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Your GUIDE to Online Resources
Frequently Asked Questions and On-Line
Resources for Concerned Citizens
On February 7, 2003 the federal government raised the homeland security threat level to "orange" and issued basic preparedness guidelines for citizens. Since that time, public concern regarding potential terrorist attacks has become elevated, and many people are looking for bioterrorism-related information. In response, the Center has prepared the following "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) fact sheet.
They have also compiled a list of online resources that may provide useful information regarding general citizen preparedness for terrorism. The Biodefense Center does not necessarily endorse the entire content on these sites; however they provide these links merely as a service. Visit their website regularly for updates on this topic.
For more information, visit www.hopkins-biodefense.org
Does it make sense for me to put together an
emergency family plan and supply kit?
Yes. There are some helpful checklists of actions to take during
normal times that will allow you to act more effectively during
a crisis. At the end of this document, you will find links to such
checklists.
Some simple steps, such as devising a plan for getting in touch with family members after a disaster, are useful whether the event is a terrorist attack or something more common like a hurricane, tornado, flood, or snowstorm.
You should recognize, however, that some preparedness items or actions that could prove valuable in some emergency situations might not be useful in the special case of bioterrorism. Bioterrorism is different from terrorist attacks that involve explosives or chemicals.
How will I know when a terrorist attack has occurred
and what I should do to protect my family and myself?
A bioterrorist attack is likely to be covert - we will know
we have been attacked only when people begin to get sick and seek
medical attention. Although some cities have begun to deploy sensors
designed to detect bioweapons in the air, these systems are few
in number and are unproven technologies in urban settings. In our
judgment, it is far more likely that we will realize a bioterrorist
attack has occurred when doctors and nurses diagnose the first victims
of such an attack.
Once a bioweapon is released, some time passes before people infected by the bioweapon agent become ill. This "incubation period" differs from one bioweapon agent to another. For example, exposure to the anthrax bacteria may cause symptoms as soon as 24 hours later; smallpox symptoms typically don't begin until 9-14 days after infection.
Protecting yourself and your family in the context of bioterrorism will require that you listen for information and advice from medical and public health authorities. These are experts who deal with infectious diseases everyday.
An explosion of any kind is immediately obvious, of course. Similarly, a chemical attack is also immediately apparent. Most chemical weapons act within seconds or minutes - people in the vicinity of the attack become obviously ill very quickly. If you find yourself in the vicinity of such an attack, you should quickly leave the area, moving upwind if possible.
Will sealing windows with duct tape and plastic
sheeting help protect me during a bioterrorist attack?
No. A release of a biological agent is most likely to be "covert"
- that is, terrorists will not announce the attack before it happens
or afterwards. This means you would not know ahead of time to seal
your windows and prevent contaminated air from reaching you.
Duct tape and plastic sheeting can slow down the movement air from outside to inside, but does not stop such movement. BE AWARE that using some non-electric space heaters inside such sealed off areas can lead to dangerous build up of carbon monoxide!!
Should I buy a gas mask?
No. A gas mask would only protect you if you were wearing it at
the exact moment a bioterrorist attack occurred. A biological or
chemical terrorist attack is likely to occur without prior notice.
To wear a mask continuously or "just in case" a terrorist attack
occurs, is impractical, if not impossible. To work effectively,
masks must be specially fitted to the wearer, and wearers must be
trained in their use. This is usually done for the military and
for workers in industries and laboratories who face routine exposure
to chemicals and germs on the job. Gas masks purchased at an Army
surplus store or off the Internet carry no guarantees that they
will work.
Should I purchase disposable
masks as part of a home emergency disaster kit?
Again, a bioterrorist attack will likely be covert - so you will
not know when to put on the mask. By the time the attack is recognized
- days or even weeks after the release of the bioweapons agent -
it is too late to don a mask.
