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Crisis Preparedness and the Public

by Phil Leggiere
Friday, 22 May 2009

Report suggests that America can learn much from Israeli example on public crisis preparedness.

http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/8632/128/

It’s a widely accepted truism in American politics that an engaged citizenry is the best defense. Yet, when it comes to emergency preparedness, the American public remains incredibly unengaged in the process, largely lacking both the knowledge and the opportunity to participate proactively and constructively.

A report titled Public Role and Engagement In Counterterrorism Efforts: Implications of Israeli Practices for the U.S., prepared for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Science and Technology by the Homeland Security Institute (a federally-funded research and development center which serves as the Department’s think tank) examines both why that is the case, and how study of Israeli citizen involvement in crisis response might help US preparedness and “social resilience” improve.

The study was co-authored by Dr. Sibel McGee (the principal investigator), Catherine Bott, Vikram Gupta, Kimberly Jones and Alex Karr. Published as a PDF document it has not yet been released on the web.

“The successful management of emergency situations,” according to the report, “ requires not only competent emergency response personnel and prudent and effective emergency plans by the local/state/federal government, but also a public that is equipped and empowered with knowledge and information.”

The report cites Israel as a primary example of a nation with an effective track record in motivating and maintaining public mobilization in support of counterterrorism efforts. A reflection of that success, the report suggests, is that “the level of public understanding of the terrorist threat and readiness for terror-induced emergencies is such that Israeli public has an impressive ability to bounce back from frequent terrorist attacks.”

To accomplish this, according to the report, the Israeli government pursues a comprehensive and diverse program to bolster a strong public resilience and utilizes it as a deliberate counterterrorism tool.

As the report describes it the Israeli government pursues a multi-facted strategy to inspire effective public participation in counterterrorism efforts.

“First,” it says, “ a comprehensive and extensive public education and awareness program on terrorism ensures public understanding of the threat, its serious consequences, and the need for readiness and response skills.”

“ Second,” the report adds, “ the public is educated on how to handle and report suspicious activity, persons, and vehicles and the public is treated as the true first responders and its ability to effectively handle emergencies is regularly tested through periodic training and drills.”

Finally, and perhaps most crucially, “the Israeli government’s risk communications with the public on terrorism-related issues are balanced, precise and honest. They also reflect adequate differentiation in the messaging in accordance with the audience and intent.” In the United States, on the other hand, within the official paradigm of homeland security, terrorism is subsumed under an “all-hazards” approach.

“Both the public and the government perceive counterterrorism primarily to be the responsibility of the government,” the report notes critically . “In official emergency management and security/counterterrorism programs, the term ‘the public’ appears to be frequently understood to mean only uniformed /official first responders. Thus, large parts of the public at large are excluded.”

As a consequence of these limitations, the report notes, the level of public participation in counterterrorism efforts and readiness programs for catastrophic incidents—both natural and manmade, including terrorism-related emergencies, is very low in the US.

The report recommends that DHS “champion greater understanding, in both the general public and within those responsible for homeland security, of the public‘s unique role in ensuring its own safety and homeland security.”

“ Emergency authorities, in particular,” it says, “ need to change their perceptions of the public from seeing them as victims to considering them as partners and force multipliers.

As a way to reinforce this understanding the report’s authors believe that DHS needs to support programs that inform, educate, train, and prepare the public to take a role in ensuring its own safety and security. The current all-hazards approach, despite its benefits, they argue, has an unintended consequence, terrorism-specific preparedness issues are not adequately understood and addressed.

“There is need for more systematic and comprehensive terrorism awareness and education programs in the United States that can highlight terrorism-specific risks and coping strategies,” they conclude.

The authors are aware that, given fundamental differences in social, cultural and political context between the US and Israel the challenges of galvanizing and sustaining high public participation in counterterror efforts will be unique.

“Given the perception that the terrorist threat to the United States is non-immediate,” they explain, “ the government will need to work creatively to overcome public apathy, and must increase preparedness for disasters in general and terrorism-related emergencies in particular.”

The sine qua non of any such effort, they say, is that DHS and other federal agencies involved in homeland security issues must improve information sharing internally and better coordinate their risk communications with the public. Further they must make it top priority to provide the public, particularly the more youthful segments of the population, with terrorism-related information, education, and training may prove useful in facilitating and maintaining public resilience as a long-term counterterrorism strategy.