Cyber-Command Center will be directed by the state police from within the state’s Emergency
Operations Center. The cybercommand center will be staffed by “a select group of skilled public and private professionals who are highly trained in emergency response to cyberevents,”
according to a document outlining the proposal. After a security threat, the command center
will restore computer systems and minimize damage. Rapid response teams will be deployed
to establish secure networks and help develop training standards. The cybercommand
will build on the existing Michigan Intelligence Operations Center, which will continue
handling threat detection and monitoring.
Promote Your Efforts!
1/3
77%
of Americans feel that public
safety is not a priority in their community.
of Americans feel that additional
community resources/communications
will have an effective impact on increasing
public safety awareness.
Emergency App
TEN YEARS AFTER 9/11, officials say local
governments are taking a more active role in
security for large-scale events, sharing information with private, state and federal partners, and
leveraging more shared resources to respond to
disasters. Given that progress, officials see the
need to expand the types of resources available
through mutual aid agreements and how to
communicate with the public about emergencies
and preparedness.
A project is under way to identify, in checklist
form, the areas in a community that would need
assessment in order to gauge preparedness. In
September, the Community Resilience System
Initiative selected seven communities to pilot a
Web-based tool that helps communities assess
their ability to withstand a major disaster.
“It is a huge challenge measuring preparedness or prevention efforts in just about any area,
because you’re trying to prove the negative,” said
Ron Carlee, chief operating officer of the International City/County Management Association,
in a press call to discuss emergency management
and preparedness at the local government level.
THE GEORGIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT Agency/Homeland Security (GEMA) and
the state’s Department of Public Health launched an app called READY GEORGIA, which lets
users create a profile that includes information like emergency contact phone numbers, an outof-town meeting place, and work and school details. The app provides real-time hazard and
weather alerts, and allows Georgians to track what emergency supplies they have on hand.
The profile creation and disaster plan features are meant to increase preparedness before a
disaster. But in the event of an emergency, the app uses geolocation technology, which determines a user’s location, to provide the location of open shelters and show the flow of traffic on
evacuation maps.
GEMA spokeswoman Lisa Janak said all data feeds are automatically updated except for
information from the Georgia Department of Public Health, which must be manually created.
The Ready Georgia app works with iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Janak said the
$30,000 cost to create the app for the Apple and Android platforms was paid for by a grant
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Alerts: Real-time weather
and hazard alerts for resident’s
location.
Local: Disaster history, stream
gauges and maps geolocated
to the user’s position.
Plan: Create or update a Ready
Profile with personalized emergency contacts and plan.
Checklist: Citizens can update
their emergency supply lists.
READY.GA.GOV/MOBILEAPP
SHUTTERSTOCK
SOURCE: FEDERAL SIGNAL’S 2011 ANNUAL PUBLIC
SAFETY SURVEY
Gauging Preparedness
Threats: Info on how to
prepare and what to do during
specific threats.
14
SHUTTERSTOCK
Cybercommand
EM11_14.indd 14
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15. Know the Situation
In an emergency, you need to understand what’s
happening now and what could happen next in order
to make the best decisions. Esri® Technology provides
you with comprehensive situational awareness and
actionable intelligence when you need it most.
Learn more at esri.com/emmag
Copyright © 2011 Esri. All rights reserved.
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16. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley immediately toured the
devastated areas of the state reassuring its citizens.
By J i m Mc Kay a nd Ma r ty Pas tu la
On April 27, Robert Bentley’s
100th day in office as governor
of Alabama, more than 50
tornadoes slammed the state,
killing 243 people, severely
damaging or destroying more
than 15,000 homes and causing
property damage estimated at
between $2 billion and $5 billion.
It was the deadliest tornado day
since the 1925 Tri-State tornadoes and one of the costliest
natural disasters in history.
Bentley earned praise for his
leadership and decisive nature
in response to the storms.
Emergency Management
magazine sat down with Bentley
in August to discuss the state’s
response to the tornadoes and
the ongoing recovery efforts.
16
RISING TO THE
CHALLEN
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17. ENGE
Emergency Management 17
EM11_16.indd 17
JAMIE MARTIN/ALABAMA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
E
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18. COVER STORY
ADAM DUBROWA/FEMA
How are the people of Alabama doing?
Bentley assured locals that the state would
pick up the costs of recovery for the first
30 days.
The people are doing really well. We had
unprecedented cooperation between the locals,
state and federal government. Everybody
stepped up and took a leadership role, and
because of that, things have gone very well.
When we saw this coming, we knew
it was going to be bad, and we immediately declared a state of emergency the
morning when the first tornado hit.
By that afternoon when all of the tornadoes
hit, I knew we were going to have security
problems so I immediately called out our
National Guard. And that really calmed things
down in areas where there was no security.
We [also] challenged our local officials,
our local Emergency Management Agency
people, to take a leadership role, and they really
stepped up. We had our volunteer organizations, and of course, we had our normal good
volunteer people: churches — the Baptists were
tremendous, the Seventh-day Adventists — the
Red Cross and Salvation Army. We had all of
those people early on.
I told FEMA that the governor is in charge
of a disaster. They sent out about 20,000 letters
[to citizens whose houses were damaged
or destroyed], but the first sentence said,
“Your FEMA claim has been rejected.” But
if you read the letter completely, it said, “It
may be rejected because you have insurance, or you have not done this or that.”
I read some of those letters and they were
very insensitive to people who were hurting.
I told [FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer]
Mike Byrne that I didn’t want any more of
those letters sent out to people in Alabama.
They put together what they call a “tiger team”
and it took them two to three weeks, but they
redesigned all of the letters and brought them
to me to approve them. Hopefully that will
help people in the next emergency because
they made them more sensitive to people
who are going through difficult times.
