Today's Top Picks
Active Threat Response in Nashua, New Hampshire
Prior to 2013, the active threat plans in Nashua, New Hampshire (NH), consisted of separate
responses by law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS). There was no coordinated plan.
Involvement with area hospitals was not considered other than receiving patients. The Nashua Police SWAT
Team and the Nashua Office of Emergency Management recognized this gap. This case study shares this
city’s solution for creating and testing an integrated active threat “one plan” (the integration of
several previously existing plans).
Special Edition: School Security
In 2017, the Secure Schools Alliance (the Alliance) began a unique relationship with the DomPrep Journal. The goal was to raise awareness of the need to improve K-12 school security within the emergency preparedness community. This special reprint edition is a compilation of this effort, beginning with the macro argument of why school security needs to be improved and concluding with a call to recognize that schools are a critical part of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, which has been ignored for way too long.
FEMA Challenges & Responses, 2017-2018
The overall goal of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), emergency management programs, and the profession of emergency management is to have the disaster system be federally supported, state managed, and locally executed. FEMA maintains a delicate and fragile balance between leading and nurturing this enormous system and this exciting profession. At the same time, disasters are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more expensive. Nevertheless, as the U.S. Department of Defense has said it can fight three wars at once, FEMA and its partners could handle three disasters at once. Currently, though, FEMA is clearly faced with handling much more than three major disasters at once.
Control System Cybersecurity Concerns
The U.S. electric grid, which was designed more than 100 years ago, consists of control systems and field equipment. The grid was originally designed with large central station generation – for example, coal, oil, nuclear, natural gas, hydro – with transmission and distribution substations to deliver electricity to the end customer. As central station power plants are being supplanted by renewable generation from sources such as solar and wind, control systems are becoming more complex and increasingly vulnerable to cyberthreats, especially as the control system networks are connected to the internet.
Introducing the “ACT” Crisis Management Framework
There is no shortage of crisis management tools and concepts, yet individuals and organizations often still struggle to respond effectively when a crisis occurs. There are likely numerous reasons for this, but one challenge stems from an inability to operationalize the key concepts during a crisis. It can be helpful to establish frameworks that can serve as “mental cues” to organize, guide, and prompt action. This article examines one such framework.
Trending
Bridging Communication Gaps: Lessons from Hurricane Helene Hurricanes in 2024 caused widespread damage to infrastructure, leading to a critical but often overlooked issue: isolation. Physical and technological…
Cost Analysis: Protecting the Grid and Electronics… Because modern societies are increasingly reliant on electronics, they are more vulnerable to the effects of an electromagnetic pulse event.…
A Systems Thinking Approach to Improving Emergency… “PACE” planning helps organizations fail gracefully, but systems thinking reduces the likelihood of failure altogether. Combining both approaches helps organizations…
Agroterrorism: A Persistent but Overlooked Threat Agroterrorism is not new. Considered a subset of bioterrorism, it has become an increasing concern to the U.S. With so…Trending
A Systems Thinking Approach to Improving Emergency… “PACE” planning helps organizations fail gracefully, but systems thinking reduces the likelihood of failure altogether. Combining both approaches helps organizations…Agroterrorism: A Persistent but Overlooked Threat Agroterrorism is not new. Considered a subset of bioterrorism, it has become an increasing concern to the U.S. With so…Bridging Communication Gaps: Lessons from Hurricane Helene Hurricanes in 2024 caused widespread damage to infrastructure, leading to a critical but often overlooked issue: isolation. Physical and technological…Cost Analysis: Protecting the Grid and Electronics… Because modern societies are increasingly reliant on electronics, they are more vulnerable to the effects of an electromagnetic pulse event.…Domestic Preparedness Journal
Featured in this issue: Editor’s Note: Hazards That Can Affect the Mind, Body, and Outcome, by Catherine L. Feinman; A Holistic Strategy for Responders’ Well-Being, by Camilo Olivieri; Disaster Stress Management in an Emergency Operations Center, by Mary Schoenfeldt; Physical and Mental Injuries in First Responders: Why Wait?, by Pascal Rodier; Not Lost in Translation: A Multilingual Corps Approach, by Diana Sanchez-Vega; Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Child Survivors, by Emily Heard; Psychosocial Hazards: Preventing Human-Caused Disasters, by I. David Daniels; Caring for the Affected at Family Assistance Centers, by Jennifer Stansberry Miller; How I Became an Accidental Disaster Mental Health Specialist, by Adrienne J. Heinz; Podcast – Seasonal Forecasts & Their Limitations With Dr. Philip Klotzbach
Articles Out Loud
Article Out Loud – A Proven Path: Scouts and the Operational Value of Prepared Youth
June 4, 2025
This is an article by Ethan Beaty, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, June 4, 2025. Scouts have been
Article Out Loud – Understanding Service Dogs: What First Responders Need to Know
June 4, 2025
This is an article by Susan Cohen, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, June 4, 2025. Service dogs do
Disasters – Seeing the Big Picture