Hello Emergency Management Network friends — Introducing The Center for Emergency Management Intelligence Research
visit us at CEMIR.ORG
We are a new group (as of 2022) and designed to further the concept of Emergency Management Intelligence, which is a combination of other Intelligence elements (some governmentally generated, some not) curated to help emergency managers deal with any incident, emergency, and/or disaster. Emergency Management Intelligence or EMINT is collecting, analyzing, and distributing actionable, relevant intelligence products and information before, during, and after incidents. EMINT work needs to occur in all phases of the disaster cycle (Preparedness/Protection, Prevention, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation) - what we like to think of as a Disaster Readiness Cycle (Readiness is easy to type than Resiliency).
EMINT should also be made available to all applicable parts of any Incident Command System or ICS (which is how incident command and control is organized) for incident Response and Recovery.
Today, the idea of EMINT is new — something not yet formally adopted and in use by any organization or government. While the pieces and parts may be there, they are not organized and codified. There is not yet any training or education on the concept of EMINT. The Center for Emergency Management Intelligence Research is the leading advocate for making EMINT part of the standing and standardized ICS, regardless of the type of hazard/threat caused by the incident. Currently, there is an option for Intelligence/Investigation (I&I) as an “option” in the ICS — but that model is not fully designed (by and through FEMA), and it is very law-enforcement-centric. I&I appears to be “part-time” and only activated when required by the incident. For example, an I&I branch (or component of the Operations Section or a direct report to Command) could be established if a wildfire was considered arson-caused.
EMINT is a much higher level of Intelligence gathering, analysis, and distribution — law-enforcement intelligence could be a sub-component of EMINT rather than the other way around. Here are some other examples of EMINT:
EMINT curation aims to provide all aspects of Incident Response and Recovery with more than just situational awareness. Let’s take Weather Intelligence coupled with Homeland Security and Healthcare Intelligence: When the hurricane is coming up the coast, it may adversely impact the number of power plants and hospitals in its path. Those are elements of EMINT.
Please check out our website at https://cemir.org for more details. We plan to use this forum on the Emergency Management Network to publish advocacy pieces and keep the Emergency Management “pracademic” world updated on how we are doing. We welcome your thoughts and comments — on a professional basis — and encourage Emergency Management practitioners and academics to join us in furthering this concept.
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