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Index > Intelligence & Situational Awareness: Public/Private Partnerships
January 2011: Australian government authorities are working overtime to try and help the communities of Queensland in the midst of epic flooding, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. More than 9,000 homes in Brisbane, the country's third largest city, are expected to be impacted by flood waters, while the city's downtown central business center cut it's electricity, the BBC reported. June 2010: The Department of Homeland Security announced new voluntary accreditation and certification measures program to help the private sector coordinate with DHS in the event of an emergency a press release announced. DHS called the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep) a "major milestone" in working with the private sector to achieve one of the goals outlined by the 9/11 Commission. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said "These new standards will provide our private sector partners with the tools they need to enhance the readiness and resiliency of our nation." July 24 '08: Last year, organizers from America's Emergency Network (AEN) announced a new public/private partnership providing a suite of communications technologies for the general public and state, local and federal emergency response officials and government agencies. AEN provides a website containing video feeds and bulletins issued by OEMs and other government agencies in addition to AEN-TV (for emergency response and government agencies) as well the radio based AlertFM warning system. April 15 '08: In a press release, a partnership was announced between LG USA and the Harris Corporation to deliver the MPH "in-band mobile" digital technology solution which will allow information to be sent to first responders and the general public through the digital spectrum and even when users are traveling at high speeds and using hand-held PDAs. March 10 '08: The Homeland Security Watch blog has reported that the National Cyber Security Division of DHS is planning a second national cyber exercise called Cyber Storm II which will partner public, private and international agencies and organizations. March 6 '08: The Washington Post reported local law enforcement agencies around the country are linking their resources together through an online database allowing them to partner and share information. The technology, called Coplink was developed by Knowledge Computing Corporation and has been used by law enforcement agencies in Missouri who decided to pool their resources and federal grants to use the information-sharing network. March 3 '08: Wi4Net has announced a new partnership with the City of Milwaukee to install wireless surveillance cameras and a network monitoring facility, a press release announced. Along with the partnership is Pivot3 Inc., makers of high capacity and high definition digital storage. February 11 '08: The InfraGard public/private partnership was developed by the FBI and it pairs private sector infrastructure stakeholders with federal officials to share information and protect the nation's resources. InfraGard "is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prvent hostile acts against the United States," the website said. February 4 '08: The Sacramento Bee reported a consortium of technologies companies who have partnered with the City of Sacramento to install a wireless Internet infrastructure. Construction will begin will be done by May and includes a consortium of Azulstar (formally Ottawa Wireless), Cisco Systems, Intel and SeaKay, wireless industry publication Unstrung.com reported. February 4 '08: The Chesapeake Innovation Center in Anne Arundel County, Maryland has been helping businesses develop strategic homeland security-related models and focus. Recently two new companies, MGB Ltd. Spearhead Innovations which develops handheld container inspection devices and in-container detection technology, and OnLine LinkUp which builds "affinity networking websites" have joined. January 29 '08: In San Francisco last October, the city announced a new secure web-based information-sharing portal for first responders and community stakeholders, a press release announced. Working with Collaborative Fusion, a consulting, technology, first response and homeland security firm, the city has developed the www.HelpBayArea.org. December 10 '07: A partnership of response and technology organizations has announced a new initiative to "improve interoperable, inter-organizational communications and information sharing for emergency preparedness, response and recovery," a press release announced. The Core Services Initiative is being pushed by the COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance, the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc.,, the National Emergency Number Association, and the National Association of State Fire Marshals. COMCARE Director Steve Cooper said the initiative would work to develop "Core Services" of "shared information technology services 'in the middle'". November 12, 2007 In a press release from Princeton University, computer scientists have announced a new architecture "that enables the secure transmission of crucial rescue information to first responders during events such as natural disasters, fires or terrorist attacks." According to a story in NetworkWorld, the new framework allows first responders to exchange sensitive information on a "as-needed basis". November 9 '07: Local police officers in Athens County, Ohio and the City of Columbus will begin to train for real-life response situations using virtual technology developed by Ohio University's School of Telecommunications and Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID), the Athens News reported. The new virtual training technology was developed through local homeland security grants totaling $702,000. November 8 '07: In Los Lunas, New Mexico, first responders will begin to use WiFi to communicate interoperably using the one of the largest wireless communications system of its