The United States is one of the most developed and technologically advanced countries in the world.

With the new movie “Contagion” in theatres, there has been some debate over whether its premise -- an infectious disease spreads uncontrollably worldwide and kills millions of people rapidly -- could really happen.

Ten years ago on 9/11 /01, I was a Major with the Maryland State Police.  As I walked across the parking lot that morning, the S.W.A.T. Commander stopped me and informed me that a plane had just slammed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Shortly after I entered my office, a second plane struck the remaining tower.

On Friday, September 9th, CHHS gathered many of Maryland's top law enforcement and homeland security leaders and analysts, for a symposium on the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Panelists reflected upon the lessons the state learned and their plans to ensure the safety of citizens going forward. Gov.

Many folks already view Hurricane Irene as an extraordinary exaggeration and a waste of a whole lot of worrying. While it certainly may not have left the devastation other historic storms have left in their wake, people underestimate the efforts made in their respective counties and states to ensure that things weren’t worse.

In a decade where the term ‘every penny counts’ could not be more appropriate, our governments, at local, state and federal levels, are faced with making tough decisions.  Legislators walk a fine line between balancing the budget and acting in the best interest of their constituents.  The difficult task for

On June 22, President Barack Obama announced that 10,000 of the 33,000 surge troops that were deployed in 2009 to augment U.S.

In the famous words, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, our founding father Benjamin Franklin demonstrates his knowledge of principles that would develop the infrastructure of public health preparedness centuries later.

 As of June 3, 2011, more than 10 European nations were simultaneously experiencing outbreaks of enterohemorrhagic E. coli, EHEC, causing significant numbers of illnesses and major economic impacts to the affected nations. Although work is ongoing to characterize the particularly virulent strain of E.

State and local governments learned yesterday how much federal homeland security grant funding they will receive for the fiscal 2011 grant cycle and about the requirements they must meet in these grants.  These funds are to help state and local governments with the ability to build, enhance, and sustain their abilities to prevent and prepare for terrorist a

The magnitude of the tornadoes that struck Alabama and fourteen other states on April 27th is still being studied. Winds are estimated to have reached over 200 miles per hour.

The rescue of an 80-year-old grandmother and her teenage grandson from the kitchen of their apartment is a bright spot in otherwise bleak accounts of the Tohoku earthquake and resulting tsunami aftermath.

by Oleg Pelekhaty

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan struck at 2:46 PM local time on Mar. 11 near the city of Sendai. The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake at an 8.9-magnitude, and has been followed by dozens and dozens of aftershocks. Friends located in Tokyo, 200 miles from the epicenter, reported long, eerie shaking and multiple evacuations.

If you've ever 'Google Street-Viewed' your home and felt weird that people could see the car in your driveway, you're not alone.

In his blog post about the 2011 MARCE Conference on Legal, Ethical, and Policy Challenges of Vaccination, Earl Stoddard outlined recent milestones and controversies in the vaccination field.

"In effect, our nation was entirely unprepared for an inevitable disaster," said William K. Reilly, co-chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.

The environment and social acceptance of vaccination is constantly shifting. Recently, however, a number of high profile events have made the landscape even more tumultuous.

In the wake of the shooting that occurred on January 8 at an Arizona Safeway, legislators across the country are left questioning their current security measures when holding public town hall meetings.

So you are all packed and ready to go - but just because you packed smart (i.e., didn't pack prohibited items, and packed in an organized way that allows the TSA scanners to determine what is actually in your bag), you're not necessarily in the clear.

By Rianna Brown
CHHS Research Assistant, fall 2010

Emergency response providers constitute an occupational group that is particularly vulnerable to the effects of sleepiness and fatigue. Considering the work they do, such a vulnerability poses significant risks to the health and safety of the responders themselves and of the general public.

