Newswise — As we approach the six-year anniversary of our nation's worst terrorist attack and as the media leads with stories of heightened concern and anticipation regarding additional attacks, the question that most people have is how prepared are we today, at all levels of government, to respond to another terrorist attack or major emergency incident.
That is a question that had been posed frequently in recent months to Dr. Robert S. Fleming a professor of management at Rowan University, Glassboro, N.J., and a recognized expert in emergency and terrorism preparedness.
Fleming has been actively engaged in assessing levels of preparedness and in assisting governmental entities and emergency responders in enhancing their "response readiness" for all types of emergency incidents, including terrorist attacks, since years before the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
Fleming, an advocate of ensuring the "battle readiness" of local emergency responders who each and every day serve as our nation's "domestic defenders," says, "The importance of ensuring readiness of local first responders cannot be overemphasized in that they will be on the incident scene long before regional, state and federal resources arrive, and the strategic and operational decisions they make will significantly influence incident outcomes."
Fleming has an extensive record of service at the local, county, regional, state and federal levels that makes him qualified to comment on an array of timely issues. His current professional responsibilities include:
"¢ Chairman of the National Fire Academy Board of Visitors, the federal advisory committee under the U. S. Department of Homeland Security that ensures that an appropriate curriculum is available for training the nation's emergency responders. Additionally the Board of Visitors reviewed and recommended to the Secretary of Homeland Security the credentialing system that will be implemented for credentialing first responders for purposes of response to major incidents.
"¢ Chairman of the Pennsylvania Fire Service Certification Advisory Committee, which is responsible for providing advice and counsel as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and develops and implements processes for training, certifying and credentialing first responders.
"¢ Chairman of the Chester County Local Emergency Planning Committee, which addresses issues of emergency preparedness within the County of Chester and coordinates with other counties within the region.
Fleming's representative past professional activities include:
"¢ Conducted research on terrorism preparedness and developed a model for assessing organizational vulnerability to acts of terrorism.
"¢ Served on the U.S. Department of Justice Stakeholders Group, which presented a comprehensive set of recommendations for addressing domestic terrorism to the Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"¢ Served on the U.S. Department of Justice Panel that recommended awarding of terrorism preparedness equipment grants to the nation's 120 largest cities and metropolitan areas.
Fleming has worked with the media extensively since September 11, 2001 and is frequently interviewed by print, radio and television reporters. He is available to discuss an array of timely issues including:
"¢ Preparedness Levels
o Terrorism Preparedness Today o Regional and National Preparedness
"¢ Vulnerability Assessment
o Rethinking Vulnerability to Terrorismo Assessing Organizational Vulnerability to Acts of Terrorismo Assessing Community and Regional Vulnerability to Acts of Terrorism
"¢ Role of "First Responders"
o First Responders as Our Nation's "Domestic Defenders" o Impact of 9/11 on Emergency Service Recruitment and Retentiono Preparing First Responders: Post 9/11
"¢ Preparation Strategies
o Lessons Learned on 9/11o Regional Preparedness Strategieso National Preparedness Strategieso Establishment and Operation of the Department of Homeland Securityo Training of First Responders: Post 9/11o Emergency Preparedness Drills and Exerciseso Credentialing of First Responderso Changing Paradigms in Preparedness and Responseo Enhanced Preparedness through Governmental Cooperation
o The National Incident Management System and National Response Plan
"¢ Impact of Terrorism on Businesso The Business Impact of 9/11o Changing Business Practices: Post 9/11
RSS