Is there anything you would
change in dealing with FEMA?
I really think that if a governor will take
a leadership role, FEMA will do what they
like to do and that is come in and assist. They
have cookie-cutter-type approaches to things,
but I can’t say anything but good things
about FEMA. We asked for an emergency
declaration and they gave that to us.
One obstacle I saw is [that] the locals
were somewhat frozen because they were
worried about paying their 25 percent
because they don’t have any money either.
The federal government was going to pay
75 percent and the local agencies had to
pay part of the 25 percent, but they didn’t
know how much of that 25 percent [the
state] was going to make them pay.
I told the locals to quit worrying about
it for 30 days, that the state would pick up
the total amount. We didn’t have the money,
but that got them moving. We just removed
that obstacle so they would get started.
We also encouraged them to use the Army
Corps of Engineers. The corps is obviously
more expensive, but they do everything and
they also know all the rules and regulations.
We asked the president and the [U.S.]
Department of Homeland Security if they
would pick up 90 percent and let us pick
up 10 percent, and they agreed to that.
When you reach a certain level retroactively,
they pick that up anyway, but obviously
we had not reached that level in Alabama.
Right now it would be $607 million.
Twice I asked them to do that. The first
time they did it for 30 days and the second
time they did it from July 12th to the 15th. I
asked them to extend it and knew they weren’t
going to extend it any further. But basically
everything I asked them to do they did and
so I cannot be critical of FEMA. I think that
they have done an excellent job in Alabama.
How do you facilitate the recovery of the
business community?
The [U.S. Small Business Administration] came in and set up in every area to
help with small business loans. We also
did some things to facilitate that with
some of our manufacturing jobs. For
instance, up at Hackleburg, where an EF5
tornado totally destroyed the town, we
worked with the Wrangler plant there to
not only save the 150 jobs in that small
town, but because of the incentives and
the package that we put together, we talked
them into expanding to 200 jobs. That was
one industry that we felt we had to save
because if we did not save Wrangler, then
Hackleburg would have disappeared.
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19. JAMIE MARTIN/ALABAMA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
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20. The rebuilding effort in Alabama began almost
immediately and could create 50,000 temporary jobs to
help with a 9.9 percent unemployment rate in the state.
JAMIE MARTIN/ALABAMA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
JAMIE MARTIN/ALABAMA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
Talk about the benefits and drawbacks
of social media during the disaster.
Tuscaloosa had 1,000 businesses that were
destroyed and 7,500 jobs were lost. But many
of those have already started reopening and
after their long-term plan for the city takes
place, then those will be rebuilt and most of
them had insurance. We did see a spike in
our unemployment [in July], and I expect
it to a go a little higher [in September].
It has been estimated that we will have
about 50,000, at least temporary, jobs because
of this rebuilding effort, and if that takes
place it will bring our unemployment rate —
which is at 9.9 percent — down to probably
7 percent. A lot of those are temporary jobs,
but longtime permanent jobs will increase
because there is stimulation in the economy
with all the rebuilding taking place.
Do you feel that the warning systems were
adequate?
No, I don’t think they were. I don’t think
that the warning systems work really well
because I don’t think people pay any attention to them. I don’t want to spend a lot of
money on sirens and warning systems. People
get immune to those things to the point
that they just don’t pay attention to them.
Is there anything that you’d do differently in terms of the response
or trying to notify people?
No, I think that we did a good job as far
as the notification. Honestly I thought that
we would have 2,000 people dead, not 250.
The warning systems — not the sirens but
TV and radio — did a great job, and people
were very tuned in with what was going on
that day, or it would have been a lot worse.
What advice do you have for other
governors concerning their role in
emergency management?
In terms of the citizens and more than 1,500
homes lost, are residents getting the help
they need, both the insured and uninsured?
RUTH KENNEDY/FEMA
This was the first major disaster [in Alabama]
where social media played a huge role, not
only with volunteers but also donations. We
talked about how that is a good thing and a
bad thing. Somebody could tweet that they
need diapers at the shelter on 15th Street and
then all of a sudden 20 trucks show up with
100 cases of diapers and they only needed 10.
I think that they are. The second or third
day I had all the major insurance CEOs come
to my office down here. I told them, “You have
to be responsive to your policy holders, and
you have to do everything you can to make
sure they get the money they deserve or the
money they have in their policy. And you have
to try to get them back into some housing.”
FEMA has been very good about
providing not only money for temporary
places to live, but also some temporary
housing. We didn’t have to use a lot of
the trailers that we thought we would.
First of all, everything is local so you challenge your local leaders to take a leadership
role. Also, as far as leadership is concerned,
you have to act decisively and quickly.
One of the most important things I did
was call in 3,000 National Guard troops and
put them all over the state; because [of that] I
am positive that the crime rate went down.
Does Alabama have a disaster relief fund?
And what do you think about that concept?
We do not as a state have a disaster relief
fund, but as a governor I have a disaster relief
fund. Right now we are in the long-term
recovery mode. We already had in place what
we need under ADECA [Alabama Department
20
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PAGE

21. Introducing Sprint Direct Connect.
Help keep the public safe with the
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People’s safety is your responsibility, and you need the tools to take command.
Offering an improved data experience, the next-generation network lets you
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videos, and instantly relay instructions with the push of a button. And now with
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want. All while on the Sprint network. Never worry about the meter running again.
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Get it all while on the Sprint network. Requires a two-year Agreement per line.