Paper masks offer little, if any, protection against chemical weapons. More generally, there may be disaster situations in which it will be important to avoid breathing in dangerous substances. For example, an explosion may produce fine debris or toxic gases that can hurt your lungs. Wearing a simple mask in such situations may be helpful. Be prepared to improvise - use what you have on hand to create a barrier between the air and your mouth and nose.
There are different opinions as to what sorts of barriers work best and there are few solid facts. Anything that fits snugly over your nose and mouth, including any dense-weave cotton material, can help filter contaminants in an emergency. There are also a variety of facemasks readily available in hardware stores that are rated based on how small a particle they can filter in an industrial setting. For the moment, you haveto decide what is best for you and your family.
It is very important that the mask or other material fit your face snugly so that most of the air you breathe comes through the mask, not around it. Do whatever you can to make the best fit possible for children. Simple cloth facemasks can filter some of the airborne particles or germs you might breathe into your body, but will probably not protect you from chemical gases. Still, something over your nose and mouth in an emergency is better than nothing.
If I decide to buy disposable
masks, what type should I buy?
There are many kinds of disposable masks. About N95 masks: these
are a type of simple, inexpensive paper mask often mentioned in
emergency preparedness literature. The filtering ability of the
N95 mask - a measure of how much material can pass through the paper
in laboratory tests - is quite high. N95 masks effectively protect
against infection in hospital settings in which health care professionals
have time to make sure the masks fit properly.
In the setting of civilian response to a bioterrorist attack, it is not clear than an N95 mask would be any more effective than other paper masks or provide more protection than a cotton undershirt wrapped around the nose and mouth. (Manufactured masks may, however be more comfortable and more convenient.)
The reason for this is that paper masks often fail to fit the face snugly, and a lot of air leaks in around the edges of any paper mask instead of getting filtered through the paper. This is why it is important to make sure that any mask you use or create fits snuggly around your face.
Should I have my own supply
of antibiotics in case there is a bioterrorist attack?
There are a number of different germs a bioterrorist might use to
carry out an attack. Many antibiotics are effective for a variety
of diseases, but there is no antibiotic that is effective against
all diseases. Further, no antibiotics are effective against virus
germs. Thus, no single pill can protect against all types of biological
weapon attacks. Keeping a supply of antibiotics on hand poses other
problems because the antibiotics have a limited "shelf life" before
they lose their strength. Antibiotics can also cause serious side
effects. They should only be taken with medical guidance.
What can I do to protect my
family and myself during a bioterrorist attack?
Unfortunately, there is presently little that individuals can do
in advance to protect themselves from a bioterrorist attack. However,
there is much that government agencies, health care institutions
and public health departments can and should be doing to improve
the capacity to protect the public following a bioterrorist attack.
Medical institutions and public health agencies, in particular,
have not received adequate attention and resources to cope with
disasters like bioterrorism.
You can express your concern regarding adequate protections against the potential threat of bioterrorism to your elected officials and local leaders. Local health departments have an important responsibility for helping protect your community against outbreaks of infectious disease, whether they occur in nature or because of a malicious terrorist act. They can assist you with additional bioterrorism-related concerns that are pertinent to your own community. In addition, you can contact your Congressional representatives to discuss what measures the federal government is taking to provide local authorities with adequate resources to deal with national security threats.
Online Resources
American Academy of Pediatrics
AAP's main terrorism page provides links to many resources on chemical
and biological weapons that deal with the unique needs of children
and families. Guidelines for assembling a readiness kit for families
to use in times of crisis For more information, visit www.aap.org/family/frk/frkit.htm
American Psychiatric Association
When Disaster Strikes: Managing Mental Health in the Workplace.
This is a useful site for employers and interested employees. For
more information, visit www.workplacementalhealth.org
American Red Cross
American Red Cross Homeland Security Advisory System Recommendations
for Individuals, Families, Neighborhoods, Schools and Businesses.
