182 Items

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Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Evolving The Emergency Management Enterprise to Meet a New Operational Reality: A State Perspective

| June 2023

In November 2022, the Belfer Center, with support from McKinsey & Company, brought together a diverse group of leaders from the emergency management community to discuss the evolving nature of emergency management, the challenges the enterprise faces, and solutions and strategies to better prepare for the new, poly-crisis climate. Among those leaders were Homeland Security Advisor (Colo.) Kevin Kleinand State Coordinator and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor (Va.) Shawn Talmadge. They graciously agreed to participate in a facilitated dialogue with Belfer Center Fellow Nate Bruggeman to further explore the themes and issues discussed in November 2022.

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Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Evolving The Emergency Management Enterprise to Meet a New Operational Reality: A Federal Perspective

| June 2023

In November 2022, the Belfer Center, with support from McKinsey & Company, brought together a diverse group of leaders from the emergency management community to discuss the evolving nature of emergency management, the challenges the enterprise faces, and solutions and strategies to better prepare for the new, poly-crisis climate. Among those leaders were former FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor and former Deputy Administrator Rich Serino. They graciously agreed to participate in a facilitated dialogue with Belfer Center Fellow Nate Bruggeman to further explore the themes and issues discussed in November 2022.

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Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Navigating Poly-crisis: The New Reality for Crisis Management in the United States

    Author:
  • Luke Beckman
| June 2023

For those of us in crisis management roles, when something goes wrong, it starts as a challenge and then escalates to a problem. Problems then grow to become any one of three broadly interchangeable words: emergencies, disasters, or crises. For this discussion, I combine emergencies and disasters into the bucket of crisis. Many feel that the reality of emergency management is no longer “disaster”-specific but is more broadly the all-inclusive concept of a crisis. A problem becomes a crisis when we lose our ability to cope, and a part of the system becomes overwhelmed. Crises become catastrophes when the resources and structures meant to respond to that crisis become overwhelmed and break down. Something can be catastrophic at the local level but perhaps just a crisis at the regional or national level, and much of that nuance depends on someone’s on-the-ground perspective and historical experience.