Open Source Homeland

Big City – When a Citizen Feels Impelled to Help – NYTimes.com.

A month ago, Ms. van Straaten ran a meeting at City Hall with people from the mayor’s office, the Fire Department and New York Sports Clubs. That none of the people there answer to her or pay her is testament not just to her will but also to the city’s willingness to facilitate the unpaid workaholism of an obliging citizen. “I remember one long phone conversation about the details of the training program that I had with Laura as she was making stuffing the night before her first big Thanksgiving,” said Lisa Hufcut, public relations director for New York Sports Clubs. “It went late.”

Wednesday marks the official kickoff of FDNY CPR to Go, a three-month pilot program in which members of the Fire Department will offer CPR training at 28 gyms around the city. (It’s free for members and nonmembers alike.) If it works, Ms. van Straaten imagines that CPR training might expand to other fitness facilities throughout the city.

DC Community Preparedness
The District of Columbia Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) is sponsoring a series of community trainings and exercises to help District neighborhoods be prepared in the event of a disaster.

More here from Alert DC:

DC HSEMA community exercise tomorrow, February 7, 10 a.m. at Marshall Heights Community Development Organization 3939 Benning Road, NE. Residents and business owners in Benning, Benning Heights, Burrville, Capitol View, Deanwood, Fort Dupont, Grant Park, Eastland Gardens, Fairmont Heights, Greenway, Kenilworth, Lincoln Heights, Marshall Heights, Mayfair and River Terrace should attend. Register now at www.dccommunitypreparedness.org or call (202) 338-7153, ext. 212.

Strong Angel III | Strong Angel III
THE DEMONSTRATION

What will happen? Organizations and individuals participating in Strong Angel III are volunteering their time and resources to explore innovations in humanitarian response capabilities. This is not a trade show or a technology fair, with vendor booths, demos, and product literature. Nor is it an Exercise in the usual sense, with teams of first responders and a highly-scripted scenario. Instead, SA-III will focus on simulating those aspects of post-disaster conditions that specifically impact communication, information sharing, and coordination. The week-long demonstration will consist of a series of collaborative technical and non-technical experiments based on both lessons learned in past disasters and on emerging requirements for integrated operations. They are designed to test the interoperability, reliability, and flexibility of proposed social and technical solutions. Strong Angel III is a chance for vendors, humanitarian practitioners, First Responders, the military, and community leaders to explore capabilities, inter-operability, usability, and deployment with the specific intent that the solutions proposed be accessible globally. Strong Angel will provide an adverse environment designed to maximize learning, sharing and experimentation.

Nothing you can do when you’re shot from behind like this.

Fireman, gunman dead in Wendys shooting – Yahoo News
Vazquez had been promoted in January and was attending a course called “Strategy and Tactics” before taking his lunch break. Delai said the course teaches officers how to “manage large-scale incidents like we had today.”

 In These Times gets their back up over this, but I have zero issue with it. Sharing relevant information in common sense ways keeps us safer. Just because there is potential for abuse doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it.

FDNY Spies — In These Times
In New York City, the Department of Homeland Security is training New York City firefighters to assist in gathering intelligence information during routine inspections and emergencies.

In November, the Associated Press reported that in New York, Homeland Security was testing a program called the Fire Service Intelligence Enterprise FSIE to help identify “material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities.”