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**Monthly charges exclude taxes, Sprint Surcharges (incl. USF charge of up to 15.3% [varies quarterly], Administrative Charge [up to $1.99/line/mo.], Regulatory Charge [$0.40/line/mo.] and state/local fees by area [approx. 5–20%]). Sprint Surcharges
are not taxes or gov’t.-required charges and are subject to change. Details: sprint.com/taxesandfees. Sprint received the highest numerical score in a tie among full-service wireless providers in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Full-Service Wireless
Purchase Experience StudySM Vol. 2. The study is based on responses from 9,190 consumers measuring 4 full-service wireless providers, and measures opinions of consumers who purchased a wireless product or service within the last 6 months. The proprietary study results
are based on experiences and perceptions of consumers surveyed January–June 2011. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com. Phone requires a new-line activation (or an eligible upgrade) and a two-year Agreement. GPS reliability varies by environment. International
services are not included. Sprint Business Advantage Messaging and Data Plan: Offer ends 1/7/12. Talk Plan: Additional Anytime Min.: $0.25/min. Nights: Mon.–Thurs. 7pm–7am; Weekends: Fri. 7pm–Mon. 7am. Partial min. charged as full min. Any Mobile, Anytime:
Applies when directly dialing/receiving standard voice calls between domestic wireless numbers as determined when the call is placed using independent third-party and Sprint databases. Standard roaming rates/restrictions apply. Only available with select Sprint plans and while
on the Nationwide Sprint or Nextel National Networks (excludes calls to voicemail, 411 and other indirect methods). Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a
month exceeds (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of min.; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. Prohibited network use rules apply. See in-store materials or sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses. Messaging: Includes
text, picture and video for domestic messages sent or received. International messages sent or received from the U.S. are $0.20/msg., and from outside the U.S. are $0.50/msg. SMS voice messages may incur an additional data charge of $0.03/KB.
Data: Premium content/downloads (games, ringers, songs, certain channels, etc.) are additional charge. Texts to third parties to participate in promotions or other may result in additional charges. Sprint Radio includes access to select radio channels and
song downloads (cost varies). Sprint TV® includes select channels. Direct Connect: Nextel and PowerSource devices operate on the Nextel National Network. Sprint devices operate within certain EV-DO Rev. A coverage areas on the Sprint 3G Network.
Group Connect (21 max. participants) currently operates between parties on the same push-to-talk network platform. International Direct Connect is not included. ©2011 Sprint. All rights reserved. Other marks are the property of their respective owners.
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22. COVER STORY
JAMIE MARTIN/ALABAMA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
of Economic and Community Affairs], which
is part of our government where all the CDBG
[Community Development Block Grants] flow
through and all the other federal grants flow
through that. I put ADECA as the lead agency.
Under the governor’s faith-based initiative
group, I have what is called the Governor’s
Emergency Relief Fund. It is run by United
Way — I don’t personally run it, but I can
make suggestions about where the money
goes — people can donate to it and we have
raised about $5 million. That is going to be
long term, we are going to use part of it to help
save Wrangler in Hackleburg — that was part
of the money that I promised that company to
help them with their capital improvements.
Is this event going to define your
governorship?
I think that we have already been defined.
I think most people think that we have
been doing a decent job — at least our
approval ratings show that. It defines you,
and you will be remembered by that.
How did Virtual Alabama help?
Through that GIS platform, we can tell where
the most damage is done. We were able to do a
quick damage assessment off the partial information from Virtual Alabama. They used that to
help expedite the declarations without going out
and physically doing the damage assessments. k
More than 1,500 homes were lost and 1,000 businesses destroyed during the April tornadoes. FEMA
provided funding and temporary housing for those needing a place to stay.
NOAA Finds Lessons From Joplin
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a report on lessons
learned from the Joplin, Mo., tornado tragedy in May, when 159 people died and more than
1,000 were injured.
A NOAA assessment team was sent to Joplin after the tornado to examine the warning and
forecast services provided and warning communications, community preparedness and the
public’s response to tornado warnings.
The team interviewed more than 100 Joplin residents and found that response to warnings
is complex and involves many variables, such as risk perception, overall credibility of warnings
and warning communications. The team came up with the following recommendations:
✓ Improve warning communications to convey a sense of urgency for extreme events.
This will compel people to take immediate life-saving action.
✓ Collaborate with partners who communicate weather warnings to develop GPS-based
warning communications, including the use of text messaging, smartphone apps, mobile
communications technologies, in addition to upgrades to the Emergency Alert System and
NOAA Weather Radio.
✓ Collaborate more throughout the weather enterprise to ensure that weather warning
messages — sent via television, radio, NOAA Weather Radio and local warning systems such as
sirens — are consistent to reduce confusion and stress the seriousness of the threat.
✓ Continue to increase community preparedness.
NOAA will implement the recommendation as early as possible. The tornado was the single
deadliest tornado in history since record-keeping began in 1950. The EF5 tornado was a mile
wide and traveled 22 miles on the ground.
Source: NOAA
22
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PAGE

23. CRISIS MANAGEMENT
CAN’T WAIT.
Copyright: Daniel Taeger - Fotolia.com
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trademarks of Intergraph Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries.
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24. ROBERT EPLETT, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Training
Gone Awry?
24
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25. BY J IM Mc K AY
Is today’s antiterrorism training keeping up
with the diverging threat?
T
Though Walid Shoebat’s message to about 300 South Dakota police officers that all Islamic organizations in America are the enemy
and that Islam and terrorism are inseparable may be an extreme case, there is growing concern about the antiterrorism training
being delivered to law enforcement and other first responders around the country.
