Disaster Tough Podcast

FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor is a trailblazer and highly accomplished. He oversaw FEMA’s first Pandemic response, the most active hurricane season in U.S. History, and the most aggressive infrastructure program to date. Pete Gaynor has an amazing insight into setting the standard, increasing the capacity of emergency management across the field. Pete shares lessons learned of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) Response, provides advice on making a difference in an EM career, and talks about the direction disaster management for the future.

Pete also promotes better national preparedness, importance and role of education, and the need for increased focus (and dollars) for mitigation. All emergency managers should be mitigation experts.

Department of Homeland Security - Biography of Pete Gaynor

"On January 11, 2021, Peter T. Gaynor was designated as the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. Mr. Gaynor was officially confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be FEMA Administrator on January 14, 2020. Previously, he served as the Senate-confirmed Deputy FEMA Administrator.

"Since his selection by the President, Mr. Gaynor led FEMA’s response to over 300 presidentially declared emergencies and major disasters. Mr. Gaynor oversaw the agency’s close collaboration with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners, making it possible to serve millions of Americans in their time of need through locally executed, state managed and federally supported disaster response.

"During the historic year of 2020, Mr. Gaynor oversaw FEMA’s first ever operational response to a nationwide pandemic while simultaneously responding to a record amount of disasters. As a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Mr. Gaynor directed FEMA’s operational coordination for the whole-of-Government response to COVID-19. During this time, FEMA deployed over 5,300 staff and obligated over $57 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund in support of the nationwide pandemic response.

"In 2020, Mr. Gaynor led the federal response to the most active Atlantic hurricane season in history, with a record of 30 named storms. Mr. Gaynor also directed the response to a historic West Coast wildfire season, resulting in 78 Fire Management Assistance Grant declarations to assist governments in fighting wildfires.

"As Administrator, Mr. Gaynor oversaw FEMA’s award of the agency’s largest infrastructure project grants in history to assist with Puerto Rico’s ongoing recovery from hurricanes Irma and Maria.

"Gaynor has more than 13 years of experience in emergency management. Prior to coming to FEMA, Gaynor served as the Director of Rhode Island’s Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) in 2015. During that time, RIEMA responded to numerous small and large disasters, including one presidentially declared disaster and at least seven pre-existing active federal disasters. Gaynor oversaw response and recovery efforts to blizzards, floods, tropical storms and public health emergencies. He also coordinated evacuations, mass care, special events, and school safety.

"Gaynor served as the policy advisor to Governor Gina Raimondo on emergency management matters. He was also the Chair of the State Interoperable Communications Committee, the State Emergency Response Commission, and was Vice Chair of the State Emergency Management Advisory Committee. Additionally, he served as a Commissioner and a member for the Program Review Committee for the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), which fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs across the nation.

"From March 2008 to December 2014, Gaynor served as the Director of the Providence Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and Office of Homeland Security, where he was the only Certified Emergency Manager assigned as a municipal emergency manager in Rhode Island. He was responsible for ensuring the planning and operations of the agency, coordinating community exercise programs, managing the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and advising the Mayor of the City of Providence on local government emergency operations.

"During his tenure at RIEMA and PEMA, Gaynor oversaw multiple response and recovery operations and managed numerous federally declared disasters.

"Under Pete Gaynor’s leadership, in 2010, PEMA became the first municipality in the United States to receive accreditation from EMAP. In 2017, Rhode Island became the 36th state to be EMAP-accredited, making Gaynor the first emergency management director awarded EMAP accreditation at the local and state levels. In January 2018, under Gaynor’s direction, Rhode Island was the first state designated as StormReady by the National Weather Service.

"Gaynor was awarded the International Association of Emergency Managers USA & Global Partners in Preparedness Award for Operation SMART EXIT, a planned full-scale evacuation of several high-rise commercial buildings in Downtown Providence, RI.

"Prior to his experience as an emergency manager, Gaynor served for 26 years as an enlisted Marine and Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps. During his tenure in the Marines, he was assigned as the Executive Officer responsible for the security of Presidential Retreat, Camp David; assigned as the Head of Plans, Policy, & Operations at the Headquarters Marine Corps during the September 11, 2001 attacks; and deployed in support of Iraqi Freedom with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force where he coordinated combat operations in the Al-Anbar Province of Iraq for Multi-National and Marine forces.

"Gaynor received a bachelor’s degree in history from Rhode Island College and a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in Newport, RI. He is also a graduate of the Center for Homeland Defense and Security’s Executive Leaders Program.” - https://www.dhs.gov/person/peter-t-gaynor

Climate Risk Adaptation, population centers shifting towards the Coast, and financial insecurity are just some of the issues that mitigation officers must address in their work. Jack Krolikowski, Deputy State Mitigation Officer (or The Deputy SHMO) for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency talks to us about the importance of mitigation on this week’s episode.