International public health responders were once confident that the recent outbreak of cholera could be controlled through use of an aggressive education effort, expanded water decontamination, and medical treatment. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly evident that they are mistaken. The number of cases of cholera has reached more than 9,000 confirmed cases with at least 583 fatalities.

Late last month, federal employees around the nation received a long-overdue gift: news that they’d soon be working under a federal telework policy.

A college campus is run much like a small city: governed by its own leaders with its own rules and regulations. And much like a city, enforcing those rules and regulations is the responsibility of a police department, sometimes made up of dozens of officers at larger schools.

Recipients of FEMA's Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program (IECGP) funds for FY2010 could be in for a surprise this year: jurisdictions that apply to receive funds to purchase equipment must also write and submit a Communications System Lifecycle Plan (CSLP).

By Andrew Bennett
CHHS Research Assistant, summer 2010

By John Roche
CHHS Research Assistant, summer 2010

Today, technology - cell phones, e-mail, social media, etc. - provides abundant opportunities for people to communicate instantly with one another. General information sharing, planning, and coordination occur seamlessly on a daily basis. These modes of daily correspondence might appear sufficient to sustain communication between individuals during and after an emergency.

By Gregory Sunshine
CHHS Research Assistant, summer 2010

In the event of a radiological emergency, people who live within a 10-mile radius of nuclear power plants will hear a system of sirens sound the alert.  However, for their deaf and hard of hearing neighbors, the sound of the sirens alone provides no warning whatsoever.  

Nearly two months into the devastating British Petroleum oil spill, the incident has released a public and political flood of anger and pointed questions regarding the responsibility of private entities to take on effective disaster preparedness, particularly when the consequences of a disaster have widespread public ramifications.

As National Hurricane Preparedness Week continues on, it is important to highlight some of the changes the National Hurricane Center has made to increase the preparedness and safety of the public.

There's a new networking tool that could prove vital for government officials and emergency managers who want important information to reach a lot more people. Facebook unveiled its 'Like' button this week, which, in short, gives users the potential to 'like' anything on the internet. Yup. Anything.

CBS News reporter Steve Kroft and producer Leslie Cockburn have been honored with the 2009 George Polk Award for National Television Reporting for “The Price of Oil,” a January 2009 “60 Minutes” story that explained how Wall Street speculation rather than supply and demand very likely drove record price fluctuatio

On January 12, a powerful earthquake devastated the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and its surrounding communities. This is an unimaginable tragedy that has captured the world’s attention. CHHS applauds the efforts of the many first responders, from Haiti and abroad, who have once again answered the call for help in the wake of a catastrophe.

The Middle Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (MARCE) represents a consortium of 45 scientists from 15 research institutions located in the Northeast United States who collaborate to research and develop new or improved therapeutic, vaccine, or diagnostic products that can be used by the public h

This week, CHHS exercised Continuity of Operations plans that they created for municipalities in Montgomery County as well as the Montgomery County side of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Under the guidance and leadership of County Executive Ken Ulman, Chief Administrative Officer Lonnie Robbins, and COOP Program Managers Lois Miller and Ryan Miller, CHHS staffers Eric Oddo and Angelique So continue to make strong progress in the development of comprehensive Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans for all H

On October 22, 2009, I traveled to beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, to make a presentation on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) programs - and to take in the fall foliage.  Professor Robert Strassfeld, director of the Center for Global Security Law and Policy at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, hosted the conference, "Somebody's Watching Me: Surveillance and Privacy in an Age o

With all of the exciting work we have going on at CHHS, the Center is going through what you might call a “growth spurt” – we are hiring new employees left and right, and I am one of them.  It’s been six weeks since I started and so far, I am loving being a Law & Policy Analyst at CHHS.

CHHS has gained a valuable partner in Towson University (my alma mater) for its work on Maryland’s two resource management projects for the FY08 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program. Towson’s Center for GIS (CGIS) will be working with us on what we call Project 6: Key Resources.

It’s a simple equation: Bring the right people together, get them talking, and you end up with tangible results.