Shoebat, who was hired by the South Dakota Department of Homeland Security to speak to law enforcement officers, claims to
be a former terrorist who converted to Christianity and offers, via his foundation, what he says is an inside view of what a terrorist
looks like. He says to look for a mark on the forehead of fundamentalist Muslims — but no facial hair. After years of praying with
their heads to the ground, they obtain a mark on their forehead. “A Muslim with a mark on his forehead but no beard is up to no
good,” said Keith Davies, Shoebat’s business partner.
Emergency Management 25
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26. HOW WE GOT HERE
Several years after 9/11, urgency was placed
on training state and local law enforcement
ROBERT EPLETT, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Shoebat’s credentials have been doubted.
He’s described as an opportunist who,
after the flood of homeland security grant
money that followed 9/11, emerged from
the woodwork as a “terrorist expert.”
In 2010, the Columbus, Ohio, Police
Department hired a retired FBI agent to teach
a two-day antiterrorism training course,
but the course was stopped after the first
day because the trainer provided “incorrect,
blanket statements” about who might be
involved in terrorism, the department said.
Army Lt. Col. Reid Sawyer, who heads the
Combating Terrorism Center at West Point,
recently expressed concern to National Public
Radio that many individuals are speaking
with authority that comes without merit, and
they’re giving state and local law enforcement
false impressions about the terror threat. His
colleague Bill Braniff, director of the center’s
practitioner education, said it is happening
“fairly consistently” around the nation.
Everyone acknowledges the growing
threat from the homegrown, radicalized
terrorist, but the training being provided
worries some people. In a letter to U.S. DHS
Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney
General Eric Holder, Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and
Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine,
asked for assurance that federal funds for
antiterrorism training are not being wasted
on programs that could undermine the
effort to deter homegrown terrorism.
Since Osama bin Laden was killed in May,
19 Americans have been arrested for terrorist activities (as of early October). Al-Qaida
is a splintered group and is, along with other
groups, inspiring homegrown attacks on
Americans. For example, the five Muslim
men from Alexandria, Va., arrested in 2009
for plotting to kill Americans showed no
signs of radicalization. They reportedly
became acquainted with an al-Qaida operative through social networking websites.
It’s this splintered effect that makes it
difficult for law enforcement to find these
individuals.
officers on homeland security and antiterrorism, and the feds flooded states with money
to make it happen. Since 2006, the DHS
has spent almost $40 million on antiterrorism training, according to reports.
The DHS responded to Lieberman’s letter by
saying the department has “robust standards to
ensure that counterterrorism training funded
by DHS is taught by qualified instructors and
based on the latest intelligence and most effective policing techniques.” To receive funds,
the DHS said, counterterrorism programs
must meet course certification guidelines
reviewed by an independent, third-party panel.
Matt Mayer, visiting fellow at the Heritage
Foundation, said there are “tons and tons of
courses” available, many of which are “too
thin, too awareness oriented, not technical
enough or just not effective.” Mayer, who was
a senior official at the DHS under secretaries
Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, said, “We
had worked to try to create a very basic core
template from awareness through technical
levels that would allow the training to happen.
My sense is that it kind of got away from us.”
What happened was that every entity
wanted to have a training program approved
to please its constituents, Mayer said, and
this created a cornucopia of courses
without a focus on standards or topics that
would get high-risk areas up to speed.
The strategy for most law enforcement agencies, he said, is to educate officers on the basics of Islamic-inspired
terrorism — but that’s not enough.
“We need to start digging a whole lot
deeper on [suspicious activity reports]
training to make sure we’re not sending a
whole lot of data that’s not meaningful and
throwing more hay on a haystack, making it harder to find the needle,” Mayer
said. “We’ve taken the broad brush stroke
rather than a surgeon’s scalpel approach.”
A DHS spokesman said the department
isn’t a standard-setting organization and can’t
control who a state agency hires to speak
about terrorism, but added that there’s an
effort under way to streamline the process
of approving courses. And agencies can’t
use DHS grants to fund training courses
that the department hasn’t approved.
ADOPT THE MISSION
A culture change among law enforcement
is necessary if the nation is serious about
combating homegrown terrorism, Mayer said.
The law enforcement community, except in
Los Angeles and New York, he said, is still
26
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27. Law enforcement officers everywhere have the difficult job of sniffing out potential terrorists from
increasingly diverse sources. California law enforcement, like those pictured here, are training with
prison officials to keep tabs on terror groups recruiting in the state’s prisons and jails.
value. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
He added that the government needs to
ensure the efficient use of resources, “but it
must be careful not to inadvertently undermine training, education and standardization,
which are critical components in building
an effective homeland security enterprise.”
James Ayre, assistant secretary for training
and exercises at the California Emergency
Management Agency, said there are “hundreds” of courses available to California law
enforcement and first responders. They’re
developed in California, approved by the DHS
and designed to focus on prevention and protection to avert, deter and minimize attacks.
“At any given time, there are things that
are more important to look for,” Ayre said. “If
you connect the intelligence world to threats
to training, obviously there is a lag time. We
ROBERT EPLETT, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
mired in a culture of “aggressive enforcement” and is reluctant to change, which
inhibits the ability to combat terror threats.
Part of the reason for that is that law
enforcement has always looked at terrorism as
a federal government priority, and as federal
funding to states dries up, that will continue to
be a challenge.
“Law enforcement really needs to adopt
this national security mission and understand that they are the tip of the spear,”
Mayer said. “And in some cases, they’re
going to be the ones that detect and prevent bad things from happening.”
Law enforcement agencies should go
beyond the See Something, Say Something
campaign, Mayer said, and learn the structure
of al-Qaida, how it works, its typical modes
of operation, the triggers of terrorist activity,
as well as the laws surrounding civil liberties and how not to violate those. “Not just,
‘There’s a guy taking a picture of a bridge,’ but
trying to understand a little bit more about the
sophisticated elements of what they’re doing
that aren’t going to be that obvious. It’s one of
the key things we need to think through.”
