Disaster Tough Podcast

Messaging is everything. COVID-19 has shown us once again how incredibly important it is for us to understand how to work with media. Whether it's collaborating with stakeholders like CDC, FEMA, public health, and local emergency management groups, or managing and informing politicians, the handling of rumor control from the 24-hour news cycle like CNN, Fox News, CNBC and their local affiliates, and of course the onslaught of opinions on social media. Messaging impacts lives and emergency managers must understand this in order to be successful in disaster services.

Jessi spent nearly a decade in federal service. Most recently, she served as Director of External Affairs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In this role, she managed the daily operations of the agency’s public affairs, strategic communications, congressional and intergovernmental affairs, as well as the Ready.gov campaign. During her tenure at FEMA, Jessi also served as the Director of Congressional Affairs where she was the agency’s principal liaison with the U.S. Congress and ensured that the agency’s priorities were reflected throughout the legislative and oversight process.

A proven crisis communications expert, Jessi effectively coordinated and led the FEMA’s external communications and engagements for over 234 Presidentially declared disasters, including the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic as well as some of the Nation’s most devastating hurricanes and wildfires.

Before her service in the executive branch, Jessi spent nearly seven years on Capitol Hill. She culminated her Capitol Hill career by serving as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Michael T. McCaul (TX-10), then Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Jessi Nalepa's current role is the Hagerty Consulting Communications Director responsible for driving the company’s external communications strategy and brand through effective media engagement, digital communication, as well as public relations and advocacy campaigns.

Emergency managers need to watch The Last House Standing Documentary. It shows in phenomenal detail how critical it is to build to our local environments and why that isn't happening now. Watch The Last House Standing Documentary at: https://www.thelasthousestanding.org/movie

Director's Statement:

As a former weatherman and reporter, I've covered countless stories about people who lost everything in natural disasters. Every year people lose their homes and many rebuild the exact same way. Most people have no idea if their insurance will actually get them whole again after a major disaster. If they have to evacuate, and their house is destroyed, many of the things that were lost can never be replaced. We roll the dice on where we live with no true sense of what the hazards really are. When you watch The Last House Standing you’ll meet people who are living the nightmare, and it doesn’t have to be this way.

This film is a wake-up call to everyone that we need to take control of our destiny and do whatever we can to protect our homes and lives.

Data analytics improves the life of an emergency manager. Whether it's determining where to place shelters, forecasting weather events, providing a risk assessment, or providing trustworthy situational awareness. Caitlin Von Stein is a subject matter expert in emergency management analytics. She provides the Federal Emergency Management Agency with need to know information, working on projects across the Disaster Lifecycle. She is truly Disaster Tough because she enhances the capability of emergency managers through analytics. Learn more about her experiences on our latest episode of the Disaster Tough Podcast.

Key and Peele may have inspired us with our own version of, "Angry Obama & Nice President Obama." Check it out!

The complexity of mitigation in the National Capital Region, combined with the changes caused by climate adaptation, create a perfect storm for emergency managers in Montgomery County Maryland.

Dr. Earl Stoddard is the Director of Emergency Management & Homeland Security for Montgomery County and is taking a hard look at future risk compared to historical data and has found several irregularities because of climate change. He also provides advice about working in emergency management and operations and the need to collaborate with stakeholders, especially those who may not understand the tempo of response.

**BONUS: Montgomery County, MD OEMHS is looking for a hydrologist! If you know someone who can assist, please reach out.

Today we dive into all things related to Brock Long's impressive career as a change agent and leader in emergency management. We talk about the complexities of a FEMA response in coordinated response, the need for disaster declaration reform, moving forward with a career in mind, and how to better prepare for disaster through mitigation. Brock speaks extensively about the mitgation process and changes that need to happen at FEMA and State governments to clear the way for communities to become Disaster Tough.

