The Government Printing Office (GPO) will be hosting the 26th Annual Interagency Depository Seminar at their Washington, DC headquarters from July 29 to August 2, 2013. This free seminar features programs and presentations to help Federal government information experts stay up-to-date with evolving multi-agency information products and resources.

Representatives from various Federal agencies, including the Office of the Federal Register and the Library of Congress, will provide training on their government information products and services, and select sessions will be hosted virtually for remote viewing. GPO staff will answer questions about depository management practices and policies, and onsite attendees can participate in tours of Federal agency libraries such as the National Library of Medicine.

For more information or to register for this event, please click here.

The National Prevention Framework provides the context for how the whole community is involved in preventing terrorism, and how prevention efforts relate to all other parts of national preparedness. While the other Frameworks focus on all hazards (natural and man-made), the Prevention Framework is the only Framework that focuses solely on terrorism. Among the Prevention Framework’s core capabilities are intelligence and information sharing, interdiction and disruption, planning, and operational coordination.

The National Mitigation Framework covers the capabilities needed to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the effects of disasters. The Mitigation Framework focuses on building resilient communities that understand the risks they face and can address these risks. The Mitigation Framework’s core capabilities include threat and hazard identification, risk and disaster resilience assessment, planning, and long-term vulnerability reduction. Like the Prevention Framework, the Mitigation Framework also prioritizes operation coordination.

The National Response Framework focuses on saving lives, protecting property, and meeting basic human needs immediately before, during, and in the first few days after a disaster. This is the second edition of the Response Framework, the original having debuted in 2008. The new Response Framework is based on the original, but also focuses on whole community efforts, stressing the importance of individuals, families, and households in response activities. The new Response Framework has 14 core capabilities, which include planning, operational coordination, operational communications, infrastructure systems, health and safety, and other medical and care services.

For more information about the FEMA frameworks, please follow the links below.
National Prevention Framework, FEMA
National Mitigation Framework, FEMA
National Response Framework, FEMA

USAID and Syngenta’s collaborative efforts will include research and development, capacity building, and working with other agriculture and food security partners. USAID and Syngenta will work to advance agricultural development and food security goals that have been set by the governments of developing countries. These efforts will be supported by USAID and Feed the Future, a U.S. Government global hunger and food security initiative. USAID will also focus on increasing the use of technology and will expand access to tools like crop insurance and seed treatment.

USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah recently spoke about the importance of drought-tolerant seeds and crop insurance in food security, saying that USAID’s partnership with Syngenta would “reduce hunger and undernutrition across three different continents and help bring the end of extreme poverty within reach.” Mike Mack, Chief Executive Officer of Syngenta also stressed the important role public-private partnerships play in increasing farm productivity worldwide, saying that “ partnerships such as this, drawing on the strengths of each party, will be catalysts for transforming agriculture […]especially in developing markets.”

For more information on the USAID/Syngenta partnership, please follow the link below.
USAID, Syngenta Collaborate to Improve Global Food Security, USAID

In this study, the author reviews the new ISF dataset that measures police and paramilitary forces within a state, and examines the relationship between the dataset and levels of internal political violence. The author also studies how the interaction between capability and legitimacy of ISFs affect the level of internal violence a state experiences. By exploring these topics, the author attempts to further an understanding of how and in what ways ISF capability and legitimacy actually affect levels of sub-state political violence.

This study provides a review of the current literature on the relationship between ISF capability and internal violence, as well as the interaction between ISF capability and legitimacy on internal violence. The study concludes by discussing the implications of these findings, especially in regard to issues that surround how ISFs can be influenced by actors outside the state.

Download the full text of IAS-002, April 2013 (right click to save)

Tom Fox, Vice president for Leadership and Innovation at the Partnership for Public Service recently discussed the coordinated efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement in the investigation and subsequent manhunt of the bombing suspects, saying their effort are “a nice reminder of just how effective government can be, especially working at all levels – fed, state, and local – when there’s that great sense of urgency.” He continued on to say that this level of cooperation was made evident in the agencies’ frequent press conferences, where officials from each jurisdiction, and at each level of government spoke on their area of expertise. Fox also stated that law enforcement’s efforts presented a “seamless integration of teams.”

The Department of Defense is also being recognized for their role in the response. The Massachusetts National Guard assisted local authorities after the bombing, and additional Guardsmen were called in to provide security, dispose of ordnance, assist with interagency communication, and stage transportation assets, such as helicopters and buses. The Navy provided bomb-disposal units to assist local authorities as needed, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel promised to continue working with DoD and other government leaders to support the response efforts and investigation.

The city of Boston is one of four U.S. cities with an all-hazards plan accredited by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program. Also, unlike many U.S. cities, first responders in Boston carry battlefield dressings and have taken part in training exercises for mass casualty incidents, including citywide disaster simulations in 2011 and 2012. This preparation enabled medical personnel and others involved to respond quickly and efficiently. Responders were also able to take additional preventative measures, suspending metro service near the scene of the bombing, instituting security checks at transit hubs, and temporarily grounding flights at Logan International Airport.