type in North America, a press release has announced. The network was established by Vivato Networks which was recently acquired byCatcher Holdings Inc.. Responders will use laptop and mobile devices developed by Catcher. October 24 '07: Information sharing and situational awareness company, NC4 has announced, a new partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to provide "a trusted secure platform for the rapid dissemination of intelligence data at the (Controlled Unclassified Information) CUI level to 10,000 users" which will include public and private sector recipients on the federal, state, local and tribal levels. October 16 '07: In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one of the salient problems facing those residents along the Gulf Coast was their ability to prove who they were to be able to receive the necessary services for recovery after the storm. Identity theft was rampant, and today is a growing problem for many people and corporations. In a press release today, a new initiative has been launched which partners industry, government, and academic organizations together "to develop and promote standards for identity credentials." October 2 '07: In Vermont, the Rutherland Herald ran a story from the Associated Press about a new satellite phone system which is being planned for the rural parts of the state to help emergency response officials. The $1 billion system is expected to go online next year and will help "fill in the gaps in radio and cell phone communications." September 28 '07: In the aftermath of disasters and emergencies, many communities must find ways to recover without the help of state or federal assistance for the first 72 hours. To support response operations, businesses within that community can provide valuable assistance - with existing resources in the location of the recovery process - through cooperation with local, state and federal emergency responders and first responders. One of the ways to help coordinate such resources and information is through a network much like the Essential Public Network, launched today by the Corporate Crisis Response Officers Association. September 19 '07: Government Technology News reported a partnership in San Jose, California which is partnering the local police department with an Internet map mashup startup to provide maps for community residents so they know if crimes have occurred in their area. September 12 '07: PC World reported that several Internet tech firms have partnered with computer users to search for the missing adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared last week when scouting speed trial locations in the Nevadan desert last week. The companies cooperating to look for Fossett are Google Earth, Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk and GeoEye. September 11 '07: PC World reported that a new consortium of security vendors "is trying to make it easier for emergency personnel to identify themselves at the scene of the disaster." The group, called Tiers of Trust, first will focus on local and state response offices, with the hopes of creating a "nationwide ID system that will prevent the logistical snafus that first responders experienced during" the attacks on 9/11. September 5 '07: In late August when Hurricane Dean plowed through the Caribbean Sea, response officials in the Cayman Islands worked with the Red Cross and telecomm company WestTel to provide communications capabilities before, during and after the storm, Cayman Net News reported. August 30 '07: The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a consortium of the nation's largest financial services designed to share timely information about emergencies and disasters, has chosen Message One's AlertFind notification system to help spread alert messaging, ByteandSwtich.com reported. August 15 '07: In a press release, Jewish Hospital officials in Louisville, KY announced and internal preparedness exercise in July which "was able to integrate multiple software platforms," to help create an overall efficient situational awareness and response. The Operation Rapid Response "demonstrated synergies in advanced technologies," like the iMapData software from ChoicePoint and Tridium's Niagara Frameworkİ. August 9 '07: The U.S. Coast Guard will participate in a mock emergency exercise on St. Thomas, U.S.V.I with Norwegian Cruise Lines today the Coast Guard News reported. The one-day exercise is a full-scale operation officials said. July 27 '07: In Kentucky, the Jewish Hospital Medical Center South in Built County has been working with tech company FacilityOneİ to develop situational awareness software to help resource and man-power management during a disaster, the Courier Journal in Louisville reported. June 28 '07: In El Paso, Texas, on June 28 a partnership between the city's mayor office, academia and the business community is partnering to hold an emergency preparedness seminar designed to help small businesses in the area, develop business continuity plans, the El Paso Times reported. June 4 '07: In what is a first of its kind, Boeing has announced a partnership with the FBI to place staff analysts at a Seattle FBI Fusion Center intelligence sharing office "to set an example of how private owners of critical infrastructure can get involved in such centers to generate and receive criminal and anti-terrorism intelligence," Washington Technology News reported. May 31 '07: The Homeland Security Watch blog has posted an article about the public/private partnership between the Canadian Defense Department's R&D agency and Battelle "to produce a schematic illustrating a 'preliminary analysis on the economic impact of a nuclear weapon event in Vancouver.'" May 30 '07: The main information-sharing network for the Department of Homeland Security, the Homeland Security Information Network, needs more focus and cooperation from the private sector if it is to success as an efficient and reliable source of intelligence, security experts told Washington Technology reported. May 22 '07: Dartmouth College has announced the release of a new virtual