Northern Lights II - FutureNow

Time for Northern Lights II?  From 5 states to 11, this will be one of the largest private sector exercises ever held.  Interested in planning?  We are looking to use a new program, entitled "FutureNow" to lead our planning effort.  


Are you a student, veteran or simply looking to demonstrate your expertise and improve our resilience at the same time?  


Send us an email and let us know you are interested today! (be sure to put Northern Lights II in your subject line)

Inspiration

Here is a video that I find inspiring.  What inspires you?  

Potential Government Shutdown

What is the likely impact of a government shutdown?  Will it effect our critical infrastructure?  

If the Federal Government were to shut down on April 8th, 2011, we can look to the last prolonged shutdown (from Dec. 16, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996) and a report by the Congressional Research Service for potential impacts, examples include:

• Health - New patients were not accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical center; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ceased disease surveillance.
• Law Enforcement and Public Safety - Delays in alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives applications and cancellation of federal law enforcement hiring.
• Parks, Museums, and Monuments - Closure of National Park Service sites and significant impact to tourism.
• Visas and Passports -  Applications by foreigners for visas and U.S. applications for passports went unprocessed; and U.S. tourist industries and airlines reportedly sustained millions of dollars in losses.
• American Veterans - Multiple services were curtailed, ranging from health and welfare to finance and travel.

Past government spending shutdowns did not directly or immediately impact the function of critical infrastructure and key resources.  Nonetheless, as I assert in opinion on my personal blog, there is a potential for effects due to a prolonged shutdown.  

Inspire Magazine Releases Their 5th Issue

Inspire Magazine, an English language online magazine reported to be published by the organization Al Qaeda released their 5^th issue last week. 

Michael Rozin, our newest board member provides great insight on this new release below.

Thank you Michael for sharing your knowledgeable insight.

On Tuesday, March 29^th AQAP released their 5^th Issue of the Inspire Magazine.  It should serve us – security professionals- as a fresh reminder of the motivation, thinking and modus operandi of terrorist perpetrators.

In this issue AQAP:

• Encourages attacks against western targets.
• Focuses the perpetrators on easy & soft targets.  
• Encourages the perpetrators to act individually.

It is therefore our responsibility to:

• Ensure our protected environments aren’t easy & soft targets.  Terrorists have for a long time been selecting potential targets based on ease of execution and damage potential.  We (security professionals)  must establish effective measures that challenge the perpetrators, thus eliminate the “ease of execution” factor and affect the psychology of the adversaries.  
• Initiate and empower public awareness on all levels. From people on the street to employees, from tenants to visitors, from our family to our friends it is our responsibility to increase public’s awareness, thus creating a very challenging environment for terrorist perpetrators to carry out their attacks.

The threat is here, it is real and it is our role to mitigate it every day.  I believe that one InfraGard’s strengths is in its number of members.  Through that platform we can achieve both, provide suggestions for effective security measures and continue to spread public awareness.

These are some of my thoughts / ideas that I hope you find relevant.

Michael

The Importance of Public/Private Partnerships

The severe weather season is once again approaching the Midwestern United States. While meteorologists say the occurrence of severe weather has been increasing in recent years, the number of injuries and deaths hasn't necessarily been rising proportionally with that increase. One reason why? Volunteer weather spotters. Minnesota meteorologist Paul Douglas, from WeatherNation.net, talks about the life-saving importance of the public/private partnership between weather spotters and those who deliver weather reports to the public.

Just 3 Steps to Surviving a Disaster

What disaster is 56% survivable?  Why is “Don’t Panic” bad advice?  Watch this 2 minute video for 3 simple steps that will make you, your employees and your family safer in an emergency. 

WikiLeaks: Assange Serves as a Reminder to All Computer Users

The WikiLeaks phenomenon has wide-reaching implications for ALL computer users, whether you're a Fortune 500 company or someone who uses online bill pay for your personal expenses. The following video contains tips to help you protect your computer.