Download the full issue.The overarching theme of this issue of Homeland Security Affairs is response – to public health emergencies, natural and man-made disasters, threats of nuclear attack, and the messages of terrorists. One essay and one short-form article offer suggestions for improving response to public health emergencies. Christine Bradshaw and Thomas Bartenfeld contend that…
Volume V
Do Terrorists Win Elections?
John A. Tures ABSTRACT: There is an increasing belief that terrorists are “winning” elections. This myth is largely based upon results at the ballot box in Spain and America in 2004. In the case of the former, Socialists ousted the ruling Popular Party after the tragic bombings of trains on March 11. In the United…
Beyond the Plan: Individual Responder and Family Preparedness in the Resilient Organization
Mark Landahl and Cynthia Cox ABSTRACT: The capability of first response organizations to maintain essential services to the community in disaster situations rests on the assumption that responders will report for assignment. An analysis of previous research on the issue of responders in a variety of response disciplines, geographic regions, and disaster conditions reveals that…
Inaccurate Prediction of Nuclear Weapons Effects and Possible Adverse Influences on Nuclear Terrorism Preparedness
Robert Harney ABSTRACT: Policy makers use predictions of nuclear weapons effects to base legislation and response plans addressing terrorist use of nuclear weapons. Commonly voiced predictions appear to derive from traditional “Cold War” military effects analyses. This article argues that traditional nuclear weapons effects analyses dramatically overestimate the damage that a terrorist nuclear weapon is…
Emergency Response, Public Health and Poison Control: Logical Linkages for Successful Risk Communication and Improved Disaster and Mass Incident Response
Valerie Yeager ABSTRACT: Over the last eight years the United States has responded to hazards such as terrorism, natural disasters, and natural disease outbreaks with a focus on all-hazards preparedness. In many cases, this all-hazards planning has been conducted in the silos of individual agencies and organizations. This essay, the winner of the 2009 CHDS…
Exercise Evaluation Guides for Public Health Emergency Preparedness
Christine Bradshaw and Thomas Bartenfeld ABSTRACT: The ultimate test of the proficiency of emergency responders and the systems in which they operate is an actual disaster. Fortunately, disasters happen rarely, so responders must find alternate ways to practice their skills. Emergency response exercises are a well regarded means to accomplish this practice. However, to fully…
Notes from the Editor (Vol. V, Iss. 2)
Download the full issue.This issue of Homeland Security Affairs opens on a sad note: Rich Cooper’s memoriam to Inspector Matthew Simeone, who passed away in March of this year. Co-president of cohort 0601-0602, Matt graduated from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security in 2007. Given his outstanding contribution to developing the Security/Police Information Network (SPIN) for the…
IN MEMORIAM: MATTHEW SIMEONE – Legacy Beyond Nassau
Richard Cooper ABSTRACT: Inspector Matthew Simeone passed away in March of this year. Graduating from the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security in the fall of 2007, he served as co-president of cohort 0601-0602. Inspector Simeone and several of his fellow officers in the Nassau County Police Department were building one of…
A Social Infrastructure for Hometown Security: Advancing the Homeland Security Paradigm
Robert Bach and David Kaufman ABSTRACT: The nation’s homeland security strategy calls on federal, state, and local governments, businesses, communities and individuals across the country to work together to achieve a shared vision of a secure way of life. Yet true involvement on the part of individual citizens remains elusive, due largely to a misdiagnosis…
The Anthrax Vaccine: A Dilemma for Homeland Security
Thomas Rempfer ABSTRACT: Past problems with the Department of Defense anthrax vaccine currently impact Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services policy. Following the 2001 anthrax letter attacks, those departments included the old anthrax vaccine in the Strategic National Stockpile. This article explores the Department of Defense’s experience with the…