On March 7, 2018 (a year ago), I wrote a letter to then FEMA Administrator Brock Long on how we could build a culture of preparedness in America though civil defense. I never received any response. Fast forward to March 1, 2019 and Emergency Management Magazine published an article entitled: Report: We’ve Failed Miserably at…
Letter to FEMA Administrator Brock Long on building a culture of preparedness [Click Here to read the PDF version of my Letter to Brock Long] March 7, 2018 William B. “Brock” Long, AdministratorFederal Emergency Management Agency500 C Street S.W.Washington, D.C. 20472 Goals:1. Building a culture of preparedness in the United States 2. Bringing back “civil…
Listen to Michael Mabee on Civil Defense EM Weekly’s Todd DeVoe interviews Michael Mabee on Civil Defense, recent testimony and statements of FEMA Administrator Brock Long and how we can build a culture of preparedness in the U.S. EM Weekly podcast Episode 51. Click below to listen. Also see my recent EM Weekly Article:…
Guest Post: By Preston Le Roy Schleinkofer Introduction to Civil Defense and Civil Defense Virginia Ever since the demise of the U.S. Civil Defense Administration in the 1990’s, the community has been largely excluded from the process of emergency management. But since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the increasingly serious threats to…
Hawaii false missile alert: “Nobody knew what to do” CBS News, in its reporting of the Hawaii false missile alert, quoted a Honolulu resident: “Clearly, there is a massive gap between letting people know something’s coming and having something for them to do. Nobody knew what to do.” Well said. Besides the fact that there…
All Roads Lead to Civil Defense: Survival is a local Issue. Civil defense is the organizing and training of civilians to play key roles in a community’s survival. Another term for this, coined by Civil Defense Virginia, is “continuity of community.” The concept is simple: A community’s citizens, in partnership with their emergency management and…
“While each year the hurricane season comes to an end on November 30, the lessons from the response and recovery operations that we are performing this year, under incredibly difficult circumstances, will transform the field of emergency management forever.” – FEMA Administrator Brock Long, November 30, 2017. Building a culture of emergency preparedness is now…
Building a culture of preparedness in America President Trump released his National Security Strategy on December 18, 2017. On page 14 is a section entitled: “Promote American Resilience” (see below) which broadly addresses disaster response and resilience. We have already heard FEMA Director Brock Long discuss the need to build a true culture of preparedness…
“We have to do more pre-disaster mitigation. Pre-disaster mitigation is the key to becoming more resilient and reducing disaster impact.” – FEMA Administrator Brock Long FEMA says pre-disaster mitigation has to be a whole community effort In last week’s blog post, I discussed Brock Long’s comments to the House Appropriations Committee on November 30,…
FEMA Administrator Brock Long has it right FEMA Administrator Brock Long testified before the House Appropriations Committee on November 30, 2017 and what he said was a game changer. Here are some key points he made: “While each year the hurricane season comes to an end on November 30, the lessons from the response and recovery…