CIP Update

September 25, 2009

This newsletter is for public agencies, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders involved or interested in public-private partnerships for joint emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.

 

Michigan State University (MSU) produces the newsletter through the Critical Incident Protocol (CIP)-Community Facilitation Program under a grant awarded by the Training & Exercise Integration/Training Operations, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This newsletter provides ideas, suggestions, best practices, and lessons learned to establish critical incident protocols using public-private partnerships.

 

Michigan State University through the CIP Program will “enhance cities, counties, and region’s capabilities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters through public and private sector collaboration, communication, and cooperation.”  MSU facilitates public-private partnerships and the CIP Program is free of charge to participating communities.

 

Please visit our website at www.cip.msu.edu for more information about the program.

 

Participating Communities in the CIP Program
The CIP Program has been initiated in 47 communities in 24 states with 4,200 participants establishing community public-private partnerships for joint management of critical incidents. We are looking to work with other cities, counties and regions. Is there a location in the nation that you think may be interested in developing a public-private partnership? If so, please let us know.

 

Currently, we are working with the following communities:
Alabama:  Hoover
Arizona:  Casa Grande
California:  Mountain View
Colorado:  Littleton
Connecticut:  Norwalk

Florida:  Western Panhandle
Illinois:  Lake-Cook Regional, Libertyville, Naperville
Indiana:  Evansville
Kansas:  Douglas County
Maryland:  Annapolis, Carroll County, Rockville
Michigan:  Dearborn, Detroit, Marquette County, Monroe, Oakland County
Missouri/Illinois:  Gateway Citizen Corps Coalition, St. Louis
Montana:  Lewis & Clark County
Nevada:  Clark County, Northern Nevada
North Carolina:  Buncombe County, Greensboro
Ohio:  Brooklyn
Pennsylvania:  Allentown, Bethlehem, Northampton County, Perkiomen Valley

South Carolina:  Columbia, Horry County
Texas:  Dallas
Utah:  Layton, Sandy City
Virginia:  Arlington County, Richmond
Washington:  Redmond

West Virginia:  Beckley/Raleigh County
Wisconsin:  Brown County, Dane County, Eau Claire County, Milwaukee, Outagamie County, Racine County, Superior, Winnebago County

Status of CIP Program

On March 17, 2009, we notified the readers of the CIP Update newsletter and other stakeholders that the CIP Program will not receive continuation funding; therefore, the program and staff will be terminated late Fall 2009.  In the meantime, we will continue to provide program services and if anything changes, we will notify you.

 

We encourage you who have participated in the CIP Program or are familiar with it to contact your legislators indicating your support in continuing funding for the program.  Thank you.

 

CIP Program Calendar

September 29, 2009 – Detroit, MI (Participating in SecureWorld Expo on Public-Private Partnerships)

October 7, 2009 – Grand Rapids, MI (Train-the-Trainer for Creating Public/Private Partnerships)

 

National Research Findings on Public/Private Partnerships for Crisis Management

In 1998, Michigan State University began researching the effectiveness of government and business working together on preparedness, response, and recovery through a federal grant award.  For the last eleven years, we have observed that public/private partnering continues to expand across the nation.  Last month, I participated in a workshop, which was very different from the many I’ve been in or have led over the years. 

 

The National Research Council (NRC) is an arm of the National Academies of Sciences that provide non-partisan research reports to congress, government leadership, and other national key stakeholders on a multitude of diverse, critical subjects that are relevant to the nation.  NRC held a workshop and invited representatives from government, business, academia, and non-governmental organizations to discuss and share with the NRC committee about the issues affecting “public-private sector collaboration to enhance community disaster resilience”.

 

There were many excellent presenters and discussions about the sustainability of partnerships and on how partnerships can impact and enhance disaster resiliency.  For example, Ron Carlee, County Manager, Arlington County, Virginia shared his views.  Arlington County is located across the border from Washington D.C. and on 9/11 was the site of the Pentagon terrorist attack.  Carlee stated:

·         If you have built a strong foundation, you can handle most things.

·         Resiliency is not just for disasters, as it also promotes a high quality of life every day.

·         The answer to every social question is leadership.

·         The primary responsibility for building community resiliency is local government.

·         Community planning is critical (community planning was discussed many times) and must be integrated with community preparedness planning.

 

Though I paraphrased Ron Carlee’s comments, his views led to further discussions and one can see why Carlee has played a significant role in the greater national capital region.  MSU is proud to work with Arlington County, as they are participating in the CIP Program.

 

In answer to the question, “What makes public/private partnerships sustainable?” here is a list:

·         Establish clear, definable goals.

·         Execute a needs assessment of the community and participating organizations.

·         Invoke leadership that incorporates both a broad view and organizational view to facilitate collaboration.

·         Utilize diverse partners.