Mayer said whether the nation is focusing too much on Islamists will be the “great
question.” But for now, the focal point should
be on the homegrown radicalized threat
and the continued threat from al-Qaida.
Continued training and refreshing law enforcement on the latest intelligence is important, Mayer said, even if
the training is via distance learning.
Rick Nelson, senior fellow and director of
Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also expressed concern about
the homegrown terrorist, whether the person is
an al-Qaida affiliate or an angry white supremacist. But he wonders about putting law enforcement in an information-gathering mode.
“Law enforcement at any level faces a
difficult challenge when it comes to terrorism and extremism,” Nelson said, “because
on the one hand these officials, who are
relied upon to protect our civil liberties and
civil rights, are at the same time supposed
to ensure that acts of violence don’t occur.”
It’s one thing to know that a person has
become radicalized, but it’s difficult to know
when that person will cross the line from
radicalization to violence, Nelson said. “The
law enforcement community at the federal,
state and local levels has the impossible task
of trying to figure out when an individual
moves from rhetoric to violent action.”
Nelson said if it’s determined that law
enforcement officers should become information-gathering entities, then the public should
expect them to push the edges of civil liberties,
and Americans will have to assume more risk.
“That’s OK, if we realize what we’re accepting.”
The New York City Police Department
(NYPD) is recognized as one of the most
innovative in the area of proactive law
enforcement, but isn’t part of the national
fusion center effort and, critics say, has not
been subjected to the same privacy and civil
liberties policy requirements when obtaining
federal funding. The NYPD has also come
under fire from certain groups for what they
see as overaggressive surveillance methods.
Though there are approved courses from the
DHS, training remains largely the responsibility of locals. “That’s the way the nation is
built,” Nelson said. “It’s up to the state and local
governments what experts they want to bring
in. One community might see an individual
as someone they want to learn from and another might determine that individual has no
Emergency Management 27
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28. ROBERT EPLETT, CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Law enforcment
must take continued
education to stay
abreast of the
evolving terror
threats.
build courses in the state, then it goes to the
feds and then it is not done for quite a while.”
Ayre said he knows that not all of the
courses taken by California law enforcement
agencies are approved by the feds because
the grant money comes in different forms.
And he said the state is using standards
and tactics to address the appropriateness
of certain training, such as focusing on a
religion. “It is human nature that if someone
has that sort of mindset, then there could
be a risk, but one would hope through all
of the other training our police get that
they will see it as such and write it off and
see that there is personal opinion there.”
A couple of California’s courses are given
in conjunction with the correctional system where al-Qaida and other groups are
established and recruiting lone wolves.
THE RECRUITMENT
The radicalization of inmates first
became visible to prison officials in 2005,
said Lt. Arnel Bona from the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Office of Correctional Safety.
“It’s actually pretty widespread.”
The prison gangs include al-Qaida,
Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood,
white supremacists and others. Bona said
radicalization doesn’t lead to terrorism,
but those exhibiting attributes associated
with violent extremists are reported
and monitored by the correctional
system and the federal government.
“We report it if there are indicators
that we feel need to be reported to the
FBI or the homeland security community,” Bona said. “We look at the criminal predicate that led us to the suspicion
and report it to the fusion center.”
The Inmate Basic Awareness Class, which
covers how to identify radicalized individuals, is offered to some state, local and federal law enforcement officers and even some
firefighters and emergency managers. The
intermediate course is being rolled out now
and covers monitoring these individuals.
“We train correctional staff and law
enforcement on the indicators and warnings
of radicalization that may lead to terrorism,”
Bona said. “Oftentimes it’s just a tattoo, and
if it’s a significant tattoo — like al-Qaida,
Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah or ‘Death to
America’ — it’s reported to the fusion center.”
Also, embedded in each of California’s 33 prisons is a terrorism liaison
officer who shares information with law
enforcement outside the prison. Once
a prisoner who has been identified as
radicalized is released, he is monitored by
parole agents and, it is hoped, the FBI.
But the biggest threats may come from
social networking sites and the extremists’ websites, where law enforcement needs
to play offense, said Mike Walker, senior
consultant for the Center for Homeland
Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School, at the National Emergency
Management Association Conference in
October. “It’s not good enough to play defense
and disrupt plots,” he said. “We need to go
on the offensive and stop recruitment.”
Nelson called this his biggest concern
and said whatever is being done to stop
recruiting on these sites isn’t nearly enough.
“We have individuals making policy who
have not necessarily grown up at being what I would call a ‘digital native,’” he
said. “Our policies, by nature, are evolving
much more slowly than technology is.” k
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30. DISR UPT ION
MAN A
ELISSA JUN/FEMA
S COT T W. R E A M | CON TRIBU TING W RIT E R
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31. HEALTH-CARE ORGANIZATIONS EXPAND
THEIR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FOCUS.
A GEMENT
HEALTH-CARE INSTITUTIONS COULD
BE ONE INCIDENT AWAY FROM CLOSING
THEIR DOORS.
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32. important patient-care protocols, which in
some cases can be the patient’s last hope.”
