Emergency Preparedness News articles from March 2006

Emergency Preparedness News archives from March 2006

Whether they emerge for or agin'.(Slants & Trends)(port security)
March 7, 2006... WHETHER THEY EMERGE FOR OR AGIN' the now hotly and very publicly controversial Dubai Ports World deal, the powers that be in Washington--those outside of the Bush Administration, that is--seem to agree: port security is long overdue for an...

Post-9/11 trade dilemma centers on port security.
March 7, 2006... An international business transaction that received a typical review by a government body that rarely receives much press has security experts and politicians alike soul-searching over how much port security is adequate in post-9/11 world...

Stakeholders converging to produce national Chemical Security legislation.
March 7, 2006... A convergence of support from interested parties has made it likely that the Chemical Facility Antiterrorism Act (S.2145) will emerge from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee within the next couple of months, placing...

Are home PCs the droid army in DHS Cyber Storm scenario?(Department of Homeland Security)
March 7, 2006... In keeping with its renewed emphasis under Secretary Michael Chertoff on the electronic infrastructure, DHS has completed a series of simulated cyber attacks ("Cyber Storm") on 115 public, private, and international agencies, organizations, and...

Nation's growing obesity epidemic weighs on responder resources.
March 7, 2006... The nation's health issues often directly impact how responders conduct their daily work lives, and the current obesity epidemic is no exception. According to the Centers for Disease Control, two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese and...

Department of Justice.(EPN News Roundup: The Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget)
March 7, 2006... Perhaps leery of zeroing out the popular Community Oriented Policing Services program altogether, the Bush Administration's fiscal year 2007 Department of Justice budget request allocates $40.1 million to COPS, directing that the money be spent...

Department of Agriculture.(EPN News Roundup: The Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget)
March 7, 2006... Several U.S. Department of Agriculture security initiatives drew praise from the medical community and others concerned with terrorism attacks or disease outbreaks originating in the nation's food supply. The USDA budget would allocate $82...

U.S. Forest Service.(EPN News Roundup: The Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget)(fire management)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... Although the U.S. Forest Service's wildland fire management budget would increase slightly, rising from $1.75 billion in FY06 to $1.76 billion in FY07, not all categories would receive more funding. Fire suppression would climb by almost $60...

Dept. of Health and Human Services.(EPN News Roundup: The Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget)
March 7, 2006... The American Public Health Association has found a few "positive proposals" in the otherwise "dismaying" Department of Health and Human Services FY07 budget. APHA applauded bumping up bioterrorism preparedness funding by $25 million to $1.66...

FEMA, firefighters team nationally to strengthen statewide mutual aid.(EPN News Roundup: The Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget)(Federal Emergency Management Agency)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... FEMA and the International Association of Fire Chiefs have launched a National Fire Service Intrastate Mutual Aid System designed to tie local fire districts and departments into statewide mutual aid networks that adhere to the National...

Education Department.(Grants & Contracts)(education for hurricane victims)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... EDUCATION DEPARTMENT and DHS Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald Powell have released $1.1 billion in relief aid to educate children who are hurricane victims. $645 million will go toward the education costs of displaced...

U.S. Small Business Administration.(Grants & Contracts)
March 7, 2006... U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION and the DHS Gulf Coast Rebuilding Office have begun a Disaster Loan Partners Initiative to increase the role of private sector financial institutions in the hurricane recovery efforts. SBA will solicit bids...

Department of Health and Human Services.(Grants & Contracts)
March 7, 2006... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES has ordered 1.75 million treatment courses of the antiviral drug zanamivir from GlaxoSmithKline and 12.4 million courses of oseltamivir from Roche to add to the 5.5 million courses purchased for the...

DHS.(Grants & Contracts)
March 7, 2006... DHS has awarded a blanket purchase agreement to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for up to $7.6 million to help the department reign in its oft-critiqued controls over financial reporting. The contract has a potential five-year value of $42.4...

National Endowment for the Arts.(Grants & Contracts)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS is providing $500,000 in grants to support individual organizations and state and local arts agencies in revitalizing the arts industries in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. NEA also is...

The Natl. Preparedness Standard.(Grants & Contracts)
March 7, 2006... THE NATL. PREPAREDNESS STANDARD on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs (NFPA 1600) 2-Day Workshop is designed to help organizations improve their business recovery plan, including auditing and assessment methods....

French flu ban.(Briefly Noted)
March 7, 2006... FRENCH FLU BAN. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service placed a temporary ban Feb. 25 on imported poultry and commercial shipments of live birds, hatching eggs, and unprocessed avian products from the...

Insuring against terror.(Briefly Noted)
March 7, 2006... INSURING AGAINST TERROR. As chair of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, the Treasury Department is soliciting public comment on the long-term availability and affordability of terrorism risk insurance. The group must prepare a...

Recalculating quakes.(Briefly Noted)(earthquakes)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... RECALCULATING QUAKES. The Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of December 2004 was so much larger than any previously measured rupture of its type that it is causing scientists to reevaluate areas of the world that were previously thought to be at low...

Program lags for fed responders.(Briefly Noted)(federal 9/11 emergency workers)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... PROGRAM LAGS FOR FED RESPONDERS. The Department of Health and Human Services' program to screen federal 9/11 responders "has accomplished little and lags behind" similar programs that are run by state, local, and private agencies, according to...

Surge capacity may be misleading.(Briefly Noted)(hospital bed capacity)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... SURGE CAPACITY MAY BE MISLEADING. Statistics using a hospital's annual bed availability to measure its disaster surge capacity may be misleading, according to researchers at Rutgers state university. When scientists analyzed daily bed...

Doctors without borders.(Briefly Noted)
March 7, 2006... DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws has begun drafting legislation that would temporarily lift criminal and civil penalties for out-of-state licensed health care professionals during an...