For more information, visit www.redcross.org/services/disaster/beprepared/hsas.html
Federal Emergency Management
Agency
Are You Ready? A Guide to Citizen Preparedness. Provides guidance
on preparing for all manner of emergencies - whether naturally occurring
or man made. The guide is available in both .pdf and Microsoft Word
formats. For more information, visit www.fema.gov/areyouready
About the Center
The Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies is an independent,
non-profit organization of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health and the School of Medicine. The Center works to prevent
the development and use of biological weapons, to catalyze advances
in science and governance that diminish the power of biological
weapons as agents of mass lethality, and to lessen the human suffering
that would result if prevention fails. For more information, visit
www.hopkins-biodefense.org
or call (410) 223-1667.
Reprinted with permission of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies. Copyright © 2002 The Johns Hopkins University on behalf of its Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies. All rights reserved.
Restoring Your Lifeline
Mission-critical Internet Applications
Require Unique Recovery Strategies
This brave new marketplace is attracting businesses by the thousands,
as each attempts to expand the reach of their information arteries
to potential customers. But alongside the opportunity to prosper
comes the equally critical need to protect. And the points of exposure
are many. For more information, visit SunGard Planning at www.planning.sungard.com/KnowledgeNet
A Goldmine…
Information Security White Papers.
Visit RedSiren at www.redsiren.com
Computer Forensics: What Lawyers
and Managers Should Know
This white paper explains what computer forensics is, when it should
be used, suggestions for preserving evidence, and how to overcome
the technical challenges surrounding evidence preservation.
Beyond the Firewall: The Value
of Intrusion Detection Services (IDS)
This white paper addresses the reasons IDS have become so important;
the differences between IDS types; and how outsourcing your security
services to a Managed Security Services Provider can provide you
security coverage that would otherwise be beyond the reach of your
internal resources or budget.
Firewalls: Verifying the Facts
& Disputing the Myths About Your Network's First Line of Defense
This white paper discusses common myths and issues surrounding firewalls
and their implementation, including their architecture, configuration
and maintenance. It also recommends how to achieve the most value
from firewall deployment, and provides detail as to how an MSSP
can provide guidance.
KPMG Global Information Security
Survey
Finding the Weak Link in IT Security
KPMG's first global information security survey reveals that many
organizations lack the ability to measure and report on their security
performance, although security incidents cost millions of dollars
every year. This is one of the findings of KPMG's first global information
security survey. Other findings of the survey:
For more information, contact KPMG for a copy of the survey. Visit KPMG, LLP at www.kpmg.com
Research Highlights From META
Group
Availability Maturity: What's in a "9"?
Although fault-tolerant and error-correction designs have reduced
the risk of IT component failure, business process and IT operations
interdependency have increased to the point that many businesses
stop if IT stops. Platform vendors are quick to provide availability
numbers, and many point their IT customers toward "five nines" (99.999%)
as a meaningful way of defining customer availability. Although
more availability is a good thing, uptime of systems does not measure
how availability affects business. Organizations should focus on
more meaningful measures of availability such as downtime, mean
time to repair, and mean time to failure. By 2005/06, 80% of Global
2000 firms (versus 30%-40% currently) will centralize availability
maturity under the infrastructure and engineering organization,
providing a full range of availability services with varying levels
of both cost and availability. For more information, visit www.metagroup.com
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Introduction to the Telecommunications
Marketplace
In this paper we examine the multiple components of the telecommunications
industry. We will review the history of telecommunications in the
US in order to understand how today's competitive market evolved.
In addition, we will examine the various types of service providers.
A focus will be placed on the Competitive Local Exchange Carrier
and the Internet Service Provider and the services that they provide.
For more information, visit www.ashtonmetzler.com
CEO Agenda: Corporate priorities for 2003
Find out more about 2003 corporate priorities from top executives
leading today's global marketplace. The CEO agenda*, a white paper
from the Economist Intelligence Unit, examines the views of corporate
leaders on a host of business issues ranging from the economy, corporate
governance, technology investments, customer satisfaction and more.
