Open Source Homeland

These alerts are by far the fastest, best-written information ever delivered in an emergency shooting situation in the United States.

NIU – Northern Illinois University

We’ve all seen the Captivate Network in high-rise office buildings all over the country. This post over on ScreenWerk got me thinking about the possibilities for emergency broadcasting to those screens in municipalities. In situations where people are still encouraged to use the elevator (i.e. the danger is nearby but not in the building) it could provide a valuable, consistent communication platform.

A stinging, detailed critique showing what the downtown heat emergency related to the LaSalle Bank Marathon has to say about emergency preparedness in Chicago

Second City Cop: Who’s Culpable?
The inefficiency of City agencies to coordinate a large scale response to an emergency situation run by a private entity should really bring pause to anyone who thinks this town is anywhere near ready for an Olympics or a terror attack.

But will they have the discipline to show up for work after a disaster?

Mail carriers test ability to deliver medicine in event of attack – Boston.com
Postal carriers fanned out Sunday in the South End and West Roxbury, delivering some 23,000 empty cardboard boxes to homes in the neighborhood. The object of the drill was to determine how quickly life-saving medicine could be delivered to residents in the event terrorists staged an anthrax attack.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick released a pretty extensive homeland security strategy for the state. Ill be vetting it over the next few days, The thing that caught my eye in a preliminary story was the idea below about the centrality of the state as the coordinating body (rather than Federal or local) in the event of an emergency.

I agree with that estimation, but the only problem with that is that state government tends to think of emergency response efforts narrowly in terms of official governmental entities. They need to consider, cull, and coordinate informal response as well.

Patrick report gives security tips – The Boston Globe
The report says the most important thing the state can do is improve communications between first responders and state and local officials. Undersecretary for Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem says that while local communities have learned lessons from the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, only the state can coordinate large-scale disaster management.

Download the complete Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Homeland Security Strategy report here. (PDF, 440KB, 31 pages)