More health-care institutions across the
country are investing the resources required to
design, launch and sustain an integrated continuity of operations program. Jim Paturas, director
of emergency preparedness at the Yale New Haven
Health System (YNHHS) in Connecticut, has
overseen the system’s program and placed significant emphasis on departmental recovery. “We
realized that while hospitals have historically done
a good job preparing for responding to a community-based disaster event, we had not done a good
job preparing for the eventuality that we could be
the site of the disaster and would need to recover
as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
terms of the effort it would take to start and
sustain an enterprisewide budgeting process if
none existed,” said Linda Reissman, emergency
manager at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center in New York City. “We summarized it in the following way: Organize an expert
central team, provide basic training and develop
a toolkit to help every manager develop his or
her first budget,” Reissman said. “Once the first
budget is developed, it is easy to maintain if:
• Senior management communicates the
importance of this initiative and addresses
managers who are slow to participate.
• Manager’s variable compensation is tied to
successful participation in the program.
• We develop policy, procedure and a permanent governance function to support the
ongoing budget process and train staff for
continuous improvement.”
THE BUSINESS CASE
Why should hospital and medical executives
care about implementing clinical and business
recovery now? There are many competing
demands for their attention and for use of the
institution’s limited resources. Why should
departmental recovery planning attract special
attention now?
For many health-care organizations, these
are essential questions that remain unanswered
or at least unarticulated. To implement an
integrated continuity of operations program
that places responsibility in the hands of each
clinical and business manager requires a significant time investment in process infrastructure.
“When we engaged our executives in this
discussion, it really helped when we put it in
FACTORS FOR SUCCESS
ELISSA JUN/FEMA
Hospitals, their advocacy groups and other
government organizations play a central role
in disaster response and have created disaster
plans that address the mitigation, preparedness
and response phases of the disaster management cycle. But organizations also face the challenges of planning for recovery and continuity
of operations. A range of disruptions can occur
and health-care organizations need an approach
that prioritizes essential services, identifies
threats to those services and develops strategies
to ensure that essential services are sustained.
In traditional emergency management terms,
the phases of disaster management often are
expressed as mitigation, preparedness, response
and recovery. The response and recovery phases
traditionally focus on actions taken to save lives
and property during an emergency, and actions
taken to return to normal or near-normal
conditions, respectively.
With the advancement of technology even
more deeply ingrained in the delivery of
health-care services, health-care organizations are expanding their focus from disaster
management to a broader focus on disruption
management — meaning the disruption of
critical clinical and administrative functions
and services caused by an interruption of one
or more of their critical dependencies.
“At the heart of our mission is research-driven
patient care for our cancer patients,” said Terry
Cooper, director of business continuity planning for the University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center. “We cannot afford to interrupt
32
At MD Anderson, Cooper has had significant success engaging management and implementing a sustainable program.
“A number of factors have contributed to our
success, but two factors stand above the rest,”
Cooper said.
First, MD Anderson assembled a Business Continuity Planning Executive Steering
Committee as a multidisciplinary committee
representing all of the institution’s mission
areas. The committee helped drive the business continuity program across the institution.
“Second, we developed two versions to our
business continuity plan,” Cooper said. “One
version [full plan] is the classic business continuity plan, driven off the results of the business
impact analysis and development of contingency procedures.”
Cooper said the full plan is used in missioncritical areas. “The other business continuity plan
is called a ‘bridge plan’ and is primarily a contingency plan for daily operations,” he added. “The
bridge plan is used primarily in administrative
support areas. With this dual-choice approach,
we gained significant respect and credibility with
our management team, showing our sensitivity
to their needs and time availability.”
At YNHHS, Paturas and his team saw
executive support grow as they demonstrated
tangible results from a pilot deployment. “Many
of the processes needed for departmental
recovery were already in place but never written
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34. down,” Paturas said. “In addition, most departments never realized the ‘downstream’ effect
the loss of their service had on another area or
department. This emphasized the need to have
departmental plans in place that were coordinated with other departments.”
A health-care-centric definition of “integrated continuity of operations” based on
the Business Continuity Maturity Model, Virtual Corp.’s globally recognized standard for
integrated business continuity program assessment, is as follows:
EMERGENCY MANAGER’S ROLE
SHUTTERSTOCK
THE BUSINESS CONTINUIT Y MATURIT Y MODEL
• TECHNOLOGY RECOVERY: Advanced planning and preparations that ensure the ability
to recover and restore critical assets, including IT delivery systems, voice and data
networks, and business applications within defined recovery time objectives.
For many emergency managers, their role and
responsibilities are already fully consuming and
the thought of getting involved in supporting
additional planning is nearly inconceivable for
a variety of reasons, including limited financial
and staff resources, executive disinterest and
competing initiatives.
“I got involved from the beginning,” Reissman
said. “There was no one else to lead this effort.
And I knew this was the direction we needed to
go as an institution to make sure critical patient
services were always there when needed. As
a result of the early successes, I have been able
to hire a full-time staff person to now oversee
and grow our recently launched departmental
recovery planning program.”
MD Anderson now has defined processes
and procedures to handle operational or business disruptions beyond the information in
emergency operations plans, Cooper said. In
addition, his business continuity team works
closely with MD Anderson’s separate emergency
management department. They share common
practices and use the same automated planning
tool — as does their IT disaster recovery team.
Whether tasked to lead, follow or support the
initiative, the way ahead seems clear. Health-care
institutions, regulators and other stakeholder
communities are embracing departmental
recovery planning for various reasons.
“Business continuity is essential in every
institution,” Cooper said. “Many times, the
institution is unaware that it could be one incident away from an event that could close its
doors permanently.”
At YNHHS, Paturas has seen similar growth
in the interest and support for departmental
recovery planning. “It has allowed us to develop
and test plans that help ensure that we have
response and recovery plans in place to remain
resilient and serve the community.” k
Scott W. Ream is the president of Virtual Corp., a business
continuity consulting and software company.
• INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: Advanced planning and preparations that ensure health
and safety, limit environmental impacts and protect company assets. This includes
emergency response, crisis management and emergency operations.
