The Wisdom of Yogi By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll probably wind up somewhere else” - Yogi Berra What will “recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic look like? Do we know? While it is unfair to expect those responding to [...]

It’s Dusk in America By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Consider this: “As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged.” William O Douglas Everything in our nation may seem “normal”. The Super Bowl happened. [...]

Government’s Trust Deficit: A Possible Antidote By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed It’s always challenging to affirm to Congress that public funds invested to improve individual and family preparedness are effective. I know, I’ve tried. Legislators have choices in authorizing and appropriating federal dollars. They are right to [...]

The Problem with Disaster Exercises By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Emergency managers don’t conduct disaster exercises to show off, but to learn, then apply what we learned. That’s often made more difficult than it has to be. Factors that impede an exercise The senior elected official bails [...]

Something I Learned in Grad School By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Attention emergency managers: aside from the noteworthy announcement that I learned anything in school, there may be something in the following upon which you might reflect. As I completed my bachelor’s degree in English at what [...]

WTO and Y2K - The Story I Was Never Asked To Tell – Part 5 (Final): A Look Back By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Events that go well often result in less to describe or recall. WTO Recriminations: Despite, perhaps due, to the constraints we struggled against, [...]

WTO and Y2K - The Story I Was Never Asked To Tell – Part 4: Havoc in the Streets By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed As WTO approached, The Mayor’s Office became concerned about the contrast between the cheery outlook presented by SPD and the Mayor’s own staff [...]

WTO and Y2K: The Story I Was Never Asked To Tell – Part 3: WTO “Planning” vs “Seminars in Crisis and Consequence Management” By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Whether in internal SPD meetings leading up to the WTO conference, or when the Mayor’s Office met with the [...]

WTO and Y2K: The Story I Was Never Asked To Tell – Part 1: WTO Planning By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed WTO 1999 Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) had only learned of the pending (November/December 1999) World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in March 1999. When "planning" [...]

WTO and Y2K: The Story I Was Never Asked to Tell – Background Information on WTO and Y2K By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Y2K In early 1999, concerns surfaced across the public and private sector that the turn of the century would require a rewrite of coding [...]

Now for Something Completely Different: The Story I Was Never Asked To Tell By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Since September 2015, "Emergency Management Once Removed" has served as a monthly commentary on current local, regional and national emergency management and/or homeland security issues, drawing on my experiences [...]

Give “Electeds” Their Due By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Emergency managers often scorn the intrusion of "politics" or "politicians" into their work. Untimely "special" requests during regular business and even during a crisis feed the instinct of most emergency managers to "lay low" in a political environment. [...]

Dividing the Burden By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Whose responsibility is it to restore the social equilibrium in a post-disaster environment? It is not solely the government’s role to provide the “answer” in difficult times. Each of us has a role. Some of the burdens of a [...]

Climate Change and Emergency Management By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed At the 2007 National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) Annual Forum, I persuaded the Chair of the Preparedness Committee to allow a presentation on climate change at the Committee’s meeting. The expert speaker, Bob Freitag, a former FEMA [...]

A Problem or an Opportunity? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The Disaster Reform and Recovery Act (DRRA) addresses longstanding issues in the disaster management system. Pre - Disaster Mitigation (PDM) is touted as a high priority for attention – so far, so good. Here is the problem: [...]

Homeland Security: “If seven maids with seven mops swept it for half a year…”* By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), formed post 9/11, consolidated 20 plus federal agencies under a single Cabinet-level Secretary. There were naysayers among the ranks of emergency managers. [...]

Just One More Thing By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed As the Washington State Legislative Session kicked off, the Seattle Times listed several topics that were the highest priorities for consideration. They were, in no apparent order: K-12 funding; Special Education; Climate Change; Opioids and Behavioral Health; and [...]

Wishin’ and Hopin' By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Local and state elected officials searching for 2019 New Year’s resolutions to commit to might consider this modest list: Imagine: If elected officials and senior leaders chose to ask, at least annually and without a staff filter, their emergency [...]

You Can Observe a lot by Watching By Jim Mullen "You can observe a lot by watching" (Yogi Berra - former NY Yankee catcher, manager, philosopher) When one retires, or in my case, semi- retires, Yogi's comment begins to make a lot more sense. When you work in a [...]

“Us” and “Them” By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed It’s not uncommon for individuals or organizations to attempt to elevate their own standing by demeaning the contributions of others. In the long run it’s a losing game. Those that employ "us" vs "them" as a tactic can only [...]

Lucky Me By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Sometimes big problems start with smaller, seemingly manageable problems that, through inattention, or a failure to take immediate protective measures, morph into serious issues. Emergency managers’ usefulness to society at large accrues for their ability to quickly address problems before [...]

Emergency Management and Homeland Security: Which Is More Important? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Natural hazards, perhaps because they come and go and soon slip from public view, does not have the “sizzle” terrorism provides for politicians and public safety interest groups. Emergency management’s methodical approach to [...]