training tool for first responders which focuses on chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive emergencies. The new computer-based tool has more than 16 hours of training material and is the first course in the college's Interactive Media Laboratory's Virtual Terrorism Response Academy. May 21 '07: On Tuesday, May 22 the Ford Motor Company and Michigan State University will participate in a disaster preparedness and response competition to test the car company's ability to address emergency situations, an MSU press release announced. May 8 '07: The Associated Press reported that after the recent tanker crash in California which destroyed a major overpass in the San Francisco metro area, online mapping engineers quickly worked to revise their software to re-route people away from the site of the accident - a move toward quicker updating that could also help first responders and emergency personnel. May 3 '07: South Carolina Department of Health officials, along with Catawba Indian Nation tribal officials and Logical Images have partnered to introduce new telemedicine technology which will help 65 rural state hospitals as well as urban area medical centers, share visual information through a system called VisualDx, designed for remote information sharing and diagnosis, a press release announced. May 2 '07: Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Fire Department of New York participated in a wireless communications network exercise at 7 World Trade Center recently to test new information-sharing technologies, the Associated Press reported. During the exercise, officials tested their ability to send video surveillance to remote locations for situational awareness and real-time field evaluations. May 1 '07: Federal officials from the U.S. Department of Personnel Management are working with Geospatial Experts to map critical infrastructure through the Critical Infrastructure Protection Seminar. March 27 '07: Colorado officials said they have recently begun to use several types of visual mapping technology along with web-based location tracking software to create a "mashup" application which can locate specific events and also give accurate weather forecasts for the area to help responders adequately adjust, FCW.com reported. March 23 '07: The Associated Press reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have partnered withe General Motor Corp.'s OnStar service to help improve response times to automobile accidents. On Wednesday, General Motors announced "a partnership with federal health officials to create guidelines ... for the use of real-time crash data to help emergency services." March 16 '07: IBM and Brownville, Texas have announced a partnership to employ new wireless communications technology to boost the city agencies' capabilities, Telecommunications Magazine reported. The $4 million agreement will target the development of WiMax-WiFi capabilities. February 22 '07: During a national or regional emergency, power will remain unavailable to residents for long periods of time. In addition to no electricity, general services such as telephone services would prevent people from calling emergency management officials. Cell phones would work only as long as they can hold a charge and so American Legion members in Palisades, California have volunteered to set up an amateur radio station to help with disaster communications for the community, the Palisadean Post reported. February 14 '07: In 2006 about 115 organizations, government agencies and members of the private sector participated in Cyber Storm which tested the government and industry's ability to respond and communicate during a simulated cyberterrorist attack. InfoWorld reported that a new Cyber Storm is being planned for 2008 and will include outside industries such as the chemical and nuclear energy industries. January 31 '07: A Department of Homeland Security-led cyber security program being supervised by the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico is working to improve the gas and oil industry's ability to thwart a possible cyberterror attack. The Linking the Oil and Gas Industry to Improve Cyber Security (LOGIIC) program's focus is to prevent energy supply disruption because of a computer virus or hacker intrusion. January 16: Federal, state and local law enforcement officials are working with college professors in Vermont to help detect and reduce cyber crime according to a news release posted on the GovernmentTechnology website. A federal grant totaling $650,000 will go to fund the operations based at the Champlain College Center for Digital Investigation. January 4 '07: The Department of Homeland Security has announced its first annual University Network Summit on Research and Education that will join members of the private sector, academia and the public sector to promote the development of new ideas to protect the U.S. against the threat of terrorism and to prepare communities for disaster response. December 18 '06: 13 critical infrastructure organizations have partnered with the Department of Homeland Security for a year-long program to address cybersecurity for the oil and gas industry Government Computer News reported. The project is called "Linking the Oil and Gas Industry to Improve Cybersecurity (LOGIIC)" and it is a joint partnership between DHS and security vendors, research labs, and industry officials. December 11 '06: A new federal grant program will target cooperative efforts between the Department of Transportation and universities in West Virginia to facilitate working toward securing and safely managing the pipeline supply infrastructure, the Huntington News reported. December 7 '06: Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, their European counterparts, IT vendors, domestic and international privacy advocates gathered in Washington DC recently to discuss the uses and implications of biometric information collection, Washington Technology reported. November 21 '06: Dallas law enforcement officials, medical first responders, firefighters and aviation agencies will have access to a