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DHS Terrorism and Response to Terrorism Review Report 2011 Now Available

September 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As a continuation of this website’s support for this year’s National Preparedness Month 2011, and for many of our readers who participate on committees delegated to promote policies and a better understanding of the origins, dynamics, and social and psychological impacts of terrorism, our staff would like to present for review some of the recent output from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

As you will notice on their website, START is actually a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence based at the University of Maryland and is a great resource made available to everyone for both reference and for keeping on top of current developments in the area of terrorism and how to best respond to those terrorist activities.

Recently START released its 2011 Research Review report which does a good job in trying to summarize, analyze and explain a range of topics relevant to current terrorism and counterterrorism issues and summarizes research projects completed by START investigators and research writers, who offer in this report, a quick summary of the project findings discovered in each of their reports.

The 10 featured research projects in the 2011 Research Review include:

  • “Terrorism vs. Protest: Stimulating Individual Decision-making via Online Experiments”- Anthony Lemieux and Victor Asal
  • “Trajectories of Terror: Islamic Radicalization in North America”- Gary Ackerman and John Sawyer
  • “Jokers Wild: Understanding the Influence of Service Provision on Popular Support for and Participation in Violent Political Groups”- Shawn Flanigan
  • “IED I.D.- Understanding Terrorist Bomb Attacks and Improvised Explosive Device Usage”- Margaret Wilson, Gary LaFree and Richard Legault
  • “Wicked Web: Social Network Analysis for Combating Islamic and Arab Terrorist Networks”- Victor Asal and R. Karl Rethemeyer
  • “Cause and Effect: Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Israel and Palestinian Territories”- Arie Kruglanski, Laura Dugan and Erica Chenoweth
  • “Against the Clock: Measuring Intervention Success in Terrorist Activity”- Kelly Damphousse, Bent Smith and Summer Jackson
  • “Terror’s Legacy: Quantitative Index of the Public Health Impacts of Terrorism”- Kathleen Sherrieb and Fran Norris
  • “The Missing Piece: Citizen Engagement in Public Health Planning”- Monica Schoch-Spana
  • “Clear, Calm, Collected: Communicating Effectively During Times of Threat”- Elaine Vaughan, Hamilton Bean, Kathleen Smarick and Dennis Mileti

Click here to read an online version of this report.

In addition, START has made available another report titled “Background Report, 9/11 Ten Years Later” — Click here  to read this report.

This information is a great reference resource, not to ignored, and certainly one that comes to mind in this year’s NPM 2011 theme….”A Time to Remember, A Time to Prepare”.

If applicable, please pass this information on to those business continuity, crisis management and disaster preparedness team members in your organization as well as to those local community team members who may need updated information for their counter terrorism strategies. 

Photo courtesy of blog.chron.com

Filed Under: Business Continuity Info, Environmental Security, Physical Security, Risk Management, Safety Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Security Related Issues and Houses of Worship

September 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

In trying to keep our readers in touch with security related (i.e. both physical and information) issues of the day, and not stay too focused on certain sectors, it is necessary to remind our readers that houses of worship must also be concerned about security related issues – especially since 9/11.

To that point, the following website links are suggested for follow-up:

 Securing Houses of Worship

House of Worship Security and Training Tips

Protecting Your House of Worship (BLOG) 

Please share your experiences and suggestions on this topic.

If applicable, pass this information along to those members in your local house of worship community who are responsible for information and physical security or risk management related issues.  

Photo courtesy of tfwm.com

Filed Under: Cybersecurity, Information Security, Physical Security, Risk Management, Safety Tagged With: , , , ,

ASIS 2011 — Expanded Educational Offerings

July 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As this year’s ASIS 2011 Conference comes closer, and if your career path is related to the security industry, then you should consider attending this conference.

To that point, security practitioners from across the industry will find some exciting new offerings at the ASIS International 57th Annual Seminar and Exhibits (ASIS 2011) in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 19-22. New partnerships with (ISC)2 (“ISC-squared”) and PSA Security Network among others, broaden the scope of the educational program and open valuable new networking opportunities. In total, this year’s Seminar will offer attendees more than 180 educational sessions across 18 tracks.

Read more about these expanded educational developments, and click here if you would like to download a pdf version of the just released Seminar Overview Brochure.

To get more details and information, and to register your attendance at the conference, click here.

If applicable, please pass this information along to those physical and information security team members in your organization.

