Emergency Management Once Removed

The Passing of Terry Egan on July 3, 2017 By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The passing of Terry Egan on July 3, 2017 merits special attention. Too often great emergency managers at all levels are relatively unnoticed in life, their contributions to the safety of the public seemingly taken for granted. Terry served under me as Planning, Exercise and Training (PET) Unit Manager at the Washington State’s Emergency Management Division. I’m in Terry’s debt for a number of reasons. I gave him some tough assignments, and he delivered. I probably gave him a lot of anxiety and frustration [...]

Government Ain’t Easy By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Most public sector employees are accustomed to hearing that government workers have it easy, compared to their counterparts in the private sector. For example, even casual conversations with parents of your children’s soccer teammates can provide a glimpse into the perceptions held by many who share in the fantasy that government is unresponsive and uncaring. Working successfully at various levels of government is much easier to contemplate and pontificate from the outside looking in. Now, to suggest that we in government are somehow a superior class is beyond ridiculous, but [...]

About Brock Long: An Unsolicited Endorsement By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Brock Long, the new FEMA Administrator, has a tremendous reservoir of experience in areas like school safety, as a state director of emergency management and a successful stint in the private sector as an executive with Hagerty & Associates. He will be an asset to emergency managers and the nation. First, let me say Brock Long is a friend. I met Brock when he was Alabama State Director of Emergency Management. He was identified early on by my colleagues and me as a potential leader in the [...]

Maybe We Should Take Our Issues To Jared? By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed It’s sometimes difficult to see too far into the future, particularly when we seem locked perpetually into an uncertain present. While we await the direction the Trump Administration will take in homeland security and emergency management, there are questions and concerns that like it or not, are “out there.” Worse yet (see title) we are not certain whom to ask. Will the primary DHS budget emphasis be on adding more agents to augment “deportation” forces? Will efforts to redirect federal spending priorities to border security [...]

Notes from NEMA Mid-Year By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The National Emergency Management Association held its midyear forum in Alexandria, Virginia March 20-24. As a past president, I serve on standing committees to which past presidents are assigned as liaisons (mine are Response and Recovery, Mitigation and Private Sector, and of course, Past Presidents’). With a new administration, these are interesting times. Very capable, but largely un-empowered career personnel were able to provide progress reports within their current, narrow areas of responsibility, but cannot provide a clear sense of the direction for issues like the Emergency Management Performance [...]

Re-Packaging Preparedness Messaging By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Three days’ preparedness was, and still is, considered reasonable for most disasters we may endure, be it flood, fire, storm or even minor earthquakes. Even in a just - in - time society, it remains a manageable goal for most people. One finding from the Cascadia Rising exercise by the state emergency management directors of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington is that the traditional 3-days disaster preparedness message was insufficient following a catastrophic quake. Such an event might well require that citizens be self-sustaining for at least two weeks. A [...]

2017-2021: The Road Ahead By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed A new Administration through budget and policy initiatives will soon impact emergency management and homeland security priorities. We must consider what we can support, and how best to oppose and amend what we regard as unwise or unjust. It is emergency management’s responsibility: we are the nation’s subject matter experts. Emergency managers, current and future, and those charged with preparing them for the challenges to our profession that lie ahead are in a holding pattern as this is written. We know little about how FEMA will be managed in [...]

The Difference Between “Good” and “Great” By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed A reporter recently asked me this question: With all the information that is available to government officials about seismic vulnerabilities, why is very little ever done about it? The answer to the reporter’s very legitimate question is the difference between having good leadership and great leadership in government. The governors and mayors I served were all “good” leaders (and good persons) who cared about doing their jobs effectively for their constituents. Very few were “great” leaders who supported looking “around corners” for the next crisis before it [...]

So, About Earthquakes By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed You may have noticed the Lifelock identity theft TV commercials. In one, a uniformed man is stationed in a bank, when armed men order everyone to the floor. Alarmed customers implore him to “do something!” His response is “oh, I’m not a guard, I’m a monitor. I am supposed to tell you when there’s a robbery.” (Pause) “There’s a robbery,” he announces. Another commercial for that company depicts an unfortunate individual in a dentist’s chair while two dental “monitors” advise him that he has a really bad cavity: alas, they [...]

Reconciliation versus Resistance: Which Will Win? - By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed After this year’s national election, a sizable portion of our population will feel devastated and perhaps even betrayed. When Kennedy defeated Nixon in 1960 (my earliest clear recollection) and in the years since, if your candidate lost there was always the realization that the sun would still rise, the country would somehow survive and that the system was stronger than an individual election cycle. The sense of loss ultimately faded. This time, this year feels different: some of our fellow citizens may conclude that something intrinsic [...]