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October 2008                                                                                                   Volume 15 - Number 1

Domestic Disaster Update...

Report on the Annual Meeting of NEMA

By Kelly Albrecht

This year’s annual meeting of the National Emergency Management Association was held in Portland Oregon September 8-11. As traditionally established, this meeting seeks to bring together emergency management professionals from across the US to address emergency management strategies as they pertain to national and regional issues. According to NEMA “the conference focuses on policy development, emergency management concerns, legislative issues, and federal relations.” State directors, as well as members of federal organizations, Congress and the Administration attend this meeting in order to participate in discussions regarding current policies and other pertinent information within this field. The specific panel discussions, at the 2008 meeting, were centered on several topics of interest which reflect the current election year and the increasing technologies available to assist in emergency management, as well as the position and growth of this organization.

Early on in the conference, panelists, which included both academics and think tank experts, discussed the concerns the incoming administration will face. This included what priorities the new Administration’s transition team should focus on and how they will address emergency management in general and in relation to issues of federalism and the independence of states.

Technology innovation was similarly a topic of priority and was discussed by experts from Forrester Research, the University of Colorado, O’Reilly, and the Homeland Security Institute. Technology was examined from both a current capabilities standpoint as well as the near future possibilities. Panelists sought to address the potential for emergency management professionals to utilize this potential in order to collaborate, network, and share information within the field. This discussion sought to understand how this technology will aid in both response and other capacities as it pertains to all aspects of emergency management.

In addition to specific panel discussions which focused on one or more issue of concern, the meeting also sought to examine both the history of NEMA and emergency management as well as its future. Glen Woodbury, the director at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School, facilitated a discussion which addressed the future of emergency management. Through the interaction of practitioners, he raised questions concerning how emergency management should look in five years, what is necessary to achieve these goals and what the end result should be. Later on in the meeting a final panel discussion, comprised of past presidents examined the history of NEMA and the progression to the current condition and state of the organization. This allowed many to understand the role of history and how this impacts the current state of affairs.

While only a few of the discussion topics was highlighted in this review of the 2008 annual meeting, experts and practitioners from across the country were able to address numerous other topics. A large number of meetings were set up throughout the session and brought together a variety of individuals to collaborate and actively discuss the current issues. This annual meeting demonstrates the continued need to work together and the role of local, state and federal initiatives.

Bibliography

National Emergency Management. 27 Sept. 2008 http://www.nemaweb.org/home.aspx