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New service adds high geographical precision to severe weather warnings

How many times has the NWS issued a severe weather warning (thunderstorm, tornado, flash flood) and you found yourself scrambling to find out if it includes your campus or your house? 

A new service from the National Weather Service -- "Interactive NWS" -- is changing that.

Now, you can register specify points by address. Or you can draw geographic polygons to include the location of your home, office or any physical site.

When the NWS issues a severe weather warning, if the warning polygon touches your point or polygon, you get a text message on your phone. If not, then no text message.

Visit the iNWS site: http://inws.wrh.noaa.gov.

New report from the The National Intelligence Council: 'Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World'

. The National Intelligence Council (NIC) issued an unclassified report, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World," offering a fresh look at how key global trends might develop over the next 15 years to influence world events.
Some preliminary assessments:

• The whole international system—as constructed following WWII—will be revolutionized. Not only will new players—Brazil, Russia, India and China— have a seat at the international high table, they will bring new stakes and rules of the game.
• The unprecedented transfer of wealth roughly from West to East now under way will continue for the foreseeable future.
• Unprecedented economic growth, coupled with 1.5 billion more people, will put pressure on resources—particularly energy, food, and water—raising the specter of scarcities emerging as demand outstrips supply.
• The potential for conflict will increase owing partly to political turbulence in parts of the greater Middle East.

NIC says the project's primary goal is to "provide U.S. policymakers with a view of how world developments could evolve, identifying opportunities and potentially negative developments that might warrant policy action."

View the report's web site.

Download the report.

Special Thanksgiving edition: How does all that food arrive safely on your dinner table?

Broadcasts at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 25, on KAMU 90.9 FM

• Click here to listen to the podcast of the Nov. 25 program.

There is nothing more American than a Thanksgiving Day meal. But much of the food on your table this year didn’t come from the United States at all. And what did come from our nation was not grown or processed or packaged in a way that Pilgrims would recognize at all.

The delivery of food to the American consumer involves a complex web of producers and processors moving food on a scale never before seen in history. Is that system safe and secure? The answer is yes . . . and no. According to our experts tonight, food is one of the safest commodities Americans use – yet thousands fall sick every year from problems that escape detection.

So how does the food safety and security system work? And what can we do to make it better? We will hear about that and much more.

Our guests include:

• Noreen Hynes, M.D., director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures, U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources
• Robert B. Laughlin, author of "The Crime of Reason and the Closing of the Scientific Mind"
• James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation
• Jimmy T. Keeton, professor and interim head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Texas A&M University

GAO releases analysis of public health and border security

Government Accountability Office (GA0) has published an new report, "PUBLIC HEALTH AND BORDER SECURITY: HHS and DHS Should Further Strengthen Their Ability to Respond to TB Incidents."

The GAO's summary says:

GAO recommends that DHS explore the feasibility of enhancing its capability to create public health alerts based on other variations of biographic information, and that HHS and DHS work together to continue to inform state and local health officials about new tools and procedures and develop plans for completing actions to ensure coordination among agencies. HHS and DHS generally concurred with GAO’s recommendations and are taking actions to respond to them.

Download the report.

CRS issues report on FY 2009 defense budget

The Congressional Research Service has released its report on the F& 2009 budget for the Department of Defense.

Download the report.

Obama's transition team posts its homeland security strategy online

Homeland Security | Change.gov: The Obama-Biden Transition Team.

Summary from the site:

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden's strategy for securing the homeland against 21st century threats is focused on preventing terrorist attacks on our homeland, preparing and planning for emergencies and investing in strong response and recovery capabilities. Obama and Biden will strengthen our homeland against all hazards -– including natural or accidental disasters and terrorist threats -- and ensure that the federal government works with states, localities, and the private sector as a true partner in prevention, mitigation, and response."

Commentary: 'A New Look from Satellites'

In the latest edition of "Just a Minute for Homeland Security" (a weekly public radio commentary produced by the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M University and KAMU 90.9 FM), Dr. Dave McIntyre, director of the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M, says:

"On September 24, 1861, an observation balloon rose 1000 feet above the Union lines in Arlington, Virginia, and began to telegraph information about Confederate encampments. As a result, Union guns were aimed and fired accurately, without actually seeing the enemy - a first in warfare. In reflection of things to come, the pilot was a civilian contractor."

• Listen to the show.
• Read the transcript.

• Subscribe to the weekly podcast:
  
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NTSB determines probable cause of 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis

In a new post on its web site, the National Transportation Safety Board says it has determined the probable cause of the August 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., was inadequate load capacity due to a design error.

The flaw was found in the gusset plates at the U10 nodes, NTSB says, which failed under a combination of substantial increases in the weight of the bridge, which resulted from previous modifications, and the traffic and concentrated construction loads on the bridge on the day of the accident. 

Read the executive summary.
View animation of the collapse and its probable causes.
View slides from presentations.
View video from the meeting: Part One | Part Two

ICHS Fellow Munn joins WirelessWERX as 9-1-1 sales director

ICHS Fellow Bill Munn has joined WirelessWERX as the company's director for 9-1-1 and university sales.

WirelessWERX manufactures devices that improve the ability of emergency responders to locate 9-1-1 callers. The company's product delivers exact floor, room number, or house number for any Bluetooth enabled mobile phone.

Munn was one of the first directors of a 9-1-1 district in Texas, serving as executive director of the Tarrant County 9-1-1 District for more than 20 years before retiring in 2006. During his tenure at the district, he also served over nine years on the board of managers of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), and is the only person to serve twice as president of the organization.

Munn also served on the Texas Commission for State Emergency Communications for thirteen years, having been appointed and re-appointed by two governors, and is an active member of the International Emergency Management Association.

He is currently an adjunct professor for the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at the Bush School of Government and Public Policy at Texas A&M University. He teaches the Emergency Management and Homeland Security course in the Bush School's online graduate Certificate in Homeland Security .

Read the news release.

Coming up on this week's radio show: Are you afraid of the 'no-fly list'?

Broadcasts at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 on KAMU 90.9 FM

• Click here to listen to the podcast of the Nov. 18  program.

Our guests and topics include:

• When you get to the airport and head through the security line, do you ever worry that you might somehow end up on the "no fly list" by accident - and be unable to travel?  Then you need to hear our first interview, because Christopher White of the TSA says they have a way to fix the problem.
• Are you ever concerned that when your money moves electronically, there might be a problem you can't see?  Journalist Shane Harris will tell you that you are right to worry.
• Have your wondered from recent news stories how our embassies are penetrated by foreign agents?  Fred Burton of Stratfor will explain.