Center of Excellence

FEMA’s Emergency Management Higher Education Program has released their draft outline for the ‘National Incident Management Systems Hi-Ed Course’.

The purpose of this project is to design and develop a university-level course on “National Incident Command Systems” for FEMA’s Higher Education Program.

The end product will be a stand-alone, 4 credit hour, 60 contact-hour, essentially ready-to-teach,
classroom-based, lab-supported, upper division undergraduate/graduate-level college course on National Incident Management Systems.

Download the PDF here: National Incident Management Systems Hi-Ed Course - PDF

Download the DOC here: National Incident Management Systems Hi-Ed Course - DOC

Link: DHS Secretary Chertoff on “Addressing 21st Century Threats”

Great collection of articles and resources on cyberterrorism and security issues:

Critical Infrastructure Protection: Challenges in Addressing Cybersecurity - Government Accountability Office.

Critical Infrastructure Protection: DHS Leadership Needed to Enhance Cybersecurity. Government Accountability Office’s testimony of David A. Powner, Director, GAO Information Technology Management Issues.

Critical Infrastructure Protection: Efforts of the Financial Services Sector to Address Cyber Threats. Government Accountability Office report to the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy.

Cybercrime: Public and Private Entities Face Challenges in Addressing Cyber Threats. Government Accountability Office report to Congressional Requesters.

Wall Street Journal: “Cyberattacks on Georgian Web Sites Are Reigniting a Washington Debate.”

“New Focus on Cyber-Terrorism – At Risk: Computers That Run Power Grids, Refineries.”, article from the The Christian Science Monitor by Nathaniel Hoopes.

Subcommittee on Emergency Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology report:
Addressing the Nation’s Cybersecurity Challenges: Reducing Vulnerabilities Requires Strategic Investment and Immediate Action

Washington post article by Brian Krebs “Nation’s Cyber Plan Outdated, Lawmakers Told.”

Krebs, Brian. “Washington Prepares for Cyber War Games: Week-Long Simulation Tests Agencies’, Companies’ Response to Online Attacks.” Washington Post, March 7, 2008. At: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030701157.html

PBS Frontline’s “Cyber War!”, originally shown on April 24, 2003.

The United States Cyber Consequences Unit

New report: Evacuating Large Urban Areas: Challenges for Emergency Management Policies and Concepts.

From the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

A great collection of essential Post-Disaster resources:

FEMA Public Assistance Policy Reference Materials

Public Assistance: Debris Management Guide (FEMA-325). Washington, DC: FEMA, July 2007, 260 pages. Accessed at:

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance Grant Program

Public Assistance Guide (FEMA 322)

Public Assistance Interactive Forms Library

Public Assistance Operations I (IS-631)

Public Assistance Policy Digest (FEMA-321)

Disaster Assistance: Improvements Needed in Determining Eligibility for Public Assistance (GAO Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies, Senate Committee on Appropriations)

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff initiated The Insider Threat to Critical Infrastructures Study with a letter to the NIAC at the Council’s January 16, 2007 meeting. The Secretary’s letter outlined a series of tasks, which helped frame the Study. The tasks included defining the insider threat for both physical and cyber; analyzing its scope, dynamics, and the effects of globalization; outlining obstacles to addressing this potential threat; and analyzing the challenges that Critical Infrastructure and Key Resource (CIKR) owners and operators face when they screen their employees for insider threat risk.

This is the report presented to DHS:

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council’s Final Report and Recommendations on The Insider Threat to Critical Infrastructures

Article in the Toronto Star about a neighborhood explosion:

Residents Return After Blast

Ann Bessie Mathew of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute and Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California has released the report: Disaster Preparedness in Urban Immigrant Communities: Lessons Learned from Recent Catastrophic Events and Their Relevance to Latino and Asian Communities in Southern California.

The House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight has released The Quadrennial Homeland Security Review. Prepared statements and recorded video feed are available via the following link:

http://homeland.house.gov/hearings/index.asp?ID=160

The Department of Homeland Security has released the National Emergency Communications Plan.

Here is the link to the PDF: National Emergency Communications Plan

The Center of Excellence Homeland Security has added MOU templates to our Campus Safety section.

You can find the link here: MOU templates from OSPI