*Sponsored by AT&T, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Dimension
Data, HP and Oracle. For more information, visit www.business.att.com
Reliability Options for High-Speed Packet
Data Networks
More and more industries are migrating their wide-area data networking
applications from dedicated Private Line (PL) networks to High-Speed
Packet Services (HSPS) data networks using protocols such as Frame
Relay Service (FRS) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Although
the major Interexchange Carriers (IXCs) have implemented many reliability
features on their backbone facilities, customers are still asking
what is available for protecting their applications from access
circuit failures, customer premises site failures, Central Office
equipment failures, and other failures due to man-made or widespread
natural disasters. For more information, visit www.business.att.com
Mobile Recovery Solutions
Disaster preparedness requires a documented plan in concert with
accompanying solutions that will enable both end users and technology,
at time of disaster. Both voice and data requirements must be considered
when creating a recovery strategy. Mobile recovery solutions can
offer flexibilities not afforded by solutions requiring alternative
sites. Mobile recovery solutions can be deployed anywhere at time
of disaster. With recent changes in both technology and the pricing/availability
of that technology, portable services with efficient bandwidth utilization
over satellite links could facilitate recovery strategies for an
organization or government agency. For a discussion of mobile recovery
strategies using satellite links, request the White Paper by Agility
Recovery Solutions at the following link:
www agilityrecovery.com/recovery/pdf/mwp0404/index.htm
The Mandate to Deploy Wirespeed Switch
Routers
For many companies, the deployment of Wirespeed Switch Routers is
very timely. In particular, over the next couple of years, most
companies will see their traffic volumes double and the need for
routing capacity increases as much as an order of magnitude. Given
the constrained budgets that exist in most companies, it is not
possible to meet these demands using the traditional approaches
to networking. It is precisely this gap between the rapidly increasing
network requirements and the sharply constrained network budgets
that is creating the mandate to deploy Wirespeed Switch Routers.
For more information, visit www.ashtonmetzler.com
Managing Complexity: Taming the Runaway
Company Network
The complex nature of communications products and services precludes
cost-only analysis when it comes to e-sourcing solutions. Effective
sourcing and procurement solutions should help buyers articulate
needs, allow sellers to communicate capabilities, automate administrative
tasks in a relationship and measure performance against promise.
When spend visibility tools, proposal generation applications and
contract compliance engines are in place, long-term improvement
in cost savings can be impressive. For more information, visit www.business.att.com
Six Ways to Protect Your Cargo
in Transit
Important Tips from FM Global
For most companies that compete in a global economy, imports and
exports are a fact of life. An awareness of how your cargo can be
damaged in transit and how to protect against those potential losses
is a critical part of effective risk management.
What Can Happen To Goods In
Transit?
Goods transported by land, sea and air all face the possibility
of physical loss or damage. The perils that can be encountered and
the kinds of damage that can result are as varied as the goods themselves.
When transporting goods, remember these important points:
How Can I Protect Goods In
Transit?
Taking steps to ensure the timely, secure transit of your products
is the best protection against potential property losses. These
six recommendations will help to prevent or minimize loss.
Free White Paper
Avoiding Costs From Oversizing Datacenter
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The physical and power infrastructure of datacenters is typically
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The fundamental reasons why oversizing occurs are discussed. An
architecture and method for avoiding oversizing is described.
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Selected Homeland Security
References and Resources
Since September 11, 2001, innumerable conferences, symposia, workshops, and courses have been held that have focused on homeland security and defense and preparedness and response concerns. Ideally those involved in organizing and putting these programs on are knowledgeable concerning the abundance of useful and readily available resources and references. Ideally those participating in such programs become better informed as a result of their participation. This brief article is intended to introduce the reader to a highly select list that might serve as an introductory to a vast array of references and resources of potential interest to those in both the private and the public sectors.
Websites Providing a Broad Base of Information and Resources
Terrorism-Related References and Resources
Terrorism, Security, Public Health, and Public Safety
Preparedness, Mitigation, and Response Concerns
Articles on Other Homeland Security-Related Topics
About the Author