The Longest Now

Suprised I missed this too. Well not really. I’m somewhat burned out on just how badly managed DHS is – or the whole idea is for that matter. I guess watching 15 years of incompetent management of Harvard security has lowered my tolerance for pain. Anyway, what is being called for is not really self-reliance. It is volunteer participation in the corporate hierachy of DHS. There is a real role for self-reliance in security. But security professionals are unwilling to be honest with everybody about what it is.

The Red Cross has recommendations for disaster preparedness that are almost indifferent to the exact nature of the emergency. They amount to food, water, and hygiene for three days – a gallon of water/person/day, canned food, tiolet paper, flashlights etc. I assume that 3 days comes from long experience about how long it takes to mobilize infrastructure regeneration after a major disturbance. Of course, the post Katrina recovery was much, much slower. We, as a society, have gone tragically and frighteningly, backwards.