DHS' failure to partner with public increases risk of panic in terror attack
Homeland security strategist W. David Stephenson warns that the DHS' failure to treat public as full partners increases risk of panic after terror attack. Stephenson says combination of wireless technologies and understanding of science of networks can create "smart mobs" who can act on own in terror attack.
PROVIDENCE (PRWEB) March 27, 2004 ---Homeland security strategist W. David Stephenson warned in a speech this week that the Department of Homeland Securitys "failure to make the public full partners increases the chance of panic after another attack and could increase the severity of its effects."
Stephenson spoke at the International Disaster Recovery Association conference.
Stephenson, creator of the "Terrorism Survival Plan" program for personal digital assistants (PDAs), said that the Minutemen provided an ideal model for 21st century public involvement: linking independent groups, redundant in case of problems, planned in advance, and flexible.
He said new wireless technologies and the science of networking should be combined to create "smart mobs," self-directed in an attack, assisting first responders rather than overwhelming them.
The strategist cited mesh networks, wireless devices that create self-organizing and self-healing networks that can trade data instantaneously even if landlines are destroyed, SMS text messages on cell phones, and camera phones as all playing important roles in the networks.
Stephenson said a major advantage of the "smart mob" concept (a term coined by futurist Howard Rheingold) was that they could capitalize on the publics massive investment in the latest cell phones, wi-fi laptops and PDAs. "Failure to factor in this huge potential infrastructure consumers carry in their pockets is a major shortcoming in homeland security policy," he charged.
Stephenson also said new scientific understanding of how networks form and share information could be an asset to homeland security. "We now know humans are hard wired for 'emergent behavior, in which we spontaneously band together to form groups," citing the Dean campaigns use of the Meetup web system to arrange face-to-face meetings of online supporters as a model.
Stephenson Strategies is a strategic communications firm, based in Medfield, MA. W. David Stephenson has a national reputation as an innovative homeland security strategist, concentrating on innovative use of technology to empower the general public as full partners in homeland security. His background also includes award-winning work as a corporate crisis manager.
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