In the May 2011 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Stephen Flynn writes that "...the United States has made a mess of homeland security." While you may agree or disagree with the statement, to me his argument, that the federal government (under the current and previous administrations) has taken the posture that only its agencies are capable of defending the homeland, rings true. Mr. Flynn postulates that the American civil society and its private sector have been left out of the loop, for the most part, and been given no real responsibility for protecting itself. Unfortunately this article sits behind FA's paywall, but you can purchase a .pdf version here for a buck.

While the central argument of the piece is off-topic for this forum (it centers around the lifting of the veil of secrecy concerning threats against the US) Mr. Flynn goes on to argue the case for the promotion of societal resilience. His definition of resilience "is the capacity of individuals, communities, companies and the government to withstand, respond to, adapt to, and recover from disasters." He promotes the concept of '...building a general level of preparedness." by informing and training the population on how to prepare for, survive and recover from disasters whether natural or man made.

He goes on to say "Resilience begins on the level of individuals. A program of resilience would promote self-reliance in the face of unexpected events..." He also visits the concept of resilience in communities suggesting that federal resources be used to educate, train and equip communities to be able to cope with emergencies without waiting for FEMA or the National Guard to show up.

The author makes reference to the Community and Regional Resilience Institute (CARRI) a joint effort of DHS and Oak Ridge National Laboratory as good start by the federal government to address the need for building resilience. The fact that I had never heard of this organization before underscores the lack of visibility in the general media of the concept of resilience.

On any number of threads on these forums, ETS members have promoted the concept of working together in the face of disaster. And that while it may be necessary to "bug-out" on rare occasions, most of us would prefer to 'bug-in', work with our neighbors and survive together. I, for one, don't relish the idea of the lone wolf survivor experience.

In a past thread I noted that being responsible was a key indicator of having character. I think I will add being resilient as another worthy attribute.

Andy

PS. To the mods, just wondering why the name of the current president of the United States was automatically censored? That seems an inappropriate and judgemental action without analysis of the context, which is this case was non-political.

Thats a good point (societal resilience, helping yourself, helping your neighbor, et al) and thanks for pointing that out.

I think the point is made by the silent majority of Americans b/c they believe one of two things;

1. Believe that rugged individualism and protection of the family is a personal choice, one not wildly popular with most people. Therefore the preparations they make are done quietly but done nevertheless. Keeping a low profile, which is what most of us on here prefer to do.

2. Right, wrong or indifferent people have a mistrust of the ability or capability of the government to do what is in their (the individuals) best interest. Not even to mention conspiracy theorists. Therefore they might see any attempt at the government to officially try to wrap their arms around 'societal resilience' could be horribly counter-productive to the benefits of the message, sort of killing the message because of the messenger.

Be that as it may, I think that organizations like the Red Cross, Ready.gov PSA's, even nightly news that focus on disaster and terror situations of all kinds, put the kernel of truth into personal self sufficiency. If someone wishes to ignore those signs, its not a defect, merely a different paradigm.

It seems that in most disasters, most of the time, people help each other and work productively. No matter how good the government might or might not be, the help that is immediately available is most critical.

I have been most impressed with the professionalism of our local FD in responding to and caring for medical emergencies, and in their response to local brush fires. This is great in "normal" times. In the event of a major problem (= earthquake where I am) it is unrealistic to expect a prompt response to my particular problem. I and my neighbors are going to have to help ourselves, following the good example set by the folks in Tuscaloosa nd Joplin. I am reasonably confident we will.

Great point regarding local 1st responders. There also seems to be a up tic in organizations that provide disaster responders, the group off the top of my head is called Team Rubicon.