Polling on NSA eavesdropping.(Briefly Noted)(National Security Agency)(Brief article)
March 7, 2006... POLLING ON NSA EAVESDROPPING. The majority of Americans oppose the government's eavesdropping on citizens' overseas calls without a court warrant and want Congress to "demand that the warrantless eavesdropping" stop, according to a national...

Start up offers searchable video surveillance footage.(Briefly Noted)
March 7, 2006... The United States boasts 26 million surveillance cameras capturing more than 4 billion hours of footage every week, but until recently, pinpointing specific events on these tapes required hours of scanning. A San Francisco start-up is touting...

Calendar.(Brief article)(Calendar)
March 7, 2006... March 23: Border Trade Alliance 2006 Annual International Conference, Washington, D.C. The conference will include discussions covering the latest port of entry technology and the new security requirements that go with it. Contact: Allison...

'It's all about hedging your bets' by acknowledging that disaster will strike, according to Critical Infrastructure Task Force Chair Ruth David, explaining the new approach that CITF is recommending for DHS.(Slants & Trends)(Department of Homeland Security)(Brief article)
March 21, 2006... 'IT'S ALL ABOUT HEDGING YOUR BETS' by acknowledging that disaster will strike, according to Critical Infrastructure Task Force Chair Ruth David, explaining the new approach that CITF is recommending for DHS. The panel has advised the department...

'We are in a much better position than we were in the past" to keep port security in the spotlight thanks to the Dubai Ports World deal, according to one Capitol Hill aide.(Slants & Trends)
March 21, 2006... 'WE ARE IN A MUCH BETTER POSITION than we were in the past" to keep port security in the spotlight thanks to the Dubai Ports World deal, according to one Capitol Hill aide. DP World is owned by Dubai, and its deal would have placed U.S. port...

Infrastructure resilience requires all-hazards plan, panel advises DHS.(Department of Homeland Security)
March 21, 2006... A DHS advisory panel is contending that the department's current focus on protecting key infrastructure against terrorist attack is not the most effective approach. The Critical Infrastructure Task Force is asserting that resilience,...

Cargo security advocates try to turn headlines into permanent progress.
March 21, 2006... Now that port security has had its moment in the news cycle spotlight, advocates for beefing up anti-terrorist measures intend to keep the momentum rolling for passage of S. 2008, the GreenLane Maritime Cargo Security Act. "It's been...

Avian flu mutates; HHS orders second vaccine; pandemic could hit in months.
March 21, 2006... A second distinct variation of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus has emerged in Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS has directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

CINTEC seeks to strengthen structures to withstand blasts, howling winds.
March 21, 2006... Owners who are seeking to disaster-proof their buildings should consider that window strength depends on what anchors the window in place as much as the durability of the pane of glass itself, advised Robert Lloyd-Rees, chief operating officer...

Alabama BSE case prompts calls for national animal ID program.(News Roundup)
March 21, 2006... The U.S. Department of Agriculture's revelation that an Alabama cow tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy has once again reignited calls for USDA to institute a mandatory national animal identification program. The Alabama cow is...

Patriot Act becomes law; civil rights debate to continue, vow opponents.(News Roundup)(Brief article)
March 21, 2006... After vigorous debate and a filibuster in the Senate, the USA Patriot Act has become the law of the land, including several compromise provisions designed to protect civil rights (EPN, Feb. 21, p. 29). The act barely garnered a two-thirds...

Wireless E911 deployment progressing; technology years away in some states.(News Roundup)(Brief article)
March 21, 2006... Significant progress has been made towards implementing wireless E911 nationwide, reported the Government Accountability Office, but full implementation is still years away in many locations. E911 is deployed in two phases. In Phase I, the...

'Dangerous wildfire season' looms, reports the National Weather Service.(News Roundup)
March 21, 2006... The potential for a "dangerous wildfire season" exists in the Southwest and the central and southern Plains due to months of record dry weather, according to the National Weather Service. Adding to the wildfire potential are the upcoming dry...

Responder resources--Katrina.
March 21, 2006... In the absence of an independent commission such as that assembled after 9/11, numerous reports on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have appeared to fill the vacuum, ranging from Congressional committees (EPN, Feb. 21, p. 25) to interest groups...

Fema's future.(Briefly Noted)
March 21, 2006... Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee are contending that no matter where FEMA ends up on an organizational chart, the emphasis should be on mission performance. Homeland security Dems said that the FEMA director must report...

Budgeting for preparedness.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
March 21, 2006... Congressional Democrats are stepping up criticism of the Bush Administration's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget as appropriations committees begin addressing specifics. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Budget Committee Ranking...

'Real' rail security.(Briefly Noted)
March 21, 2006... Meanwhile, another group of Democratic senators--Joseph Biden (Del.), Tom Carper (Del.), Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), Robert Menendez (N.J.), and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.)--are calling for more funding to boost security on rail and mass transit lines....

Funding vs. flood control.(Briefly Noted)(Army Corps of Engineers)(Brief article)
March 21, 2006... The proposal to cut Army Corps of Engineers funding by 42 percent in FY 07 continues the Bush Administration's "trend of under-investments in water infrastructure," according to House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman John...

Dollars for interoperability.(Briefly Noted)(responder communications)(Brief article)
March 21, 2006... The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International has declared that the Administration's FY 07 budget underfunds dedicated grants for interoperable responder communications. APCO called on Congress to increase direct...

Post 9/11 high-rise risk: chemical attack, warns security executive.
March 21, 2006... Americans who work in skyscrapers can feel reasonably sure that a terrorist attack by airplane is unlikely, according to Dennis Koehler, vice president of marketing and sales for Isonics Homeland Security and Defense Corp., an advanced...