An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, October 10, 2012.
During a major disaster, saving lives and protecting the environment while ensuring public safety are all-encompassing priorities. As a catastrophe unfolds, decision makers at all levels of government are faced with a myriad of questions and/or issues that must be quickly addressed and resolved to return a sense of normalcy to the devastated region. Additional challenges would be presented if the catastrophe was the result of a terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction (WMD).
Narrated by Randy Vivian
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Ann Lesperance
Ann Lesperance is the Director of the Northwest Regional Technology Center at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). She has over 30 years of experience as a researcher and project manager, and her primary focus is developing regional programs to accelerate the demonstration and deployment of new homeland security technologies. Lesperance works with state and local emergency responders and public safety officials and builds regional coalitions of emergency management professionals to understand and help prioritize their operational needs and requirements. Lesperance also has a joint appointment as the Director for the College of Social Science and Humanities Programs at Northeastern University Seattle. In this role, she leads efforts to build the Master’s program in Security and Resilience Studies and Urban Informatics.