·         Spread the work, through projects, sub-committees, and related performance tasks throughout the partnership.

·         Continually build the foundation for promoting and strengthening relationships.

·         Always remember - communication, communication, communication.

·         Look to local solutions, as they are the first line of defense that provides the building blocks for sustainability and resiliency.

·         Embrace a culture of partnership sustainability.

 

Among the many speakers was Jim Mullen, Director, Washington State Emergency Management Division (EMD).  People will tell me of a “good website” for business preparedness because of our work with both the business community and public sector, and sometimes these websites are not easily navigable.  Mullen said that the “Business Portal” at their state EMD website is comprehensive, easy to work with and their staff is proud of how well it works.  I took a look at it.  It is an excellent website.  Feel free to explore the website and share it within your networks.  On the main menu there is a sub-menu of four main topics, but also take a look at the “Steps to Comprehensive Business Preparedness and Planning”.  Please go to: http://www.emd.wa.gov and click on “Business Portal” on the main menu.

 

The NRC committee will be releasing their final report in June 2010 and we look forward to this document that should raise the level of partnership discussion throughout the nation.

 

Excellent Resource for Critical Infrastructure Protection

Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security states, “Countering the terrorist threat is not just one agency, or one element of society.  Rather it requires a holistic and relenting approach: at all levels, all tactics, all elements of society.” (ASIS Critical Infrastructure Guide, 2009, i).

 

Secretary Napolitano’s statement lays the foundation in the introduction to one of the best open-source critical infrastructure protection publications.  This free 88 page Critical Infrastructure Resource Guide (2009) was recently updated.  Contributors to the guide were subject matter experts from government, business, industry, academia, trade associations, and others that work within the 18 critical infrastructure sectors.  You can download a free copy from the publisher, which is the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) or download a copy from our ‘CIP Information Exchange’ website, where it is posted in the ‘Bulletin Board – Information for all Communities’ folder.

 

The guide is divided into the 18 sectors, along with an additional section, which includes Colleges-Universities, U.S. Government Resources, U.S. Government Publications, Business-Non Government, and Resource Databases.  Michigan State University’s CIP Program staff compiled this last section.  Contributors to the guide were from DHS and other federal, state, and local agencies, along with business and non-governmental organizations.

 

To download the guide from ASIS, go to http://www.asisonline.org and on the home page under ‘Critical Infrastructure’ go down to Critical Infrastructure Resource Guide and click on it.  It will take you to a new webpage where it will ask for your name, organization and email, then you can download it.

 

Send Your Comments to DHS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be opening their final public comment forum Monday, September 28th, as part of the DHS National Dialogue on the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHRS).  This is the third and final forum and to date, DHS has received over 26,000 comments.  The first two forums consisted of rating and ranking the goals and objectives that will guide DHS policy.  The third phase continues with asking your opinion on a few questions in each of their six study areas.

 

To participate in the next public comment forum or to look at the previous two forums, please go to: www.HomelandSecurityDialogue.org.

 

Regional Ports Resiliency Workshop

In a previous edition of the CIP Update, we profiled the All Hazards Consortium (AHC).  This group is a public/private partnership with membership of eight east coast states, along with Washington D.C, that range from North Carolina to New York.  The AHC has strong federal and state agency backing allowing them to produce or support numerous projects, publications, and workshops.  On October 22-23, 2009 the AHC is hosting a Regional Ports Resiliency Workshop.  For more information, please go to: http://www.ahcusa.org.  On the home webpage, click on regional ports workshop.

 

A Strategy for Developing a “Culture of Preparedness”

In January 2009, FEMA Region V (Chicago) hosted the 2009 Preparedness Summit that was attended by public sector officials, business, academia, and non-governmental organizational stakeholders.  The overarching goal of the Summit was to generate ideas toward creating a culture of preparedness.  The long-range intent is to create a comprehensive, sustaining increase in the number of Americans who are prepared for a major disaster.

 

The FEMA Region V leadership, including the Region National Preparedness Division facilitated a work intensive conference that documented many suggestions and ideas based on best practices and lessons learned.  With such a wide scope of topics, the Summit focused on four main elements: the message; the messengers; the methods; and, collaboration.  Here are “some” of the results.

 

The Message:

·         Simple, concise and clear.  Upbeat, optimistic and urgent.

·         Focus on creating behavioral change rather than awareness.

·         Message repetition creates intellectual muscle memory.

The Messengers:

·         Before finding the right messenger, we must identify the audiences.

·         The government (FEMA) should not be the primary messenger, as FEMA should play a secondary role.

·         The messengers must be individuals and groups that generate acceptance and trust.

The Methods:

·         Establish a uniform preparedness branding, similar to corporate branding.

·         Any national preparedness campaign should be accompanied by a regional/local campaign.

·         Use a comprehensive array of disciplines for input in to a marketing campaign.