fully interoperable communications service which will allow video, radio, and data services to be linked via an interoperable network, Government Technology's Public CIO reported recently. November 15 '06: Responders in Tennessee are using dogs to help rescue and recovery efforts, Firehouse.com reported Tuesday. The Tennessee Task Force One is only just one of 28 emergency response groups trained in the US using dogs to help locate victims of terrorist attacks or natural disasters. November 15 '06: The Joint Task Force Civil Support is developing a wireless network technology that could have potential first responder application to help establish wireless networks in short amounts of time to help federal responder forces work with state and local emergency services during a chemical, nuclear, radiological, or nuclear attack, FCW.com reported this week. October 20 '06: Doctors in Michigan will begin to use a robot which is connected to a centralized network aid doctors in emergency rooms with stroke victims. The Associated Press reported Friday that telemedicine program is a joint-venture sponsored by the St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital, (SJMO) the American Stroke Association and InTouch Technologies. October 11 '06: In case of an emergency, natural disaster, or terrorist strike, the cities of Louisville, Cincinnati and Indianapolis have agreed to share resources through a mutual-aid pact, USA Today reported Monday. October 10 '06: Several regional and state-wide emergency preparedness exercises and cooperative programs are underway around the US this week. The cooperation between state and local governments and the private sector, religious groups and school systems shows what one organizer in Minnesota calls an effort "to be self-reliant in case of an emergency, even if you never experience one personally." October 9 '06: To help mitigate any economic damage to the New York Stock Exchange in the event of a large-scale disaster or terrorist attack, state officials in Pennsylvania, led by Governor Ed Rendell, have proposed a "Wall Street West" that would serve as a backup to the NYSE "so that markets can recover quickly in the event of another terrorist strike on New York," the Associated Press reported Monday. September 15 '06: The Department of Homeland Security announced new federal grants of more than $1.35 billion to build security measures at the nation's ports to detect nuclear weapons being smuggled into the US. The new system, called the Cargo Advanced Automated Radiography System will also be able to detect drugs and high explosives. September 15 '06: In Texas, the nation's first fully interoperable communications network has been unveiled and will allow federal, state and local government agencies, first responders and the private sector communicate with each other "over their existing networks and equipment," according to a press release on Thursday. August 18 '06: A new medical bracelet being designed by IBM will be used by first responders in the St. Louis area to help improve disaster-site medical response and victim triage, a press release announced this week. August 7 '06: During a terrorist attack or a natural emergency, as government officials manage the crisis and first responders rush to the scene of the disaster, business owners are responding as well, taking stock of their employees' health and the safety of others around the immediate area. CIO detailed the disaster response of a business immediately following the attacks on July 7, 2005 when suicide bombers killed 52 people and critically injured more than 700. July 27 '06: State and local law enforcement officials in California have announced a partnership to create the Joint Regional Intelligence Center - a clearinghouse for state and local officials to access and share information about potential terrorist attacks in the region, the Associated Press reported Thursday. July 20 '06: Ohio officials announced the completion of the nation's first statewide voice and data communications system for first responders, and emergency management officials according to Government Technology's Public CIO last week. The system, the Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS), "enables police, fire and emergency management crews throughout the state to coordinate with each other more effectively to effective serve and respond to Ohioans during everyday operations and in the event of an emergency." July 19 '06: Emergency communication and coordination by the federal government has yielded little progress since the September 11, 2001 attacks according to a new article released by the Heritage Foundation over the weekend. Instead of emergency communication management, the article said, the federal government should focus on the cooperation of the public and private sectors in supporting a joint response and recovery process which "would include adhering to a set of policies that promote effective public-private sharing" of emergency management communications standards to be applied to a network that could coordinate federal, state and local "leadership for emergency response communications." July 18 '06: New advances in chip technology have the potential to increase personal and supply chain information security - both of which have far reaching implications for homeland security and responder preparedness issues according to recent announcements. Information Week reported Monday that a new computer chip designed by Hewlett Packer called the "Memory Spot", is about the size of a half of a grain of rice and can hold up to four megabits of information. The implications, the designers of the chip say, could mean that biometric information and supply chain data currently both supported by radio frequency identification chips could become more secure and have a faster transfer rate. July 6 '06: A new internet-based tool designed to help triage emergency management and medical response during an emergency was unveiled by the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday. The tool was created to access and use public health