Preparedness / Risk Analysis

  • How to make an organization more resilient

    Small and mid-sized organizations are especially at risk when disaster strikes, since few have the resources or knowledge to develop full-scale continuity plans; CDW-Government offers seven useful tips on how to make organizations more resilient; CDW-G’s experts argue that the most important thing for an organization during a disaster is to ensure the integrity of its data, communications capabilities, and the information technology infrastructure to support both

  • The lessons for U.S. preparedness from Haiti relief efforts

    There are two lessons Americans may learn from the Haiti disaster: first, self reliance -- this means having adequate stocks of food, water, and basic tools on hand; survival gear is important to have ready at home, in particular, water filters and water storage devices are often neglected, but critically important, since clean water is often hard to come by after a disaster; second, the folks who are in charge of U.S. infrastructure might want to try a bit more preparation on their own –critical systems should be engineered for resilience, so that minor failures do not cascade into major ones, and so that failure, when it comes, is graceful rather than abrupt

  • Digital Sandbox launches risk analysis initiative for Hampton Roads, central Virginia

    Infrastructure catalog is essential first step in risk management strategy; Digital Sandbox will identify and catalog potential natural hazards and terrorist threats as well as critical infrastructure and key resources throughout the area.

  • Counter Terror Expo 2010, April 14-15, National Hall, Olympia, United Kingdom

  • Scientists seek homes in the Seattle area in which to install quake monitors

    Scientists want to install seismic monitors in homes in the Seattle area to measure ground-shaking; with detailed information on the way the ground shakes in a particular spot, it may be possible to design buildings tailored to their exact locations; the instruments also will help construct "shake-maps" to pinpoint areas of heaviest damage after major earthquakes

  • Computer scientists report progress on world-simulation tool

    Computer scientists say that advances in different fields now make modeling of world events more realistic as an aid in high-level decision making

  • Flood managementWhat tropical countries can teach the U.K. about flood management

    Climate change has caused a change in the patterns of rainfall in the United Kingdom: rather than a procession of predictable showers, a new type of rain emerged -- localized storms, dropping a lot of water in one place over a short period of time; villages and towns were overwhelmed; tropical countries have had a long experience with the type of rainfall

  • Border Security Expo & Conference, Phoenix, Arizona – April 23 & 24, 2010

  • DHS unveils critical infrastructure Web site

    Designed to provide stakeholders and the public with easily accessible information about their role in safeguarding critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR); the new CIKR Resource Center will offer information on Web-based seminars on the tools, trends, issues, and best practices for infrastructure protection and resilience; resources concerning potential vulnerabilities for chemical facilities; and guidance for all response partners on how best to prepare for and provide a unified response to disasters and emergencies

  • Bridges of the twenty-first centuryWorries about safety of California bridges with eyebar design

    Every so often the Bay Bridge closes because of widening eyebar crack; when the bridge opened seventy years ago, the design was considered safe, but structural engineers now say the eyebar design is an inherently unsafe; trouble is, dozens and dozens of California aging bridges use the flawed design

  • Using technology to prepare vulnerable communities for earthquakes

    Satellite photographs and remotely measured surface heights from NASA will be used for assessing the vulnerability of natural slopes to earthquake-induced landslides; a team of U.K. scientists will also build up a database of slopes that failed in earthquakes; the information collected will include local geology, vegetation, slope angle, distance from the fault, and the amount of ground shaking

  • Effectively Countering Terrorism – Prevention, Preparedness, Response – Sussex A

  • JASON says computer models cannot predict terrorist events

    Pentagon advisory panel concludes that extreme terrorist events such as the 9/11 attacks cannot be predicted by computer models because the data re too sparse; “it is simply not possible to validate (evaluate) predictive models of rare events that have not occurred, and unvalidated models cannot be relied upon”

  • Bipartisan WMD commission: U.S. failing to address urgent biothreat

    Interim report assesses progress in preventing WMD proliferation and terrorism

  • How prepared is the U.S. for a bioterror attack?

    The current U.S. bioterror detection program: A federally funded, locally run program with an $80 million annual budget, deploying a network of vacuum pumps that draw surrounding air through filters, sniffing for signs of biological agents

  • Massive earthquakes shake scientific thought

    Experts who dismissed notions that far-away quakes could be linked are beginning to think again after huge tremors rocked Samoa and Indonesia on the same day, followed by another major convulsion in Vanuatu

  • DHS recommends three emergency management standards

    DHS, under its Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep), is proposing the use of three existing emergency management and business continuity standards; the three were selected from twenty-five standards submitted to DHS for consideration

  • Asteroid collision: How to defend Earth, I

    There are thousands of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) orbiting Earth; some of them are of a civilization-ending size, others are smaller -- they will take out "only" a country or a city were they to collide with Earth; scientists say we should focus our minds on this danger

Intelligence- Led Policing by Jerry Ratcliffe – Willan Publishing – Buy $35.95

The Long View

  • TrendIndia to see a large, broad growth in expenditures on domestic security

    A series of terrorist attacks, culminating in the coordinated attack in Mumbai last month, convinced both government and industry in India that more security -- much more security -- is required to cope with mounting threats to domestic peace; business opportunities abound for companies in IT security, biometric, surveillance, detection, situational awareness, and more

  • TrendAsia at risk of era of mega-disasters

    Asian countries are heading toward an era of mega-disasters; cities in the Himalayan belt, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines could experience earthquakes where the death toll could top one million

  • Devolution of risk management

    In response to the savings and loan scandal of two decades ago, the United States has enhanced the regulatory and compliance regime (FDICIA, SOX); problem is, compliance or regulation is necessarily historically based -- it addresses the sins of the past and is not designed to anticipate the future

  • Making cloud computing safer

    As the cost and other benefits of cloud computing become apparent, more and more companies move parts of their infrastructure out of their data centers; there is a need, though, to think long and hard about disaster-proofing the cloud

  • U.K. businesses lack understanding of threats they face

    U.K. companies invest billions in software for intrusion detection, encryption, and identity management, but are still struggling with basic security processes

  • Be preparedPractical guides to disaster recovery planning in SMEs

    Gartner says that "40% of all SMBs will go out of business if they cannot get to their data in the first 24 hours after a crisis"; two papers aim to help SMBs prepare for disaster