When asked his thoughts on the response efforts, Rick Nelson, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and veteran of the National Counterterrorism Center stressed the importance of preparation of cooperation, saying that “Coordination is key.”

For more information about the interagency response to the bombings, please follow the links below.
Boston Manhunt Proves the Power of Interagency Cooperation, GovLoop
Tom Fox talks Boston interagency cooperation, GovLoop Insights
Hagel: Pentagon ready to assist civil authorities in Boston, Stars and Stripes
Boston Is One of the Best Prepared U.S. Cities to Handle a Crisis, The Atlantic

In her testimony, Creedon stated “As we all are very well aware, we face a number of WMD challenges,” continuing on to say that DoD and their interagency partners are “aggressively pursuing the president’s vision to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists and states of concern,” citing North Korea, Iran and Syria as examples.

Creedon stressed the importance of keeping WMDs out of the hands of hostile actors, and said that WMD acquisition prevention is one of DoD’s three focus areas. Other DoD nonproliferation efforts include containing and rolling back the threats, and responding to a WMD crisis.

During her testimony, Creedon also discussed DoD’s nonproliferation efforts with their international partners, including the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), which was formed in 2003, and now includes over 100 endorsers.

For more information about Madelyn R. Creedon’s testimony and PSI, please follow the link below.
Official Describes Interagency Security, Nonproliferation Efforts, American Forces Press Service
Proliferation Security Initiative, Department of State

Angel Thunder 2013 is the largest and most realistic search and rescue exercise designed to provide personnel recovery and combat search and rescue training for combat aircrews, pararescue, intelligence personnel, battle managers, and joint search and rescue center personnel. The exercise included personnel from the U.S. Air Force Rescue forces, as well as their joint, interagency, and international counterparts. Participants trained for full spectrum personnel recovery operations with ground recovery personnel, air assets, special forces teams, and federal agents.

Angel Thunder 2013 included a variety of training scenarios, including exercises in air-sea battle, security cooperation, interagency operations, and support to civil authorities focused on catastrophic incident search and rescue.

For more information about Angel Thunder 2013, please follow the links below.
Angel Thunder 2013, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Air Force Week in Photos Special Edition: Angel Thunder 2013, U.S. Air Force

The annual drill was hosted by U.S. Army North at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where the participants rehearsed procedures to ensure a rapid, well-coordinated response to a hurricane. In the exercise, participants faced two hurricanes, one making landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi border and the other making landfall in the Norfolk, Virginia area.

The 200-plus participants included members of NORTHCOM and U.S. Army North, as well as 11 National Guard state adjutants general and representatives of several interagency and nongovernmental organizations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Coast Guard, American Red Cross, and the departments of Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Justice, also participated, as did representatives of the governments of Mexico and Canada.

Joe Girot, a representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Region IV in Atlanta, said the exercise promoted a better understanding of each organization’s capabilities, saying “It allows us to coordinate […] It’s a win-win situation for everyone participating in this exercise.”

According to Tom LaCrosse, director of defense support to civil authorities in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, close cooperation among agencies, as seen in the hurricane response drill, is critical in the current fiscal environment. According to LaCrosse, “no one organization has everything they need,” meaning whole-of-government and whole-of-community efforts are required.

For more information about hurricane response preparations, please follow the link below.
DoD, Interagency Rehearse Hurricane Response Procedures, American Forces Press Service

The report focuses on achievements related to PITF’s ten strategic objectives, which prioritized the prosecution of traffickers and the dismantling of trafficking networks, enhanced anti-trafficking training, increased public awareness, better victim identification and treatment, and expanded partnership and collaboration efforts of U.S. government and international entities, among others. The report details the combined efforts of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Labor in investigating human trafficking, as well as the formation and training of Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams (ACTeams). The report also describes victim support and stakeholder training efforts by the Departments of State, Health and Human Services, Labor, Justice, Homeland Security, and Education, as well as those by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

PITF was authorized by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and established by Executive Order 13257 in 2002. PITF is comprised of various federal departments and agencies focused on a whole-of-government approach to address all aspects of human trafficking.

For more information about the PITF report, please follow the links below.
Progress in Combating Trafficking in Persons: The U.S. Government Response to Modern Slavery, President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Secretary Kerry Delivers a Video Message on Trafficking in Persons, YouTube
President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

In his foreword, Admiral James G. Stavridis, United States Navy, states that “Illicit networks affect everyone in our modern, globalized world,” citing the far reach of human trafficking, drug smuggling, terrorism, and other illegal activities.

The first part of the book describes the gravity and the scope of the challenge posed by the ever expanding illicit networks, while the second part of the book examines how illicit networks operate. Part two studies how the networks relate to each other, their supply chains function, and different roles within networks, as well as mapping the “hubs” of the illicit economy.

Part three focuses of how the trafficking networks threaten and undermine nations and states, while part four lays out means to combat illicit activities. Chapter 14 directly addresses the collaborative efforts of the interagency and international community.

For more information about Convergence, please follow the link below:
Convergence: Illicit Networks and National Security in the Age of Globalization, Center for Complex Operations