Filed Under: Cybersecurity, Environmental Security, Executive Protection, Information Security, Physical Security, Safety Tagged With: , , , ,

Corporate Manslaughter Fine Levied in Case against U.K. Company

May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the United Kingdom, there has been legislation under the UK’s Corporate Manslaughter Act of 2007 that risk managers and business continuity specialists have recognized as a potential threat and impact on all U.K. entities since a case arose in September, 2008, when a 27-year-old geologist was working alone in a deep trial pit, and the pit caved in on him.

Recently, in an article written by Sue Reisinger, and posted on the LAW.COM website, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Limited, the mining company, in this case, became the first business to be convicted under the UK’s Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act of 2007. The law holds a company liable when a death is caused by “senior management’s” gross breach of duty of care – and can also arise from fatalities caused by any of a company’s activities, including the use of company supplied vehicles and the supply of alleged defective products.

Such a fine would present a very serious threat to the survival of any business, irrespective of size; and highlights the importance of ensuring that all health and safety risks are taken extremely seriously by all organizations.

Certainly with this case decision, potential business continuity impacts can clearly be seen – at least for companies in the U.K.

What are your thoughts and comments about this potentially having an impact on U.S. companies — especially outside of the mining industry?  How do current U.S. laws in this area of corporate responsibility differ from this U.K. law?

Read more about this case ….and if applicable, please pass this along to those business continuity and risk management team members in your organization.

Filed Under: Business Continuity Info, Risk Management, Safety Tagged With: , ,

Private Sector Preparedness (PS-Prep) + Emergency Management = Critical Infrastructure’s Future in U.S.

May 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (the nation’s worst environmental disaster), governmental emergency management teams faced the reality that more effort is required to proactively begin building relationships with private-sector partners.

In a recent article written by Austen Givens, entitled, “Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Is an Ominous Sign for Critical Infrastructure’s Future”, you can review the methodology that Givens uses to make that strong case for the need to have our government’s emergency managers engaged with the private sector in cooperative efforts of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts.  The objective of his article is expressed best when Austen Givens states, “…The Deepwater Horizon disaster offers countless lessons for emergency management on the need to forge deep, lasting ties with the private sector. With 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure in the hands of businesses, and complex system failures becoming an increasing reality for emergency managers, building bridges across the public-private sector divide is imperative for emergency managers in government.”

In short, critical infrastructure in our communities is vulnerable to disruption and the private sector — not government — is in charge of most of it.  And, if that private sector is going to be adequately prepared for that interaction, then everything must be done to support continuous improvement of disaster preparedness levels throughout the private sector. The PS-Prep program is certainly qualified to be one of the players to make that happen. This story by Givens brings our attention to this matter in a very relative way.

This website has set an objective to provide a one-stop location to learn about and be provided with ongoing updates of developments in the PS-Prep program.  Our staff continues to welcome comments and input from our readers to help us achieve that goal.

Read more about Austen Givens’ position on this timely and critical infrastructure-related topic.

Photo courtesy of blog.gmfus.org

Filed Under: Physical Security, PS-Prep Program, Risk Management, Safety Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2011 Hurricane Season Forecast Free Webinar Assists Disaster Preparedness Planning Teams

May 12, 2011 By 2 Comments

For those readers of this website who are located in areas of North America  where hurricanes are or could be a threat to themselves, their employers or their communities — you are recommended to get tips on protecting your family, neighbors, customers, employees and your investment(s) by attending a free webinar on May 17 at 2 p.m. EDT.

This webinar is hosted by Agility Recovery Solutions and the US Small Business Administration (SBA), and will feature Weather Services International Senior Meteorologist Ben Papandrea, who will present the 2011 Hurricane Season forecast. Paul Sullivan, a vice president for Agility Recovery Solutions, will share best practices available to business continuity, risk management and both personal/disaster preparedness planning teams.

Click here to register for this free webinar.

Photo courtesy of asiaresearch.com,sg

Filed Under: Business Continuity Info, Personal Continuity, Personal Preparedness, Risk Management, Safety Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Hurricane Probability Tools Now Available for BC/DR Planning Toolkits

May 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If your organization resides any of its entities in hurricane prone locations in the United States, Caribbean or Central America, the your business continuity, disaster preparedness and recovery and crisis management teams need to add take notice of the following website links listed below.

United States Landfalling Hurricane Probability Project:

Interactive Landfall Probability Display
The user selects a county, and landfall probabilities based on CSU’s Tropical Meteorology Project’s 2011 tropical cyclone forecast are presented.  The numbers in parentheses are the climatological averages based on landfalling tropical cyclones in HURDAT. 