information about victims of a disaster, elderly and disabled people, and it will work within the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 19996 (HIPPA) Privacy Rule to help coordinate information so that federal, state and local medical responders can make decisions quickly, HHS officials said in a press release. June 23 '06: A new standard has been ratified by the Organization of the Advancement of Structured Information Standards which will allow federal, state and local governments, as well as a myriad of private organizations and non-governmental organizations to share information, Government Computer News reported. "The Emergency Data Exchange Language Distribution Element (EDXL-DE) Version 1.0 has been designated a standard by Oasis, which serves as the de facto international standards body," and it will allow emergency information to be transfered across jurisdictions. The creation of the standard was in part, with the help of the Department of Homeland Security. June 19 '06: A large hurricane strikes a coastal region, a terrorist uses a bomb to blow himself up in a subway at the same time releasing chemical agents, or a tornado destroys a community. All these scenarios require communication among first responders, medical personnel and federal, state, local and tribal officials. Sometimes that communication can be difficult because power lines have been cut, cell phone networks are jammed and communications equipment is not interoperable. Those scenarios are some of the problems ham radio operators try to solve during an annual "field day" in which more than 30,000 amateur radio operators, using only generators, batteries or solar power, from across the country participate work through scenarios testing their ability to communicate during an emergency. May 24 '06: Part of defending the nation against the threat of domestic and international terrorism is making sure the food supply is safe. A cooperative, federal effort called the Strategic Partnership Program Agroterrorism (SPPA) Initiative is working to "Develop mitigation strategies to reduce the threat/prevent an attack. May 1 '06: New plans for a satellite being designed will help weather forecasters communicate possible threats stemming from hurricanes and other severe weather to state and local responder communities and governments. April 18 '06: Security Watch Info has reported that a cooperative effort between the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey with the company Raytheon will install a new, real-time information system called the "Perimeter Intrusion Detection System" which will be used at four New York/New Jersey international airports. The system will be designed to "integrate data from several types of sensors and funnel the data to the same control center," which will then allow security and airport officials to share information. April 3 '06: The first 72 hours are the most important moments for any emergency and those responding to it. Along with that idea, representatives from responder communities and state and local leadership from around the country gathered at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts for three days to discuss how to assess risks, harden targets, prepare for responses, respond appropriately to crises during the Northeast regional meeting of the Advisory Committee to the National Task Force on Community Preparedness and Response. "Ready America: The First 72 Hours" was designed "to develop a national template of the best practices for community preparedness and response leading up to and during the first hours of crisis." February 3 '06: Boston University has received a federal grant and approval for a new bioresearch facility in Boston's South End. The $128 million federal grant will help toward the construction of a Level 4 laboratory - diseases to be researched will be some of the most virulent known to man - diseases like Ebola, Marburg, and anthrax viruses, the Boston Globe reported Friday on its website. January 19 '06: The Department of Homeland Security will give federal grant money to Purdue University which has partnered with the Indiana University School of Medicine to help with analytical software development to disseminate information on a large scale right as a major event unfolds and while the response process is underway, the Journal and Courier, a local paper in Lafayette, Indiana reported. January 17 '06: Department of Homeland Security funding and grants to help protect and prepare communities for national and natural disasters are also needed by educational institutions to help research, preparedness and coordination with federal, state and local resources. Bangor Daily News in Maine reported last week that some school districts in the state have been given DHS grants - money that will be used in surveillance and preparedness according to the guidelines in the grant reward. December 23 '05: New laws requiring the public to go to high definition television is proving in aiding the first responder community according to Government Computer News. April 7 '05: The fight in the war on terror requires research and development of the tools necessary to fight the threat of terrorism, according to Homeland Security officials who have decided to bring together 500 research scientists and engineers working throughout the government and in the private sector. A department press release on Thursday announced they would be holding a convention called "Working Together: R&D Partnerships in Homeland Security" in Boston where those attending will "present their innovative work to make the nation safer." March 17 '05: The threat of agro-terrorism is real, according to homeland security experts who told MSNBC news that veterinarians are helping the government by being "early warning" indicators of possible attacks. MSNBC reported Thursday that there are "31 recorded cases of agro-terrorism in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Database, 10 of them directed at livestock, according to the Journal of Animal Science."
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