[J u s T C]

April 18, 2011

The Boston Marathon: In preparedness, the old is new again
Filed under: General Homeland Security,Preparedness and Response — by Arnold Bogis on April 18, 2011


Find below a “Power & Policy” blog post of mine outlining similarities between what PPD-8 calls for and the actions of Boston officials in preparing for and running the Boston Marathon as a “planned disaster.” Being Patriot’s Day, on which the Marathon is always run, I could not resist the comparison.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

This month the Obama Administration released Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8 on National Preparedness. While arguments can be made both in favor and against this seeming reboot of the national effort to increase preparedness for natural disasters and terrorist attacks, what particularly puzzles me is the lack of attention, given existing homeland security models that include vigorous cooperation among jurisdictions and participation of non-traditional homeland security actors. These efforts can be models for the rest of the nation and often have been ongoing long before PPD-8 called for “facilitating an integrated, all-of-Nation, capabilities-based approach to preparedness.”

For example today, in addition to being Tax Day, is Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts and the day on which the Boston Marathon is run. Why is this relevant to homeland security? As I wrote in an op-ed in the Boston Globe a few years ago:

Today thousands of runners and hundreds of thousands of spectators are unwittingly taking part in a planned disaster. Yet, they are not just safe from harm (except for the variety brought on by running 26.2 miles), they also are participants in an event that will make the citizens of Greater Boston safer in case of a natural catastrophe or terrorist attack.

What is important to note is the long standing, ongoing work towards what PPD-8 identifies as required in that the “national preparedness system shall be designed to help guide the domestic efforts of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public to build and sustain the capabilities outlined in the national preparedness goal. The national preparedness system shall include guidance for planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercises to build and maintain domestic capabilities.”

Although the principal goal during such events remains the safety of everyone involved, organizers have realized that these annual gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people present the perfect opportunity to evaluate new technologies, exercise disaster plans, and build vital relationships between public safety agencies and the private sector.

Treating these large, annual events as opportunities to test the disaster response system accomplishes exactly that. Personnel from public safety and health departments meet regularly during the year to plan these events. New officials will quickly meet their counterparts in other agencies. As described in a recent Globe story about how close the 2007 race came to being cancelled due to weather, a unified command is established where all the relevant organizations can monitor the event and react together if something goes wrong.

This is not something that concerns only the City of Boston or events that can be dealt with by local authorities:

---------- Post added at 09:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 AM ----------

It seems these drills have been going on for some years now in Boston on Patriots day. Also since this has been the case Having bomb dogs in the area is not as un common as you think it is.

[J u s T C]

April 18, 2011

The Boston Marathon: In preparedness, the old is new again
Filed under: General Homeland Security,Preparedness and Response — by Arnold Bogis on April 18, 2011


Find below a “Power & Policy” blog post of mine outlining similarities between what PPD-8 calls for and the actions of Boston officials in preparing for and running the Boston Marathon as a “planned disaster.” Being Patriot’s Day, on which the Marathon is always run, I could not resist the comparison.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

This month the Obama Administration released Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8 on National Preparedness. While arguments can be made both in favor and against this seeming reboot of the national effort to increase preparedness for natural disasters and terrorist attacks, what particularly puzzles me is the lack of attention, given existing homeland security models that include vigorous cooperation among jurisdictions and participation of non-traditional homeland security actors. These efforts can be models for the rest of the nation and often have been ongoing long before PPD-8 called for “facilitating an integrated, all-of-Nation, capabilities-based approach to preparedness.”

For example today, in addition to being Tax Day, is Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts and the day on which the Boston Marathon is run. Why is this relevant to homeland security? As I wrote in an op-ed in the Boston Globe a few years ago:

Today thousands of runners and hundreds of thousands of spectators are unwittingly taking part in a planned disaster. Yet, they are not just safe from harm (except for the variety brought on by running 26.2 miles), they also are participants in an event that will make the citizens of Greater Boston safer in case of a natural catastrophe or terrorist attack.

What is important to note is the long standing, ongoing work towards what PPD-8 identifies as required in that the “national preparedness system shall be designed to help guide the domestic efforts of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public to build and sustain the capabilities outlined in the national preparedness goal. The national preparedness system shall include guidance for planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercises to build and maintain domestic capabilities.”

Although the principal goal during such events remains the safety of everyone involved, organizers have realized that these annual gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people present the perfect opportunity to evaluate new technologies, exercise disaster plans, and build vital relationships between public safety agencies and the private sector.

Treating these large, annual events as opportunities to test the disaster response system accomplishes exactly that. Personnel from public safety and health departments meet regularly during the year to plan these events. New officials will quickly meet their counterparts in other agencies. As described in a recent Globe story about how close the 2007 race came to being cancelled due to weather, a unified command is established where all the relevant organizations can monitor the event and react together if something goes wrong.

This is not something that concerns only the City of Boston or events that can be dealt with by local authorities:

---------- Post added at 09:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 AM ----------

It seems these drills have been going on for some years now in Boston on Patriots day. Also since this has been the case Having bomb dogs in the area is not as un common as you think it is.