Open Source Homeland

 The official line on the Virginia Tech report is that the University should have alerted people earlier. But the fact is that some plain-old electronic rumor-mongering and unofficial rush-to-post twittering would have done the trick, too.

Report: V. Tech could have saved lives :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Nation
Had university officials not waited more than two hours to tell the campus about the initial shootings, lives could have been saved when Seung-Hui Cho later began his massacre inside a classroom building, according to the report, released Wednesday night.

”Warning the students, faculty and staff might have made a difference,” the panel wrote. ”So the earlier and clearer the warning, the more chance an individual had of surviving.”

A major theme emerging from the news from London is that alert, well-trained civil servants stopped a major terrorist attack just by showing up and doing their jobs well. An alert ambulance crew and a plain old police officer. Really fantastic news and a great sign for meat & potatoes work in the face of what sometimes seem like invincible enemies.

British police foil major terror plot - Yahoo News
The events unfolded when police were called to Haymarket, south of Piccadilly Circus, after a man fell at the nightclub Tiger Tiger, injuring his head, prompting a call for an ambulance around 1:30 a.m. Friday.

When crews arrived, they noticed smoke coming from a green Mercedes parked in front of a club, Clarke said.

Photographs showed a canister bearing the words “patio gas,” indicating it was propane, next to the car. The propane gas is of the type usually used in backyard barbecues and patio heaters. The back door was open with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene after a bomb squad disabled the explosives.

A bomb squad called to the scene manually disabled the explosives.

Sky News television reported that a police officer seized a telephone from the car — believed to have been a potential detonator for the explosives — and an American lawmaker briefed on the investigation confirmed that British authorities found a cell phone.

“They found a cell phone and it was going to be used to detonate the bomb,” said U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

The American Medical Association has launched a new peer-reviewed journal, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Here’s their explanation of what they’re about:

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness is the first comprehensive and authoritative journal emphasizing public health preparedness and disaster response for all health care and public health professionals globally. The journal will translate science into practice and integrate medical and public health perspectives. With the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax attacks, the tsunami in Indonesia, hurricane Katrina, SARS and the fear of pandemic influenza, all health care and public health professionals must be prepared to respond to emergency situations. In support of these pressing public health needs, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness is committed to the medical and public health communities who are the stewards of the health and security of citizens worldwide. 

Table of contents for the inaugural issues of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

Can still be heard in Chicago.