Emergency Management Once Removed

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, the WTO riots enhanced Emergency Management’s standing across Seattle city government. My staff deserved praise and respect for their dedication, endurance and skillful performance, as did City agencies, including SPD personnel assigned to the EOC for eight stressful days and nights. Most Seattle police officers on the street, though let down [...]

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 and the "negativity" some of us were projecting. The Mayor asked what everyone thought were the chances of riots occurring. I said 80%: my senior planner chastised me afterward, saying there was a 100% chance. I said no one would have believed 100% - he replied, "They didn’t believe 80% either!" [...]

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 SPD planning team, it was clearly SPD’s preference that OEM kept any concerns to itself. Instead, we did raise concerns, often at the behest of experienced line officers who had asked us to represent their belief that the demonstrations could take a more sinister direction. We argued that it was prudent [...]

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" did begin, it was clear that Emergency Management’s inclusion was tolerated rather than welcomed. This would be a Mayor’s Office, SPD and federal (FBI/Secret Service) "show" to manage. Suggestions that demonstrations could become violent, putting safety of citizens and visiting delegates at risk were dismissed. The failure to plan adequately for [...]

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 for a number of computer operated machines. Among the darkest predictions if this was not adequately addressed were dam failures, streetlights malfunctioning, missiles accidentally launched, missed payrolls, key documents lost or difficult to recover. Throughout the world, information technology experts were tasked with identifying and minimizing these potential disruptions. Seattle was [...]

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 during 12 years as Director of Emergency Management for the City of Seattle, and 8 years and 7 months as Director of the Washington State Emergency Management Division. I also served seven plus years as an officer of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) culminating in 21 months as NEMA President. [...]

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. The inappropriate intrusion of Executive staff in emergency management operations often impedes daily operations: on the other hand, avoiding such contact can result in the executive NOT being kept current on major issues. In addition, executive staff, and even cabinet-level department heads, jealously guard from whom the Executive receives information. The [...]

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 participatory democracy fall on individuals and private interests. When a disaster strikes, it’s never "good enough" to wait for the feds to arrive with money and resources, ignoring the responsibilities of state and local government to anticipate events that could bring the affected jurisdiction's economy and society at large to an [...]

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 official turned academician, proved uniquely qualified to describe the looming threat from the perspective of an experienced emergency manager turned academician. Freitag’s message was sobering. The ensuing discussion was the first of its kind within NEMA and very likely any emergency management gathering. Potential consequences that in 2019 seem apparent to [...]