• CLINICAL AND BUSINESS RECOVERY: Advanced planning and preparations that
ensure continuity of critical clinical and business functions in the event of a
disruption or emergency. This includes the identification of impacts to the clinical
and business environments, implementation of viable risk mitigation and recovery
strategies, and the development of clinical and business recovery plans.
• SECURITY MANAGEMENT: Physical security, cyber-security, information security
and any other activities associated with protecting targeted information, personnel
and resources.
BUSINESS CONTINUIT Y CHALLENGES
Launching and sustaining a business continuity function requires implementation
of a sustainable business process. To select the right individuals to serve as members
of a central business continuity function, you need to understand the challenges to be
faced throughout implementation. The following is a summary of the more significant
challenges that can be expected while designing and launching a sustainable business
continuity program:
• UNDERSTANDING: Ensure that executives understand key business continuity
concepts and principles. This helps in setting the scope and realistic expectations
for the business continuity program.
• COOPERATION AND COMMITMENT: Not everyone willingly cooperates in committing
personnel, time and other resources into the business continuity program.
• ACCOUNTABILITY: The success of the business continuity program should be tied to
local management’s performance reviews and variable compensation, if possible.
• IMPORTANCE AND PRIORITY: Local management must continuously stress the
seriousness and importance of the business continuity program to the personnel
involved.
• TIMING: Be sensitive to other priority initiatives already under way or that may be
implemented in the same time frame.
• INTERFERENCE: Executives who haven’t bought into executing the business
continuity program may create interference in the program command chain.
• STAFFING: Either staff to meet the business continuity program plan or plan the work
within the business continuity staffing limitations. If you can only support building one
new business continuity plan per year, focus on critical, high-visibility clinical services.
• COMMUNICATION: Communicate business continuity program status and issues
frequently and in different modalities. Never assume that everyone is reading your
e-mail. Create a business continuity website, newsletter and other creative means
of getting the message out.
34
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35. A moment of truth
deserves a solution you can rely on.
Master your narrowband migration with GSA.
Be prepared. The January 1, 2013 deadline to convert your land mobile radio functionality to narrowband
technology is fast approaching. To meet the mandated change, turn to GSA and let us help you with the
expertise and solutions you need to migrate confidently. Through GSA’s IT Schedule 70, we can connect
you to pre-vetted contractors across town and around the globe, who can assess your needs, offer options,
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For more information, call our dedicated State and Local representative at 703-605-9155 or visit us online at
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36. Teamwork of Tomorrow
Replacing legacy communications systems
cuts costs and eases collaboration.
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37. T
he strain that the current economic crisis is putting on
governments is well documented. But a bright spot
in budget discussions for some agencies has been
recent technical innovations that introduce new efficiencies and, in fact, make a positive impact on the bottom line.
A recent survey by the Center for Digital Government
reveals that county organizations across the country are
saving money and improving services with new technologies.
And the solutions being considered at the county level are
appealing to all levels of government.
“Governments are consolidating and sharing services
to cut down on costs and leveraging new technologies like
virtualization and unified communications to capture critical
savings,” said Digital Communities Director Todd Sander.
Consolidation is a top-of-mind priority for public-sector
decision-makers, as evidenced by federal government
data center consolidation efforts, as well as server, application and staff consolidation initiatives going on across the
country. Many government entities are also setting aside
traditional silo-oriented structures in favor of more streamlined joint ventures in order to share administration and
infrastructure costs. Outsourcing maintenance and operations of certain systems to outside vendors is widespread
too, proving to be a viable alternative to handling these
responsibilities in-house.
way of enabling service delivery for their modern work force.
Agencies also benefit from deferring system maintenance
to outside vendors, reducing demands on in-house staff to
maintain these systems.
Sprint Brings Mobility Expertise to UC Market
Communications service provider Sprint is implementing
its own unified UC network. Reaping the same benefits as
public agencies embarking on this path, Sprint is realizing
significant cost savings, reducing maintenance needs and
improving collaboration among employees.
“When we talk about convergence at Sprint, we generally
mean the coming together of wireline and wireless,” said Bill
White, Vice President of Federal Programs at Sprint. “Unified
communications could really transform the way governments
communicate with citizens.”
Many large public organizations are accustomed to
separate technology infrastructures from one department to
the next. But these fragmented systems can inhibit effective
collaboration. For example, employees at a main government
office may use a different IM system than those at certain satellite offices, preventing this type of real-time communication
among the agency’s employees.
Unified communications brings real-time exchanges
together with more latent communications, like e-mail and
“Unified communications could really transform the way governments
communicate with citizens.” — Bill White, Vice President, Federal Programs, Sprint
Converging on Unified Communications
One key focus that many public agencies identify for the
coming year is unified communications (UC), which direct
communications to a user’s most appropriate application or device at any given time. Unified communications
allow organizations to integrate real-time communications,
like instant messaging and video chat, with non-real-time
communications, such as e-mail and voicemail, providing
a consistent experience for the user regardless of device or
media type.
A major driver for unified communications is the growing
mobility of the work force, at all levels of government. Being
away from the office no longer means sacrificing productivity. Whether in the field, working from home or traveling
halfway across the world, employees can now have the same
communications capabilities as someone working in the
office. Unified communications enables the real-time redirection of voice, video, text and e-mail to the recipient’s most
accessible device at the time.
Governments see unified communications as an opportunity for significant cost savings, as well as a more efficient
voicemail. This consistency across all communications
avenues simplifies shared initiatives, speeds decision-making
and ultimately enhances service to the community.
Hosted and On-Premise Options Available
Hosted UC solutions eliminate the need for a large upfront
capital investment as well as ongoing maintenance expenses.