Landfall Probability Table
A Microsoft Excel table displaying all landfall probability calculations.

State Landfall Probability Table
A Microsoft Excel table displaying all landfall probability calculations for each of the coastal states.

Region Map
Map of the eleven regions for which landfall probabilities have been created.

Methodology Documentation
A Microsoft Word document describing how the landfall probabilities were calculated.

Caribbean and Central America Landfalling Hurricane Probability Project :

Landfall Probability Table
A Microsoft Excel table displaying all landfall probability calculations.

Methodology Documentation
A Microsoft Word document describing how the landfall probabilities were calculated.

If and where applicable, these important landfall probability calculations and forecasting tools are important early disaster preparedness and business continuity planning components not to be ignored.

If any of our readers have additional information to share, please do so in our comments section below.

Thank you.

Photo courtesy of gomexico.about.com

Filed Under: Environmental Security, PS-Prep Program, Safety, Security Tagged With: , , , ,

Emergency Management Portal Assists Business Continuity Planning

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The saying ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’ is often used by emergency planners when writing plans. There is every reason why those planners should compare notes or look for good practice wherever it comes from to save them working through the same issues.

For this reason our staff would like to point our readers to an Emergency Management Portal as a resource for risk or crisis management team members in your organization.

The Emergency Management Portal contains guidance, news, legislation and a lot more that, while much of it is UK-centric – it still can be a valuable information resource for emergency management practitioners anywhere.

We hope this resource proves to be a valuable addition to your team’s efforts to prepare your organization’s level of resilience in the face of an unexpected disruptive event and also assist your team’s efforts to participate in PS-Prep related activities if your organization is a private sector companies. 

Click here to view this interesting emergency management portal resource.

Filed Under: Business Continuity Info, PS-Prep Program, Safety Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

iPhone PatriotApp – "Game Changer" or "Big Brother"?

December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In an recent article written by Matt Liebowitz and posted on the http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ website, we revisit an updated version of a very controversial application for iPhones which is getting a lot of buzz again on the web.  And, while it is gaining popularity, it is at the same time, also attracting scorn from people who disagree with the controversial law on which it is based.  That application is called the “PatriotApp” and can be downloaded free from the iTunes store website.  You can find more detailed information also on the www.patriotapps.com website. 

Launched in September, the “PatriotApp” allows people to report criminal or suspicious activity to several federal agencies, including the FBI, EPA, CDC and GAO (Government Accountability Office), the office responsible for investigating public funds. It also includes RSS feeds for the FBI’s Most Wanted list and the Department of Homeland (DHS) Security’s threat level, and allows people to report workplace harassment and discrimination. 

Playing off the Patriot Act name, “the app was founded on the belief that citizens can provide the most sophisticated and broad network of eyes and ears necessary to prevent terrorism, crime, environmental negligence, or other malicious behavior,” according to Patriotapps.com.

Our staff has been following this story since it was introduced last September, and from the information discusssed in Mr. Liebowitz’s, we believe it should be brought to the attention of those risk management, physical security, network security and disaster preparedness team members in your organization. 

Click here to read Mr. Liebowitz’s full article and follow the links to other locations addressing the controversy surrounding this latest attempt to increase our awareness and ability to achieve real time reporting status of conditions which have the potential to become a disruptive event for ourselves, where we live and for the companies where we work. 

Do you have a strong opinion about this technology approach?  Do you see it as being more of a “Big Brother” control play?  Or, do you see it as the kind of “game changer” claimed in Mr. Liebowitz’s article?

Filed Under: Physical Security, Safety, Security Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hurricane Preparedness Myths Dispelled

June 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In a recent article posted on the FloridaRealEstateRama Florida website, several myths are dispelled and new facts are offered by The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) regarding the critical disaster safety topic of hurricane preparedness. 

In our efforts to expand the awareness of and need for preparedness activities of organizations, we fully recognize the role that individual employees of those organization play in support of those organizational driven business continuity and risk management actions. 

Therefore to help both organizations and individuals increase their levels of hurricane preparedness and awareness levels, we recommend adding this information to their preparedness reference content library.  We also recommend adding this information to your PS-Prep related reading  requirements list.

Click here to read the full IBHS article.

Filed Under: Business Continuity Info, PS-Prep Program, Safety Tagged With: , , , , ,
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