Collaboration:

·         Identify the local and community groups that have the greatest leverage to prepare everyone.

·         Use tabletop exercising involving community members, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and residents.

·         Establish an advisory board composed of disaster survivors. (Vick, 2009, 5-11).

 

Creating a culture of preparedness is a challenge for agencies, organizations, and communities.  A preparedness culture is one that must be allowed to be flexible, knowledge based, persistent, and integrated from the community to the family to the individual person.

 

Looking for a Regional/Community-Wide Public/Private Partnership Website?

In reviewing the Lake-Cook Regional Critical Incident Partnership (LCRCIP) website at http://www.lcrcip.org, I was impressed.  The LCRCIP serves a number of communities scattered along the boundary of Lake and Cook counties, located about 20 miles north of Chicago.  The membership of LCRCIP includes about 200 public and private sector professionals and stakeholders.  If you are looking at either creating a website for your partnership group, or want to see what a partnership group is working on, please take a few minutes to see what this progressive partnership organization is doing.

 

Value of Tabletop Exercising between Government, Business and Media

Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice was asked to design and facilitate a tabletop exercise at the 55th Annual ASIS International Conference in Anaheim, California.  The tabletop exercise was hosted by the ASIS Critical Infrastructure Working Group, and the disaster scenario(s) affected the 18 critical infrastructure sectors.

 

The participants were divided into three groups; government, business, and media.  The participants were assigned to roles that they were unfamiliar with.  For example, the FEMA Office of Law Enforcement was now the security director of a bank and a security consultant was now a first responder chief.  Additionally, they were told that their background, experience and common-sense approach would assist them on how best to respond and recover from a disaster.

 

During the four-hour event the simulated police, fire, security director, media reporter, chemical company, mayor, defense contractor, and others developed their response actions.  However, some of the participants were individually provided additional information that related in some context to the scenario and they had to decide whether to share that information and if so, with whom.  The disaster and the secondary events were at times complex, which required them to further define their decisions about response and recovery actions.

 

When a significant critical incident occurs, we know that many times professionals and others are thrown together who have not previously worked together.  However, we also know that these private and public sector professionals should be able to rise to the occasion to get the job done.  The participants did an outstanding job. 

 

When looking to do a tabletop exercise for your business, why not ask some of the business participants to assume first responder roles, along with the media.  Equally, public agencies are inviting the private sector to participate in their tabletop exercises more than before.  Or as an option invite the other sector and media to participate in an exercise, instead of assuming their roles.  This is a value that can enhance your preparedness program.

 

Recent Postings to the CIP Information Exchange Website
The CIP Information Exchange website is a large database for public and private sector professionals interested in homeland security, emergency preparedness, business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency management.  It also contains research publications, government documents, news items, and more.

 

To enter the ‘CIP Information Exchange’ database, please go to https://angel.msu.edu and using the drop-down menu, select Angel Guest Account.  Click on ‘proceed’, and on the next webpage, enter “msu.msu” in the Angel Guest User box and “partnership” (both without quotation marks) as the password to log on.  On the next page, click on Critical Incident Protocol (CIP) – Community Facilitation, which launches to the main menu.

 

Located in the folder "Bulletin Board - Information for all Communities" are a variety of recent postings, including:

·         Agriculture Incidents and Effective Multi-Agency Coordination

·         Critical Infrastructure Resource Guide 2009 (ASIS)

·         Catastrophes vs. Disasters: Differences in Crisis Planning

·         U.S. National Intelligence Strategy (Aug. 2009)

 

There are numerous other resources located on the website. To locate a specific topic, utilize the "search" function on the left side.  On top left side click on “guide” and when the sidebar box opens, go to the bottom in the box and click on “search” and follow the directions. 

 

Past Newsletters
If you are interested in viewing past CIP Update newsletters, please go to www.cip.msu.edu and select "Newsletters" from the main menu.

 

Closing
If you have any topics and/or ideas for a future CIP Update newsletter, please contact Brit Weber at weberbr@msu.edu or (517) 355-2227 or other MSU staff members. About every three weeks you will receive this newsletter via email. If you no longer wish to be on this list, please reply to this email.

 

Disclaimer
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or Michigan State University.

 

Sources

ASIS Critical Infrastructure Working Group.  2009.  Critical Infrastructure Resource Guide, 2009.  American Society for Industrial Society (ASIS).

 

Vick, H.  2009.  A Strategy for Developing a “Culture of Preparedness”.  Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Region V.

 

 

 

Brit Weber
Program Director
CIP-Community Facilitation Program
School of Criminal Justice
Michigan State University
1407 S. Harrison Rd., 335 Nisbet Bldg.
East Lansing, MI 48823
Work:  (517)  355-2227   Cell:  (517) 206-1640
weberbr@msu.edu
Please visit our website:  http://www.cip.msu.edu