Users enjoy scalability and can deploy the solution very
quickly. Sprint’s hosted solutions offer a simple, predictable
per-seat pricing model so agencies know how to budget their
communications resources.
Public agencies generally prefer a hosted option for its
quick deployment, no-surprises pricing and the ability to
direct internal staff time toward strategic initiatives rather
than system upkeep. Energy savings are also significant
with a hosted solution because systems aren’t maintained
on site.
On-premise solutions often make sense for larger organizations with more complex requirements. A service provider
installs and manages the equipment at the various sites,
according to specialized needs.
ADVERTISEMENT
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38. Uniquely positioned in the convergence marketplace,
the Sprint 4G network, supported by 3G backup, enables
it to extend its advanced mobile features to the UC platform.
While some providers offer mobility features to UC customers,
advanced features require app downloads. Sprint’s more
robust feature set, however, is inherent in the service, available right out of the box.
Important in disaster recovery and continuity of government
discussions, Sprint can also extend all desk phone features to
mobile phones, so even if the phone system goes down, calls
will still come in to mobile phones. UC users enjoy streamlined
communications with internal and external colleagues, with a
single phone number that rings at a desk phone or a mobile
phone, depending on the employee’s location.
Network
Vision
Today
Unified networks, spectrums
support any protocol/purpose
Multiple technologies operate
on the Sprint network:
• 4G
• 3G
• Sprint® Direct Connect®
Three networks, with distinct
technology and spectrums
Envisioning an Improved Network
Another communication innovation on the horizon
from Sprint is a large-scale network transformation,
dubbed “Network Vision.” This next-generation wireless
network is expected to significantly enhance signal
strength and reach, while reducing energy needs
using software-based Internet protocol systems.
Key changes
> Network consolidation and spectrum integration:
Currently three different networks — 4G, 3G and
push-to-talk/iDEN — each use distinct technologies
and spectrums; Network Vision unifies all three
networks and spectrums with multimodal equipment
to support any protocol and purpose.
>
Technology enhancement: This one-of-a-kind
network combines multiple existing spectrum bands
into single bands, allowing maximum flexibility to
leverage the optimum frequency for current needs.
Key expected benefits
Enhanced coverage: Dramatic coverage improvements
mean consistent, quality coverage across all towers,
and seamless transitions from outdoors to indoors.
>
>
Positioned for the future: Existing devices perform better
and new, universal devices will automatically access
the network through the strongest available signal.
>
Environmental benefits: New towers use less space
and less power, reducing energy consumption and
carbon footprint.
>
Radio users: Push-to-talk customers will also enjoy
significantly improved coverage, indoors and out,
along with major increases in system capacity and
network availability.
ADVERTISEMENT
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39. Case Study
Sprinting Toward Convergence
S
print’s credentials in mobility are
well known. When it comes to unified communications, however,
the company’s own implementation
also demonstrates its leadership in the
convergence space. Like many public
agencies and large companies, Sprint’s
phone system consisted of a large
in-house switching system, connected by
a series of local exchange carriers. Sprint
needed a better solution to support its
geographically diverse and increasingly
mobile U.S. work force, which is 40,000
strong. The new converged communications system offers considerable cost
savings and adds numerous capabilities,
optimizing opportunities for collaboration.
At the core of Sprint’s UC system is
its global multi-protocol label switching
(MPLS) system. Sprint’s award-winning
MPLS lets it prioritize voice and video traffic ahead of Web surfing, e-mail and data
storage, making the most of available
bandwidth according to current system
needs. The MPLS system works in tandem
with virtual session initiation protocol (SIP)
trunking, which allows users to engage in
enterprise, whether they’re working at
home, traveling internationally or out in
the field,” said Josh Morton, Vice President of IT Enterprise Services at Sprint.
“Unified communications is what enables
us to work this way.”
Staff support needs have changed
dramatically with the UC implementation.
Previously the company had 30 voice
engineers across the country who were
responsible for maintaining the company’s
phone system. Today, a staff of 22 manages not only the voice environment, but
location. Sprint reports that employee
adoption of the new solutions is happening much more quickly than expected.
“Some employees were definitely
apprehensive about switching to UC
because they were comfortable with
our old system,” Morton explained.
“We thought adoption might be a slow
process, but in fact it happened very
quickly. Employees appreciate the ability
to work anywhere with an Internet connection and collaborate so easily with
other team members.”
“The presence capabilities and the ability to do video and instant messaging
make all of our employees really feel connected to the enterprise, whether
they’re working at home, traveling internationally or out in the field.”
— Josh Morton, vice president, IT Enterprise Services, Sprint
these diverse types of communications
from almost anywhere. SIP trunking is also
highly scalable and eliminates the physical
maintenance and local provider contracts
that come with local PBX equipment.
“We wanted to do more than just
a voice replacement. The presence
capabilities and the ability to do video
and instant messaging make all of our
employees really feel connected to the
also e-mail, video conferencing, instant
messaging and presence technologies.
Unified communications allow the current
support model to be centralized as well.
Many Sprint campuses now utilize
open, flexible seating. Because people
are no longer tied to a specific workstation, they open their laptop in an available
area and get to work. The same productivity level is available regardless of their
Like public-sector groups interested
in convergence, cost was another motivating factor in Sprint’s decision to unify
its communications. Operating expenses
alone have been reduced by several
million dollars per year, and additional
savings have been realized in many other
areas as well. All told, Sprint expects a
complete return on its UC investment in
just 15 months.
For additional information, visit www.sprint.com/convergence
ADVERTISEMENT
This e.Republic custom publication is sponsored by Sprint. © 2011 e.Republic Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
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