"Brock Long is the former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Confirmed in June 2017 by the US Senate with strong bipartisan support (95-4), Brock served as the Nation’s principal advisor to the President responsible for coordinating the entire array of federal government resources down through 50 states, 573 tribal governments, and 16 island territories to assist them with executing disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. Brock is the 10th Administrator and the youngest to hold the office. While serving as Administrator, Brock coordinated the federal government’s response to over 144 Presidentially declared disasters and 112 wildfires, including three of the Nation’s most devastating hurricanes and five of the worst wildfires ever experienced. During this time, nearly $44 billion of disaster activity occurred under the various federal recovery programs.

"As the FEMA Administrator, Brock led two major initiatives which will have long-lasting impacts on the emergency management community. He rapidly transformed the agency’s business enterprise by implementing innovative Community Lifeline and FEMA Integration Team concepts to strengthen public-private partnerships and permanently embed full-time staff within the offices of state and tribal governments to better meet constituent needs. Further, as the result of effective advocacy and eight influential Congressional testimonies, Congress passed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act and made pre-disaster mitigation a national priority, provided meaningful changes to the FEMA workforce, and bolstered state and local emergency management capability.

"From 2008-2011, Brock served as Director of Alabama’s Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) under Governor Bob Riley. As Director, he served as the State Coordinating Officer for 14 disasters, including eight presidentially-declared events. Brock also served as an on-scene State Incident Commander for the Alabama Unified Command during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

"He is a graduate of the prestigious Executive Leadership Program offered by the US Naval Postgraduate School/Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He attended Appalachian State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Public Administration." - Hagerty Consulting website; Brock Long Bio

Emergency managers are faced with natural and man-made threats every day. Because the Department of Homeland Security just raised the threat level of domestic terrorism, we brought on expert William Jackson Jr. , to talk to us about risk management, protection, training, and purpose.

We discuss several scenarios including mitigating riots, active shooter, general law enforcement activities, personal protection, targets, firearm training, even hunting on this episode. It's all things guns related with the Lead Instructor from Gladiator Gunz Training Group.

Domestic Terrorism, fueled by extremist groups, are a major concern for emergency and disaster services in 2021, especially due to the events caused at the United States Capitol Building on January 6th and the federal response coordination surrounding the events of President Joe Biden's Presidential Inauguration. Clearly the threat of violence was strong enough to cause swift reaction by law enforcement and military groups.

Whether it's a peaceful protest, turned riot, or indications of a national security threat... emergency managers and first responders must understand the complexities of response to keep all involved safe.

Joe Hernandez is an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), subject matter expert. Calling on his experiences to events such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, he is able to walk us through the preparations that responding parties must consider. This week we address terrorism as a way to reduce the threat of occurrence and impact to life, property, and continuity of operations.

Emergency managers and first responders have close coordination, but their roles and responsibilities are different. Doug Baiton is an expert in emergency response and can speak to the differences between the tactical level and strategic levels of our field. As a New York City Firefighter, "on loan," to New York City Office of Emergency Management as a Citywide Interagency Coordinator, Doug is profoundly aware of the needs and responsibilities of responders and the complexity of resources. It's all about the survivor in this episode. Learn from Doug's amazing career here.

This episode is all about the task force assigned to tackle the logistics of the COVID-19 Pandemic testing and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) logistics perspective. Joe Dellamura is a FEMA branch director who was assigned to work with a a task force of federal agency partners to find and innovate solutions in order to exponentially increase the supply chain of COVID-19 testing. He has recently been involved with the vaccination distribution and provides input how the distribution will work.

Happy New Years! Todd De Voe from the EM Weekly podcast and I discuss some goals that emergency managers need to take a look at, like how to improve your career, actions by your agency and more. We also take a tough look at big picture topics like emergency managers working with homeless populations, and the pros and cons of the IEAM certified emergency manager (CEM) process. We even talk about working with homeless populations and discuss if emergency managers should carry a weapon as part of the 5 FEMA mission areas, which include protection. Listen to our discussion and let us know on our social media channels for the Disaster Tough Podcast!