Emergency Management Once Removed

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 they get worse, recognizing that not every problem needs to become insurmountable. Of course, major incidents are not always preventable, but even after the fact lapses in attentiveness can make a massive problem considerably worse. A recent experience of mine highlighted this concept. I’d just turned 71 years of age. It [...]

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 prepare for, mitigate, respond to and recover from any number of threats to public safety is not bombastic enough, nor attention-sustaining enough, to meet demand of politicians, media and many in the general public for a “problem – raised, problem-solved” approach. In an earlier blog, I’ve discussed some of the issues [...]

Why Recovery Exercises Fall Short By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Recently I attended an Initial Planning Meeting for the Central United States Earthquake Consortium 2019 exercise ominously entitled "Shaken Fury". The discussion as it related to the acknowledgment of challenges that proposed scenario poses for recovery officials caused me to ponder why recovery exercises have rarely succeeded over the years. I think I know. Most exercises are response-centric, and response personnel are often the principal planners. Said planners, be they military, or police and fire, focus on what they know. They don’t "know" recovery. 2003’s TOPOFF 2 exercise, [...]

Recovery Redux Plus a Footnote from June By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed We all know when a disaster begins: the earth moves, or the winds blow, waters rise or flames burst out of control. What continues to frustrate me is that we seldom grasp as a nation when a disaster is over. One might think, for example that Hurricane Maria was all over shortly after it passed through Puerto Rico. The "official" death toll, 64, led the president and others to comment that it could have been a lot worse. It apparently was a lot worse. A recent [...]

To Stay or Go? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Emergency managers are not strangers to the "stay or go" dilemma. In my career, during but also before entering emergency management, I myself sometimes felt like, well, a lot of federal Administration employees may currently feel these days. For 26 ½ of my final 28 years in government, I was in an unprotected classification. I could have been dismissed any number of times, with no more than a phone call or a terse letter. There are less than ethical ways to get rid of a civil servant in a [...]

Hey, What About Us? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed With the current federal government seemingly in perpetual crisis, how can emergency management compete for attention to its’ needs? Let’s be honest: the current spate of investigations, accusations, counter-accusations, all against the backdrop of midterm Congressional elections could stifle productive debate and decision making on issues emergency managers care about. It always seems to happen. The Clinton impeachment cycle dwarfed any attempts by his Administration to establish emergency management as a national priority despite the efforts of FEMA Administrator James Lee Witt; the post 9/11 environment saw a shift [...]

Observations from the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) 2018 Mid – Year Forum By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The current FEMA headquarters team seems intent on making a positive difference. FEMA leadership describes itself as building on what was already in place and adapting to new situations and opportunities. FEMA continues to focus on disaster cost reduction and enlisting its state and local partners to assist in identifying areas of savings, and is recommending some positive changes to allowable management costs for states and locals. FEMA is making positive noises about promoting mitigation, suggesting strongly that it is [...]

The Changing Face of Emergency Management Education By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Whenever the subject of preparing emergency managers for the future a couple of familiar refrains are sounded. Here are some of them: Who is teaching? What is being learned? Recently more actual emergency managers are becoming adjunct faculty, in some cases while they are still working in the discipline; others, recently retired possess a wealth of practical information as well as "book learnin" to convey. This is positive. For too long even professional associations sometimes deferred to academicians with limited or very narrow expertise in our [...]

Earmarks: Love ‘Them, Hate ‘Them By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The President recently raised the prospect of "bringing back earmarks" as a legitimate negotiating tool. Reform-minded persons in both parties view earmarks as "deals" that often undermine the allocation of resources based on merit and importance to the common good. Once an accepted practice in Congress, it is now largely out of favor. The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) has steadfastly opposed the practice of using earmarks to allocate resources in our discipline. Earmarks tend to pit states and their elected representatives against one another, thereby undermining the [...]