Regional Integrated Planning Update 
April 2012  

The All Hazards Consortium would like to provide you with another a brief update on some of its integrated planning initiative programs, projects and activities within the Mid-Atlantic and North East Regions.

March was a very active month for everyone. We did not issue a March update but have combined the March & April updates into this issue.

Private sector owner/operators should take particular notice to the new FEMA training in Item #2 below on public/private partnerships. The AHC also encourages the vendor community to participate in this training and share this newsletter/link with their commercial customers/clients to help support the efforts of educating all industry stakeholders large and small to the importance and value proposition of public/private partnerships.

Initiatives, Products & Projects:

1) NEW Eastern Urban Area Executive Committee (EUAEC)

As the states and urban areas of the AHC began working with the private sector owner/operators in 2011, several new corridor related projects emerged in the areas of ports security, rail security and catastrophic planning that required a broader coordination across the region, particularly between the major cities of Washington DC, and New York City. 

In 2011 the urban areas of Washington DC, New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia decided to form a regional executive level working group to help coordinate these types of regional corridor efforts to leverage the collective efforts and investments of government and the private sector on specific projects and initiatives.

Following several planning meetings of a small steering committee, an initial meeting was conducted in December, 2011, which brought together the urban areas of New York City, Nothern New Jersey, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. along with FEMA (Headquarters, Region 2 & Region 3) and the state emergency management directors in Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. The collective group agreed to work together on integrated planning issues surrounding catastrophic planning and improving coordinated engagement and outreach to the owners and operators of the region's critical infrastructure.

The group will be called the Eastern Urban Area Executive Committee (EUAEC) and will consist of a steering committee and general committee members comprised of the leadership in the urban areas, states and federal partners from DHS/FEMA. 

2) NEW Public / Private Partnerships Training Course by FEMA

Attention private sector businesses owners and operators!!!

Is your business interested in learning how to better handle disasters? How to get your business back to business faster? How to partner with government under the new "whole of communities" initiative? How to better prepare your employees for disasters?

This is a great FREE training course produced by FEMA and representatives from the private sector designed to educate your business or your commercial customers on the importance, the roles, and the value propositions offered by public/private partnerships.

This course provides an introduction to the role of public-private partnerships in emergency preparedness and planning. The goal of this training is to establish a common vocabulary and perspective for both government and private sector companies (both large and small) interested in utilizing or forming partnerships to improve response, recovery and resilience.

Course link: Click Here

3) Regional Social Media "Trends Reporting" Pilot Project Announced 

The states and urban areas of the All Hazards Consortium (AHC) have been working to develop integrated planning initiatives with the private sector owners and operators in the power, transportation, communications, food and other sectors as a way to help businesses get back to business faster following a major event

Along the way, the AHC has identified new "social media" related approaches, solutions, research and operational approaches that could benefit government and the region/nation if they could be integrated into a trusted framework with state/local governments. A pilot project resulted from discussions with the power, communications and financial services sectors regarding their uses of social media and their desire to synchronize information flows with state/local government Emergency Operations Centers, emergency management leadership and public & private operation teams to enhance real-time decision making during events and overall coordination and communications.

This social media "trends reporting" pilot project is designed to synchronize the delivery of "social media trending" reports to both government and the private sector in order to inform decision makers of real-time information related to specific events. By effectively and efficiently monitoring the thousands of social media sites on the Internet, this service will deliver the following social media trending information to support emergency management operations: 

• Early warnings of power or communications outages
• Downed trees, wires and other obstacles that are blocking strategic transportation routes
• Citizens in need of assistance that do not have access to landline telephones, but are tweeting about their emergency situation and location
• Threats to relief and disaster recovery operations
• Plans to compromise systems critical to emergency management operations Threats to critical infrastructure
• Looting and other criminal activities that harm citizens, relief workers, the private sector and others

This is a "game-changing" capability according to one state's emergency management officials. If harnessed and integrated into standard operating procedures/systems, this type of social media information can provide real-time "situational awareness" to inform emergency management officials in government and industry to support decision making, validate assumptions, provide early warnings of events, and improve overall coordination and communications during disasters.

Meetings, Events & Partnerships: 4) HS PPD-8 Program Webinar In January, the states and urban areas of the AHC hosted a webinar on the topic of the new Presidential Policy Directive #8 (HS PPD-8).  National Preparedness is aimed at strengthening the security and resilience of the Nation by preparing for the full range of 21st century risks that threaten national security, including weapons of mass destruction, cyber attacks, terrorism, pandemics, transnational threats and catastrophic natural disasters. National preparedness is a shared responsibility. As such, the PPD is designed to facilitate an integrated, all-of-nation/whole-community, capabilities-based approach to preparedness. Involving federal partners, state, local and tribal leaders, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, faith based and community organizations ─ and, most importantly, the general public - is vital to keeping people and communities safe and preventing the loss of life and property when disasters strike Implementation of the PPD requires extensive outreach, collaboration and input from stakeholders at all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors and also from the public. FEMA will coordinate closely with our partners throughout the homeland security and emergency management community, the private and non-profit sectors, and with the public to implement the requirements included in PPD-8 This webinar was an interview with the PPD-8 Program's Executive Director Donald "Doc" Lumpkins.   Webinar Link: Click Here  HS PPD-9 Website Link: Click Here (This website contains information and documents maintained by DHS/FEMA)  Online HS PPD-8 Presentation: Click Here    5) Communications Interoperability Tabletop Exercise - NCR UASI On May 24, 2012, government members of the National Capital Region will conduct the an NCR focused Communications Interoperability Tabletop Exercise in Silver Spring, Maryland as a follow-up to last September's 2nd Annual Forum and to address some new emerging needs since that time. The Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory [JHU/APL] and the All Hazards Consortium [AHC] have been retained to assist with this event.  The exercise will focus on practical interoperability challenges facing Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties along with the State of Maryland and other NCR partners. Successes as well as gaps will be documented and serve as support for future funding opportunities, highlight achievements, and illustrate the value of past investments. During the exercise a scenario will be discussed. Two months later, a drill at the command bus rally will demonstrate the identified successes and challenges. In this fashion the joint interoperability capability will be demonstrated, both in theory and practice Objectives: Identify gaps in planning, training, equipping or personnel Demonstrate that planning, training, and equipping throughout the region For more information, or for an agenda, Click Here

Summary: As always, this update only reflects a small portion of the "private sector integration" efforts going on within the region and around the country. The AHC would like to express its appreciation for the organizations and individuals who have embraced this "integrated planning initiative" so quickly. Future regional initiatives updates will include: AHC Procurement Service Produces $2Mill+ in Match For Government Grants Information Sharing Initiatives with Government and Private Sector Regional PIV-I Credentialing Initiative New Partnership with US Dept of Justice on Suspicious Activity Reporting with Private Sector AHC Website Updates Fall 2012 Situational Awareness Workshop Working together, companies and governments will become better prepared to face hazards of any type and develop more resilient communities and economies across the region. The All Hazards Consortium     Partner Organizations & Supporters  The AHC would like to thank our Tier 1 corporate members who are supporting the new integrated planning initiative.