Government Security News

State/County/Municipal Security
Leading Through Crisis workshop provides
life-saving disaster response and recovery skills to
local elected and appointed officials
When disaster strikes, county
executives, mayors, city managers
and other elected or appointed officials
can find themselves in deep
and swift unknown waters, making
decisions that impact the lives and
safety of their friends, neighbors
and other constituents.
All too often in recent years,
catastrophes and natural disasters
have demonstrated that many local
government leaders have found
themselves unprepared to respond
to and recover from a disaster impacting
their communities – even
though they may have run outstanding
campaigns to get elected
in the first place.
It seems that, as
matter of public safety
and security, they would
have an understanding
of emergency preparedness
before reaching the
point of decision making.
But many admittedly
do not, according to
Paul Goldenberg, CEO
of New Jersey-based Cardinal Point
Strategies, which has developed a
training program called “Leading
Paul Goldenberg
through Crisis” that is specifically
geared to elected officials in state,
county and municipal government.
The program provides a
four-hour training course in crisis
planning, crisis decision making,
economic risk management, crisis
communications, and jurisdictional
capabilities, resources and systems,
says Goldenberg. Using a collection
of several case studies as a defining
focus, subject matter experts
develop training modules along six
domains:
• Understanding the role of the
Elected Official: A 360 Snapshot
• Emergency Decision-Making
• Emergency Planning
• Economic Risk
Management
• Jurisdictional Capabilities,
Resources and
Systems
• Emergency Communications
Kevin Child, part-time
emergency management coordinator
for the town of Avon-by-the sea,
and a full-time risk control con-
sultant for 36 municipalities, was
among the attendees at a Leading
through Crisis program sponsored
by the Monmouth County, N.J.
Sheriff ’s Department on June 1, the
official start of hurricane season,
attracting many full- and even parttime
officials, though some elected
officials still delegated attendance
at the training to others in their
municipalities.
“This is a game plan that
helps you determine what are your
resources? Who can you turn to, to
get help?” Child says. He describes
the training as a framework that allows
leaders to essentially fill in the
blanks about what they have readily
available, what they could need in
event of a crisis and where they
might find it. “The planning book
doesn’t give you all the answers, but
steers you to find those answers.
“It’s important, especially
for a newly elected official, to look
for this before you need it rather
than when you need it,” Child says.
“FEMA (Federal Emergency Management
Administration) will help,
but will not bail out poor decision-
More on page 48
DoD awards grant to study how radiation affects
computer memory
By Steve Bittenbender
The Department of Defense has
awarded the University of Louisville
a $1 million grant to study the
effect radiation produces devices
and chips that store memory for
computers and peripherals.
Professors from UofL’s J.B.
Speed School of Engineers are
leading the three-year program to
develop systems that will protect
memory devices from radiation
exposure. Specifically, the DoD’s
Defense Threat Reduction Agency
is looking for a way to protect
memory and access from a dirty
bomb or reactor meltdown.
Louisville engineers believe
implementing electrical and mechanical
elements – otherwise
known as micro-electro-mechanical
systems or MEMS – that are
thinner than a strand of human
hair could harden the electronics
enough to protect the memory
stored on devices.
While more is known about
the impact an electromagnetic
pulse can have on electronic equipment,
according to UofL officials,
studying radiation’s effects is the
first of its kind.
“People haven’t done a lot of
work in this area, so
we don’t know exactly
what to expect,” said
Dr. Bruce Alphenaar,
who chairs the school’s
electrical and computer
engineering department.
“But this type of
study is essential before
MEMS can be used
in radiation-exposed
environments.”
If successful, the
program could help develop hardware
that allows first responders
to gain and maintain access to the
systems critical to restore essential
services. Those responders could be
on or near-site, like a NEST team
or federal officials miles away who
need to access data from systems in
hot zones.
“If they do function, then
these mechanical memories could
be a viable replacement for normal
standard electronic memory and
logic devices,” he added.
It also could protect the
encryption protocols that radiation
can render useless. If the encryption
becomes corrupted, then you
run a serious risk of losing data
stored on those systems or make
it available to hackers and other
44 45
Dr. Bruce Alphenaar
cybercriminals, said
Alphenaar.
University officials
developed the first
devices earlier this year,
Alphenaar said. Those
devices have been
exposed to radiation
at Vanderbilt University’s
Institute for Space
and Defense Electronics.
Once Vanderbilt
researchers finish their
tests, the devices will go back to
UofL for further research and development.
While the grant is for three
years, Alphenaar said there’s a
five-year research plan in place if
it proves to be viable. The possibility
also exists, he said, for possible
technology transfer opportunities
down the road.
As the project moves forward,
Alphenaar said the University plans
to hire someone with advanced
manufacturing experience so they
can help researchers develop future
prototypes
In addition to Alphenaar,
Kevin Walsh, Samuel T. Fife Endowed
Professor of Electrical and
Computer Engineering and the
More on page 48