We are calling Lee Dorey the George Washington of EM Leadership because of his amazing skill to lead in high stress environments. Lee has been in a Chief in almost every aspect of emergency management and response, he talks to us about his experiences, the great people he has worked with, and provides advice to emergency managers that will increase their influence, build a successful emergency management program, and produce favorable results in the face of disaster.

Are you in the Military and are thinking about switching into emergency management? Are you in emergency management and want to increase your ability in decision making or leadership? Take note of Margaret Larson, she has major accomplishments to her name. She is a mother, an United States Army Veteran with 9 years active duty as a Special Forces Medevac Pilot, and an emergency manager. Her experiences and lessons learned are of high worth. She shares her experiences and advice on this week's episode!

Craig Fugate led the Federal Emergency Management during the President Obama Administration. Craig famously used, 'So What?' as a way to help emergency managers prioritize tasks, created the Waffle House Index, and changed how FEMA staff operated in emergency (by making all staff members deployable emergency managers). Craig Fugate is a change agent and shares advice on how to improve in every phase of the disaster life-cycle. He know leads One Concern, focusing on mitigation through artificial intelligence. To view Craig's latest project, you can check out One Concern here: https://oneconcern.com/en/

Jayson Kratoville is the Interim Director of the National Center for Security & Preparedness (NCSP). Jayson believes that change management is critical to the homeland security field as it adapts to new technologies and a dynamic risk environment. Effective training and exercises are critical tools, challenging participants to link their practical experience with new ideas and approaches in a way that shifts their mindset. Jayson has managed the development and delivery of training and exercise programs that have reached tens of thousands of practitioners across New York State's homeland security enterprise. He has also guided the NCSP’s strategic vision and implementation, contributed to rapid growth at the NY State Preparedness Training Center, and advised on the development of UAlbany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity.

Kevin Pigg is an expert practitioner of emergency management, serving in roles across the Local, State, and Federal levels. Kevin shares lessons learned and personal experiences on our show in the advice style format. We talk about the challenges, tasks, and personality that is required in this field. Essentially, Kevin Pigg lays out the DNA of an emergency manager.

Patrick Campion, owner of Preparedness Advisors, specializes in improving situational awareness through data science. Patrick understands first-hand the importance of emergency managers understanding and using data in their roles, both in blue sky operations and in grey sky operations. Whether your tracking grant dollars, or identifying gaps in mitigation, using data can make you more efficient and increase your success.

This Spring marks 11 years since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. It marks 10 years since the Tohoku Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Disaster, 30 years since the Kuwait Oil Fires, 32 years (almost to the date of this episode) since the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, and so many other major disasters that were major game changers in emergency management and disaster response.

Eric Helpenstell has been in the response, recovery, or post-recovery (mitigation phase) of many of these catastrophic disasters. He has a background of fire suppression in wildfires, involved with logistics during the Pandemic, and even worked to unify children and parents during the family separation policies of the US Boarder Crossing. Eric's experiences are extensive, his knowledge and advice is critical for the prevention of looming threats. A great reminder that training + experience + data is the right mix to become Disaster Tough.

Dr. Stephen Johnson and host John Scardena discuss the intersection of emergency management and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) field activities. Steve provides advice on how to become an expert, talks about the differences between CBRNe and HazMat, and next steps to protect the public from these catastrophic events. We also talk about the Beirut Explosion on this week's episode.

Dr. Stephen Johnson's Current Activities
(as described from Cranfield University)

"Stephen Johnson is the Course Director for the MSc in Forensic Explosive and Explosion Investigation, which explores other hazardous incidents e.g. CBRN and Fire. He actively works with Police, Fire, OGDs and International Organizations on themes of terrorism, CBRNE, intelligence and forensic science. This has included the FCO, ICRC, London Fire Brigade, SO15 and the International Institute of Criminal Investigation. He teaches on or delivers the following courses:

Hazardous Forensics
Forensic Intelligence and Exploitation
Forensic Investigation of Explosives and Explosive Devices
Fire and Explosion Investigation
Counter IED Capability
Royal Engineer Force Protection Course
Terrorism Risk Management and Mitigation
He regularly lectures on Police CBRN courses around the UK, Imperial College London (On explosive devices), University of Rome Tor Vergata and previously at Georgetown University.

Steve's research investigates the exploitation of forensic evidence for intelligence purposes and ranges from CBRNE detection through to Open Source Intelligence. He has supported research with a wide range of British and American and International Universities. On CBRN he worked with Sussex, Bath and LSE on CBRN investigations in Syria. A significant phase of research was funded by Pool Re (The Government Terrorism Re-Insurance Pool), on modelling the impact and forecast of terrorism attacks.

Steve serves on a wide range of working groups, panels and advisory boards. He has provided comment for the media on CBRNE and terrorism.

He has currently taken a 2 year posting as the SO2 Training Policy (C-CBRN) heading up the Counter CBRN roadmap preparing the Field Army and wider Defence.