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Studying the Past, Confronting the Present, Shaping the Future

Jasmine May2022-07-26T19:20:16+00:00

Studying the Past, Confronting the Present, Shaping the Future by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The epidemic of mass shootings (defined as incidents where four or more persons are injured) in our country are emotionally draining tragedies for which thoughts and prayers are insufficient while rational solutions seem out of reach. Those who train and educate emergency managers and homeland security professionals pursuing certificates, degrees, or advanced education in emergency management must not avoid analyzing and discussing current, controversial public safety issues. But what we may or may not be teaching adults who are exploring the emergency management /homeland [...]

Studying the Past, Confronting the Present, Shaping the FutureJasmine May2022-07-26T19:20:16+00:00

Just in Time – June 2022

Jasmine May2022-06-21T23:14:27+00:00

Just in Time by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed For years, emergency managers have lamented the public’s tendency to delay the acquisition of essential supplies. Food and other daily necessities are typically not maintained beyond a brief time frame. That quick run to the store at 5pm is just one manifestation of this tendency. People put off preparing their wills as if they must see the end coming before they lock in the disposition of their assets. This is not a particularly new phenomenon. In fact, it’s a human reaction to put off for tomorrow what you could proactively [...]

Just in Time – June 2022Jasmine May2022-06-21T23:14:27+00:00

Who Needs to be Educated About Emergency Management? Who doesn’t?

Jasmine May2022-06-21T22:13:38+00:00

Who Needs to be Educated About Emergency Management? Who doesn’t? By Jim Mullen Emergency managers often lack the political clout, or even the bureaucratic standing, to have much of an impact on policy decisions societies make. We’re there to try to mitigate, within our means, prepare the community and ourselves to the extent limited funds allow, coordinate a multi-disciplinary response, and manage (steer?) the process of recovery. And then we assess our performance and start over. Far too often, we fail to educate the public that mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery are their responsibilities too. For years, emergency managers landed [...]

Who Needs to be Educated About Emergency Management? Who doesn’t?Jasmine May2022-06-21T22:13:38+00:00

Recovery in Advance – May 2022

Jasmine May2022-06-21T23:14:04+00:00

Recovery in Advance by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Emergency Management Once Removed periodically has cited the need for a systematic recovery process to enable appropriate and comprehensive restoration of the social equilibrium following a major or catastrophic disaster. No matter how much assistance pours in after the fact, and no matter how long the attention span of the nation fixates on a region’s issues, it ultimately will be the advance planning and actions of the “home team” that determines if recovery and restoration meet community expectations. With your indulgence, I shall once more make the case I first [...]

Recovery in Advance – May 2022Jasmine May2022-06-21T23:14:04+00:00

Some Modest, Hopefully Post-Covid Suggestions

Jasmine May2022-04-28T19:41:30+00:00

Some Modest, Hopefully Post- Covid Suggestions By Jim Mullen In the spirit of the theme for this month’s Confluence, I thought that I would “volunteer” some thoughts about the situation in which we find ourselves as COVID – hopefully, fingers crossed – has begun to ease into endemic status. And, even if not, the recovery process should be kick-started. Now. My May 2020 Emergency Management Once Removed blog offered these thoughts, drawing upon the words of one of the subtler “philosophers” of another day Like Yogi, I just wanted us to map out a desirable destination before our journey ended.. [...]

Some Modest, Hopefully Post-Covid SuggestionsJasmine May2022-04-28T19:41:30+00:00

Musings in the 21st Century USA – April 2022

Jasmine May2022-04-13T19:49:01+00:00

Musings in the 21st Century USA by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The other day I was driving to the store on a narrow side street, headed downhill. A car headed up the hill toward me pulled between two other cars to let me pass. I simultaneously had pulled aside to let the other driver pass. We both paused, motioning for the other to proceed; finally, I waved and smiled and went first – I got a smile in return. I noticed a bumper sticker contrary to my own political beliefs as I passed that driver. I had no [...]

Musings in the 21st Century USA – April 2022Jasmine May2022-04-13T19:49:01+00:00

Growing Our Own: How can we find the next wave of Emergency Managers?

Jasmine May2022-03-24T21:57:22+00:00

Growing Our Own: How can we find the next wave of Emergency Managers? By Jim Mullen “ My goal for our discipline is that 20 years from now, my resume won’t qualify me to do the job I currently have” – a truly iconic (now retired) state director - not me! How can emergency management directors assure opportunities for those people who, over the next 20 years, will hopefully make people wonder why any of us ever had those jobs? A career in emergency management, once an afterthought or an accident, has become an attractive possibility for people in mid-career [...]

Growing Our Own: How can we find the next wave of Emergency Managers?Jasmine May2022-03-24T21:57:22+00:00

TACTICS or STRATEGY? – March 2022

Jasmine May2022-03-11T00:32:26+00:00

TACTICS or STRATEGY? by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed Tactics are knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” Savielly Tartakower (professional chess player). While I lacked the patience or even the inclination to play chess, Tartakower’s observation struck a responsive chord when I stumbled upon it recently. Over the course of my career, I attended - mostly through compulsion – many formal strategic planning sessions/exercises/workshops. Now, they were not all bad, but most resembled exercises in “group write,” with attendees debating alternate phrasings of the [...]

TACTICS or STRATEGY? – March 2022Jasmine May2022-03-11T00:32:26+00:00

A Perverse Meritocracy

Jasmine May2021-12-15T18:58:06+00:00

A Perverse Meritocracy By Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed A tsunami warning for the West Coast of the United States following the 2011 Sendai earthquake presented a challenge in public messaging about the safety of our citizens because of false projections that toxic materials were en route to our coast. As Washington State‘s Emergency Management Division (EMD) director, I recommended that the state’s response be viewed credibly and headed by a state agency (Natural Resources or Health) that had relevant expertise and resources. My boss, the Adjutant General, took it to the Governor. He reported back that “EMD will [...]

A Perverse MeritocracyJasmine May2021-12-15T18:58:06+00:00

Interdependencies – November 2021

Jasmine May2021-11-09T21:14:53+00:00

Interdependencies by Jim Mullen Emergency Management, Once Removed The 1950’s health crisis was a crippling and killer disease, polio, that parents feared every time their children complained of headaches, tiredness, stomach pain, etc. Once developed, polio vaccines were quickly embraced, administered in schools; that health crisis was abated. We depended on and trusted medical science to free us from polio. In that same era, Cold War science fiction movie scriptwriters - largely to avoid “Red Scare” condemnation promoted by conspiracy theorists of that day - created “otherworldly” threats, requiring that the nations of the world unite to “save the planet” [...]

Interdependencies – November 2021Jasmine May2021-11-09T21:14:53+00:00

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